And amongst more than 250 pieces of hacked-up Roman silver from
the hoard are two small pieces from one of the biggest silver
dishes in the whole of the Roman world.
Reconstructing the Traprain Law dish
New research combined with laser scanning technology have
allowed us to reconstruct for the first time quite how big
this dish was and how sumptuously it was decorated.
The video below shows the digital reconstruction of the
dish.
The massive silver platter measures 70cm in diameter and would
have been used for carrying and serving choice foodstuffs to
important members of society, no doubt at occasions of great
splendour and display.
The silver dish is decorated with an engraved geometric and
floral border divided by portrait busts. This decoration has then
been embellished with niello – a black enamel-like inlay – and
gilding. The reconstructed design is based on small areas of
surviving decoration on the original silver fragments. None of the
middle portion of this dish has survived and so the central
engraved medallion is taken from a very similar dish found in
Switzerland.
Above: Slideshow showing the reconstructed
dish, followed by images of the original fragments.
The Traprain Law hoard
The Traprain Law hoard weighs 22kg and is made up of over 250
fragments of objects which have been cut up either for exchange as
bullion or for melting down and recycling into new objects. The
surviving fragments of this dish weigh almost exactly 8 Roman
ounces, suggesting that they were cut to a deliberate weight
standard for use in dealings with the Roman world. Many of the
fragments from the hoard, including the reconstructed dish, were
originally pieces of exquisite aristocratic silver tableware.
However, these dishes, flagons and platters were not used in
Scotland – instead the hoard of hacked-up silver is likely to have
been given as a diplomatic gift or in payment for mercenary
activity.
Above: Part of the Traprain Law hoard,
which is on display in the Early People gallery at National Museums
of Scotland.
Although composed of Late Roman silver objects, the hoard was
buried around the middle of the 5th century AD, the beginning of
the Early Medieval period. Roman silver had a key role in northern
Britain as a means of demonstrating status and wealth. In Early
Medieval Scotland, this silver was remelted to make status objects.
It was used for instance to make the massive silver chains, the
most complete of which is made from 3kg of solid silver.