Analysis and interpretation of a unique Arabic finger ring from the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden (original) (raw)
Related papers
Scanning, 2015
In this work we used non-destructive SEM imaging and EDS analysis to characterize the material composition of an Arabic finger ring, which was found in a 9th c. woman's grave at the Viking Age (A.D. 793-1066) trading center of Birka, Sweden. The ring is set with a violet stone inscribed with Arabic Kufic writing, here interpreted as reading "il-la-lah", i.e. "For/to Allah". The stone was previously thought to be an amethyst, but the current results show it to be coloured glass. The ring has been cast in a high-grade silver alloy (94.5/5.5 Ag/Cu) and retains the post-casting marks from the filing done to remove flash and mold lines. Thus, the ring has rarely been worn, and likely passed from the silversmith to the woman buried at Birka with few owners in between. The ring may therefore constitute material evidence for direct interactions between Viking Age Scandinavia and the Islamic world. Being the only ring with an Arabic inscription found at a Scandinavian archaeological site, it is a unique object among Swedish Viking Age material. The technical analysis presented here provides a better understanding of the properties and background of this intriguing piece of jewelry.
Work and Worship: Laser Scanner Analysis of Viking Age Rune Stones (Summary)
2002
Abstract This is a study of division of collaboration on Viking age and Early Middle age rune stones. For this study, a method for surface structure analysis by laser scanning has been employed. The aim with this method is to distinguish between individual rune carvers in rock by their cutting techniques, as witnessed by the cut marks. The probability of the existence of individual cutting techniques is supported by neurophysiological and psychological kinetic research on individual motor performance. Conclusions of stylistic and runological studies of regional or chronological issues concerning rune stones often include a reservation for the possibility of individual variation. Attributions and dating are closely related to individual, chronological, regional and functional variation. Technical analysis of the cutting techniques have come to be regarded as a hypothetical but unachievable means to distinguish between individuals. One of the complicating factors is individual variability, due to aging, increasing skill, sickness, fatigue or change of tools. The method has been developed and tested by analyses of a recently cut reference material and on the Sparlösa Monument from 9th c. AD, a rune stone where it is known that a part of the inscription has been added at a later occasion. The usefulness of the method is discussed in terms of hit accuracy in classification, individual variability and how sources of errors such as weathering and treading may effect the variables that are used to characterise the cut marks. The hypotheses that have been tested are if collaboration on rune stones can be made visible by a surface structure analysis, if certain parts of the ornament or inscription have been added at a later occasion and if there is a division of labour that is similar on rune stones dating to the early and the late Viking age. The study material is mainly collected by plasteline casts from 11th. c. AD rune stones in Uppland, Sweden. These have been compared to rune stones in other regions. Results have shown that individuals may be distinguishable by their cut marks in spite of their increasing skill and even though they have exchanged their tools. There are several instances of collaboration on rune stones of the 11th c. AD, and this also occurs in the 9th c. AD. Only in one instance, the cross appears to have been cut after the rune stone was erected. The signatures are often less deeply cut than the rest of the inscripion. As compared to the rune stones in other regions, the carvers in Uppland seem to have been influenced by one another. In interpretation of the results, the assumption that the Christianisation of Central Sweden was influenced by missionaries in England, has directed the focal point to the circumstances of stone sculpture production in England and the British Isles. This stone sculpture was mainly produced by workshops of carvers associated to the monastries. The common occurence of collaboration has been interpreted as a support for the hypothesis that rune stones have been produced by workshops. These workshops may reflect ecclesiastic organisation and activities, possibly those of an early monastic community. Keywords: rune stone, petroglyph, laserscanner, surface structure analysis, cutting technique, Viking Age, Early Middle Age, individual, workshop, school.
