Hacksilver (sometimes referred to as hacksilber) consists of fragments of cut and bent silver items that were used as bullion or as currency by weight during the Middle Ages.
Hacksilver (sometimes referred to as hacksilber) consists of fragments of cut and bent silver items that were used as bullion or as currency by weight during the Middle Ages.
Hacksilver was common among the Norsemen or Vikings, as a result of both their raiding and trade. Hacksilver may also have been used by Romans in their dealings with Pictish tribes. [1] The name of the ruble, the basic unit of modern Russian currency, is derived from the Russian verb рубить ('rubit'), meaning "to chop", from the practice of the Rus', described by Ahmad ibn Fadlan visiting the Volga Vikings in 922.[ citation needed ] An example of the related Viking weighing scale with weights was found on the Isle of Gigha. [2] Hacksilver may be derived from silver tableware, Roman or Byzantine, church plate and silver objects such as reliquaries or book-covers, and jewellery from a range of areas. Hoards may typically include a mixture of hacksilver, coins, ingots and complete small pieces of jewellery.
Hoards of hacksilver are also well known in pre and post-coinage antiquity, in European and Near Eastern contexts. The Cisjordan Corpus (c.1200-586 BC) is the largest identified concentration of pre-coinage hacksilver hoards, and provides key evidence for the Phoenician and wider Near Eastern roots of the development and proliferation of the earliest silver coinages in the Greek world and western tradition.
The widespread adoption of Greek silver coinages by c. 480 BC appears to have developed first out of cooperative relations between Greeks and Phoenicians, then partly as a competitive, culturally consolidating response to earlier Phoenician expansion and domination of silver trade, which had been conducted with hacksilver. Within the Cisjordan Corpus, a concentration of hacksilver hoards occurs in a part of southern Phoenicia that was recorded in antiquity as a territory of the Shardana tribes of Sea Peoples associated with Sardinia. Thompson, in her analyses of the hacksilver pieces, relates this textual evidence to lead isotope ratios that have ore signatures matching Sardinian ores. This is the first recognized material evidence linking the two regions in this critical period. [3] The same hacksilver hoards have provided the first recognized provenance-evidence for far-reaching contact between Europe and Asia related to the prehistoric trafficking of metals. [4] [5]
Tarshish occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place far across the sea from Phoenicia and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported vast quantities of important metals to Phoenicia and Israel. The same place name occurs in the Akkadian inscriptions of Assyrian king Esarhaddon and also on the Phoenician inscription of the Nora Stone in Sardinia; its precise location was never commonly known, and was eventually lost in antiquity. Legends grew up around it over time so that its identity has been the subject of scholarly research and commentary for more than two thousand years.
A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by metal detector hobbyists, members of the public, and archaeologists.
Traprain Law is a hill 6 km (4 mi) east of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. It is the site of a hill fort or possibly oppidum, which covered at its maximum extent about 16 ha. It is the site of the Traprain Law Treasure, the largest Roman silver hoard from anywhere outside the Roman Empire which included exquisite silver artefacts.
The Cuerdale Hoard is a hoard of more than 8,600 items, including silver coins, English and Carolingian jewellery, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 15 May 1840 on the southern bank of a bend of the River Ribble, in an area called Cuerdale near Preston, Lancashire, England. The Cuerdale Hoard is one of the largest Viking silver hoards ever found, four times larger than its nearest rival in Britain or Ireland, according to Richard Hall. In weight and number of pieces, it is second only to the Spillings Hoard found on Gotland, Sweden.
Oswald was king of East Anglia, present-day United Kingdom in the 870s after the death of Edmund the Martyr. No textual evidence of his reign is known, but coins inscribed with his name are known.
The Vale of York Hoard, also known as the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard, is a 10th-century Viking hoard of 617 silver coins and 65 other items. It was found undisturbed in 2007 near the town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The hoard was the largest Viking one discovered in Britain since 1840, when the Cuerdale hoard was found in Lancashire, though the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, found in 2009, is larger.
Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.
The Cheste hoard is an Iberian hoard discovered near the town of Cheste, Valencia, Spain, in 1864. Dating to about 200 BCE, the hoard was found buried in two pots and contained gold jewellery, silver coins and silver ingots. It is currently held in the Valencia History Museum.
