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Description: | Treasure Case No: 2006 T629
Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate gold content for the ring of 70-73%, and 24-26% silver, the remainder being copper; it weighs 2.61 grams.
The ring consists of a slightly convex gold band tapering towards each end, one of which has been broken off; length: 20 mm. It is decorated with two rows of interlocking punched triangles containing single pellets and forming two raised zigzags either side of a median ridge. The other end is square with folded-back corners and both ends have been crushed inwards, apparently in antiquity.
Both the form of the ring and the decoration are typical of Viking rings of the 9th-10th centuries AD found in Scandinavian graves and silver hoards, e.g. from Tarup, Denmark and Gotland, Sweden (R. Skovmand, 1942, ??De danske Skattefund fra Vikingetiden og den ??ldste Middelalder indtil omkring 1150??, Aarb??ger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1942, 1-275, fig. 19; J. Graham-Campbell, 1980, Viking Artefacts: A select catalogue, London, pl. 237; and L. Thunmark-Nyl??n, 1998, Die Wikingerzeit Gotlands, pl. 143, 23-28). Punch-decorated gold rings of broadly similar form have been found at Thetford in 1905 and Beachamwell, Norfolk, but the latter (recorded as a Treasure find, ref. 2004 T267) originally had knotted ends (A. Rogerson & C. Dallas, 1984, Excavations in Thetford 1948-59 and 1973-80, East Anglian Archaeology Report no. 22, p.68, fig. 110, 12; DCMS Treasure Annual Report 2004, pp 68-9, no. 86, figs. 86.1, 86.2).
The ring from the Pocklington area would therefore qualify as Treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content exceeds 10%.
Note: A Viking punched silver ring of different form from Bolton, E. Yorkshire, was recorded as a Treasure find in the DCMS Treasure Annual Report 2001, p. 34, no. and fig. 45; and others from Great Finborough, Suffolk, Five Mile Lane, Vale of Glamorgan, and Moreton Bagot, Warwickshire, in the DCMS Treasure Annual Report 2002, pp 62-4, nos. 52, 52A, and 53. Further potential Viking Treasure items are a gold ring from near Bexhill, East Sussex, and a silver ring from Cumwhitton, Cumbria, which have been reported to the Coroners (2003 T409, and 2004 T255; DCMS Treasure Annual Report 2004, pp 71-2, no. 90.1, fig. 90.1). | Subjects: | Viking | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Andrews-Wilson, Liz - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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