TREASURE ANNU AL REPORT 2005/6 - Portable Antiquities Scheme

307. Corby area, Northamptonshire:
Early medieval gold fragment (2006 T43)
Date: Late 8th–second half of the 10th century
Discovery: Found by Mr R Shaw while metal-detecting
in October 2005.
Description: A round possible attachment loop from
a larger object, embedded in and forming one end of
a rectangular frame, which expands and flattens out
at the other end, where it is broken off. The remainder
of the original object might, for instance, have been
round or cross-shaped. The fragment was assembled
from several parts, at least the loop, a backing sheet
for the rectangular section, another sheet merged
with it and the filigree decoration. The rectangular
part of the object is very ornate and decorated threedimensionally
with filigree, now partly squashed. The
expanded, flat end is plain and looks like it was only a
backing, perhaps for a set gem. Height: 15mm; max.
depth: 4mm; weight: 1.17g. Surface analysis indicated
gold and silver contents of 78–80% and 16–18%
respectively.
Discussion: The circular loop contains two parallel
grooves and, unusually, is set with its opening aligned
to the main axis of the object, making any use as
a suspension loop awkward and speaking against
such an interpretation. It seems possible that this
fragment rather formed the lower end of an object and
something else was suspended from it. Viking filigree
earrings (Graham-Campbell 1980, cat. no. 334 and p.
270 no. 334) or trefoil brooches (Eilbracht 1999, cat. no.
298 and Tafel 27) from Scandinavia sometimes show
such or similar arrangements. There are, however, no
traces of wear to support such a suggestion. As the loop
is separately formed and resembles attachment loops
of 7th-century pendants and bracteates, it may have
been reused. The object is difficult to date and its use
is unclear. Filigree and granulation such as this seem to
be typical of the later phases of the early middle ages.
See for example, a small gold plate with twisted wire
and gold granule decoration from Winchester, from a
10th-century context (Backhouse et al. cat. no. 78),
or a similarly decorated piece from Sutton-on-Forest,
North Yorkshire, which can be dated to the second half
of the 9th century (Treasure Annual Report 2000, no.
82). Filigree was also popular in the Viking age, both in
Scandinavia and in the British Isles (cf. above, Wilson
1964, Plate XIX.28 and Eilbracht 1999).
Disposition: Manor House Museum, Kettering hopes
to acquire.
S MARZINZIK
308. Kelvedon, Essex:
Early medieval Runic gold fragment (2005 T298)
Date: Probably 9th century
Discovery: Found by Ms C Mills while metal detecting
in August 2005.
Description: An oblong, solid fragment of a larger
object, roughly D-shaped in cross section and tapering
in height towards one end. At the higher end, the
fragment appears to have been chopped. The shorter
end shows some damage and it seems that part of the
underside has been cut away here. The upper, curved,
side is divided into two panels by a band running along
the middle axis. The fragment is engraved on both
sides with runes of the Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, or
futhorc. Only three letters survive on each face: these
may be transliterated respectively as (dots indicate
where further letters are missing):
(a) …G D E
(b) T Æ A…
The runes are set in relief on a recessed background,
which may originally have contained niello. Max. length:
9mm; max. height: 5mm; weight: 3.1g. Surface analysis
indicated a gold content of approximately 91–93%; the
small white specks on the back are osmium/iridium/
ruthenium containing inclusions, indicating that the
gold came from alluvial sources.
An alluvial source for gold has been identified in at
least one other 9th-century Anglo-Saxon object.
Discussion: It is not clear what object this very small
and damaged fragment came from. Although the
shape is superficially reminiscent of a 7th-century
sword pommel, cut in half, such pommel fittings are
hollow, not solid like this, and the fragment is also very
small, and stylistically later in date. It is not possible
to make much sense from such truncated inscriptions,
but two tentative interpretations may be offered. (a),
which is probably the end of a word, from its form is
likely to be the end of a verb in the third person, past
tense. This could have thus been part of a formula, ‘X
verb Y’, as in ‘X made’ or ‘owned Y’. (b) is probably the
beginning of a word; D Parsons, Institute for Name
Studies, Nottingham University, has suggested that it
might be a form of the Old English ‘teah’, meaning ‘tie’,
‘fastening’ or, secondarily, ‘box’, ‘case’, ‘casket’, ‘coffer’.
It is possible (but cannot be proved) that this word
might be the Y element, or part of it, in the formula
suggested by the (unknown) verb on the other side. If
the full inscription did follow such a formula, then it
follows that an X element must have preceded the verb
represented by its last three letters on side (a).
This would have implications for the original scale of
the object.
The small letters, cut in relief against a background
possibly originally inlaid with niello, are typical of
9th-century Anglo-Saxon inscriptions, such as the
Æthelwulf and ‘Lancashire’ rings, and the piece is likely
to date to that period. The fact that the fragment has
been both struck and chopped up, perhaps for use as
bullion, might suggest that this took place in a context
of Viking activity in the later 9th or 10th century;
Kelvedon is on the edge of an area of Scandinavian
settlement focused on Colchester.
