v king heritage - wastekeep.org heritage magazine/2005 - 0… · the change of religion in the...

V king HeritageV king Heritage

3/20053/2005

magazine

Högskolan på GotlandGotland University

www.hgo.se/viking 2

Viking Heritage Magazine 3/05

The ignorant booby had best be silent

when he moves among other men,

No one will know what a nit-wit he is

until he begins to talk;

No one knows less what a nit-wit he is,

than the man who talks too much.

From Hávámal(Words from “The High One”)

AAbboouutt tthhee ffrroonntt ppaaggeeThe religion of the Vikings. Human sacrifices and weapon offerings from Lillmyr in Barlingbo parish and Möllegårds in Hörsne parish,Gotland, Sweden. In front: The Madonna from Viklau church (copy) is dated to the end of the 12th century. These objects are exhibitedin the County Museum of Gotland, Sweden. Photo Raymond Hejdström.

Drawing by Lou Harrison, tthhuunnddeerrhheeaarrttssttuuddiiooss@@yyaahhoooo..ddkk

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Heritage News

EditorialTHE CHANGE OF RELIGION in the Viking Age – illustrated on the front page – isthe subject of the two opening articles in this autumn issue. When theViking Age began around 750 AD, most of Europe had already beenconverted to Christianity. In Scandinavia this process of transformation wenton for several hundred years and the first churches were not built untilaround 1100.

In the article Choosing heaven Gun Westholm tells about the Viking-ageNorse Aesir cult – that, in turn, replaced an older fertility religion – andabout its origin and myths that might very well be depicted on Gotlandicpicture stones.

But how was the change from the old pagan faith into Christianitybrought about? You will find some answers in the article The cross and thesword where Alexandra Sanmark discusses the strategies of conversion indifferent places in medieval Europe.

From Orkney we have received an interesting contribution to the debateabout whether the Vikings integrated with the indigenous Pictish people onthe island or slaughtered them, when they took over the islands. Perhapsrecent excavations can lead to new approaches to this debate.

But who actually were the Vikings? To find the answer to this questionyou must read the article, The Worlds of the Vikings, by Malin Lindquist!

And as usual, you will find plenty of good reading for the dark autumnnights in this issue, so curl up and enjoy it!

MMaarriittaa EE EEkkmmaannEditor

Email: [email protected]

IN THIS ISSUEChoosing HeavenThe Religion of the Vikings 33––88

The Cross and the Sword –Strategies of conversion in medieval Europe 99––1133

The tidy metalworkers of Fröjel 1144––1177

The Worlds of the Vikings – an exhibition at Gotlands Fornsal, Visby 1188––2211

NNEEWW BBOOOOKKSS 2211,, 3300––3311,, 3355

DDEESSTTIINNAATTIIOONN VVIIKKIINNGG

The Fearless Vikings… 2222––2244

Genocide in Orkney?The fate of the Orcadian Picts 2255––2277

Theatre and re-enactmentsat Gene Iron-age farm innorthern Sweden 2288––3300

HHEERRIITTAAGGEE NNEEWWSS 3322––3344

mailto:[email protected]

www.hgo.se/viking


3 http://viking.hgo.se


By Gun Westholm

When the Viking Age began inabout 750 AD, Scandinavia wasamong the last of the heathenoutposts in Europe along withthe Baltic, Russian and Slavicareas east of the Elbe.

Christianity had slowly spread from theMiddle East, Egypt, the Roman Empireand the Byzantium area (4th century), tothe realm of the Franks and, during the6th century, further to England andIreland. Parts of the Germanic area wereChristianised during 7th century, and inthe middle of 8th century the largeCarolingian kingdom was created forminga cohesive Christian area from Italy in theSouth to the Slavonian region in North(fig. 1).

Before the Aesir GodsIn Scandinavia belief in the Aesir godswas the prevailing religion before theChristian message slowly won territory

during 11th century. Many believe thatthe religion of the Vikings arose as aunique phenomenon in northern Europe.

But the Aesir cult was a warriorreligion that had several equivalents inboth Europe and Asia, religions that hadreplaced other much earlier, peacefulbeliefs with clear ties to agriculture andfertility. In these very old forms ofreligion, the chief god was often of thefemale sex – Mother Earth – and a goodyearly crop and high yields from thelivestock were the main purpose forworship.

Female goddesses dominated Europe’sand Asia’s religious beliefs untilapproximately 5000 BC, then a slow

change seems to have begun. The fertileareas of the plains people were taken overby warlike nomads and cattle herdersfrom the mountain regions. These tribeshad male chief gods who honouredwarring activities and warriors who hadfallen in battle. Later on some of the wargods came to be called Zeus, Jahve andOdin.

Outside Scandinavia, Odin was calledWodan/Wotan among the Germanictribes, Godan among the Langobardi andWoden in England. Both Woden andDonar – Thor – are mentioned as early asthe 6th century on the continent. Odinand Zeus have many common qualities, asdo their respective wives Frigg and Hera.

ChoosingHeavenThe Religion of the Vikings

Fig 1. The spread ofChristianity and Islam atthe beginning of the VikingAge, around 750 AD.

White: Pagan regionGrey: Christian regionBlack: Islamic region

Map by Maria Westholm.

http://viking.hgo.se

http://viking.hgo.se 4


There are also resemblances between otherAesir gods and the Greek gods ofAntiquity.

The story of creation in our Nordicmythology has many parallels in theancient myths of India and Iran.According to the poetic Edda, a human-like giant is created – Ymer – from thevapour from the huge cold abyssGinnungagap and the heat of its oppositeMuspelhem. At the same time the first cowAudhumbla is created.

The equivalent to Ymer in the oldIndian Veda manuscripts iscalled Yama, and Yima inthe ancient Persian legendsbut it is still the same story!In India the cow is referred toas the source and mother of life.In the Indian epic Mahabharataportrays two heirs – the blindDhritarashtra and the honestVihura bearing close similaritiesto Odin’s sons, the blind Höderand the honest Balder. In theNordic story, the blind Höder ispersuaded to shoot an arrow ofmistletoe at his brother, while theIndian equivalen tells about adice game that ended withcatastrophic consequences. Inboth cases the situation leads tothe disintegration of the wholeworld order.

After the end of the world –Ragnarök – a new world is born.The same cyclic view of timeexists in Iran and Greece as wellas in India. One can also seelinguistic resemblances betweenGreek, ancient Indian languages and theGermanic languages.

It is obvious that the Aesir cult derivedits main features from many religions inSouthern Europe and Asia. It is uncertainwhere the cumulative faith originated, butwe can be very sure that it is a religionthat immigrated to Scandinavia!

