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The Viking World

A History in 100 Objects

Austin Mason, Jordan Cahn, Sophie Bokor, Nick Cohen, John Scott, Ben Pletta, Rowan Matney, Justin Berchiolli, Lauren Azuma, Phineas Callahan, Ari Bakke, Nick Carlsen, Sarah Wang, Peter Hanes, Alperen Turkol, Claire Jensen, John Kennelly, Madeline Cosgriff, Quinn Radich, Kai Matsubara-Rall, Leah Sacks, Adante Ratzlaff, Kerim Omer Kadir Celik, Jane Kelly, Liza Davis, Hannah Curtiss, Authors
Hannah Curtiss, page 4 of 4

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Silver Bracelet

Incredibly little is known about this small silver bracelet. Presumed to have once been part of a hoard, it would have been worn by a woman as a show of status1. However, despite the suggestion that it might have been buried in a hoard context, there has been no connection established to other items from known hoard finds. Additionally, the discovery location and context are unknown; it could have been a single item metal detector find or perhaps a private antiquarian dig that unearthed it.

The design of the bracelet features silver punch work with a simple, repeating geometric design and was probably made from melted silver coins of either Arabic or western European provenance2 that were acquired by trade. Dating the production of the bracelet has also proved challenging because the design does not map well onto the existing timeline of Norse jewelry designs, as it lacks some of the more common stylistic elements.The small size strongly suggests that the wearer was most likely female, and the source of the silver indicates that it probably functioned both as ornamentation and as a declaration of her family's wealth and status. Interestingly, the bracelet also features evidence of testing marks inflicted to assess the quality of the silver3, indicating that its owner, or her family, may have encountered a scenario in which hacksilver or other goods were unavailable and the bracelet was used as payment by weight for some necessary good or service.

Despite the very minimal information available about the silver bracelet, the small size and probability that it was worn by a woman to indicate her family's status adds a previously lacking dimension to the modern understanding of the vikings. Most of the early historical texts referencing the vikings make very little mention of the wives and families that stayed behind to keep the farms and households running while the men went a-viking.
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