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Description: | TREASURE CASE 2011 T805: The pendant is cast in the form of a plain, flat, double-headed hammer with a plain tapered, circular-sectioned shaft (now bent out of shape). The head of the pendant is an elongated pentagon in form (sub-triangular). The head is narrowest at its midpoint, where it joins the shaft, and then flares slightly to either side of this so that the ends of the hammer head represent the thickest parts. The tip of the tapered shaft was probably originally bent back on itself to form a suspension loop but the shaft is now bent at approximately 90 degrees to the head of the pendant and the tip is straight. The shaft has signs of stress from having been bent with transverse cracking and some loss of surface in the area of the bend & also at the tip. The head shows little sign of wear and there are slight file markings on both faces. The pendant has a deep black-grey patina overall.The object belongs to a series of Viking-period pendants thought to represent Mjollnir, the hammer of the Norse god Thor. They are found widely distributed in areas of Viking settlement from England (in the Danelaw and the northwest), Iceland and Normandy to Scandinavia and Russia, in male and female graves, hoards and settlement sites. Over a dozen English examples are known, mostly of silver and some of which may have been made in the Danelaw. Examples include three from Leconfield, East Yorkshire, Essex, and Wetwang, East Yorkshire, reported as potential Treasure in 1998 and 2002 (L. Webster, 2000, "Leconfield (1), East Yorkshire: Viking-period silver Thor's hammer", Treasure Annual Report 1998-1999, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, p. 52, no. 88; 2002/T.168 and 2002/T.266). One from Great Witchingham, Norfolk, has a gold insert (Treasure Annual Report 2003, no. 98) and is illustrated together with other hammer pendants from Norfolk, at least two of which have perforated and broken ends, by R. Hall (2007, Exploring the World of the Vikings, London, p. 107; in lit., J. Graham-Campbell). The English ones are mostly plain, or simply decorated, e.g. the silver example from the Cuerdale hoard, Lancs. of the late 9th/beginning of the 10th century, which has a long shaft and also ends in a loop rather than a hole for suspension (E. Hawkins, 1847, "An account of coins and treasure found in Cuerdale", Archaeological Journal, 4, pp. 111-30, fig. 85).Dimensions: Thickness: 3.4 mm (apex of hammerhead - midpoint), 3.78mm (base of hammerhead - midpoint) 4.19mm/4.42mm (ends of hammerhead) Width: 29.13mm (hammerhead end-to-end) Length: 39.01mm (hammerhead apex to tip of shaft), Weight: 7.4g.As the object is more than 10% precious metal and more than 300 years old, it fulfils the requirements of the 1996 Treasure Act.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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