But there was a religion in Scandinaviaeven before the Aesir cult. We know aboutthis religion only through sacrificial finds,graves and from illustrations on theGotlandic picture stones. Written sourcesare lacking, with one exception. TheRoman historian Tacitus described thenorthern Germanic tribes’ relationshipsand religion in his work, Germania in 98AC. He mentions two goddesses amongthe Germans: Isis and Nerthus. Isis seemsto be strongly influenced by her Egyptiannamesake – a maritime goddess, withtemples in the mouths of rivers and a ship

as symbol. She has been assumed to bethe model for the goddesses Frigg andFreyja in the North. According tomythology, Freyja was the daughter ofNjord of the Vanir race, and a sister toFrey, who owned the remarkable shipSkidbladne.

“Nerthus, who is the same as Mother Earth,believes that she intervenes in people’s livesand travels in procession among the people.

There is a holy grove on an island in theocean and on this a blessed wagon, coveredwith cloth,”

Tacitus writes and further on in the texthe says:

“that the wagon is pulled by cows. Wherevershe goes there are festivities and no morewars, and weapons are set aside… peace andquiet then prevail.”

Tacitus counts seven different tribes who

worship Nerthus. It has been possible tolocate only one of the names with anycertainty – the Angles. They lived in thenorthern part of Germany, on the borderto Denmark on a peninsula that wascalled Angeln. Two of the other namesbear similarities to those in Schleswig –Holstein.

Tacitus tells about how Nerthus’ annualjourney ends:

“Then the wagon and cloth are cleaned, andif you can be believe it, the goddess’

picture in a distant sea. The slavesthat do this are then swallowedup by that sea. From this grows a

secret dread and a pious uncertaintyabout what that is, that only the to

the dead are allowed to see.”

This cult of the northernGermanic tribes can be linked to thepeat corpses that have been foundwithin Danish and North Germanterritory in silted-up lakes.

Nerthus – Njärd (the Aesir Njord)seems to be a Nordic fertility goddessand the first ancestress of the Vanir.

Picture stones as sources ofknowledge The oldest Gotlandic picture stonesfrom the period approximately400–600 AD have symbols that canbe linked to an old agricultural cult

rather than a warrior religion.These feature sun discs withswirling wheels that seem to standfor movement, pairs of animals

that symbolise rites unknown to us,possibly illustrated to promote a plentifulcrop or show ritual animal baiting.

Another motif on the picture stonesfrom this period is fine-looking boats withhigh stem-or sternposts and rudders.Above the ships’ middle section there is asuperstructure with circles on it. The sunthat fills nature with new life every springprobably became a symbol of resurrectioneven for the dead people, perhaps thestruggles of the animal pairs is meant tobe a struggle between life and death orbetween summer and winter and the shipswith their crew can depict a journey forthe souls of the dead to the country of thesun or the realm of death. The circlesperhaps indicate a tribute to the dead –wreaths of honour.

It is not surprising that the inhabitantsof Gotland, located in the middle of thesea, long cherished an ancient agriculture

Fig 2. The partly reconstructed picturestone from Austers in Hangvar parish, atthe bottom a ship’s stem, a sun wheeland on the top a man in front of thegaping mouth of a beast. Photo Raymond Hejdström.


Fig 4. Picture stone withsnake motif from Smiss inNär parish. Photo Raymond Hejdström.



and fertility religion that also includedships.

Even on picture stones dated to as earlyas 400–500 AD, there are pictures thatlead thoughts towards the mythology ofthe Vikings. The stone from Austers inHangvar has a sun wheel and probablythe stem of a ship, fig. 2. Above the sundrawing there is a man facing the openmouth of a great beast that closelyresembles a centipede. Several havewanted to interpret the picture as an earlydepiction of Sigurd facing the dragonFafne. Another interpretation is Thorstruggling with the snake from Midgård.

An almost identical stone was foundwhile restoring Martebo church in 1971.On the Martebo stone the whole ship ispreserved while the dragon’s/snake’s upperbody has been chopped away, butotherwise it is the same motif. The sagaabout Sigurd Fafnesbane is recorded onIceland and was spread widely inScandinavia and Germany during theViking era and later.

Is the Auster stone’s motif a sign of theonset of the Aesir cult’s war and warriorworship? There are other examples onstones from same era that show armedmen: on a stone from Vallstenarum inVallstena they carry spears and shields,and on a picture stone with early runesfrom Martebo church there are riders withspears and shields next to the sun wheel.

Snake cult?On several of the old type of stones threefilled circles occur: Martebo church, Brochurch and on the big Sanda stone. Thatall three circles should be symbols for thesun and resurrection seems unlikely.

On the stone from Martebo a snakewinds around the left lower circle, fig. 3,and on the Sanda stone snakes entwinethemselves around the both lower circlesthat lack rays. Is it earth that is meantunder the sun wheel – one to two worlds

– Midgård – entwined by theMidgård snake, one of Loke’sevil sons?

Moreover, later the Sandastone has been “scribbled

on”; a tree with clear rootsstands on a line with a dragon –

possibly the world tree Yggdrasiland with a dragon-like character

that can possibly be interpreted asthe snake Nidhögg, gnawing on thetree’s roots.

During the 6th–8th c. the circlesdisappear from the picture stonesand are replaced by illustrations ofsailing ships, birds and snakes. Pure“snake stones” now appear. Themost well known is the stone fromSmiss in När, fig. 4, where a sittingwoman with an artistic hairstyle

holds a snake in each hand under a so-called triskele with three snakes.

On the stone from Sandegårda inSanda a snake-like character with twodistinct snakes on either side can be seen,fig. 5. Snakes are clearly important in theprehistoric religious world on Gotland.

Besides Midgårdsormen (the Midgårdsnake), Eddan also mentions the snakesGoin, Moin, Gråbak and Grafvöllund,except Nidhögg, down in Nifelheim underYggdrasil:

“More snakes lie under the ash tree calledYggdrasil than what each silly monkeybelieves”, according to Eddan.

Both the snake-stones above are datedto the period 500–700 AD and we arenow approaching the beginning of theViking era. On at least two of the Viking-age stones both the woman with snakesand the cluster of snakes exist:

On the Hunninge stone from Klinte asnake woman stands watching a battlescene. In the next picture a man liesamong a number of snakes in a hole or ona yard. A woman stands at the entrance tothe yard, fig. 6.

On the stone from Smiss in Stenkyrkaa woman with a snake in her hand iswalking in front of a row of soldiers. Inthe badly damaged frieze above this asnake pit with a man in it can bediscerned, fig. 7.

