A western Asian artifact found in a Viking-age burial site will be displayed for the first time in over 1,000 years
New research could comprise the Galloway Hoard findings.
10 years on from discovering the Galloway Hoard, new research reveals an item that is not related to the Viking age as historians originally.
A lidded vessel called “Origin of Star” containing many treasures has been sourced from West Asian origin.
A decade ago, it was found wrapped in textiles which stayed intact from the burial of the Hoard around AD900, in Galloway.
The intricate design of the artifact is believed to be associated with the iconography of Zoroastrianism, which is the state religion of the Sasanian Empire.
This is the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries AD.
This is the first time the surface of the item has been seen since it was buried in the ground more than 1,000 years ago.
The materials used to make the vessel have been confirmed by new scientific analysis that they originated in what is now central Iran.
The origin of star will be put on display for the first time near the end of the month as part of the forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum.
Dr. Martin Goldberg from the National Museum Scotland said:
“We had suspected from x-ray scanning the vessel that it may have originated somewhere in central or western Asia, but it’s only now that we’ve carefully conserved and analysed it that we can say this is definitively the case.
“It’s further evidence of the cosmopolitan make-up of the Galloway Hoard. We now know that the Viking-age silver that makes up most of the Hoard was melted down from coins and metalwork from early medieval England.”
He added that it is a real mystery how it travelled from western Asia.
“Some objects, like the lidded vessel, stood out from the rest and the scientific analysis now confirms this. It is incredible to imagine how the vessel made its journey halfway round the known world, from Iran to this distant corner of southwest Scotland.”
Dr Jane Kershaw is from the University of Oxford and is an expert on Viking age silver. She said:
“Taking tiny samples from both the vessel body and the niello – the black silver-sulphide inlays that outline the decoration – we assessed the provenance of the silver. It was immediately clear that the vessel was unlike any other silver contained in the hoard: instead, the results point to origins in the Sasanian Empire, what is today Iran.
“Elemental analysis using portable X-ray Fluorescence revealed that the vessel is an alloy of silver and relatively pure copper, which is typical of Sasanian silver, but not contemporary European silver. In addition, the isotopes of the lead contained within the silver metal and niello match ore from Iran.
“We can even go so far as to say that the niello derives from the famous mine of Nakhlak in central Iran. It’s fantastic to have scientific confirmation for the distant origins of this remarkable object.”