Vendel period Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Researchers from different fields like archaeology, history, philology and natural sciences present their studies on ancient gemstones. Using precious minerals as an example, trade flows and craftsmanship, but also utilisation and perception are discussed in a cross-cultural and diachronic approach. The present volume aims at three main questions concerning gemstones in archaeological and historical contexts: »Mines and Trade«, »Gemstone Working« as well as »The Value and the Symbolic Meaning(s) of Gemstones«.
This volume contains the proceedings of the conference »Gemstones in the first Millennium AD« held in autumn 2015 in Mainz, Germany, within the scope of the BMBF-funded project »Weltweites Zellwerk – International Framework«.

- by and +1
- •
- Archaeology, Art History, Indian Ocean History, Early Medieval Archaeology

This paper investigates the relationship of the gold foil figures to the corpus of figural art of the 6th–7th centuries in Scandinavia. The gold foil figures are compared to animal ornamentation, to depictions of faces, and to scenic representations, mainly the pressed foils of the so-called Vendel helmets. The gold foil figures show clear similarities with the scenic representations, both in style and the way the heads and the clothes are depicted. The gold foil figures’ pictorial motifs are special, though: in contrast to the scenic depictions, there are no weapons. The scenic images on the helmets can provide some important clues to the dating of the gold foil figures. It is demonstrated that the gold foil figures
and the depictions on the helmets bear witness to different communication situations (settings) during the 6th–7th centuries. Furthermore, the ‘survival’ and transfer of some pictorial motifs from the gold foil figures into the imagery of Viking Period pendants is investigated.

This article discusses material culture and European history during the time span between AD 400 and 800.
During this and many other phases of history, Scandinavia was separated from other parts of Europe in
more than one way. Its regions and countries have almost always been at a distance from the main conflicts
on the continent (though not necessarily remaining unaffected). There is no evidence that parts of
Scan dinavia were conquered by any of the big empires or were in the path of major migrations. In the long
his torical perspective, the Scandinavians instead were either spectators or plunderers and conquerors. But
whether they were active on the continent or not, there have always been contacts of some sort with the
continent. Archaeologically this is reflected in imported goods and domestic objects influenced by foreign
cultures. These contacts have continuously affected the religion, economy and social life of people in Scan -
dinavia.
This paper focuses upon imported goods found primarily in present-day Sweden, and dated between the
5th and 9th centuries AD. The nature of this trade and exchange is a very broad subject, which is hard to
cover in a single article. Here I shall present an overview of different types of imports that reached Scan -
dinavia in the period concerned. There is a need for a broad view, as different materials may provide different
answers or perhaps strengthen earlier interpretations. I will also try to develop previous researcher’s
views upon distinct changes in the trading patterns around the middle of the 6th century.

- by John Ljungkvist
- •
- Early Medieval Archaeology, Trade, Ancient Glass, Vendel period

In January 2020 Museiarkeologi sydost conducted a trial trench evaluation on the properties Klinta 21:29 and 21:30 in Köpingsvik, Öland. The reason for the investigation was to find places on the properties where houses could be built without disturbing archaeological remains. Klinta village is situated on the ridge surrounding the Viking Age and Early Medieval trading site of Köpingsvik on the western coast of Öland. The site was an economic, religious and political center during the Viking Age and Early Medieval period, and much indicate that it was important long before that. The Medieval village of Klinta is situated on top of a large burial ground. Both cairns and standing stones are part of the visible monuments. At least two burials with a very exclusive content have been excavated in the Klinta area. One contained a double burial where a man and a woman had been cremated. The womans grave contained a large quantity of exclusive grave goods including a large bronze pitcher from the Middle East and a scepter or rod usually connected to the female priestesses or cult leaders known as vǫlva. The second exclusive burial was found on the property now being developed and contained the cremated boat burial of a female dressed in a garment decorated with gold thread. The boat burial dates to the Vendel Period. When it comes to the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval period, Köpingsvik and Klinta are among the most exclusive sites on Öland.
In the Western property, Klinta 21:29, containing three large standing stones, the search trenches revealed several post holes and stone features. Among them a large cairn-like stone packing, on top of which were found a rivet and a small led weight. In the Eastern property, Klinta 21:30, the search trenches revealed many distinct and stone lined post holes along with a terrace like stone feature stretching through several trenches in the areas Northern side. Metal detector surveying turned up a large amount of metal finds from the Medieval period and onwards. A few older artifacts were also found, among them a West Slavic knife sheath decoration in bronze. On the Western property a small area in the North-Western corner was found to contain few ancient features. On the Eastern property its North-Eastern corner and side was found to contain few ancient features.