Snakes have been found in theGotlandic mythology for many hundredyears! Snake pits occur in the Icelandicsagas - Ragnar Lodbrok and GunnarGjukeson both met their destiny in asnake pit in the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok –

Fig 3. Picture stonewith snake motif fromMartebo church. Photo RaymondHejdström.


Fig 5. Picture stone with snakemotif from Sandegårda in Sandaparish. Photo Raymond Hejdström.



a Nordic sequel to the saga ofSigurd Fafnesbane.

If dragon- and the snake-stonesare early signs of Aesir religion, thismeans that the transition from theold fertility – and agricultural cultto the Aesir cult was a process thattook several hundred years! Whenthe Aesir religion is described inEddan at the beginning of the13th c, the author – SnorreSturlasson had access to storiesthat depicted the final phase ofAesir religion before it wasofficially crowded out byChristianity. Then it hadprobably undergone a long,slow transition.

The Nordic Aesir gods The Viking-age gods stemmedfrom two races – Aesir andVanir.

The word Aesir comesfrom an old word for “god”.According to Eddan the Aesir includemost of the gods: Odin, Thor, Tyr andothers, twelve gods in total. They aremostly war gods to be appeased byweapon sacrifices among other things.According to Snorre’s Edda, fourteen ofthe goddesses are called Asynjor, (Aesirgoddesses) for instance Frigg and Freyja.

The names of the Vanir are consideredto be related to the Roman goddess oflove Venus (the Greeks’ Afrodite) and theancient Indian word vanah = desire andthey constitute their own race of gods.They were the gods of reproduction andthey ruled over weather, fishing, shipping,seeding and harvest. They seem to be theremains of an ancient agricultural mother-earth cult. This also includes Njord (seeabove) Frigg, Frey and Freyja. Among theVanir are also those versed in magic, whocan grant success in battle and who devotethemselves to love magic.

The Aesir and Vanir fought againsteach other but gradually tired of battle,held a peace meeting and sealed the peaceby both sides going up to a vat andspitting in it, according to Eddan. TheAesir god Odin married the Vanir goddessFrigg and they had two sons, Balder andHöder, amongst other children.

Odin is the highest and eldest of theAesir. He rules over everything and the othergods may be powerful, but they all obeyhim as children obey their father… Odin iscalled universal father because he is father toall the gods, according to the Edda.

Sacrificial finds The Gotlandic Viking-age picture stonesare difficult to interpret but probably giveus pictures of sacrifices, gods andgoddesses, valkyries and Valhalla. Amongthe sacrificial scenes the Hammar stonefrom Lärbro is the one most oftenportrayed – with a human sacrifice on analtar-like arrangement with man carryinga spear in front of Odin, fig. 8.

In Gutasagan is written: “They sacrificed their sons

and daughters and livestock aswell as food and drink. Theydid this because of their falsebelief. The whole country (Gotland)had the greatest human sacrifice.Normally each of the three regions heldtheir own sacrifice.”

Archaeological finds also implythat people were sacrificed duringthe Viking Age on Gotland. InLillmyr in Barlingbo, just next to theGotlandic Allting’s meeting place inRoma, parts of humans have beenfound, along with remains of horsesand lambs. In the same marsh,

weapon sacrifices were also found – someten bent-up swords lay in a heap andbeside them were ten-odd shield bossesstacked on top of each other, see photo onthe front page. In another marsh land, atMöllegårds in Hörsne, there were thirty-

Fig 6. Picture stone with snake motif from Hunninge in Klinte parish. Photo Raymond Hejdström.




odd spearheads and at Gane in Bäl, aVendel-age bracteate and ten Viking-agespears were found. These weaponsacrifices are connected with the Odincult (see front page).

But the largest site of Viking-ageweapon-finds on Gotland isGudingsåkrarna, northwest from Vallstenachurch. Since the 19th c. over 500weapons have been dug up from thedrained marshland here – mostlyspearheads, but even swords and forgingequipment such as raw iron and forgingtongs. On other occasions silver has beenfound here along with spearheads andscythes. At an excavation during the1930s, 8 spearheads appeared stuck into acircle approximately 1,5-meter radius andwith a horsehead-shaped stone in themiddle.

While it can be suspected that theweapon sacrifices were offered to Odinand possibly also to Thor, probably thesacrificed scythes are meant to appease thegod Frey. Frey was the god of love whogave peace, pleasure and good crops.Adam of Bremen writes at the end of the11th c.:

“If an epidemic or famine threatens, youshould make sacrifices to Thor’s statue, if awar is imminent, to Odin, if a wedding isto be celebrate, to Frey.”

Besides Gudingsåkrarna, scythes havebeen found in ways that can beinterpreted as sacrifice: four scythes boundtogether with two chisels and a cuttinginstrument have been found at Findarvein Rone and eight scythes, two raw irons,three forks and a key at Bringes inNorrlanda. Small miniature scythes havebeen dug up at Stenbys in Lokrume.

One more group of finds of a sacrificialcharacter must be mentioned – iron ringsthat were found in stone mounds andbogs. The largest find comes from Dunein Dalhem, where approximately 1400rings of different sizes lay neatly indifferent layers with earth in between. Wecannot link the ring finds to any specificgod, they are assumed to be a very ancientrelic with roots in a Bronze-age cult.

The god Thor with power overthunder is portrayed on a picture stonefrom Alskog church and possibly even ona stone chest from Sanda cemetery withhis weapon, the hammer Mjölner.Fragments of a similar picture stone fromHemse seem to have same motif. On theboth the later stones, the hammer is morelike a club. Mjölner can also be portrayedas an axe.

While miniature Thor’s hammers are arepeated find from graves on the

continent, they are very rare in Gotlandicgraves. On the other hand there are foursilver Thor’s hammers in Gotlandic silvertreasures from the late Viking Age(Alveskogs in Eke, Mickels in När, Geretein Fardhem and Kvie in Othem).

In the Gotlandic graves, amber amuletswere sometimes placed at the feet of thedead or on their breasts. In male graves,they were shaped like a little axe and infemale graves they have a conical shapewith a groove. Small block stools of silverand amber have also found. The axes aswell as the block stool can be linked toThor’s cult. Thor is portrayed sitting onsuch a stool on a find from Lund. Thesmall amber amulets have theirequivalents in Latvia.

A few amulet rings of iron and bronzewith small miniature objects on each havebeen found on the island – from Riddarein Hemse comes a ring with horse, spearand sword and from Sandegårda in Sandaanother with some rings, a block stool (?)and an animal.

