A gold cross pendant discovered near Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, England, is inscribed with the previously unknown Anglo-Saxon name “Eadruf.” The solid gold cross is of a simple Latin form with the longest arm at the top. It is an inch long and .6 inches wide on the crossbar. Runes were incised down the length of the arm to just past crossbar. The foot of the cross and the horizontal arms are inscribed with equal-armed crosses. It is perforated at the apex and the crude hole filed to smooth some of its rough edges, but this was done after the runes were carved, likely after its original top-mounted loop was lost so it was modified to be suspended from a hole instead. It dates to between 700 and 900 A.D.

The pendant was found last year by a metal detectorist on the banks of the River Tweed. There are very few comparable examples. Most early Anglo-Saxon crosses are equal armed, and none have been found before with runic inscriptions.

When the finder reported it the Portable Antiquities Scheme, they consulted several specialists were enlisted to examine the cross and translate the inscription.

From the report by Professor John Hines of Cardiff University:

It seems likely from the width and shape of the cuts that the three incised crosses at the ‘head’ end of the shaft and in either arm were cut at the same time as the runes. Six runes can be identified, reading left to right from the ‘foot’ of the shaft, with the first two drilled through by the wide perforation. […]

Artefacts such as this are quite often inscribed with the personal name of a person with whom the object had been associated (usually to be assumed as the possessor, if nothing else is indicated). Old English personal names beginning Ead- (‘happiness’, ‘fortune’) are common, but the only two known with a second element beginning r- are Eadred and Eadric. No personal-name element ruf can be identified in any Germanic language, and Eadruf would therefore be a hitherto unknown and etymologically mysterious name.

The findspot is also mysterious, in that there are no archaeological remains of an early medieval settlement in the area. At the time the pendant was made, the Tweedmouth area was part of a group of holdings belonging to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, but while there are records indicating a church or abbey may have been in the vicinity, there is zero archaeological evidence of any structure from the early Middle Ages. Artifacts have been thin on the ground too. Other than this cross, the only other object from Anglo-Saxon period found here is a late 10th century copper-alloy strap fitting.

The oldest ink pen ever found in Ireland has been discovered at Caherconnell Cashel, a medieval drystone ring fort in in the Burren, County Clare. The shaft of the dip pen is made from hollow bird bone, the nib from bronze. It dates to the 11th century, a time when literacy was rare and even among the literate elite feather quills were the more common implement.

Bigger than most stone ringforts, Caherconnell was in continuous use from when it was built in the late 10th century until the beginning of the 17th, and excavations have recovered thousands of objects and remains. That it was built for a high-status family, local rulers, certainly, perhaps even royal, is attested to by the density, quality and diversity of the artifacts unearthed there. Among the 1800+ objects unearthed at the site are fragments from musical instruments, game pieces, coins and items of personal adornment like bone combs, bronze dress pins and amber beads. The large amount of land mammal, bird and fish bones, grains, marine shells and nut shells confirm that the residents of Caherconnell had a plentiful and varied diet.

The pen was found last year in the 11th century occupation phase of the ringfort. The layer also contained other high-status artifacts, including a decorated gold strip. Because ink dip pens are unheard of from this time in Ireland and pens in general were far more the province of the clergy than the laity, elite though they may have been, archaeologists needed to test the object’s function.

Those reasons urged caution and lead to the creation of a replica implement to test whether it functioned as a pen. Adam Parsons of Blueaxe Reproductions manufactured the replica, a replica that testing confirmed does work perfectly as a dip pen. So, it seems that this does indeed represent the earliest known ink pen in Ireland.

Feather quills were the more common writing implement at the time, but a pen like the one from Caherconnell would have been ideally suited to fine work – maybe even the drawing of fine lines, as suggested by expert calligrapher and historian Tim O’Neill: “A metal pen from such an early date is still hard to credit! But the fact that it functions with ink is there to see. It would have worked well for ruling straight lines to form, for instance, a frame for a page.”

While Church scribes copied and created all manner of ecclesiastical texts, it seems likely that a secular scribe might have used a pen like this to record family lineages and/or trade exchanges.

There is evidence of international trade (foreign coins, imported objects) at the fort, and given the huge quantities of animal bones and waste from metalworking and textile production, Caherconnell’s owners had plenty of things to keep track of and inventory.

