Silver Beyond Empire: The transition between late Roman and early medieval Europe

Power and prestige in Europe during the first millennium AD were predominantly expressed in two portable materials: silver and gold. These precious metals underpinned the emergence of early Medieval kingdoms in Europe by providing the raw materials for objects that were used to create, contest and reflect status within and between societies. They also provide a key source of evidence for understanding reactions to the political vacuum caused by the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the emergence of the early Medieval kingdoms of Europe. While parts of temperate Europe favoured gold, silver was the most important precious metal in northern Britain for over 700 years (c.200–900). Silver was introduced to Scotland by Rome (via subsidies, military pay, diplomacy and loot), first as denarii and later as hacksilver, and rapidly became a vital means of expressing power and prestige in the lands beyond this frontier. Indeed, silver’s Imperial connotations may have been a key part of its attraction. The supply of silver declined with the diminishing influence of the western Roman Empire and this dwindling resource needed to be carefully managed and recycled by early Medieval societies. Together National Museums Scotland and Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie created an international research network of specialists working on silver from the 4th–6th centuries with a focus on the North Sea region. This volume of papers results from meetings of the network in Edinburgh and Schleswig that explored the role of silver in the crucial transition from the late Roman Empire, with barbaricum beyond its frontiers, to early Medieval Europe and the peoples and polities that many modern European nations trace their origins back to. It aims to provide the first comparative, international and cross-disciplinary study of this powerful and valuable material during a pivotal period in Europe’s history. It also provides the first full catalogues of a number of important but poorly understood hacksilver hoards from the UK: Norrie’s Law (Fife), Gaulcross (Aberdeenshire), Tummel Bridge (Perthshire) and Patching (Sussex).

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. The circulation of Roman silver in the 4th and 5th centuries around and across the frontier Fraser Hunter Chapter 2. Silver for the Soldiers: quantifying the use and absence of silver among the limitanei of the dux Britanniarum Rob Collins Chapter 3. Hacksilver hoarding and silver use in 5th/6th-century Scotland Alice Blackwell & Martin Goldberg Chapter 4. Silver in the societies of Roman Iron Age and Migration Period Scandinavia – with a focus on hacksilver of the 4th–6th centuries Andreas Rau Chapter 5. Denarii in late Roman and Migration Period hoards Aleksander Bursche & Kyrylo Myzgin Chapter 6. Silver in the Merovingian realm: a post-monetary economy between the late Roman and the Carolingian Empire Dieter Quast Chapter 7. Hacksilver in late Antiquity, the Merovingian period and Slavic times. Structural similarities or continuity? Matthias Hardt Chapter 8. Object biographies of silver objects in the Quoit Brooch Style of south-east Britain: manufacture, use and reuse Ellen Swift Chapter 9. Patching, West Sussex: the nature of the hacksilver and the date of the hoard Fraser Hunter & Andreas Rau Chapter 10. The early medieval hacksilver hoard from Wem, Shropshire Roger H. White, Richard Hobbs & Richard Abdy Chapter 11. Scotland’s silver spiral rings in context Jenna Martin Chapter 12. A reconsideration of silver handpins Susan Youngs Chapter 13. Hillquarter and the Norrie’s Law and Gaulcross mounts: saddle or shield? Joanna Close-Brooks Chapter 14. The siliquae from Gaulcross and Norrie’s Law in context Richard Abdy Chapter 15. The scientific examination and analysis of the Gaulcross and Norrie’s Law silver hoards Lore Troalen, Janet Lang & Jim Tate Chapter 16. Silver-working at the Craw Stane complex, Rhynie in north-east Scotland Gemma Cruickshanks & Gordon Noble Catalogue 1: The Norrie’s Law hoard, Fife, Scotland Alice Blackwell & Fraser Hunter, with Richard Abdy & Martin Goldberg Catalogue 2: The Gaulcross hoard, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Alice Blackwell & Fraser Hunter, with Richard Abdy Catalogue 3: The Tummel Bridge hoard, Perthshire, Scotland Alice Blackwell & Fraser Hunter Catalogue 4: The Patching hacksilver, West Sussex, England Fraser Hunter Catalogue 5: The Wem hoard, Shropshire, England Roger H White, Richard Hobbs & Richard Abdy Catalogue 6: The ‘Cavan’ bangle, Armargh, Northern Ireland Alice Blackwell Technical appendix 1: Technological observations of the Gaulcross silver Lore Troalen, Julia Novion Ducassou & Janet Lang Technical appendix 2: Investigation of a selection of objects from the Gaulcross and Norrie’s Law silver hoards Lore Troalen & Janet Lang Technical appendix 3: Quantitative analysis of a selection of Gaulcross and Norrie’s Law silver fragments by particle-induced X-ray emission analysis Lore Troalen, Jim Tate & Quentin Lemasson Technical appendix 4: Surface analysis of the Norrie’s Law silver by X-ray fluorescence Data by Susy Kirk, with interpretation and text by Lore Troalen

About the Author :
Alice Blackwell is Senior Curator of Medieval archaeology & history at National Museums Scotland and works on the material culture of the early, central and later middle ages. She has co-authored several books – Early Medieval Scotland: Individuals, Communities and Ideas (2012) and Scotland’s early silver (2017) which developed from a special exhibition she jointly curated in Edinburgh. She also edited Scotland in early Medieval Europe (2018). Fraser Hunter is principal curator of Iron Age and Roman collections at National Museums Scotland. His research work focuses around understanding Iron Age decorative metalwork (“Celtic art”) in its European context and the impact of the Roman world on the peoples of Scotland. He recently co-edited a new appraisal of the Traprain Treasure (2022), the largest hoard of Roman hacksilver from anywhere within or beyond the Empire. He co-curated Scotland’s early silver and Celts (2015), a major exhibition developed in partnership with the British Museum. Andreas Rau is a Senior Researcher at Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (previously Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology) in Schleswig, Germany. Andreas has published widely on Iron Age, Roman and Migration period archaeology including on hacksilver hoarding in southern Scandinavia, and on the deposits at Nydam, Denmark. He has curated displays on the Nydam ships in Schlesewig. Martin Goldberg is Principal Curator of Medieval archaeology and history at National Museums Scotland. Martin works on early medieval and viking-age material culture and co-curated Celts and Scotland’s early silver. He is currently leading a major project on the viking-age Galloway hoard in collaboration with the University of Glasgow.