A newly translated runic inscription has shed light on the Galloway Hoard, considered to be one of the richest collections of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain and Ireland when it was uncovered by a a metal detectorist in Balmaghie, near Kirkcudbright, in 2014.
Chairperson Christopher Smith said: “It has been fascinating to see the succession of significant discoveries over the life of the Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard project, from the exotic origins of some of its star pieces to the presence of named individuals and now this latest exciting discovery.”.
The inscription “IIGNA” could be interpreted as the Old English word “higna”, which had been used elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon documents to allude to a religious community, with the first letter spelt in an unusual, but understandable way.
Mystery over Viking treasure solved after runic inscription deciphered Experts have theorised who owned the treasure which was buried more than a thousand years ago.
Researchers had long struggled to make sense of the runic inscription carved inside the curved half of the arm ring, which read “DIS IS IIGNA F”.