- by John Ljungkvist and +2
- •
- Early Medieval Archaeology, Viking Studies, Scandinavian Studies, Viking Age Scandinavia

Odin the Man traces the life and times of Odin. The study suggests that Odin was a third century warrior captain who managed to convince his followers that he was a living god, and who caused the mass migrations of the Germanic tribes against the Roman frontiers in the late third century. The analysis of several sources support the position taken by Snorri that we are dealing with a historical figure. Despite being a great warrior, Odin's greatest achievement was to fool people up to modern times that he was a god. He was not called a trickster, conjuror and magician for nothing. The study of the career forms the Appendix 3 of the forthcoming Britain in the Age of Arthur (Dark Ages Britain), and one of the purposes has been to advertise this book by demonstrating what sorts of results one can obtain if one pays more attention to what the sources state rather than follows the consensus view as well as the book series Military History of Late Rome.

- by Peter Schenling
- •
- Vendel period

En kort artikel av Andreas Forsgren och Michael Maasing. Artikeln behandlar nitar i vendeltida och vikingatida båtar och skepp. Utblickar görs mot såväl smidestekniker (Maasing, sid. 6-7) som båtgravar och arkeologiska fynd (Forsgren,... more

Archaeological excavation report.

- by Helena Hulth and +3
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- Viking Age Scandinavia, Vendel period

In September 2016 geophysical surveys were conducted at Korshamn, as one of the main harbour bays of the island of Björkö, situated outside the town boundaries of the Viking town of Birka. The investigation of a solitarily raised plateau at Erik Steffanssons hemland revealed the outline of a large Vendel-period house. Together with further anomalies at a one-sided terrace at Kalvhagen a whole manor complex might be seizable predating the Viking-age settlement activities on the island. The latter dwelling is superimposed by a major Viking-age hall connecting to a »fenced special area« as known from e. g. Lejre and Tissø and linked to cult activities. Both the structures and the chronological depth correlate well with the »ancestral property« of Birka’s royal bailiff Herigar as mentioned in Rimbert’s Vita Anskarii. If this assumption is correct even the whereabouts of Scandinavia’s first church should be located in the immediate vicinity. The consequences of this identification cannot be overestimated: In terms of the emergence of the Viking town, its royal administration and the earliest Christian mission to Scandinavia.

- by Sven Kalmring and +2
- •
- Early Christianity, Missionary History, Viking Age Archaeology, Viking Age Scandinavia

The article discusses contacts and networks along
the eastern coast of Sweden and around the Baltic Sea.
The focus is on the decorated pottery c. 0–700 AD.
Sweden and Scandinavia had different regional styles of
pottery during this period. One of the most distinctive
Scandinavian styles is found on Öland and Gotland.
This style is distinguished by the elaborate use of stamps
and vessels with handles positioned from the rim to
the shoulder. Vessels made in this style are found outside
the large islands, notably in Svealand, i.e. the lake
Mälaren Basin in central Sweden, as well as in northern
Sweden. More interesting is the spread and influences in
the Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture, in north-eastern Poland,
and Oblast Kaliningrad. During the Roman Iron Age,
a special type of beaker is found from the Mälar basin
to Gotland/Öland and further on in Oblast Kaliningrad.
The connection can also be seen in dress ornaments and
other artefacts. The regional differences in the pottery decrease
during the Vendel Period (c. 550–800 AD). A new
style of stamped vessels is spread from the Langobards in
northern Italy to England and Scandinavia and marks
a new, more uniform material culture. This marks probably
a new area of more complex and centralised political
units.

