Newly translated runes shed ‘compelling' new light on who owned Galloway Hoard

Independent

07-02-2025

A newly translated runic inscription has shed 'compelling' new light on who might have owned the Galloway Hoard, experts have announced.
The Viking Age hoard, which contains more than 5kg of gold, silver and other materials, was discovered by a metal detectorist in Balmaghie, near Kirkcudbright, in 2014.
Since then the question of who owned the hoard has remained a mystery.
A number of theories have been put forward, with some suggesting it might have been buried by four owners, based on four arm rings inscribed with Anglo-Saxon runes.
The idea that the wealth this hoard represents would be communally held is fascinating
Martin Goldberg, National Museums Scotland
Three of the inscriptions feature Old English name elements, but the fourth and longest inscription has confounded experts, and remained undeciphered as there was no recognisable direct translation.
However researchers at National Museums Scotland (NMS) who have been studying the hoard have proposed a new translation for the fourth inscription: 'This is the community's wealth/property.'
Martin Goldberg, at NMS, said the translation marked a 'significant development in our understanding of the Galloway Hoard'.
'The idea that the wealth this hoard represents would be communally held is fascinating,' he said.
'It does still leave us with unanswered questions around the circumstances in which a community's wealth would come to be buried, and also which particular community.
'Some material within the hoard, such as the pectoral cross and the rock crystal jar made for a Bishop Hyguald, would support this being a religious community.'
The breakthrough came when researchers realised that the runic inscription carved inside the curved half of the arm ring, reading DIS IS IIGNA F, might be 'technically 'wrong''.
The main issue, they said, was the word 'IIGNAF', which did not correspond to any language spoken in early medieval Britain or Ireland.
The discovery that the final rune, F, was marked out with puncts, or dots, to either side, indicating it could be understood as the name of the F-rune itself 'feoh' (wealth or property), unlocked the new translation.
The researchers said 'IIGNA' could then be interpreted as the Old English word 'higna' (community) with the first letter spelled in an unusual but comprehensible way.
They added that the word 'DIS' also seems to be misspelled – but that it likely means 'this', with the 'Th' being pronounced as a 'D' as is the case in parts of modern Ireland.
Despite these apparent mistakes, the researchers said the full inscription can therefore be translated as 'This is the community's wealth/property', adding that the word 'higna' is often used elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon documents to indicate a religious community.
If we think about both spoken and written English today, there are a huge range of regional and idiomatic variations and, if we allow for this, then it becomes possible to accept this as a plausible reading
Dr David Parsons, University of Wales
Runologist Dr David Parsons, from the University of Wales, who has previously translated other runic inscriptions from the hoard, said the apparent mistakes could be accounted for by 'variations' in the way runes were used.
'This is a difficult and unusual inscription, and the proposed translation is challenging,' he said.
'There are a number of things which are technically 'wrong' when we compare it with what we know about 'correct' runic writing.
'However, if we think about both spoken and written English today, there are a huge range of regional and idiomatic variations and, if we allow for this, then it becomes possible to accept this as a plausible reading.
'And in the context of what (we) can deduce about the Galloway Hoard it becomes really quite compelling.'
The new finding comes at the conclusion of a three-year research project called Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard, which was supported by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Christopher Smith, chairman of the AHRC, said: 'It has been fascinating to see the succession of significant discoveries over the life of the Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard project, from the exotic origins of some of its star pieces to the presence of named individuals and now this latest exciting discovery.'
The arm ring will be on display at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide as part of a new international touring exhibition, Treasures Of The Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard, which opens on Saturday.
Further venues for the international tour are set to be announced in due course, as well as plans for the hoard's future display after the tour's conclusion, including in Kirkcudbright, near where it was discovered.