The Odin mount revisited the converting element

The Medieval Low Countries, 2018

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Fornvännen , 2011

This paper presents a newly found but ploughed-out hoard of cast bronze objects from Mästerby parish, Gotland. The objects - 5 sword pommels and 16 pendants found by metal detector - can be dated to the late 10th Century AD. The hoard is of particular interest from an archaeometallurgical point of view since none of the objects appears to have been finished off and made ready for use. Hence it is a good clue to Gotlandic non-ferrous metalworking in the Viking Period.

1997

Two recent finds of unusual trefoil mounts from England have led to a reappraisal of the trefoil mount from Jarlshof, Shetland. This study supports Eldjdrn's proposition, based upon two closely related finds from Iceland, that this series of trefoil fittings was produced in the British Isles, although Scandinavian influence is apparent in their form, decoration and metallic composition.

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Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift

ABSTRACT: This article discusses archaeological evidence for the veneration of Odin in late pagan Denmark. According to place-name evidence Odin was totally dominant in public cult at this time, and was closely linked to warriors and kings. (Actual evidence for a relationship with the great cult centre at Lejre is uncertain.) However, a group of riders’ graves with weaponry from the tenth century represent a new burial custom for magnates, and it is argued that they relate to Odin and Valhalla. Female magicians, who have been convincingly identified in a series of Viking-Age graves, and miniature chairs, from which the once seated figure is usually missing, were probably also connected with Odin. Further, it has been suggested that miniature swords, spearheads and staves might have been Odinic symbols. Some figurative amulets, however, often featuring women in various guises and often interpreted as Valkyries, likely had an entirely different meaning. RESUME: Artiklen diskuterer de ...

The spear is doubtlessly one of the most iconic weapons of the Viking Age. In addition to its numerous applications in armed conflict, where it was used by foot-and horseback warriors, the spear served as a potent emblem of power and social prominence. Furthermore, archaeological discoveries of spears in ritual contexts demonstrate unequivocally that these weapons played important roles in pre-Christian religious practice, in some instances perhaps echoing myths about Óðinn. This paper examines a group of rare Viking Age miniatures shaped like spears and spearheads. Made of a variety of materials, including iron, silver, copper alloys and wood, these intriguing artefacts were probably carried on the body singly or as part of elaborate sets of religious paraphernalia. By investigating the contexts of their discovery, as well as their materiality and different practical applications, new ideas will be offered about the miniature spears' social and symbolic significance. RESUME: Spyddet er utvivlsomt et af de mest ikoniske våben fra vikingetiden. I tillaeg til dets mange funktioner i vaebnede konflikter, hvor det blev brugt af krigere til fods og til hest, var spyddet også et staerkt symbol på magt og social status. Ydermere viser arkaeologiske fund af spyd i rituelle kontekster utvetydigt, at disse våben spillede en vigtig rolle i førkristen religiøs praksis, i nogle tilfaelde måske forbundet med myter om Odin. Denne artikel undersøger en gruppe af sjaeldne miniaturer fra vikingetid, der er formet som spyd og spydspidser. Disse spaendende genstande er fremstillet af forskellige materialer, såsom jern, sølv, kobberlegeringer og trae, og de blev sandsynligvis båret på kroppen som enkeltgenstande eller som del af mere omfattende saet af religiøst udstyr. Ved at undersøge den kontekst, hvori de findes, samt materialer og diverse praktiske anvendelser byder artiklen på nye idéer om miniaturespyddenes sociale og symbolske betydning(er).

This article presents and discusses finds, mainly from metal detection, dated to the Viking Age. More than 900 objects have been dated to this period. They consist of ornaments of Scandinavian and foreign origin, coins and hack-silver, weights and fragments of balances as well as objects connected to metal handicraft. The ornaments are presented with parallels and chronological discussions. Imports -continental, oriental and from Britain and Ireland -are presented. Connections of the site and chronological implications are discussed. There is a survey of the objects, which can be referred to any of the Viking Age ornamental styles. Metal handicraft seems to have played an important role. Here the question of raw material and recycling is considered.

Oxford 2021 (Jan. 2022)

‘Thorvald’s Cross. The Viking-Age Cross-Slab “Kirk Andreas MM 128” and its Iconography’ provides an in-depth analysis of one of the Isle of Man’s most important and intriguing monuments. The Manx Crosses are a unique collection of Scandinavian-style grave stones unequalled in the medieval Viking World. Their carvings and inscriptions offer a window into Viking-Age society and spirituality at a time when the Celtic Manx and Scandinavian settlers in the Island came to terms with each other. Among these stones, the iconic ‘Thorvald’s Cross’ (MM 128) in St Andrew’s church in the village of Andreas demands particular attention, as it features figural scenes with humans and animals deriving from both pagan Norse mythology and Christian religious imagery. According to the prevailing view, the triumph of Christianity over paganism is shown in the two surviving reliefs, but differing opinions have been put forward. This book brings together all available information about ‘Thorvald’s Cross’ and discusses and analyses former and current hypotheses regarding the stone’s iconography, weighing their respective merits and shortcomings. Based in in-depth research and an ‘autopsy’ of the stone on-site, it considers the images in their spiritual, cultural, and chronological context and presents a new interpretation of this remarkable monument, arguing that the depiction of religious confrontation was not its original purpose, but that both scenes convey a common, much more subtle and comforting Christian message.

The Bronze Age was first acknowledged as a separate period, and thus as an object of study, in 1836 when Christian Jürgensen Thomsen published his famous three-agesystem. The Bronze Age was here sandwiched in between the Stone Age and the Iron Age. The latter periods built on indigenous materials of stone and iron. The Bronze Age, by contrast, was founded on an artificial, and thus truly innovative, alloy of copper and tin, which were traded into metal-poor Scandinavia from metal-rich regions of central Europe. Thomsen's system was virtually Darwinian in its evolutionary logic and became the foundation of all later research, which has progressed mostly in leaps.