EARLY MEDIEVAL BRACELET

Description: Part of a silver bracelet, probably Early Medieval Viking hack-silver. The find consists of a short length of a curved silver rod of varying circular and oval section. It has been cut obliquely across both ends; with a single cut at one end and two cuts at opposing angles at the other end giving the rod a pointed end, and perhaps indicating the use of nippers or shears. The rod is decorated with oblique lines giving a twisted effect. Near the end with the multifaceted cut, one face of the rod is flattened and plain, and the opposite side is decorated with small triangular stamp marks, each containing three pellets.Fragments of silver rod are often found in Viking-period hoards and derive from cut-up bracelets, or other objects of jewellery (cf tapering rod fragments in the 10th-century hoard from Aalborg Klostermark, Denmark in R. Skovmand, 1942, "De danske Skattefund fra Vikingetiden od den ældste Middelalder indtil omkring 1150", Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1942, 1-275, fig. 8).The fragment from the Spofforth area is from an arm-ring of 'Permian' type of the 9th/early 10th century, complete examples of which have polyhedral terminals and are found