Silver Hoards Burying sacrificial finds meant to appeasethe gods seems, therefore, to have been acommon phenomenon on Gotland. It waseven more common to place silver hoardsunder the floors of the buildings. Up untilthe present no less than about 750Viking-age silver hoards have come tolight on Gotland!

Many explanations as to why thesetreasures have been left buried until ourtime have been searched for: they werehidden away; those who knew about the

places died and took their secret withthem to the grave; they were payment fora future bride purchase that was neverused or that the silver was intended asblood money to get someone out of adifficult situation.

But the burying of silver can also beconnected with the Aesir cult! If there wassilver lying under the floors in at leastevery other farm on Gotland, this couldnot have been unknown to the otherinhabitants of Gotland. Every abandonedhouse would have been searched byrelatives or others!

Another explanation can also exist, thathas to do with the life after this. In SnorreSturlasson’s Ynglingasaga there is a chapterabout the laws Odin made for the people:Odin made in his country the same lawsthat had applied among the Aesir. Heordained that all dead men should beburnt and their properties to be carriedonto the funeral pyre with them. Hedecreed that each and everyone shouldcome to Valhalla with the wealth that hehad on the pyre; he should also enjoy thatwhich he had dug down in the ground.(author’s italics).

Here we get another explanation forthe hoards – they were intended for life inValhalla!

We can imagine that the farmer, whenhe knew the end was near, took away asmuch of the family’s fortune that hebelieved he would need in his next lifeand placed this under the floor. Perhapsthis took place in ceremonies with familiespresent – the contents in the urn or thebox showing of course the position which

Fig 7. Picture stone with snake motif from Smiss in Stenkyrka parish. Photo Raymond Hejdström.




he had achieved during hislife. Perhaps, his son, inturn, placed silver in thesame urn when heapproached old age. Theimportant thing is thatnobody could take up thesilver, even if they knew thatthe silver lay there! Then, thedead ancestors would getinto trouble and incur theterrible revenge of the deadand Aesir gods!

Aesir and ChristianitySnorre’s Edda was written down duringChristian time and there are manyparallels with biblical texts in the stories.But there are also many similarities withancient Persian and ancient Indianmythology and we can assume that theAesir religion was a mixture of old beliefswith Euro-Asian origins and newChristian elements.

Information from archaeologicalsources on Gotland shows that Christianobjects existed on the island as early as the9th century onwards. Gutasagan describesthat Christian areas existed withinGotland’s trading areas throughout thewhole Viking era:

“Even though the Gutes were heathens,they still sailed with merchant products toall countries, Christian and heathen. Thenthe merchants witnessed Christian customsin Christian countries. Then some of themallowed themselves to be baptized andbrought Christian priests to Gotland.”

Nothing would indicate dramaticevents in connection with the conversionto Christianity. Many things imply, on theother hand, that heathens and Christianlived peaceful side by side for a long time.

During the 11th c. Christian crossesand rune texts with Christian messagesbecame more and more common. Theoldest churches on Gotland are dated toabout 1100 AD. Gutalagen formulates theformal Christianising of Gotland – thelaw begins with:

“This is the first in our law, that weshould say no to paganism and say yes to theChristian faith and all believe in a GodAlmighty…”

But all expressions of the old religiondid not disappear immediately. The faithin – and the dread of – the old Aesir godslived on in folklore and customs for along time. Thor is the Aesir, whose nameand characteristics seem to have survivedthe longest in folk religion and well into

historical time he has been invoked inorder to protect houses and people duringthunderstorms.

With the introduction of Christianityeven the goddesses disappeared. God wasnow naturally male. Maria is admittedlyJesus’ mother, but no goddess! But ineveryday religion, the Blessed Mary got tobear Freyja’s role as a symbol of fertility,see the front page. She was alsoworshipped as a kind of mother goddessand alleviated at childbirth pains, therebyalso replacing Frigg. In many places shealso got to take over the power over theweather, crops, fishing and livestock fromthe ancient gods and goddesses.

About the authorGun Westholm is the Senior Curatorand responsible for the exhibitions atthe County Museum of Gotland. Sheis an archaeologist and the author ofnumerous articles dealing with theViking and Medieval history ofGotland. Her thesis dissertation onViking-age Visby was published in1989.

This article was first published in Swedishby the County Museum of Gotland in theirannual book, Gotländskt Arkiv 2004, thisyear called Gotland Vikingaön (GotlandViking Island).

LLiitteerraattuurree aanndd RReeffeerreenncceessCollinder, Björn (ed.) 1970. Snorres Edda.

Uddevalla.Holmbäck Åke/Wessén, Elias 1979.

Gutalagen/Gutasagan. SvenskaLandskapslagar. Uppsala.

Olson, Emil (ed.) 1919. Snorre Sturlassonskonungasagor I. Lund.

Onsell, Birgitta 1985. Gamla gudar ochglömda gudinnor. Stockholm

Nylén, Erik 1978. Bildstenar. VisbyNäsström, Britt-Marie 2001.

Fornskandinavisk religion. Lund.Svenberg, Emanuel 1984. Adam av

Bremen. Historien om Hamburgstiftetoch dess biskopar. Stockholm.

Thunmark-Nylén, Lena 1983. Gotland ochOstbaltikum. Gutar och Vikingar.Stockholm

Thålin-Bergman, Lena 1983. Järn ochjärnsmide för hemmabruk och avsalu.Gutar och Vikingar. Stockholm

Trotzig, Gustaf 1983. Den gamla och dennya religionen. Gutar och Vikingar.Stockholm.

Fig 8. A sacrificial scene.Detail from the picturestone from Hammars inLärbro parish. Photo Erik Nylén.




By Alexandra Sanmark

Christianity in Europe wasspread on a wider scale bykings and aristocracy.Missionaries who were activein areas where there was noChristian king could convincesmaller parts of thepopulation to becomeChristian. They could nothowever transform the oldpagan society into a Christianone. This was insteadachieved by Christian rulersassisted by missionaries.

This pattern can be clearly seen throughcomparative studies of Christianization inEurope, and will here be demonstrated hereby examples from the conversions of Sweden,Saxony, Frisia and Anglo-Saxon England.

There were however also some importantdifferences between the conversions of theseareas. Sweden and England became Christiancountries through the actions of native kings,above all. These men seem to have spread thereligion with the help of loyal magnates,without the use of military force. Frisia andSaxony, on other hand, were converted bythe Frankish military conquest.

Sweden In Sweden the first Christian king was OlofSkötkonung, who was baptised around theyear 1000. After this event, Christianity wasgradually spread across the country.