- by Thomas Eriksson
- •
- Pottery (Archaeology), Ethnicity, Scandinavian Archaeology, Vendel period

The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen the understanding of the Vendel period helmets, their meaning and who wore them. With the use of a modern theoretical framework and an updated list of helmets, and other sources like images and literature, we can understand that some parts of the helmets were more important than others in a larger picture. While the images probably had much meaning, it is the comb, eyebrows and animalhead that have been treated with special care. In the grave material, we can also see that the use of helmets in boat graves probably were to make the individual more anonymous and the role as a helmetbearer more apparent, with one exception in the Ultuna grave. In most of the cremation graves the helmets have been treated so that only some types of fragments have been left, leaving the bearer more as an individual with claims of power. Mainland cremation graves with helmets have mounds, with some exceptions. The helmet graves on Gotland are under flat land.

- by Eric Östergren
- •
- Merovingian period, Valsgärde, Gamla Uppsala, Vendel period

So-called horned figures have intrigued scholars for a long time, these being anthropomorphic figures depicted on, or in the shape of artefacts which can be associated with speakers of early Germanic languages during the Younger Iron Age (550–1050).
Even though such artefacts have been known in scholarly circles since the middle of the 19th century, little has been published that focuses specifically on the horned figures, and most of what has been published treats them as little more than a side note. The number of discovered artefacts depicting horned figures has increased significantly in recent decades, which has led to publications on such artefacts becoming increasingly scattered and lacking in any clear overview. This development has led to some scholars basing their research on incomplete and out-of-date data. In connection with this development, it has become increasingly popular to identify the horned figures with Óðinn or other entities known from the Old Icelandic sources, a trend which is built on weak evidence.In reaction to this development, this MA-thesis aims to present an updated overview of all the relevant and scholarly published artefacts.
The figures under discussion are depicted with horn-shaped projections that are reminiscent of cattle-like horns. A total of 62 images depicted on a total of 60 artefacts are examined in this thesis. These artefacts have been found in a relatively large area including Anglo-Saxon England, the Viken region of Norway, Denmark, and Skåne, Öland, Gotland and Uppland in Sweden, along with isolated finds in Germany, Hungary and Russia.
The research has shown that the horned figures were a decidedly pre-Christian phenomenon. This phenomenon can possibly be traced to real-world ritual specialists in connection with social elites. The distribution of horned figures, however, is limited to certain areas in a Norse context, and nothing in the Old Icelandic sources can be connected with them with any certainty. It is therefore possible to conclude that the horned figures are a testament to the diversity of pre-Christian religions of the north, a phenomenon that was related to, but not the same as the picture preserved in the Old Icelandic sources.

This paper revisits the links between the material culture and the depositional practices found at Sutton Hoo, the seventh-century royal burial from eastern England and the princely burials from Uppland in Sweden. A hypothesis is developed that what the regions share is their common relationship to a core proto-Norse region probably based in Skaane and the Danish islands.

- by Alex Woolf
- •
- Anglo-Saxon Studies, Beowulf, Scandinavian Studies, Anglo-Saxon archaeology
- by Joshua Rood
- •
- Religion, Comparative Religion, European History, Medieval History

This thesis is a study of the cult of Óðinn as it seems to have evolved within the newly emerging warrior-based aristocracy of southern Scandinavia during the centuries prior to the Viking Age. By approaching sources critically and focusing on archaeological evidence, it looks specifically at how the deity developed within the said milieu and at the uses his cult may have served for those who worshipped him. It subsequently seeks to address other related questions such as when Óðinn came to become associated with warrior-kings in Scandinavia, where this seems to have occurred, and how it might have happened, including an examination of the social and political influences that might have been involved in the development. By means of this process, the study attempts to provide contextual insight into the relationship that seems to have existed between rulers and religion in pre-Christian southern Scandinavia. As is well known, the later medieval literary sources often portray Óðinn as being the ultimate sovereign, ruling over other gods and earthly rulers alike. This thesis attempts to shed some new light on the centuries prior to these accounts, offering a model of an earlier manifestation of the god who would become the “alfǫðr”.

