Rare Viking-age treasure begins international tour

The Galloway hoard is set to be on display in Adelaide in Australia next year

One of the UK's most important archaeological finds this century is set to go on show for the first time outside the UK early next year, as it begins its international tour.

The Viking-age Galloway Hoard - buried about AD 900 - was unearthed in a south of Scotland field by metal detectorist Derek McLennan in 2014.

It contains a variety of objects and materials, including a rare Anglo-Saxon cross, pendants, brooches, bracelets and relics.

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Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, once graced by Henry VIII and Catherine Howard, has revealed itself as a hotbed of supernatural defence. Thanks to the eagle-eyed efforts of English Heritage volunteer Rick Berry, this 15th-century manor now boasts the most identified 'witches marks' of any of the charity’s 400 historic properties.

Over two years, Berry uncovered around 20 carvings, with a particular concentration in the servants' wing.

These apotropaic marks – or ‘witches marks’ – designed to ward off evil, include everything from rudimentary circles (believed to trap demons) to intricate overlapping 'V's, or Marian marks, invoking the Virgin Mary’s protection.

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Anglo-Saxons plagiarized a Roman coin — and it's full of typos

An unusual piece of Anglo-Saxon jewelry — a plagiarized pendant rife with typos — that was discovered by a metal detectorist has now been declared treasure in the U.K.

The pendant imitates a Roman coin called a solidus, a type of gold coin introduced by the emperor Constantine in the fourth century A.D. It was discovered in January 2023 near the town of Attleborough in Norfolk, England, and dates to the late fifth to early sixth century. The piece of jewelry copies the imagery and inscriptions found on coins from the time of emperor Honorius, ruler of the Western Roman Empire from A.D. 393 to 423.

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The Royal Palace at Bamberg

After 1007 Bamberg castle was rebuilt as a modern cathedral and palace complex. Likely, it turned out to be an ideal prototype for other similar building projects at Paderborn, Goslar and elsewhere

In 973, Otto II presented his cousin, Heinrich der der Zänker ( Henry the Wrangler), with the keys to Babenberg Castle near the confluence of the rivers Regnitz and the Main. When Heinrich der Zänker was granted Bamberg, the castle on the later Domberg was already impressive. Archaeologists have shown that already in 902, the Babenberg – later Bamberg – was a heavily fortified castle domineering a riverine landscape with a village down to the river. For several years, it was used as a state prison for the Italian king, Berengar II, who died there in 966.

Later, Heinrich II, at that time Duke of Bavaria, presented his wife, Kunegunde, with Bamberg as her matrimonial gift; he granted her a thriving and vital city, which they later transformed into a diocese in 1007, and where they built the first cathedral, consecrated in 1012.

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140-year-old message in a bottle found in Viking burial mound in Norway

Archaeologists excavated the Myklebust ship mound and found a 140-year-old message in a bottle left by the site’s discoverer, photos show. Photo from the University of Bergen

When researchers began reexcavating a Viking burial mound in Norway, they knew they were following the footsteps of an influential archaeologist. What they didn’t know was that he’d left them a note 140 years ago. The Myklebust Ship is the one of the largest Viking ships ever found in Norway, reaching about 100 feet long in its original form. Archaeologist Anders Lorange unearthed the burnt ship in a large burial mound in Nordfjordeid in 1874, according to the Sagastad Viking Center dedicated to the find. The massive treasure-filled grave — likely belonging to a Viking king — was “only halfway excavated” before being filled in, the museum said.

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