This was the result of the actions of OlofSkötkonung and his successors, whointroduced the religion through the localthings, with the support of loyal magnates.In this way, Christianity trickled down to thelower sections of society.

Before the time of Olof Skötkonung weknow that missionaries, such as Ansgar, hadbeen active in Sweden, particularly in thetown of Birka. These missionaries hadhowever been only marginally successful.They did not manage to convince any of thekings at Birka to accept baptism, and as a

Rune stone from Focksta, Uppland, with a clearly visible cross. This kind of rune stone isundoubtedly linked to Christianization. Photography Annika Larsson

The Cross and the Sword –

“Baptismal” rune stone (no. U 896) movedfrom Håga village in Bondkyrko parish.

Photography Annika Larsson

Strategies of conversion inmedieval Europe

This is the first of two articles whereAlexandra Sanmark discusses the

conversion processes in medieval Europe(that took place when Christianity was

introduced in Europe). The second will bepublished in VHM 4/2005.


in today’s Netherlands andnorthern Germany respectively)in the 7th and 8th centuries wasvery much different. These areaswere conquered by the Frankishempire and the population wasforced to accept Christianity aspart of Frankish lordship. TheFrankish armies wereaccompanied by bishops, who

settled in the newly won areas. Before this time, missionaries had

preached in Frisia without secular support.They did not however manage to convincethe Frisian kings, nor any larger parts of thepopulation, to be baptised.

“Mission by word – Mission by sword“In the 1930s and 40s, scholars attempted todivide conversion into a number of differentcategories. The conversions of Sweden andEngland were classified as “mission by word”,i.e. conversion through missionarypreaching. The conversions of Saxony andFrisia were categorised as “mission bysword”, i.e. conversion through militaryforce.

This approach is however far toosimplistic. The main problem is that it doesnot take into account the political forceexercised by secular rulers in more peacefulconversions.

A more useful way to studyChristianization is to see the different typesof conversion as part of a spectrum, wheresome kind of force is always present. Thiscan range from mild political pressure to fullwar.

We must also remember that the manyadvantages that could be gained constitutedanother significant factor for the spread ofChristianity. Christian rulers furthermore



consequence only parts of the populationwere persuaded to do so.

The Anglo-Saxon kingdomsThe conversions of the Anglo-Saxonkingdoms seem to have been similar to theconversion of Sweden.

The first Christian king, Ethelberht ofKent, was baptised in 597 by the Romanmissionary Augustine. Ethelberht wasmarried to Bertha, a Frankish Christianprincess, and was therefore most likelypositive towards Christianity even beforeAugustine’s arrival. It may even have beenhim who invited the Roman missionaries toKent.

It was moreover Ethelberht and other

powerful kings, who spread Christianity on alarger scale to the different Anglo-Saxonkingdoms. Political pressure was placed onthe weaker kings until they agreed to bebaptised. Once a king had been convinced toreceive baptism, missionaries were sent to hiskingdom to preach among the greaterpopulation.

Political pressure was not however theonly reason why the lesser kings acceptedChristianity. There were also significantpolitical, economic, and social advantages tobe had, such as stronger trade links, Latinlearning and new technology.

Frisia and SaxonyThe conversion of Frisia and Saxony (located

This rune stone, which wasplaced as a foundation stoneunderneath one of the pillarsin Uppsala cathedral, showshow the old traditions wereincorporated into themedieval, Christian, society.Photography Annika Larsson

“Arkel’s thing site”, Bällsta parish,Vallentuna. Photography Alexandra Sanmark


used material rewards in order to makeChristianity more appealing. The Frankishrulers, for example, offered positions ofpower and wealth to the Saxon leaders whoaccepted them as overlords and thus also

Christianity. Since these rewards were not directly

connected with the Christian teachings,rulers could give Christianity addedattractions, which missionaries were unableto offer.

The use of forceThe medieval Church accepted the use

of violence in conversion. From the time



of ancient Christianity, missionary work hadbeen seen to contain two goals. These werethe positive goal of the acceptance ofChristianity and the negative goal ofextinguishing non-Christian beliefs andcults. These goals have also been named“Christianization” and “depaganisation”.

In the 5th and 6th centuries, force couldnot be used in Christianization. The reasonfor this was that acceptance of Christianityshould be a fully voluntary act, which shouldtake place before baptism. For the goal ofdepaganisation, the use of force was allowed,and even invited.

Gradually, the Church began to acceptthe use of force even in the pursuit ofChristianization. At the end of the 6th

century, Pope Gregory I recommendedlevying fines on those who were notbaptised, so that they would be compelled tobe baptised.

In the 7th century, the Churchcondemned forced baptism, althoughrecognising it as valid. It was moreover statedthat a person who had been forcibly baptisedmust also be forced to remain a Christian.Over the course of the Middle Ages,therefore, baptism became the primary goalfor missionaries. Once the people in an areahad been baptised, the missionaries wouldhave more opportunities to give themChristian instruction.

Medieval sources called a person a“believer” from the very moment of her orhis baptism. This means that the medievalmeaning of “conversion” is different from theone we are used to today, i.e. an inner

A modern wooden church in Estonia, notice the cross on theroof. Early wooden churches in Sweden might have looked likethis, but how does one find them archaeologically? Photography Annika Larsson.

The church of St Olof in Sigtuna, which dates from early12th century. This is the earliest church in the county of

Uppland, with the exception of the one that was recentlyfound underneath the floor of the same church.

Photography Annika Larsson

The chapel onBjörkö wasbuilt tocommemorateAnsgar’s visitto Birka 1100years ago.

Photography:Bengt ALundberg.




change of faith. It is clear that Christian faithwas of little importance for the spread ofChristianity in the Middle Ages.

In order to further demonstrate this, wemust take a closer look at baptism as a toolfor conversion.

BaptismThe sources contain many descriptions ofbaptisms. Most of these accounts tell usabout mass baptisms that were carried outsoon after the missionaries’ arrival in an area.The evidence suggests that in order to receivebaptism, converts were only required torecite the baptismal formula. This includedthe rejection of the devil and the declarationof faith in God and the Holy Trinity.

There seem to have been occasions whenmissionaries required even less than thebaptismal formula. The Anglo-Saxonmissionary Boniface complained that therewere priests who performed baptism,without first asking their subjects about theirbelief in the Christian god.

One reason for the lack of pre-baptismalinstruction was presumably insufficientmanpower. We are told that the missionaryAugustine baptised more than 10,000 peopleon Christmas Day 597. Boniface is alsoreported to have baptised thousands.Although the numbers of people in suchaccounts have most likely been exaggerated,it is clear that there were few missionaries inrelation to the population in these areas.

