Viking Objects
Northumbrian Penny (NLM-0D491E)
This silver penny was minted in the name of King Eanred of Northumbria. The obverse shows a possibly helmeted and cuirassed individual and reads +EANRE AD RE; the initial cross doubles as X. The reverse reads +CO/ER/[?I]/HO/LI. This particular example was likely brought to Nottinghamshire from Northumbria by means of the Great Army’s overwintering activities in and around Nottingham.
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Viking Objects
Sword Pommel (LEIC-6D2448)
This copper-alloy sword pommel is made up of five lobes and is classed as a Petersen L type VI. Sword pommels were used to counter balance a sword as well as provide a decorative feature. In many cases they are the only method of identifying sword typologies.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Toilet Implement (LIN-756E6A)
This early medieval socketed anthropomorphic object possibly depicts the Norse god Odin, who wears a bird-headed helmet or headdress. This object belongs to a group of similar figurines, all with bird-headed helmets or headdresses, which have been found in England, Sweden, Gotland, Denmark, Russia, and Belgium. Evidence from cemeteries demonstrates this type of object is strongly associated with women, and is probably an import from Sweden dating to the later seventh century, demonstrating contacts with Scandinavia before the Viking Age. While the exact function of this object remains unclear, parallels suggest it is perhaps a toilet implement.
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Viking Objects
Scabbard Chape (NLM-5BD697)
The incomplete openwork tongue-shaped front plate of this chape is decorated with at least six asymmetrical apertures and resembles similar chapes with ‘Birka Falcon’ decoration.
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Viking Objects
Zoomorphic Mount (DENO-7E523C)
This example of a copper-alloy openwork zoomorphic mount, strap fitting or harness fitting, is decorated with the head of an animal in profile.
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Viking Objects
Lead-Alloy Gaming Piece (LEIC-F39697)
This and similar pieces have also been interpreted as weights although the gaming-piece interpretation is more secure. Pieces like this would have been used to play hnefatafl and/or Nine Men’s Morris, both of which are known to have been played in Scandinavia in the Viking Age.
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Viking Objects
Rune Inscribed Rib (LCNCC : 1999.103.104)
Runes were used not only for monumental inscriptions, or to mark ownership of valuable objects, but also in more informal contexts. In this case the animal bone suggests an after-dinner pastime after a good meal in the Anglo-Scandinavian trading centre of Lincoln. The runes read ——l × hitir × stin × … Only two words of the Old Norse inscription can be read with certainty, and even so they are ambiguous. One possible interpretation is ‘[someone] is heating a stone’ the other is ‘[someone] is called Stein’. The bone is fragmentary, but the inscription may never have been intended to make much sense. The object dates from around the 10th century. It is one of only three runic inscriptions from the East Midlands.
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Viking Objects
Trefoil Brooch (LEIC-A43E83)
Trefoil brooches were characteristically Scandinavian women’s wear. However, many examples found in the East Midlands were probably made in the Danelaw, and may have been copies of Scandinavian styles, instead of being imported from Scandinavia. This example was found near Lincoln. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Hack-gold (CM.1800-2008)
This rounded ingot terminal was cut from a larger rectangular ingot. Though rarer than hacksilver, this gold ingot formed part of the bullion currency used by Vikings in England and may be associated with their winter camp in Torksey.
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Viking Objects
Stamped Finger Ring (NCL-90DD85)
A silver finger ring made from a sheet of silver cut to size featuring circular punched decoration. Rings like this with knotted ends are typically Scandinavian.
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Viking Objects
Breedon Silver Ingot (X.A208.2010.0.0)
A cast silver ingot of typical Viking type. The photograph shows it alongside a lead gaming piece of a type that is increasingly being found within the Danelaw. This ingot could have been used as bullion in payments or trade transactions, as well as a source of metal for jewellery making. This particular ingot has slight irregularities from being made in an open mould and has two testing nicks on one edge. The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy where they paid for goods with silver that was weighed to an amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Hacksilver and silver ingots are the most common evidence for their bullion economy. It took some time for the Scandinavian settlers to adopt a monetary economy like that of the Anglo-Saxons, and both systems were used simultaneously for a while before they fully adopted the new system. They were familiar with monetary economies but they treated coins as just another form of silver before adoption of a monetary economy.