Nithijo in Illerup and his colleague in Thorsberg: Some aspects of high class goldsmithing at the beginning of the third century AD. A case study in “active or conscious reception”

The spoils of war from Roman-period southern Scandinavia offer a wide range of possibilities for analysis and interpretation, also with regard to the production conditions of fine smiths in the 3rd century AD. One striking aspect of this is that for the first time a comprehensive serial production of spears, javelins and shield bosses, which often comprised several hundred pieces, can be proven. This new production process also found its way into silversmithing, as the elaborate shield fittings from llerup, deposit A, show. The combination of Roman and Germanic elements in the equipment of military elites is striking and has been discussed in the literature since Conrad Engelhardt’s discoveries on Thorsberg Moor. Current research into the finds from Thorsberg Moor has revealed a wealth of fascinating individual observations. Through the concept of “conscious or active reception” as a process of appropriation and artistic transformation, these phenomena can now be conclusively summarised in a model that can explain the relevance of this process, especially for the social elites of the later Roman Period in the barbaricum

Technologies on display. The Storhaug ship burial

Ship burials were grand events in late Iron Age society. Great efforts were invested to make a spectacle in memory of the deceased ruler and to promote the new rulers. No other single context has provided us with such a wealth of material culture from the period as the Oseberg ship burial. The Storhaug ship burial in southwestern Norway (CE 779) is an early example of the same phenomenon. The article examines the various components in the Storhaug burial to highlight the technologies on display here. In the burial event, imports and exports, weapon technology, metallurgy, food production technology, transportation technology, woodcraft, and construction technology were activated and displayed within the frame of a ritual technology. While most types of technologies in society were represented, it was a conscious selection. In the paper, food production technology and construction technology are explored as examples. The Storhaug burial complex is compared especially with the better-preserved Oseberg and Gokstad burials. Although significant similarities are identified with Oseberg, important differences also show that ship burials were not one set material complex. The focus on various technologies reflected renegotiations of the roles of the king and society, guided by the regional context and traditions

Iron-cased cloisonné brooches from the early medieval cemetery of Harmignies (Prov. Hainaut, Belgium): Some aspects of production

In this article, the Mero-Jewel project (BRAIN-be 2.0) presents its first production-focused research results regarding iron-cased cloisonné brooches from the Merovingian cemetery of Harmignies. The aim is to elucidate technical aspects of production to possible differentiate artisanal tendencies or shared knowledge, which would help identify the network of production and exchange in which these objects circulated. To this effect, the composition of these brooches is discussed, and key observations are made regarding techniques, material composition and decoration. While specific workshops remain undefined, the article discusses future avenues of research while considering the large amount of data retrieved from this relatively small, yet representative sample

The Raven’s Eye. Stylistic references to sight and vision as symbols of knowledge and power

In many cultures throughout history, eye symbolism has a special function in connection with religion, mythology, and superstition. In some mythologies, eyes are linked to birds and their ability to be omnipresent and gather information. In Old Norse written sources, strong, piercing eyes can symbolise power, masculinity, and royal descent, and there is a special eye symbolism associated with the knowledge and esoteric insight that surrounds the one-eyedness of the main god Odin. In this paper, decorative rivets on high-status metal objects from the 5th to 8th centuries AD are interpreted as a stylistic imitation of the characteristic eyes of ravens. The paper takes a closer look at the use of these rivets in relation to eye symbolism in the Scandinavian archaeological material and iconography from the period ca. 200 to 700 AD, drawing further on personal names referring to eyes and ravens and the relations to Old Norse mythology. We suggest that the raven-eye rivets can be seen as representations of Odin’s all-seeing eye and thus his quasi-physical presence, as a way of animating objects, or as symbols of esoteric knowledge. They are therefore interpreted as stylistic traits that were a part of a power symbolism of the elite

Crampons – Late Iron-age everyday items and/or artefacts with sacred meaning?

The question is whether crampons, ordinary artefacts in everyday use on icy roads, also may have had a sacred meaning. The notion that they did is supported by Old Norse literature: in G.sle Sursson\u27s saga, it is mentioned twice that it was customary to bind helskór to a dead man’s feet. After a description of crampons for horses and people, I have selected Valsgärde and Birka, two well-known burial grounds from the second half of the first millennium in the Mälar valley in eastern Sweden, to study the frequency of crampons and their distribution according to grave type and the sex of the interred. Crampons are rather common and occur in both men’s and women’s graves and in both inhumations and cremations. An exception seems to be children’s graves: in Birka, there probably are at least 80–100 children’s inhumations, and only in one of them a crampon has been found. Strangely enough, there are several examples where a dead person was provided with a horse crampon. Philologist Dag Strömbäck has commented upon the mentioning of helskór in Gisli’s saga. He points out that translators have misunderstood the significance of the custom and strongly rejects their suggestion that the shoes were supposed to fasten the dead person into the grave and prevent him from returning to the world of the living as a ghost. To Strömbäck, it is obvious that the purpose of helskór was to help the deceased persons on their long and arduous journey to the Other World. I find Strömbäck’s argumentation strong and sound, and I join his opinion

From Wagnijos workshop: Or who made the spear heads of type Vennolum in Illerup Ådal?