Disposition: Braintree District Museum.
L WEBSTER & S MARZINZIK
309. hotham, East Riding of yorkshire:
Viking-age silver cut piece (2005 T256)
Date: 9th–11th century
Discovery: Found by Mr R Whitaker while metaldetecting
in April 2005.
Description: One side of the piece displays an
engraved linear decoration: a double line segment,
a leaf-motif, a patterning of minute dots (shading)
above it, and a few other single lines remaining. The
decoration, albeit tentatively, might suggest parallels
with the Sutton disc brooch, an Anglo-Scandinavian
find of the 11th century (Backhouse et al 1984, no.
105), where there are lentoid fields of similar double
contour. The heart-shaped leaf is typical of Carolingian
ornamentation of the time. It appears that the piece
was cut from a larger flat object, perhaps a brooch or
a mount, in a way that suggests that it was cut with
the decorated face downwards, with regard only to
the intrinsic value of the metal, as hack-silver. Length:
25mm; thickness: c. 1.5mm; weight: 6g.
Disposition: East Riding Museum Service.
A GANNON
310. penrith area, Cumbria:
Viking silver jewellery and coin hoard (2005 T471)
Date: c. AD 925
Discovery: Found by North Pennines Archaeology Ltd
during a controlled archaeological detecting survey in
October 2005, near to the site of a separate, coinless
hoard of seven Viking-period brooches, acquired by the
British Museum in 1991.
Description: The hoard comprises both items of Viking
jewellery and coins.
Coins: The hoard contained an indeterminate number
of silver coins, most of which are broken, and many of
them are fragmentary and either blank or undiagnostic;
work on these is ongoing, and all attributions below are
subject to further study. The coins in summary are
as follows:
Edward the Elder (Horizontal), 29
Edward the Elder (Portrait), 4
Edward the Elder (Flower), 2
Edward the Elder (Uncertain), 10
Archbishop Plegmund, 6
St Edmund Memorial (late), 1
St Peter (Swordless), 2
St Peter (Sword), 6
Sihtric (Sword), 3
Islamic fragments, 12
Uncertain fragments, 60 (from up to 44 different coins)
This gives a total of up to 120 coins, with a combined
weight of 59.9g. The fragmentary condition of the
coinage largely appears to be the result of damage in
the ground, although it is likely that all of the Islamic
pieces were deposited in the form of cut fragments.
silver objects:
1. Flattened, cigar-shaped ingot, a deeply nicked
testing-mark on one side; length: 84mm; weight: 64.2g.
2. Section of a large, thick ingot cut from side to side,
of rounded, sub-triangular section; length: 23mm;
weight: 23.3g.
3. Short section of an ingot cut from side to side,
plano-convex; length: 12mm; weight: 3.4g.
4. Short section of an ingot cut half way across and
from side to side, rounded, sub-rectangular crosssection;
length: 9mm; weight: 2.6g.
5. Short section of an ingot cut from side to side,
plano-convex; length: 13mm; weight: 5.3g.
6. One end cut off a cigar-shaped ingot, rounded,
sub-triangular section; length: 10mm; weight: 2.7g.
7. One end of a cigar-shaped ingot, cut off with a
chisel, sub-triangular section; length: 18mm;
weight: 9.0g.
8. Fragment of cigar-shaped ingot, cut off at both ends,
ovoid section; length: 27mm; weight: 15.9g.
9. One end of a flattened, cigar-shaped ingot, cut off
with a chisel, nicked testing-marks along the sides;
length: 30mm; weight: 20.9g.
10. Sub-rectangular fragment cut from an ingot of
flattened, ovoid section; length: 9mm; weight: 1.7g.
11. One end cut from the hoop of a large ‘thistle
brooch’, with the terminal missing. It forms a thick rod,
half circular and half slightly narrower rectangular in
section, with a slight flange round the point where they
meet. The rectangular section is pierced towards each
end by two holes and there is a nicked testing-mark on
one side of the round section; length: 43mm; weight:
24.8g; see for comparison an example from Newbiggin
Moor, Cumbria (Graham-Campbell 1980, no. 195).
12. Length of thick, cut curved rod, from the hoop of
a brooch (possibly the same one as no. 11); length:
73mm; weight: 37.4g.
13. Terminal of a neck-ring in the form of a slightly
curved bar, of square section at the narrow end where
the hook has been cut off, and expanding to secure the
inserted ends of six thin rods, which would have been
plaited to form a cable hoop; length: 50mm (surviving);
also four small fragments of twisted rods; weight: 12.5g
(cf. examples from the Cuerdale Hoard, Lancashire
(Hawkins 1847, figs. 58–60).
14. Hook-ended terminal of thin rod from a neck-ring
(see no. 13 for discussion); length: 13mm; weight: 0.6g.
15. Short length of plaited cable of thin rods from hoop
of a neck-ring of six strands; length: 40mm;
weight: 8.3g.
16. Short length of cable hoop from a neck-ring of five
thin, plaited rods; length: 49mm; weight: 11.3g.
100 EARLY MEDIEVAL EARLY MEDIEVAL 101