Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 16

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
No clear traces of human activity were observed on the spot, the hoard seemingly having been dug
some 50-70 cm deep down into untouched soil. The board was uncovered by a power shovel, which
by a stroke of luck barely touched it, and there is good reason to think that nothing was lost of the
hoard.
The farm people at Miðhús lost no time in notifying the National Museum of the find, and
archaeologists from there were on the spot the very same day and made a thorough after-search the
day after. Traces of some not easily identifiable material seem to be the remains of a pouch or a
casket, in which the hoard lay when buried.
The hoard weighs 653,5 g and consists of neck-rings, arnt-rings and hack-silver. There are no
coins in it. There are three neck-rings, one of them weighing 138,46 g, by far the most impressive
trinket in the hoard. It is made from tliree twisted rods, whi.'h towards the ends meet in plain termi-
nals with scrolled hooks. The other two neck-rings are made in the same way from two rods only,
the terminals flattened and with simple hooks. A ring made in the same manner from twisted rods
might possibly be taken for an arm-ring, the ends wound carelessly together and without real
terminals. There is only one really good arm-ring, made from a plain round rod, closed by an
elaborate knot, which has many identical counterparts in several Scandinavian silver finds. A small
twisted ring is hung on to this piece, probably to make it fit a certain weight. The rest of the hoard
consists of hack-silver, although some of the fragments rnay originally be parts of some orna-
ments. One of the fragments is the broken-off end of a round rod with a roughly cube-shaped
knob with holes on two opposite sides. On another fragment there are stamped heartshaped figu-
res, and on yet another one faint traces of stamped dots and small circles.
The over-all impression of the hoard is that it is in full harmony with Viking Age silver hoards
found in various places in the Norse area. No doubt it is from the lOth century, but a more precise
dating is hardly warranted. All the rings are more or less brought out of shape by rough handling,
and as a whole the hoard niust certainly be looked upon as bullion. The author points oul that in the
Viking Age weight system one mörk (pl. merkr) of silver is thought to have been approximately
214,32 g. The weight of the hoard from Miðhús is 653,5 g, which would seent to mean 3 merkr, with
the precision which could reasonably be expected.
The silver is in an excellent state of preservation, actually shining as if it had never been buried.
The quality is good, 900/1000, which is only slightly poorer than the Sterling silver now commonly
used by silver-smiths.