Herold, H. 2012, ‘Review of Gabriel, I., Kempke, T., Starigard/Oldenburg. The main castle of the Slavs in Wagrien VI, The graves, Introduction and finds – book in German, Offa-Bücher 85, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2011’, Medieval Archaeology 56, 389. (original) (raw)
Commentary on Viking Period Graves
Eric Christiansen writes (1): " Archaeology has been the royal road to the understanding of the Nordic past for nearly two centuries, and it still is. " A large part of the archaeologists' effort was the discovery of graves and burials. Dated to between 750 AD and 1100 AD, these Viking Period graves contributed much to our understanding of the time and its peoples. This understanding has mostly been achieved by the examination of object found in graves. However, graves are more than just sources for material culture. The graves and burials themselves present problems. The first of these problems is geography. The Vikings, that is to say the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, raided, traded, explored, and settled from Newfoundland in North America to Kiev in the Ukraine. Obviously this is an enormous area, but beyond the fact this expansion was done by three separate nationalities, there is also the natives of the lands that the Vikings visited. With burials an object found may not be of Scandinavian manufacture, and in fact, the body of the deceased found in the grave may not be Scandinavian either (2) Politics is the second problem. The Vikings travelled to many countries and in some of them left significant archaeological evidence. However, the governments of these countries have different attitudes towards archaeology. A few governments believe that archaeological efforts should be used for ideological goals. The Nazies are the most obvious government to place ideology over archaeology, but the Soviet Union did the same. The result is the suppression of certain dig reports, and exclusion from general histories. An example of this suppression can be found in the Southwestern Baltic. This territory has been claimed by the Russian, the Germans, the Polish, and the Lithuanians. The evidence found in some older German digs have been suppressed and have only been " rediscovered " recently (3). In the meantime, any archaeological conclusions about the Southwestern Baltic are impossible.
Temenos, 2009
During the last twenty years, the category 'grave' has been the subject of increasing debate in Swedish archaeology. It has been recognized that monuments commonly regarded as graves are sometimes also found in cultic contexts other than those associated with death and burial. In many cases, for instance, monuments similar to graves have been erected at cult sites, and seem to have been used in sacrificial practices rather than for burials. According to archeological, textual and onomastic sources, it was common practice in Old Norse religion to suspend sacrificial victims from trees or from upraised posts, or to deposit offerings at the base of sacred rocks and boulders. In all these cases, the trees, posts and boulders seem to be representations of the World Axis, depicted in cosmological myths as a Cosmic Tree, Pillar or Mountain. I argue that these various representations of the World Axis are also incorporated in the architectonic symbolism of several forms of grave monuments in pre-Christian Scandinavia. The architectonic shape of these monuments could thus be used in several different contexts, since they represented a 'Cosmic Center' and a 'doorway' to the Other World.
Archaeology and Odin in Late Pagan Denmark
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 ...
Danish Journal of Archaology, Vol. 10, 2021
In 1981, a double burial from the 9 th century was excavated at Gerdrup, north of Roskilde. The grave contained remains of the bodies of a woman and a man. The woman was buried with a spear, whilst the man had apparently been killed before burial. This has been interpreted as a 'master and slave burial', which was placed at an isolated location, perhaps because the buried were regarded as pariahs. However, previously unpublished excavation data combined with new 14 C analyses indicate that the burial was part of a small multi-period burial site, which was located near a group of earlier burial mounds. Topographic analyses show that the burial was also located on an important ford, and therefore had a prominent location. Significantly, new DNA analyses surprisingly indicate that the two buried individuals actually have a parent-offspring relationship: they are mother and son. The previous interpretation of the Gerdrup grave is thus challenged. This article will present the relevant excavation data and discuss this in the light of the new analyses.
The purpose of this annotated analytical bibliography is to explore and analyze the recent archaeological endeavors in northern Europe, specifically regarding the Scandinavian Vikings and their expansions from mainland Denmark, Sweden and Norway into Scotland, Iceland and other places in the North Atlantic. It will examine both peer reviewed articles and books which detail general studies conducted over the entirety of the area and more specific works that explain the importance and informational value of certain elements of Viking influence. By connecting all of these together, an overarching view of the current state of the field will be revealed. This research project will attempt to analyze what we know about life during the Viking Age including political reform and mortuary practices while also going into deep detail concerning the many negative environmental effects of Viking expansionism on the various islands of the North Atlantic.
King Olaf's men? Contextualizing Viking burials at S:t Olofsholm, Gotland, Sweden
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
The discovery of burials at S:t Olofsholm, a site associated with the Saint Olaf cult on Gotland in Sweden, has enabled a bioarchaeological contextualization of medieval legends and sagas in conjunction with the archaelogical record. This study seeks to illuminate who were buried at S:t Olofsholm, through a biocultural lens, and whether these burials can be linked to folklore and sagas associated with the site. Five burials of possibly six individuals (cal. AD 980–1270) were assessed macroscopically and through stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, 87Sr/86Sr, and δ18O) of incremental dentine, bulk enamel, and bone samples. Sagas and legends associated with S:t Olofsholm mention episodes of conflict and contact involving King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway (later canonized as Saint Olaf), Gutes and Icelanders, and travels between Norway and Kyiv Rus. Two (or three) burials show signs of violent deaths, including evidence of sharp force trauma and burning. Isotope analyses indicate lo...
