Those of you familiar with the books published by the National Museum of Scotland will know that they are beautifully produced, heavily illustrated with numerous images of perfectly lit and presented objects, and this is no different. Just for that, it made for a good memento of the exhibition.
The text of the book is, however, worthwhile as well. It describes the use of silver in Scotland from the arrival of the Romans (and at the same time the arrival of silver as a material) to the settling of the Vikings and their import of large amounts of silver from abroad. In 175 pages it traces how the Roman silver coins and vessels first arrived in Scotland as diplomatic 'gifts', only to be transformed in the coming centuries into new forms of objects, first into hacksilver, and later into new objects, particularly of personal adornment or symbols of power. What makes this story intriguing is that this is not just a dry listing of objects made of Roman silver, but the careful tracking of changes in use and meaning over the centuries. The items used from the Museum's own collection span the entire history of archaeological research in Scotland, from the antiquarian finds such as the Norrie's Law hoard to the coin hoards from Fraser Hunter's Birnie excavations to the recent acquisition of treasures such as the Galloway hoard, which was found in 2014 and formed last year the object of a small exhibition in the Museum as well as a very successful fundraising campaign to acquire the hoard for the Museum and allow further study and thus it follows not only the change of use of the material but also the equally fascinating history of interpretation of these objects and the ways they are studied.
The text is written in a very engaging style and clearly designed for the average educated and adult visitor to the National Museums, but this is not used as an excuse to dumb down, and academics will find the book equally rewarding. In many ways, the book is a great example of the research encouraged over the last decades by the First Millenium Study Group, which set out to study the First Millenium AD without the barriers of periodisation created by earlier periods. So instead of Romans, Migration Period, Picts, Celtic or Anglo-Saxon and Vikings, here the continuations from one period to another are highlighted and the way in which developments can run parallel and influence each other.
Those familiar with Fraser Hunter's work on the Romans and the Iron Age in Scotland will find a lot they may have encountered before, not least in his book on the Traprain Law Treasure, while Alice Blackwell's work in the Museum as part of the Glenmorangie research project on Early Medieval Scotland is equally well known amongst scholars of the period, as is Martin Goldberg's work for the Viking period. The beauty of this book is to see their work brought together to create a coherent narrative covering 1000 years and as such I can only recommend it to everybody.
Book:
A.Blackwell, M.Goldberg, F.Hunter Scotland's Early Silver. Transforming Roman Pay-offs to Pictish Treasures (Edinburgh 2018),
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