In Saxony during the reign ofCharlemagne, forced mass baptisms wereorganised in combination with the extensionof Frankish territory. Moreover, around 785,Charlemagne issued a law, which made therefusal of baptism punishable by death. Theenforcement of such measures clearly did notleave any time for pre-baptismal instruction.

The Anglo-Saxon monk, Alcuin of York,who was Charlemagne’s leading advisor onecclesiastical matters, was worried about theperformance of the mission in Saxony and inparticular about the “hasty baptism ofpagans who knew nothing of the faith”. Ofthe few recorded cases of more personalinstruction, almost all involve rulers ormembers of the aristocracy. Anglo-Saxonkings, such as Ethelberht, receivinginstruction from missionaries who spent timeat the royal courts.

Frisian nobles also kept missionaries intheir households. In these areas therefore, itseems to have been possible for highlyappointed men and women to gain a deeperknowledge of Christianity before theirbaptism.

In Saxony, on the other hand, the localrulers were forcibly baptised, in much thesame way as the rest of the population. It isunlikely that Christian instruction playedany significant role in these cases.

There is no evidence of forced baptism inSweden. However, even here, most of the

population appear to have received little pre-baptismal instruction, as the number ofclergymen was rather low. Rimbert, whowrote the Life of Ansgar, reported that onseveral occasions Birka was without a priestfor many years. Adam of Bremen, a Germancanon who wrote in the 1070s, tells us aboutGerman priests who were appointed toepiscopal sees in Scandinavia, but who nevertook up their positions.

It is therefore likely that missionaries hadto preach to large audiences and they wereprobably not able to dedicate much time topre-baptismal instruction. Their primaryaim, or wish, may thus have been to baptisethe population quickly, as missionaries inEngland, Saxony, and Frisia had done.

Prime-signingThere was however one important differencebetween baptism in Scandinavia and in theother areas discussed in this article. InScandinavia in the 10th and early 11th

centuries, prime-signing was practised inaddition to full baptism.

We are told that Ansgar baptised many atHedeby in Denmark, but also that “countlessnumbers” were prime-signed. The prime-signing ritual was constituted by theintroductory part of the baptismal rite, andthose who had received it were allowed to goto church and take part in Christian life.

A reconstruction of the baptismal font inGrenoble. Photography Annika Larsson

Early medieval baptismal font from Grenoble intended for the baptism of adults. It islikely that most early baptismal font were constructed in this manner. In Sweden, adultbaptism by immersion was most probably practised in early Christian times. The customof sprinkling water on the baby’s head is a later tradition. Photography Annika Larsson.




This practice had its roots in ancientChristianity when it was believed thateveryone should learn about Christianitybefore they were baptised. This learningperiod should last a maximum of three yearsafter the initiation ritual. In Sweden, thisperiod seems at times to have been muchlonger.

The texts on several rune stones inUppland tell us about people who died “inwhite clothes”. This probably refers to thebaptismal robes, which the baptised shouldwear after the ceremony. It is therefore likelythat these people had been prime-signed andwere baptised just before their deaths.

There seem to be at least threeexplanations as to why some people preferredprime-signing to full baptism. One reasonwas that people wished to be baptised andcleansed from their sins just before theirdeaths, as suggested by the Upplandic runestones. These people were hoping to gostraight to paradise.

A second explanation could be that itprovided a good option for those who werenot entirely convinced that they wished to bebaptised.

The third explanation, which occurs inEgil Skallagrímsson’s saga, is of a morepractical nature. Here it was stated thatTorulf and Egil were prime-signed inEngland so that they would be able to workfor the king. This was the custom amongboth traders and men who were employed byChristians. The saga explicitly stated that asprime-signed Torulf and Egil could betogether with both Christians and pagansand “believe in that which was best suited totheir mood”.

The practice of prime-signing may havemeant that parts of the population inSweden at times had greater opportunities toreceive pre-baptismal instruction than thepeople of England, Frisia, and Saxony. Itmust however also be remembered that wedo not know how many of the prime-signedwere eventually baptised.

Moreover even in Sweden, the leadinglayers of society are likely to have received amore thorough Christian instruction thanthe wider population. The low number ofclerics in relation to the population meansthat in many cases the majority of peoplemay not have come into close contact with amissionary priest until after Christianity hadbeen declared the “official” religion in theirdistrict. When these people finally did meetmissionaries, they are likely to have acceptedbaptism as a matter of course.

PreachingMedieval writers stressed the importance ofpreaching for successful conversion, and thisis mentioned in almost every account ofmissionary history.

One such example is found in a letterfrom Pope Vitalian to Oswiu, King of the

Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Inthis letter, the pope promised to select asuitable man as archbishop, who could “rootout” the pagan religion “by his preachingand with the help of the word of God”.

However, if we think about theimportance of kings for successful conversionand the formulaic baptism by missionaries, itis clear that the overall significance ofpreaching and instruction in medievalconversion is doubtful. Another factor thatsupports this is that sermons do not seem tohave become a fixed part of the Christianservice in Sweden until the end of thetwelfth century.

ConclusionThe most striking variances between theconversions of Sweden, England, Frisia andSaxony appear to have been the degree offorce, and the use of either forced orvoluntary baptism.

However, through the comparisonbetween these areas, it becomes clear thatirrespective of the degree of violenceemployed, the wider population could notexercise much choice in whether to accept orreject Christianity.

Moreover, since the missionaries’ principalaim was to baptise the population as quicklyas possible, there does not seem to have beenmuch time for instruction before any type ofbaptism.

Altogether, this shows that the distinctionbetween forced and voluntary conversion wasrather blurred. It is clear that personalreligious conviction did not play any

significant part in the early stages ofChristianization.

We will see this more clearly in the nextissue of Viking Heritage when earlyChristian legislation in Scandinavia will bediscussed. These laws were not concernedwith people’s Christian faith, but insteadaimed at making sure that their livesconformed to a Christian lifestyle.

Church bell fromHedeby. According toAnsgar, the pagansdid not like thesound of the churchbell in Hedeby andtherefore threw it intothe sea. Interestingly,this bell was found inthe sea just outsideHedeby. Photography AnnikaLarsson.