A small statuette of a crowned figure with a peregrine falcon has been found in an excavation of the historic downtown of Oslo. The design of the hair and clothing dates the figurine to the 13th century, which makes it one of the earliest representations of falconry in Scandinavia, and one of only a handful of falconry-related art from the period found in all of Northern Europe.

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have been surveying the Middelalderparken (Medieval Park) site in Oslo’s Old Town since August, unearthing remains of the city’s medieval streets, buildings and infrastructure. Their heroic efforts continued into the Norwegian winter,

The figure is 7.5 cm (3″) high and made of either bone or antler. It is a long, flattish oval carved on both sides. The figure has a peaceful smile and neck-length hair. Its not clear if the individual is male or female, as the braided hair and long robe could have been worn by either a king or a queen. The crown is short and crenellated with holes in the center of the high sections.

The falcon is perched on the monarch’s right arm which is protected by a hawking glove. The bird’s feathers are carved in a grid pattern. Both human and bird have drilled holes for eyes. There is also a hole through the bottom of the figure, indicating that it may have been the haft of a knife.

It was discovered in a waste layer a stone’s throw from the Kongsgården, the royal estate in Oslo, which in the mid-13th century was expanded into a fortified castle by Haakon IV Haakonsson (r.  1217-1263). Haakon IV was literate and cultured. He consolidated the power of the Norwegian monarchy after years of civil wars and sought to pattern Norway’s court along European lines. Literate and well-educated from a young age, he commissioned the first Norse translations of the chansons de geste. His royal estates were modeled after the monumental palaces of Europe and his foreign policy was focused on building friendly trade relations with the rulers of neighboring countries in northern Europe, Haneatic towns and the Mediterranean.

As part of alliance building, he gifted falcons far beyond the European continent. Alliances were entered into and maintained through marriages and gifts. The most precious gift a Norwegian king could give was a falcon.

Since falconry was a common royal and noble practice throughout the Middle Ages, we cannot say for certain that the figure portrays King Håkon. However, dating and context indicates that it is a strong possibility.

A piece of gold art jewelry found by a metal detectorist in a field near Bøvling, West Jutland, is an extremely rare 11th century cloisonné enamel earring. Only 10 or 12 examples of them are known worldwide, and this is the first one ever discovered in Scandinavia.

The crescent-shaped earring is backed with a crescent-shaped gold plate framed with a gold beaded edge decorated with gold loops. The piece is made of cloisonné enamel in shades of purple, green and blue is divided by gold threads to form a stylized design of two birds on either side of a tree. This symbolizes the tree of life motif. This type of earring design has been found in Egypt, Syria, Byzantium and Russia. This example is likely of Egyptian origin.

The only other gold and cloisonné enamel object from the 11th or 12th century Denmark that can compare with this piece in craftsmanship is the exceptional Dagmar Cross which was found in a royal tomb under St. Bendt’s Church in Ringsted. The Dagmar Cross is much more elaborate, a reliquary of Byzantine origin, but like the earring, it would have been inaccessible to anybody in Viking Denmark as a trade good, even if they had been able to afford the astronomical expense. These had to have been gifts from extremely wealthy foreign dignitaries, perhaps even the Byzantine emperor.

That makes the earring’s presence in a Bøvling field even more mysterious. It was not found in a royal tomb. There aren’t even any known Viking settlements anywhere around Bøvling, let alone royal graves.

An entertaining speculative romp on the topic from National Museum of Denmark curator Peter Pentz:

“One explanation may be that many Vikings went into war service for the Byzantine emperor, who had a bodyguard consisting of warriors from Scandinavia. We know from the Icelandic sagas that the mercenaries came home from the East with silk and weapons, and it is also said that the emperor occasionally donated fine gifts to his bodyguard. So it is conceivable that the earring was given personally by the emperor to a trusted Viking in the bodyguard. And then it must have been lost under unknown circumstances in Denmark,” says Peter Pentz.

One possibility is also that a pilgrim has brought home the jewelry. It could, for example, be King Erik Ejegod, who traveled to Jerusalem with his wife Bodil. The king himself died on the journey.

The earring went on display Monday at the National Museum’s The Raid exhibition which combines precious objects from the Viking Age with a cinematic recreation of the raids that secured so much of that treasure.