When
one thinks of treasure, they mostly think of gold. But, when it comes to the
Vikings’ treasure, it was all silver everything. Silver was used for currency
for the Vikings. The Cuerdale Hoard was found in 1840. Workmen in the River
Ribble stumbled upon it in the bank. It was all contained in a lead chest. It
is believed to have been buried around 905-910, after the Vikings left Dublin. It
contains coins, ingots (blocks of silver), amulets, chains, rings, brooches,
and armlets. It is thought that this
haul was most likely the wealth of many people, not just one.
 |
| Fragments of luxury items |
One might wonder why they would bury all their wealth. The Vikings were probably in a time of discontent or unrest. The owner(s) most likely planned to retrieve it, but failed. All in all, the hoard contained more than 8,000 pieces of silver, weighing over 36 kg (about 80 pounds), a massive haul. For the most part, the coins found were from Viking England. But there were also other types of coins found in the haul, hinting at the extensive trading going on at that time, along with raids. Along with the jewelry, there were many pieces of silver that had been chopped up to be melted down or split for payments. Most of the hoard can now be found in the British Museum in London.
Sources:
"The Cuerdale Hoard." The Bristish Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/europe/the_vikings/the_cuerdale_hoard.aspx
"The Cuerdale Hoard." 2011. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/europe/the_vikings/the_cuerdale_hoard.aspx
Kylie,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It's definitely interesting to see that silver, and not gold was abundant and used as treasure at the time. Something that caught my eye, though, is that you said the collection was buried due to living in a time of discontent or unrest. As we discussed in class, there were no banks at the time. There were no vaults, safety deposit boxes, checking accounts, etc., to be utilized. What if perhaps the individual buried their collection of gold to encourage the stockpiling and saving of it, as it would take a large amount of effort to dig it up to be spent?
Just a thought. Have an awesome weekend!
Graham
Graham,
ReplyDeleteThat is a good thought. I hadn't thought about that. When I read that they might have done this in a time of unrest, I kind of thought of the Great Depression. It makes me wonder whether the burying of this wealth along with others had an affect on the economy of this time, as far as trading and such goes.
The fact that it was still left in the ground (and not removed) is probably what led scholars to make the supposition that there had been unrest/discontent. Nice thinking about these ideas.
ReplyDelete