Эпоха викингов стала главным потрясением для Европы в конце раннего Средневековья. Однако "внезапное" начало походов скандинавов на Запад в дейстительности не было таким уж спонтанным – ему предшествовал длительный и чрезвычайно интересный период культурной истории Северной Европы. Так называемый римский железный век и вендельский период породили яркое художественное ремесло, самобытный эпос, сформировали во многом уникальную скандинавскую мифологическую систему. Именно в эту эпоху возник феномен культуры, ставший визитной карточкой Скандинавии, – морской поход викингов. Книга, в которой анализируется фаза бурного подъема цивилизации Северной Европы, адресована не только специалистам-историкам, культурологам, археологам и религиоведам, но и всем читателям, интересующимся проблемами прошлого Европейского континента.

- by Alexander Khlevov
- •
- Nordic Studies, Nordic History, War Studies, Nordic languages

This dissertation discusses Roman imperialism and runic literacy. It employs an interdisciplinary terminology. By means of terms new to archaeology, the growth of a specialized language, a technolect, is traced until it enters the realm of literacy. The author argues that there is more than one way for literacy to appear in prehistoric cultures. The ’normal’ perception is that literacy grows out of a need to keep records of a growing economic surplus. The ’other’ way for a culture to become literate is that someone else forces literacy upon it. This has been the case in many parts of the world subject to Western imperialism. The onslaught of Roman imperialism caused the invention of runic literacy in Northern Europe during the Early Roman Iron Age. The invention of the runic script should thus be seen as a preemptive reaction to the threat of Westernization. A comparison is made with a number of Early Modern Period cases of newly invented scripts caused by the arrival of literate Westerners in West Africa. The invention and introduction of the runes may well have been a dictated shift in literacy, seeking to break away from Latin. A number of dictated shifts in literacy from Early Modern Period America and Modern Period Asia are studied in comparison. The interaction between Germanic and Roman affinities was accentuated by the Roman army’s recruitment of Germanic men. These came to dominate the Roman army. This gave rise to a Germanic kleptocracy, a criminal rule in the post-Roman world. The role of runic literacy changed in the post-Roman aftermath of the Migration and Vendel Periods as the kleptocratic elite found it increasingly difficult to support a lavish lifestyle that included runic literacy. As a result, there was a decline in runic literacy in Northern Europe until the economic revival of the Viking Period. By then, it was clear that the North was soon to be integrated into the Christian West.

- by Svante Fischer
- •
- History, Archaeology, Literacy, Languages and Linguistics

A look at the Sutton Hoo helmet and it's connections to other European objects from the period. Written for an undergraduate upper-level course.

Abstract: This paper discusses the imported images of Late Roman and Early Byzantine imperial dress found in Scandinavia as a possible source of inspiration for the gold foil figures. It examines how these images were first presented to and then imitated by Scandinavians by focusing on solidus pendants from sites where gold foil figures have been retrieved. It is argued that Scandinavians in the 5th and early 6th centuries were aware of various forms of Roman imperial dress and knew how to distinguish between different forms of imperial iconography, in some cases displaying a preference for relatively rare solidi with images of the emperor in the consular robe known as trabea triumphalis, which were transformed into pendants.

- by Svante Fischer
- •
- History, Archaeology, Iconography, Art History

A key feature of swords from the Migration and Merovingian Period is that they consist of many different parts, as recently highlighted by the discovery of the Staffordshire hoard. This paper seeks to order sword parts and their depositional contexts, by interpreting them as symbols of kleptocracy and animated by their object biographies in the Migration and Merovingian Period martial society. This is done by evaluating four important finds from Sweden: a stray find of an intact sword from Scania, the cremation grave from Heberg, Halland, the wetland deposit of Snösbäck, Västergötland, and the settlement of Uppåkra, Scania. The actual presence of the various different parts varies substantially in the different kinds of contexts. In particular, the Uppåkra settlement is missing hundreds of sword parts that ought to have been there given the professional excavations and systematic detecting over the years that have otherwise produced a vast number of finds. This allows for the interpretation of the Uppåkra sword parts as the remains of a battlefield where a substantial number of sword parts have been removed from the site already in the late 6th century or early 7th century.