Prehistoric Shetland refers to the prehistoric period of the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, when it was first occupied by humans. The period prior to human settlement in Shetland is known as the geology of Scotland. Prehistory in Shetland does not end until the beginning of the Early Medieval Period in Scotland, around AD 600. More than 5,000 archaeological sites have been recorded in the Shetland Islands.
In the early Middle Ages, there were distinct material cultures evident in the different federations and kingdoms within what is now Scotland. Pictish art was the only uniquely Scottish medieval style; it can be seen in the extensive survival of carved stones, particularly in the north and east of the country, which hold a variety of recurring images and patterns. It can also be seen in elaborate metal work that largely survives in buried hoards. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata suggests that it was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed.
Norrie's Law hoard is a sixth century silver hoard discovered in 1819 at a small mound in Largo, Fife, Scotland. Found by an unknown person or persons, most of the hoard was illegally sold or given away, and has disappeared. Remaining items of the hoard were found later at the mound, and were turned over to the landowner, General Philip Durham. The surviving 170 pieces from the hoard are now in the National Museum of Scotland. The treasure consists mostly of hacksilver and includes four complete silver pieces. Both Roman and much rarer Pictish objects are among the survivals.
Viking coinage was used during the Viking Age of northern Europe. Prior to the usage and minting of coins, the Viking economy was predominantly a bullion economy, where the weight and size of a particular metal is used as a method of evaluating value, as opposed to the value being determined by the specific type of coin. By the ninth century, the Viking raids brought them into contact with cultures well familiarised with the use of coins in economies of Europe, hence influencing the Vikings own production of coins.
The Bedale Hoard is a hoard of forty-eight silver and gold items dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD and includes necklaces, arm-bands, a sword pommel, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 22 May 2012 in a field near Bedale, North Yorkshire, by metal detectorists, and reported via the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Following a successful public funding campaign, the hoard was acquired by the Yorkshire Museum for £50,000.
Skaill House is a historic manor house in Sandwick parish on Mainland, the largest of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The house overlooks the neolithic site, Skara Brae, and the Bay of Skaill.
The Dairsie Hoard is a hoard of late 3rd century Roman hacksilver that was found near Dairsie, Fife, Scotland in 2014 by a teenage boy, David Hall, at a metal-detecting rally. The hoard comprises over 300 pieces of silver, including fragments of at least four vessels. The artifacts were on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh between October 2017 and February 2018. Fraser Hunter, principal curator at National Museums Scotland stated that the hacksilver may have been a gift or payment to local Pictish tribes by the Roman army.
The Cisjordan corpus of Phoenician Iron Age hacksilber (hacksilver), dated between 1200 and 586 BC, is the largest identified collection of pre-coinage silver in the ancient Near East. The corpus was identified by Christine Marie Thompson in 2003. The corpus is composed of 34 silver hoards found at 15 sites in ancient southern Phoenicia or modern Israel and Israeli-occupied territories, this area is termed "Cisjordan". Significant hoards have been found at Tel Dor, Eshtemoa, Tell Keisan, Ein Hofez, and Akko. The other hoards were found at Megiddo, Bet Shean, Shechem, Shiloh, Gezer, Tel Miqne-Ekron, Ashkelon, Ajjul, Ein Gedi, and Arad.
The Storr Rock Hoard is a collection of silver coins dating from the 10th century with some originating from central Asia, found on the Isle of Skye in northern Scotland. A number of the coins have been identified as dirhams, originating from Central Asia. They have Arabic script, and are a rare find in the area, and are evidence of the extensive trade routes that were in use during the time of their origin.
The Traprain Law treasure is a hoard of late Roman hacksilver, found on the hillfort of Traprain Law during excavations in 1919. It is the largest hoard of Roman hacksilver currently known, weighing just over 23 kg. It consists mostly of Roman silver vessels, a few of which are complete but most of which had been cut into fragments or crushed. There are a few items of personal equipment and coins. The hoard was probably buried in the early fifth century AD. Early interpretations saw it as loot; more recent views prefer to see it as diplomatic gifts or payment for military service. It is currently on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The Talnotrie Hoard is a 9th-century mixed hoard of jewellery, coinage, metal-working objects and raw materials found in Talnotrie, Scotland, in 1912. Initially assumed to have belonged to a Northumbrian metal-worker, more recent interpretations associate its deposition with the activities of the Viking Great Army.