Scoto-Scandinavian 'ring-money' and Ireland

Sheehan, John

Scoto-Scandinavian 'ring-money' and Ireland

Files

Sheehan_2016_'Ring-money'.pdf(4.92 MB)

Published version

Date

2016-11

Authors

Sheehan, John

Publisher

Shetland Heritage Publications

Abstract

‘Ring-money’ is the term used to describe a distinctive type of silver ring manufactured in Scandinavian Scotland during the mid 10th and mid 11th century, where it may have been used as a form of currency. Although the term was used by 19th-century antiquarians and ethnologists to describe ring-shaped objects from various periods and cultures, including the Viking Age, its usage in now generally restricted to the particular type of ring that is characteristic of Viking Age Scotland. The aim of this paper is to outline and consider the occurrence of this diagnostically Scoto-Scandinavian cultural artefact type in Viking Age Ireland.

Keywords

Ring money , Scandinavian Scotland , Scoto-Scandinavian culture , Viking age Ireland , Viking age , Viking age archaeology , Viking Ireland , Hiberno-Scandinavian

Citation

Sheehan, J. (2016) 'Scoto-Scandinavian 'ring-money' and Ireland', in Turner, V. E., Owen, O. A. and Waugh D. J. (ed.) Shetland and the Viking World: Papers from the Proceedings of the Seventeenth Viking Congress, Lerwick, Lerwick: Shetland Heritage Publications, pp. 271-277. isbn: 978-0-9932740-3-9