- by Svante Fischer and +1
- •
- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Art History

Excavations in the summer of 2020 uncovered 200 sqm of the great hall on the platform mound at Aska in Hagebyhöga. One roof-support posthole, seven postholes in the northern wall line and two metres of the outer northern wall ditch were excavated. The hall has been dismantled in an organised fashion. Large stones have been removed from the sunken features, and these have then been backfilled with a find-rich stony material that appears previously to have been the building’s cobbled floor. Among the finds are 22 gold foil figures of the embracing couple type, part of a decorated shield mount, two whale-bone gaming pieces and three iron double-spiral pendants.

- by Martin Rundkvist and +1
- •
- Archaeology, Viking Age Archaeology, Vendel period, Gold Foil Figures (Guldgubbar)

Monography of the Elbląg-group (West Balt cultural circle) necropolis at Nowinka.

- by Bartosz Kontny
- •
- Baltic Studies, Viking Age Archaeology, Viking Age Scandinavia, Baltic archaeology

Hedeby Hochburg always has been the neglected poor cousin of the archaeological Hedeby research. However, a comprehensive academic discussion of the monument dates back to the 16th century and is at the same time a walk through Hedeby research. The site of Hedeby within the semicircular rampart with its well preserved and overwhelming diversity in features and artefacts up to now demanded the undivided attention of already four generations of archaeologists. Even though on the hillfort some minor excavations had been accomplished between 1889 and 1959 its actual relationship to the maritime trading place of Hedeby is virtually rarely known and merely based on hypotheses, especially as the seat of a German margrave or as borgen like at Hedeby’s Swedish counterpart Birka in lake Mälaren. This paper aims to oppose the different theories to Hochburg and to compile the actual current state of research. Based on this background new excavation results to this significant desideratum of research will be presented.

- by Sven Kalmring and +1
- •
- Viking Age Archaeology, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Burial mounds (Archaeology), Viking Age Scandinavia

The cemetery of Valsgärde, Sweden contains 92 human graves dating from the 3rdc. BCE to the 11thc. CE, the majority and most elaborate of which date to the Vendel and Viking Ages (approximately 500-1100 CE). This total consists of 15 unburnt boat graves, 15 inhumation and chamber graves, and 62 cremations. In addition to the human remains and wealthy goods, the site is noted for its richness in zooarchaeological material, with a variety of primarily domestic animals appearing buried alongside humans. One of the most commonly represented animals in these graves is the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a trend which has been noted in many other sites from Vendel and Viking Age Sweden. This project quantifies and analyses the morphology of the dogs in the unburnt Vendel and Viking graves at Valsgärde in order to a) assemble a general typology and demographic profile for the population, b) assess the level of morphological variability in the population, and c) speculate on the possible roles these dogs may have played in Scandinavian society in the Late Iron Age. Comparisons are made between the character of dog burials in the Vendel vs Viking periods, to identify any notable shifts in trend over time. The analysis shows that while the size of the dogs generally remains consistent throughout both periods, a number of different types are represented within this limited size range, and the Viking Age burials contain notably fewer dogs than the graves of the Vendel Period.

- by Christopher Nichols
- •
- Archaeology, Zooarchaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology, Funerary Archaeology
- by Sigmund Oehrl
- •
- Viking Studies, Viking Age Archaeology, Norse mythology, Old Norse Religion

Abstract of book:
Nearly four thousand tiny gold foil figures were found at significant archaeological sites in Scandinavia: a fascinating material from the 6th to 8th c. AD. They show anthropomorphic figures, both male and female and some with unclear gender, clothed and unclothed, singly or in pairs, very rarely animals. Some are elaborately designed, others are roughly cut. Despite copious research during the past decades, the function and meaning of the tiny foils is in many respects still an enigma. However, their decipherment is of key importance for the understanding of the northern European cultures of their time. This book contains state-of-the-art contributions from scholars in multiple fields of research, elucidating several different perspectives on these intriguing archaeological objects and searching for new approaches and new interpretations. All things considered, the concept, manufacture, and usage of gold foil figures must be regarded as a result of supra-regional crises. However, they also are evidence of cultural survival and social reorganisation.