About the authorAlexandra Sanmark studied medievalhistory and archaeology at theUniversity of London. In 2003 shefinished her PhD thesis, Power andConversion – A Comparative Study ofChristianization, which has now beenpublished by Uppsala University.Since then she has been a visitingscholar at the Centre for Viking andMedieval Studies in Oslo and she iscurrently the Course Coordinator forthe interdisciplinary Mastersprogramme Viking and Early MedievalStudies at the Department ofArchaeology and Ancient History inUppsala. Her present research projectconcerns administrative organisationand itinerant kingship in the VikingAge and early Middle Ages, andinvolves excavation and mapping ofthing sites and ancient roads. E-mail:[email protected]





Ny Björn Gustafsson & Anders

Söderberg

In the summer of 2000 an intriguingfind was made during excavations bythe Fröjel Discovery Programme,Gotland, Sweden. In a pasture knownas “Irma’s hage”, which had neverbeen ploughed, traces of a metalworkshop were uncovered.

The settlement and cemeteries of Fröjelare well known thanks to several previousarticles in Viking Heritage Magazine. Overthe years, more and more informationabout the site has been collected throughexcavations.

The surveyed and excavated area ismainly situated within tilled farmland andthus the context is disturbed above acertain depth. However there are more orless undisturbed areas at Fröjel. One sucharea, “Irma’s hage” or officially Bottarve1:19, was excavated in the late summer of2000. Several possible traces of houseswere visible even with the turf still intact.One of the better defined of these would-be houses was selected and a trench waslaid out.

The workshop siteThe trench was, in turn, divided in twoequally large sub-trenches separated by a10 cm wide baulk. Early on in theexcavation a three-sided stone foundationwas noted – its larger stones clearly visibleabove the turf.

Three layers could be identified in the

trench and debris from several crafts, suchas glass beads and antler and metalshavings, was found. In addition to this,two well-defined furnaces were found, onein each sub-trench (fig. 1). The furnaceshad been filled in and in the fill materialseveral pieces of moulds and hearth liningas well as 11 crucible fragments and twointact crucibles were found along withslag, undefined burnt clay and charcoal.

Two samples of charcoal were laterradiocarbon-dated and yielded a roughdating for the workshop. The sample fromthe furnace in trench 5:1 could be datedto AD 970–1160 (68.2 % accuracy) and

the one from the furnace in trench 5:2 toAD 1110–1230.

Examination of metallurgical ceramicsThe moulds, crucibles, hearth lining andslag from the Fröjel workshop wereexamined during the spring of 2005 as apart of the project “Metallurgical ceramics800–1200”. The study also includedmaterial from Sigtuna (Kv. Trädgårds-mästaren, excavated 1988–1990) andSkänninge (Skänninge Kriminalvårdsan-stalt, excavated in 2003).

The basic aim was to try to establishwhether specific crafts could be connected

The tidy metalworkers of Fröjel

Fig. 1. The workshop site. The stone foundation shows a rectangular building, about 4 x5.5 meters in size, possibly representing a long-term continuity at the site – afterworking in simpler buildings the craftsmen may have been occupied a permanent housein the later phase. The cupellation hearth belongs to the earlier phase (roughly the 11th

century) and the large pit furnace possibly to the later, according to radiocarbon dating.After Dahlström & Eriksson 2002.

Fig. 2. A piece of bone-ash hearth lining,scale bar 20 mm. It doesn’t look verysignificant, but it makes a huge differenceto the workshop. Photo AndersSöderberg.




to specific levels in the hierarchies of thecontemporary society. This can be dealtwith in several ways. We chose to studymetallurgical ceramics – a find categorythat we today know is more diverse than itwas earlier thought to be.

Crucibles and clay moulds are wellknown and accounted for, but there areseveral other types that have beenidentified during the last decade. Withinthe project we have surveyed two of theselesser known find types: heating trays andbrazing packages, the later divided into thesub groups box-shaped brazing packages

(mainly deriving from padlock brazing)and melting bowls deriving frommanufacture of weights.

These types of ceramics representseparate techniques but they also haveseveral features in common. One suchsimilarity is the high degree of heatexposure – the surfaces of the fragmentsfound in archaeological contexts aregenerally quite glazed or vitrified. This, inturn, means that the often small andfragmented shards of metallurgical ceramiccould be – and are – mistaken for slag.This is rather unfortunate since slag

seldom attracts any greater interest fromresearchers. It is generally just weighed anddealt with quantitatively, whereasmetallurgical ceramics, when dealt withqualitatively, can yield much information.

Instead of generally stating that“forging occurred” on a site, severalmetallurgical techniques such as brazing,plating, parting and case hardening or boxcarburisation can be identified, hencebroadening the understanding of whatreally took place on the site in question.

Cupellation hearth liningThe Fröjel workshop showed none of thefind types mentioned above, except for avague fragment of a brazing package. Butanother, and from a specifically Gotlandicperspective, interesting type ofmetallurgical ceramics was present: amultitude of very heavy greyish fragmentsof hearth lining (fig. 2). When examinedmore closely it could be established thatthey probably contained copper oxide, andtheir weight alone indicated that theycontained quite substantial amounts oflead.

The fragments’ origin was beyond adoubt – they had formed the lining of acupellation furnace. The colour of the

Fig. 3. Refining silver by cupellation: 1) The re-cycled silver is alloyed with an excess oflead, in a hearth lined with bone-ash material. According to the size of the Fröjel pit andto similar finds from 12th century Sigtuna, the hearth would have been 15 – 25 cm wide.2) Oxygen is blown over the melted alloy. Lead and copper are oxidized and absorbedby the hearth lining. Probably a heat preserving dome or muffle was used over thehearth, but we don’t know how this could have been constructed. 3) The silver is nowpure, all the lead oxide and copper oxide remain in the hearth lining. Picture by Anders Söderberg

Fig. 4. Mould fragmentsfound in the cupellationpit. Generally, the patternsin the mould fragmentsfrom Fröjel are poorlypreserved. Left: one oftwo fragments from thesame mould, below asketch of the pattern. Thenature of the object is stilluncertain. Right: animprint of a smallfragment, the sketchbelow showing its zigzagpattern; a common patternin the centre part ofGotlandic arm rings. PhotoAnders Söderberg.

1. 2. 3.




fragments was a result of a high content ofbone ash, i.e. burned and crushed bonesmixed with a minimum of clay as bindingmaterial.

Such hearths are known from severalother sites abroad, for instance in England,but they are just beginning to berecognised in the Swedish archaeologicalfind material. They are used to refine silverfrom the contamination of various othermetals such as copper. Such hearths wouldhave been a must on Gotland with itsenormous inflow of Islamic and laterEnglish and continental silver.

A sample of the heavyhearth lining was taken to theArchaeological ResearchLaboratory of the StockholmUniversity for a closer analysis.It showed high quantities ofphosphorus, calcium and leadand the presence of copper andsilver in rather typicalproportions. The fragments ofhearth lining certainly doderive from a cupellationhearth.

