The Tromsø Burial or ''Tromsø Grave Group'' is a significant hoard of

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

objects found near

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

, in the far north of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, in the late nineteenth century. Since 1900, the group has been part of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

's early medieval collection.British Museum Collection
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Discovery

This group of jewellery was found in a woman's grave near Tromsø in the late nineteenth century by the famous English adventurer Arnold Pike, who also spent the 1888/89 winter exploring the island of Spitsbergen. Pike is said to have excavated several

mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * ...

on the island of Tussøya, where this grave group was discovered, although the exact provenance remains sketchy. All the objects from the woman's grave were purchased by the British Museum in 1900.

Description

The hoard consists of various items of jewellery that were made in different parts of Europe. The two brooches are typically

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n in design, but the patterned

millefiori Millefiori () is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ''Curiosities of ...

glass beads were imported from the

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

kingdoms. The oval Viking brooch is decorated with a complex interlace pattern and the form of an unusual-looking animal, that seen from above, appears to cross its legs over its back. Other objects include a gilt copper disc-on-bow

brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with g ...

, three rock

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

beads, a spindle-whorl and a necklace made of twenty two glass beads.

Discovery

Description

See also

References

Further reading