The study will examine the religious background to mortuary rituals associated with the non-cremated inhumation boat burials of Northern Europe in the Vendel period. An analysis of grave goods, animal and human remains, and the material culture common to such boat burials will reveal more about the relationships between England and Sweden at that time. The study will include consideration of similarities between pressbleck/helmet designs, square headed brooches and shields found in these boat burials and will readdress the cultural relationship between Anglian England and the Vendel period Svear of Uppland (Bruce Mitford, 1968). The study will also address the recently discovered Estonian boat burials of the Vendel era (Konsa, 2009) in the context of the super-regional boat burial catalogue (1970) and the boat grave index (1974) each compiled by Müller-Wille.
Comparative analysis of the boats, their material contents and topographical situation (Anderson, 1983) will shed light on the religious rituals behind the funerary custom and provide an explanation, informed by historical sources, for the apparent cultural connection between the Vendel period Svea and the kingdom of East Anglia.

Dating two royal mounds of Old Uppsala – evaluating the elite of the 6th-7th century in Middle Sweden
The perhaps most famous excavated iron age graves in Sweden are the East- and West Mounds of Old Uppsala (Gamla
Uppsala) in Uppland, Middle Sweden. After a debate which lasted from the 1920s to the late 1940s it was widely
accepted that these mounds belonged to the Migration period. According to the regular Swedish chronology this
means a date before the middle of the 6th century. I believe that this view is wrong and that it has not seriously been
challenged since 1948. To date the mounds to the late 6th and even the early 7th century has a serious effect upon how
elite, society and international relations should be interpreted.

- by John Ljungkvist
- •
- Burial mounds (Archaeology), Uppsala University, Gamla Uppsala, Vendel period

Artifacts of female dress such as brooches and pendants have long been objects of interest to scholars of late Iron Age /early medieval Scandinavia. They figure in dating and tracing stylistic developments, and their presence is often (controversially) used to help assign gender to burials. There are three types of pendants which constitute a type of feminine adornment unique to Viking Age Gotland: the so-called tongue, sieve, and ladle pendants. The purpose of this paper is to examine these pendant types and the possible symbolic and magical functions behind their forms and manner of use, and how these functions intersected with the ideologies mapped onto female bodies in Old Norse culture(s). The pendants’ appearance as fixed and incomplete sets is analyzed, and the designs of the “tongue”, “sieve” and “ladle” are located within the wider field of Iron Age iconography - particularly in association with the depiction of idealized gender roles. In conclusion a hypothesis as to why these particular amulets were used exclusively by wealthy Viking women is presented; that the tongue, sieve, and ladle pendants signaled and were involved in the construction of a particular type of elite female identity linked to specifically feminine forms of embodied power and prestige within late Iron Age society.

- by Ragnar Saage
- •
- Archaeology, Vendel period, Vendel, Boat grave
- by Sigmund Oehrl
- •
- Old Norse Literature, Viking Studies, Runology, Viking Age Archaeology
- by Michaela Helmbrecht
- •
- Viking Age Archaeology, Viking Age Scandinavia, Vendeltid, Vendel period

This master thesis deals with the subject of mass graves as a result of war and violence; how, where and why they are created, what they represent and how they are used throughout the Scandinavian Iron Age and Middle Ages. To analyze and discuss these questions, I have used nine case studies as well as several literary sources such as Beowulf, Tacitus and Jordanes. To further increase the depth of this discussion and to help us understand the mass graves themselves, I have also included subject of warfare in the form of a walkthrough of violence and social psychology. Together, these pieces have helped me form the basis for an analysis and discussion of the three acts I have created: The Ingroup act of deposition, The Outgroup act of deposition and the Triumph act of deposition.

- by Mattias Frisk
- •
- Violence, Social Identity, Early Medieval History, Beowulf