Summary

Rim mount of silver, for an Anglo-Saxon blast horn, from Burghead, 850 - 890 AD

Accession Number

X.IL 214

Other references

Original description

VIKING PERIOD. Silver Mounting of Drinking-horn, 2 3/4" dia. Burghead, Elginshire. [MoS description] Moving things, travelling people. Moved within North Britain. The Anglian occupation. Items found outside the Anglian occupation. (26) Rim mount for blast horn, Burghead. 600 - 900 AD. [Scran caption] This silver mount for a blast horn was found at the important Pictish site of Burghead in Moray. It was either obtained as loot or a gift from the Northumbrian Angles, who controlled southern Scotland from the 7th until the 10th centuries. The decoration of the mount is in a style known as Trewiddle ornament, widespread in 9th century Anglo-Saxon England. It has a suspension loop, suggesting it may have been used as a blast horn. The mount is imperfect and cracked in several places. Cattle horns, embellished with elaborate metal mounts at the mouth and metal terminals at the point, were high status possessions in Anglo-Saxon and Viking societies. Some were used as drinking horns. Others were probably blown as a battle horn. Date: Between 850 and 890. Material: Silver. Dimensions: Diameter: 75 mm. References - Webster, Leslie and Backhouse, Janet. The making of England. Anglo-Saxon art and culture AD 600-900. London: British Museum Press, 1991, pp 272-3.; Graham-Campbell, J.A. The 9th century Anglo-Saxon horn-mount from Burghead, Morayshire, Scotland. Medieval Archaeology 17 (1973), pp 43-51.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Burghead, Morayshire, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1862

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Dick Lauder, Charlotte Anne, 1785 - 1864

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image