All that glitters is not gold: Multi-instrumental identification of Viking Age orpiment (As2S3) from Surtshellir cave, Iceland
Kevin P. Smith|Guðmundur Ólafsson
Fragments of orpiment (As2S3) from a Viking Age structure inside Iceland’s Surtshellir cave represent the farthest-known occurrence this rare mineral sources known to have been exploited during Early Middle Ages. Actual fragments (from Latin auripigmentum, golden pigment) are only documented in late first millennium AD northern Europe Dunadd, seat Dalriadic kings western Scotland (7th-8th century AD), Tonymore Crannóg, an elite Irish site (8th-9th and now (AD 920–1020). Ground create pigment, was used add brilliant yellows illuminated manuscripts produced 7th-10th centuries monastic ecclesiastic centers Ireland, Carolingian Empire, Anglo-Saxon England. Its prior uses Scandinavia, however, furnishings King Gorm’s grave at Jelling (Denmark), ca. 950–960, possibly Gokstad ship, 900–905. The twelve Surtshellir, verified through pXRF (hand-held X-Ray Fluorescence) SEM/EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), link 10th interaction trade networks that stretched North Atlantic Anatolia provide supportive evidence for re-interpreting as important, elite-controlled ritual Age.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports