For generations, Viking storytellers regaled listeners with tales of vast treasure hoards guarded by fire-breathing dragons, but real treasure troves from the Viking world are relatively rare.

Today, researchers unveiled the contents of a spectacular Viking hoard discovered 18 months ago in Scotland’s Galloway region by a metal detectorist. The treasures range from silver armbands inscribed with runes, Anglo-Saxon silver brooches, gold jewelry, bits of ornamentally stitched silk, and even precious plant remains, all buried in a richly decorated metal vessel.

As always with this kind of find, one wonders what was the fate of those who buried the treasure.  Were they killed and all knowledge of the location lost, or was the location of the hoard held by the enemies of those who deposited until all those who knew where it was were gone?  How many more of these rich caches are laying but a few inches under the soil, waiting for their discovery by the lucky hunter?

 Via the History Blog