This book was written to complement an excellent exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland from October 2017 to February 2018. The displays, like the book, wove a compelling narrative about Scotland's history through the medium of diverse and intriguing silver artefacts, highlighting numerous interesting observations and interpretations.
This book presents to the public much recent research on silver in Scotland which has already been partially published for an academic audience (F. Hunter and K. Painter, Late Roman Silver – The Traprain Treasure in Context (2013)). Silver was generally absent from Iron Age Britain before Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the 50s b.c., and arrived in Scotland mostly in the form of silver denarii during the Flavian period (ch. 2). The authors discuss the subsequent exploitation of lead and silver in ancient and medieval Britain, with a focus on Scotland, mostly the Southern Uplands (ch. 1). The book goes on to tell of the allure of silver to successive societies in Scotland (whether as coins, hack-silver, or recycled to make chains, brooches or arm-rings) from the Roman to the Viking periods. The role of silver in Scottish society is investigated to highlight political, economic, social and cultural events and trends which occurred over the centuries, and it is made clear that silver played a pivotal role in Scottish history.
The book provides new research into well-known discoveries, such as the Traprain Treasure (chs 5–6) and Skaill Hoard (ch. 10), but also highlights more obscure finds, such as the Norrie's Law Treasure (ch. 7). However, the book and exhibition were really only made possible by significant new finds of silver, such as the silver denarius hoards at Birnie (ch. 3), the hack-silver hoards from Dairsie (ch. 4) and Gaulcross (ch. 7) and the diverse medieval objects in the Galloway Hoard (ch. 10). There are also important contributions on recent scientific research by Lore Troalen and Janet Lang, underscoring the fact that many secrets still remain to be unlocked in older finds. It is the presentation of these new finds and research which make the book so compelling and an essential read for scholars.
The authors explain how silver became vital for Roman diplomacy in Scotland from the second to fourth centuries (chs 2–5), showing how the giving of silver subsidies to certain regions could destabilise the internal politics of the indigenous populations. We see how silver denarii gave way to jewellery after the debasement of the coinage and how in the late Roman period hack-silver became the major medium for diplomatic payments, as shown by the Traprain Treasure. However, later hoards, such as those from Gaulcross and Norrie's Law show that silver was beginning to be carefully managed and recycled to make Scottish artefacts, such as the possible Pictish helmet decoration at Norrie's Law (89).
Undoubtedly, the major use of recycled silver in early medieval Scotland was for massive silver chains (weighing up to 3 kg) of which nine survive, two with possible ‘Pictish’ symbols (ch. 8). Recent metallurgical research shows that some of these chains could have been made as early as the fourth century and represented ‘the most conspicuous consumption of an extremely precious resource’. Their significance is also underlined by the fact that most were apparently deposited as ritual offerings, possibly indicating they were too ‘politically charged’ to be recycled.
We then witness the development of an ‘Insular Style’, best shown by penannular brooches, such as the Hunterston brooch of the seventh century which was to survive to be inscribed with Scandinavian runes in the Viking period. With the Vikings there is a fresh supply of good quality silver from Anglo-Saxon England, the Continent and the Near East (Islamic dirhams), the authors suggesting that much of it was payment for slaves who were exported from Scotland and Ireland. In the Viking period we see the advent of the thistle brooch (such as in the Skaill Hoard) and arm-rings (as in the Burray Hoard). Indeed, ‘ring-money’ was to become very popular in Scotland and the Irish Sea zone (ch. 10).
The final chapter (11) provides an excellent synthesis of the role of silver in Scotland, presenting numerous new interpretations concerning the distribution and function of silver. The authors also show how different styles had regional significance, the penannular brooch being the dominant type in Scotland, Ireland and Wales, as opposed to the Roman-derived cross- and disc-shaped brooches in England and on the Continent. Finally, they also note how many hoards might not have been secreted loot, but instead were votive offerings, some even buried on earlier prehistoric sites.
It is not possible to do this book justice in this review. This is partly because it is so succinctly written with a kernel of vital information in almost every sentence. It discusses many new discoveries, presents new research and provides numerous thought-provoking interpretations which change our perception of Scottish history in the ancient and medieval periods. Although it is only a short volume, there are copious footnotes and extensive bibliographies to satisfy the scholar. For those who did not see the exhibition, they will get a feel of the show from the beautiful illustrations. Finally, this book is a masterclass in how to present new material within a coherent and accessible narrative which can appeal both to the scholar and the layman — as such it should be mandatory reading for all prospective university academics and museologists.
