Vikingsf.pdf

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Education Resource

People in the Past – Spring 2006

The Viking people came from three countries in Scandinavia:

Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They were also known as the

Norse people. They were mostly farmers, but some worked as

craftsmen or traders. Many Vikings were great travellers and sailed

all over Europe and the North Atlantic Ocean in their longships.

Some went as fierce pirate raiders: they stole treasure and

attacked local people.

Comb

Brooch

Gigha Scales and Weights

Dirham Coin

Anglo-Saxon Silver Penny

Linen Smoother

Carved Whalebone Fragment

Skull

Torc

Whetstone

Glossary

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Education Resource

People in the Past – Spring 2006

Fragments of Viking combs were found in the sand dunes at

Balevullin, Tiree, Scotland in 1912. They were either single or

double-sided. Several pieces of bone and antler have been riveted

together to make this double-sided composite comb.

Viking combs were fairly standard throughout areas of settlement.

Thin rectangles were cut for the tooth plates and these were then

riveted with bronze pins between two backing plates. The teeth

were then cut; close inspection allows us to see the saw marks,

which are still visible.

Viking combs were usually made from reindeer antlers. The

closest place to Scotland with reindeer is Norway. By using

scientific methods, archaeologists can test these combs to

discover more about how the Vikings brought them to Scotland.

Consider how the Vikings may have traded.

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Education Resource

People in the Past – Spring 2006

This cross-shaped brooch is made from bronze and gold. It was

found on the Orkney Islands in Scotland and is believed to date

from the 7 th to 8 th centuries AD. Brooches were usually worn on the

shoulders to fasten shawls or cloaks.

The brooch measures 4.6cm long by 2.45cm wide with gold leaf on

top and is decorated with a criss-cross pattern decoration. Later

Viking brooches in the 9 th and 10 th centuries AD were dome

shaped ovals with the pin and catch hidden inside the dome.

Rich people would have owned brooches of gold or silver. Like

many other personal possessions, brooches were often buried with

the dead but the practice of depositing grave goods ended around

the 11 th century AD with the gradual coming of Christianity.

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Education Resource

People in the Past – Spring 2006

This well-preserved set of folding scales and lead weights were

probably found in a Viking burial on the island of Gigha in

Scotland. The pans are of tinned bronze with geometrical designs

made by scraping the surface.

Before the introduction of standard coins, weighing silver against

regulated weights was an essential part of commercial

transactions. Traders would have used lightweight scales, which

were designed to fold away neatly. Weights used with them were

often decorated with engraved designs.

One arm of the balance beam is missing; the other is folded

upright. They would have originally been suspended by fine chains

from the two little metal birds that hung from the end of the beam.

Consider what things could have been bought and sold by the

Viking traders using these scales and weights.

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Education Resource

People in the Past – Spring 2006

This silver coin was made in Afghanistan more than 1300 years

ago. One side shows the figure of the Islamic King who ruled the

area; the other side shows symbols representing a religious

ceremony and Islamic letters.

These silver coins called dirhams, travelled around because the

Vikings traded with the Arabic world. The Vikings did not use these

coins to pay for things; instead they melted them down and made

them into rings or metal bars.

Sometimes the coins were cut up to make the correct weight for

the payment. We know this as Viking traders used scales to check

this. Whole and cut-up Arabic coins have been found in Viking

treasure hoards similar to the Skaill Hoard found in Scotland.

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