This paper presents a comparison of Scandinavian spear heads of the Vennolum type through the use of Principal Component Analysis in order to examine the sustainability of an alleged supra-regionality of weapon typology in early 3rd century Scandinavia. It shows that such a supra-regional similarity is exaggerated. There is considerable variation within type Vennolum spear heads and some of these variations have clear regional tendencies

On the iconography of the gold foil figures from Hauge

The 16 gold foil figures from Hauge depict a man and a woman embracing each other. This scene is very common on Scandinavian gold foils of the Merovingian Period and often is interpreted as a pair of gods or as a wedding rite. What particularly distinguishes the find from Hauge is a staff or plant stem that the woman seems to be holding in her hand. In this paper, I will explore the meaning of this plant, which can also be seen on other Iron- and Viking-age pictorial representations and, against the background of a very rich literary and runic tradition, can be understood as an allium plant, a leek. Since antiquity as well as in the north, this plant has been attributed magical powers and healing properties and was associated with fertility and sexuality

The Rosette Fibulas and the Social Strategies of the Late Roman Iron Age

During 2018-2022, the North Jutland Museums excavated large parts of one of three closely located burial grounds by the farm Grønhøjgård southeast of Aalborg, Northern Jutland. Both the graves, their content, and the general character of the site stand out from the region\u27s rich record of contemporary burial grounds, and the rich and varied find material from the site forms the picture of a sacral site without precise parallels from Iron Age Denmark. Among the finds from the burial ground are ten rosette fibulas. The rosette fibulas, found in good numbers in many regions across Denmark, are everywhere else only represented by one-four copies at the individual find locations. This paper presents the fibulas from the Grønhøjgård burial ground and discusses the social significance of the rosette fibula. It is argued that the rosette fibulas may be viewed as a tool of communication that conveyed symbolic meaning at several levels and thus served multiple purposes in a Late Roman social landscape where the roles of some highborn women were changing markedly.&nbsp

Technology – art – identity. Zoomorphic spurs in the light of metallographic analysis

In the 11th century AD, spurs with zoomorphic decoration, cast from copper alloy, were attributes of elite horsemen. The pair of spurs from grave 42/2009 at an Early-medieval cemetery at Ciepłe, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, are the best preserved example in Central Europe. Further specimens are known from Lutomiersk, Cerkiewnik, Wrocław, Lubniewice, Kumachevo, and Skegrie. The spur fragments share formal similarities, which suggest that they were made in one place for a narrow circle of individuals belonging to the Early-medieval elite and served as a form of identifier for them. Judging from the finds’ geographical distribution, they were probably made on West Slavic territory. The discoveries in neighbouring areas are extremely interesting; perhaps they are evidence of the presence of members of a Slavic elite in these areas? The spurs’ rich zoomorphic decoration in the form of serpent/dragon and horse/cattle imagery is in line with reconstructed Slavic cosmological and perhaps eschatological beliefs. However, the imagery can also be interpreted within the context of Scandinavian and Baltic mythology. The similarity of the spurs, indicating replicable technology and alloys, suggested that it might be fruitful to examine selected finds using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), through which significant differences in the amount of zinc (Zn) were observed. The proportions of the alloys are similar, but were not strictly maintained from object to object

Manufacturing and secondary treatment of gold foil figures

Gold foil figures form a fairly standardised class of archaeological finds. Their overall production process appears to be fundamentally simple. Nevertheless, there still are many unanswered questions regarding the technique and the timing of the various work steps (chaîne opératoire). This article sheds light on the theoretical options for the fabrication. The focus is on detectable alterations to already finished gold foil figures: for example subsequent manipulations on some pieces, such as the attachment of additional gold strips, which are apparently intended to represent neck rings. Actions like this either belong to the usual and proper usage of gold foil figures in the context of the related cult, or they are evidence of later adaptations of individual gold foil figures, possibly for other religious or even secular practices. Other pieces show various signs of damage such as scratches or puncture marks, some of which appear to have been inflicted deliberately. However, as this kind of manipulation cannot clearly be assigned to a specific time, and considerations about their purpose remain problematic