Sir, – Informative though it was to read the vivid reflections on slavery in the Irish Viking age (Weekend Review, November 12th), the object whose illustration accompanies this piece almost certainly is not a “slave chain”.
It is far more likely to have been used in the suspension of a cooking pot over a centrally placed open hearth of the type then in vogue. The hook on one of the terminals was probably to grip something like a pot handle.
The item illustrated is unlikely to have been a slave chain because it lacks the collar and the large typical doubled back links which facilitated opening and closing round the necks of alleged captives. The large links also sometimes accommodated padlocks.
Incidentally, the piece in question is also described as having been gilded.
Gold was rarely applied to iron in the Viking age. The decorative process in question is far more likely to be the result of tinning (either by direct application of tin or by its being hammered on to the iron surface) or, less likely, silvering. Tinning was commonly applied to keys, ornaments, locks and other iron objects by the blacksmiths of Viking Dublin and York.
Finally, I am puzzled as to the relative tightness of the suggested chronological range for the collar, late 9th/early 10th century.
The Wood Quay evidence would suggest a broader time span for objects of this type, produced in the typical twisted manner and decorated with tinning, say 10th, 11th and even early 12th centuries. – Yours, etc,