2020
This edited volume delves into the current state of Iron Age and Early Medieval research in the North. Over the last two decades of archaeological explorations, theoretical vanguards, and introduction of new methodological strategies, together with a growing amount of critical studies in archaeology taking their stance from a multidisciplinary perspective, have dramatically changed our understanding of Northern Iron Age societies. The profound effect of 6th century climatic events on social structures in Northern Europe, a reintegration of written sources and archaeological material, genetic and isotopic studies entirely reinterpreting previously excavated grave material, are but a few examples of such land winnings. The aim of this book is to provide an intense and cohesive focus on the characteristics of contemporary Iron Age research; explored under the subheadings of field and methodology, settlement and spatiality, text and translation, and interaction and impact. Gathering the work of leading, established researchers and field archaeologists based throughout northern Europe and in the frontline of this new emerging image, this volume provides a collective summary of our current understandings of the Iron Age and Early Medieval Era in the North. It also facilitates a renewed interaction between academia and the ever-growing field of infrastructural archaeology, by integrating cutting edge fieldwork and developing field methods in the corpus of Iron Age and Early Medieval studies. In this book, many hypotheses are pushed forward from their expected outcomes, and analytical work is not afraid of taking risks, thus advancing the field of Iron Age research, and also, hopefully, inspiring to a continued creation of new knowledge.
Behind Heathendom: Archaeological Studies of Old Norse Religion
Scottish Archaeological Journal, 2005
This paper offers a synthesis of a large body of recent research into the Old Norse religion which has been conducted as part of the multidisciplinary research project Väger till Midgård-Roads to Midgard. Evidence for the Pre-Christian Norse religion is drawn from Medieval Icelandic literature, place-names and the archaeology of ritual sites. The movement from remote, open-air temples (vé) to purpose built ritual houses and finally churches is outlined and the development of a pre-Christian priesthood is explored. Burial archaeology from the Bronze Age to the Christian era provides a vital perspective on changing religious concepts. The prolonged contact with the Mediterranean world during the Roman Iron Age exerted a strong influence on old Norse religion and some of the most distinctively Scandinavian religious features can be seen to be hybrid cultural constructs.
Egill's Grave? Archaeology and Egils Saga at Kirkjuhóll, Hrísbrú
Egill's Grave? Archaeology and Egils Saga at Kirkjuhóll, Hrísbrú by Jon Erlandson, Jesse Byock, and Davide Zori describes the excavation of a grave shaft beneath the floor under the place of the altar of the conversion era (ca. 1000 AD) church at Kirkjuhóll (Church Knoll) at Hrísbrú in the Mosfell Valley ). One of the goals of the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) is to explore possible historical background of sagas through modern excavations. In this chapter/article, we explore a case where textual saga sources intersect with the archaeology of Hrísbrú. The site, which is the home of the Mosfell chieftains, is located strategically near the mouth of the Mosfell Valley in southwest Iceland. Mentioned frequently in the Icelandic sagas, the Hrísbrú site provides especially clear evidence for such an inquiry from the excavation of the unusually well-preserved Kirkjuhóll church. As is discussed, Egil´s saga bears a striking relationship to a series of MAP´s archaeological discoveries. These include a grave that could have been the temporary resting place for the body of Viking Age Iceland’s warrior-poet Egill Skallagrímsson.
European Journal of Archaeology, 2016
The flexibility of material culture encourages material phenomena to take a dynamic part in social life. An example of this is material citation, which can provide society with links to both the past and connections to contemporary features. In this article, we look at the diverging ways of relating to and reinventing the past in the Viking Age, exploring citations to ancient monuments in the landscape of Gammel Lejre on Zealand, Denmark. Complementing the placement of landscape monuments, attention is also brought to examples of mortuary citations related to bodily practices in Viking-age mortuary dramas, such as those visible at the mound of Skopintull on the island of Adelsö in Lake Mälaren, Sweden. Through these case studies, we explore the variability in citational strategies found across tenth-century Scandinavia.
Eight papers presented at the 36th Interdisciplinary Viking Symposium in Odense may 17th 2017. PREFACE / THE FORTIFIED VIKING AGE 36th Interdisciplinary Viking Symposium – 17 May 2017................................................7 Mette Bruus & Jesper Hansen Henne Kirkeby Vest, a fortified settlement on the West coast of Denmark...................8 Lene B. Frandsen Erritsø – A fortified Early Viking Age manor near Lillebælt. New investigations and research perspectives................................................................ 16 Christian Juel & Mads Ravn …nú knáttu Óðin sjá: The Function of Hall-Based, Ritualised Performances of Old Norse Poetry in Pre-Christian Nordic Religion...................................................26 Simon Nygaard Early Viking camps in Scandinavia and abroad..............................................................35 Arjen Heijnis New archaeological investigations at Nonnebakken, a Viking Age fortress in Odense........................................................................................44 Mads Runge The Borgring Project 2016–2018..........................................................................................60 Jonas Christensen, Nanna Holm, Maja K. Schultz, Søren M. Sindbæk & Jens Ulriksen The Danevirke in the light of recent excavations.............................................................69 Astrid Tummuscheit & Frauke Witte Emporia, sceattas and kingship in 8th C. “Denmark”.....................................................75 Morten Søvsø