The_Journal_of_Archaeological_Numismatic.pdf
Entre amulettes et talismans, les monnaies trouées : ce qui se cache sous les apparences i-xxxix ARTICLES H.W. Horsnaes, M. Märcher & M. Vennersdorf A stepping stone in the Baltic sea. Two millennia of coin finds and coin use-a case study of Vester Herred, Bornholm 1 Massimiliano Munzi e Tripolitanian countryside and a monetary economy: data from the archaeological survey of the territory of Leptis Magna (Libya)
Beyond Fatimid: The Iconography of Medieval Islamic Rock Crystal Vessels and the Question of Dating
Seeking Transparency. Rock Crystals across the Medieval Mediterranean, edited by Cynthia Hahn and Avinoam Shalem, ISBN 978-3-7861-2843-4, 2020
For more than a century, Islamic rock crystal carving has been seen as a purely Fatimid tradition. This assumption was the result of a research history that suffered widely from the inaccessibility of its material. Scattered over often remote church treasuries and collections all over Europe, many of the surviving objects were poorly documented and some are, even today, not properly photographed. They are in many cases heavily damaged, reworked, and covered by mountings. Often only identifiable by the trained eye, many pieces might actually still be waiting for rediscovery. For these reasons, research has mostly focused on a fraction of the surviving objects. A more comprehensive survey of the material, undertaken by the author within the framework of a doctorate since 2013, has widened the scope of comparative material and opened up new perspectives and interconnections between the diverse types of objects and designs. Stylistic as well as technical comparison allowed for the distinguishing of individual groups of closely related objects and for the differentiation of those groups from each other. The approach of trying to reconstruct the history of Islamic rock crystal carving through the comparison of the few written sources with the surviving rock crystal pieces and early Islamic glass has proved to be useful for establishing a chronology of the material. The results of this study, which can only be outlined here, confirm the assumption made in 1936 by Ernst Kühnel, one of the important early scholars on this field. Kühnel, after reading the first translation of al-Bīrūnī’s description of the extensive Abbasid rock crystal industry, concluded that some vessels might be of Fatimid origin while the majority of the surviving pieces were surely made in Abbasid Basra.
The Journal of Archaeological Numismatics 2013/3 - complete volume
Entre amulettes et talismans, les monnaies trouées : ce qui se cache sous les apparences i-xxxix ARTICLES H.W. Horsnaes, M. Märcher & M. Vennersdorf A stepping stone in the Baltic sea. Two millennia of coin finds and coin use-a case study of Vester Herred, Bornholm 1 Massimiliano Munzi e Tripolitanian countryside and a monetary economy: data from the archaeological survey of the territory of Leptis Magna (Libya)
The Journal of Archaeological Numismatics 2013/3 - full volume
Entre amulettes et talismans, les monnaies trouées : ce qui se cache sous les apparences i-xxxix ARTICLES H.W. Horsnaes, M. Märcher & M. Vennersdorf A stepping stone in the Baltic sea. Two millennia of coin finds and coin use-a case study of Vester Herred, Bornholm 1 Massimiliano Munzi e Tripolitanian countryside and a monetary economy: data from the archaeological survey of the territory of Leptis Magna (Libya)
Viking Jewellery from the island of Gotland, Sweden
2004
The picture gallery is built around a presentation of female and of male jewellery, like different kinds of brooches, pendants, belt buckles, rings and pins. Beads, knives and combs, typical Viking Age objects carried by most people, both men and women, are not displayed on this CD. They are covered by earlier CD,s. Besides the photos and the galleries, there is also a short report about Viking Age jewellery in Scandinavia in the form of a PDF file, and also contact sheets of all the illustrations as well as quick time movies showing two different forms of animal head brooches and one box brooch. Finally, all the illustrations are included in high resolution photos giving an excellent chance to see all the small details of brooches etc.
Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 2006
This article discusses four copper-base alloy ring-pommels of daggers excavated at ed-Dur. Three of the pommels are from the Ghent University (Belgium) excavations and two, more complete daggers, were excavated by the British team. After a brief description of the material, the results of SEM-EDX analyses on different parts of the daggers are presented. The broader cultural and geographic frame of the use of this kind of dagger will be sketched in order better to situate the ed-Dur material in its chronological and cultural setting.
Beauty in Stone: A Study of Late Neolithic Type IV Flint Daggers from Sweden
This paper deals with the late Neolithic type IV daggers from the country of Sweden. I have conducted studies in order to try to describe and understand the production and reduction processes, due to subsequent re-sharpenings, that certain daggers exhibiting characteristics of supposed "prestigious" (finely made, non re-sharpened) or "utilitarian" (resharpened) usage or purpose, underwent prior to abandonment, or possible ritual deposition in stone cists and cashes. In addition, an experimental, two-fold system of macroscopic and quantitative, statistical analysis was devised for this study, to help determine with greater certainty than those of traditional macroscopic analysis alone, which of these two categories any given type IV dagger would fall into.