Viking Age hoards on Orkney
So far, five hoard finds from the Viking Age have been made on Orkney . Four are silver hoards , one held four gold rings . All hoards were salvaged in the 18th and 19th centuries.
- Found in 1889, the Burray Hort dates from the early 11th century and weighs 1.9 kg. All parts of the second largest Orcadian hoard were made of silver. It consisted of 108 pieces, cut rings, 30 rings, a bangle, a bar, a braided necklace, a decorative ring and three Anglo-Saxon coins (from 998 AD) found in a wooden bowl.
- The Caldale hoard was found in 1774 while cutting peat at St Ola, on the outskirts of Kirkwall, at a depth of about 2.0 m. It consisted of two cattle horns, silver bracelets and their fragments as well as 300 silver pennies from the reign of Canute the Great , king of a North Sea empire , consisting of Denmark, Norway and England (1016 to 1035).
- The Skaill hoard is the largest Viking hoard in Scotland, found near St Peter's Church in Sandwick in 1858. It dates from the 10th century. The approximately 7.5 kg of silver in the hoard consisted of nine brooches, 14 necklaces, 27 arm rings, silver fragments, an assortment of bars and a number of Anglo-Saxon and Arabic coins that date the hoard to 950 AD.
- The Stenness I hoard, found in 1879, consists of four gold rings that show traces of long wear and may not have been deposited until the 12th century.
- Stenness II, found in a burial mound on the Ring of Brodgar, consists of nine silver rings.