The cupellation processCupellation (fig. 3), which is aseveral thousand year-oldprocess originating in silvermining, takes advantage of thefact that lead and copperoxidise under circumstanceswhen silver remains stable in ametallic state. By mixingcopper-alloyed silver with lead,you can oxidise the lead andcopper in the molten alloy bymeans of an intense additionof oxygen from the bellows,and thereby separate it from the silverwhich will stay unaffected. By this rathersimple yet sophisticated chemical methodyou can refine silver to a purity of 99 %.

Silver used in coins and jewellery isalways alloyed with certain percentages ofcopper in order to make it harder, likesterling silver that contains 7.5 % copper.When re-cycling silver of different originsand with unknown additions of copperand other metallic impurities, you need areliable method for refining it before youre-alloy it into a determined standardpercentage.

The use of bone ash for hearth lining isexplained by its excellent absorbingproperties. The oxidised lead and copperwill form a molten oxide, which will thenbe absorbed into the porous liningmaterial. When the process is finished,only pure metallic silver will be left in the

hearth. The impurities will stay absorbedin the lining, which is why this type ofhearth material is surprisingly heavy.

Casting mouldsThe fragmentary clay moulds from the sitewere not part of the study. Nevertheless abasic examination of some of the better-preserved shards yielded interestinginformation about the actual productionin the workshop. Especially since lots ofthem were found in the fillmaterial fromthe cupellation hearth pit, we considered

them highly informative (fig. 4 and 5).By means of wet clay we were able to

get positive copies of the negativeimpressions of the moulds. Some of theseclay positives showed a rather strikingresemblance to Gotlandic bronze andsilver arm rings. To some extent this wasto be expected since the arm rings inquestion were very common during thelate Gotlandic Viking Age. Additionally aconcentrated find of small silver shavingswere found in what was once the south-west corner of the building, indicatingthat silver items really were worked there.

It is tempting to assume that theshavings came from the process ofretouching various pieces of jewellery – thelast and crucial stage during which thejewellery was finished for circulation.Hence we might see the full chain ofproduction in one small location at

Bottarve 1:19 – old silver was refined in acupellation hearth, the refined silver wasmelted and cast in the shape of nativejewellery which was, in turn, prepared forcirculation just a couple of feet away fromthe furnaces.

This is of course a quite obvious line ofproduction, but finding evidence for allthe stages preserved in one workshop ishighly unusual.

In order to confirm that the moulds inquestion were really used for casting silverobjects, the mould- and crucible fragments

will be analysed at theArchaeological ResearchLaboratory later this winter.

A tidy workshopThe title of this paper is “Thetidy metalworkers of Fröjel”, asthe finds from the verybuilding were very sparse. Thisis not uncommon. The1990–95 excavation of the8th–9th century metalworkshops in the Black Earthof Birka revealed very cleaninteriors and the workshopwaste, like fragments ofmoulds and crucibles werefound in rubbish heapsoutside, in the passagesbetween the town yards. Themetalworkers were carefulabout keeping their workingareas clean.

As the Fröjel excavationmainly examined the actualhouse site, it didn’t reveal thewaste depositions that areprobably still buried a fewmeters away. Despite this the

collected traces of activity reveal lots ofinformation about the workshop.

The possible handling of largequantities of silver at a very advancedtechnical level, combined with the factthat the workshop was situated in theperiphery or even outside of the Fröjelmarket area is interesting. So are the tracesof a permanent workshop building at alater phase.

Who managed such a workshop? Thecombination of large quantities of preciousmetals and high technological know-howindicates a connection to the highest andadministrative levels of society. Thepossible production of arm rings with alikewise possibly standardised high silvercontent at Fröjel, leads our thoughtstowards a managed production of highlyvalued objects which could even beconsidered as primitive currency.

Fig. 5. A few other mould fragments from the Fröjel workshop,which fit well together. The pieces represent the inside of anobject. We are still not quite sure what this object may have been– any ideas? Photo Anders Söderberg.


Fig. 6. A piece of a tube-shaped clay package from themarket area, possibly derivingfrom box carburisation. In thecentre of the tube is arectangular cavity wherethe iron blank may havebeen, covered by skinand other organicmaterial. PhotoAnders Söderberg.



According to the finds, the workshopalso produced glass beads and antlercombs, as was the case with acontemporary royal workshop on themainland: the mint of King Olof ErikssonSkötkonung in Sigtuna. Viking workshopsweren’t strictly specialised yet, not even theworkshops of kings and obviously noteven a workshop with the dignity of amint.

Tube-shaped clay packagesWe also made a brief examination of thefinds from Bottarve 1:17, representing theactivities in the centre of the Fröjelharbour and market area. Obviously manyhandicraft activities had also been takingplace there; making these finds goodreferences to the materials from theworkshop in Irma’s Hage.

A very special sort of ceramic packagingmaterial for metallurgical processes foundhere is a large fragment of a tube-shapedclay package (fig. 6). This is a common butnot yet satisfactorily interpreted type ofpackage found at several sites throughoutWestern and Northern Europe datingfrom the Migration Period and into thelater Middle Ages.

They often seem to be connected withforging, and according to imprints ofbindings inside the tubes, they couldpossible originate from the clay cases usedin box carburisation of steel for tools andweapons.

In early 12th century the priestTheophilus describes the process in hisbook “On Divers Arts”: “…smear themwith old pig fat and wrap them around withleather strips cut from goat skin and bindthem with linen thread. After this coverthem individually with kneaded clay, leavingthe tangs bare. When they are dried, putthem into the fire, blow vigorously, and thegoatskin will be burnt. Hastily extract themfrom the clay and quench them evenly inwater. Then take them out and dry them atthe fire”.

Still more information to interpretObviously, there is a lot of informationstill to be retrieved from the materialscollected in the Fröjel DiscoveryProgramme. Our project is an example ofthe work that takes place after the actualexcavation, which is mainly a phase ofcollecting objects and registeringinformation.

The main part of the work takes placeafterwards, in the examination andinterpretations that can put life andcolours into, for instance, some dull rowsof stones enclosing a tidy area containing

RReeffeerreenncceess // AAddddiittiioonnaall rreeaaddiinnggArrhenius, B. 1998. Why the king needed

his own goldsmith. Laborativ arkeologi10-11. Arrhenius, B. (ed.). Stockholm.

Bayley, J. Eckstein, K. 1997. Silver Refining– Production, Recycling, Assaying.Archaeological Sciences 1995.Proceedings of a conference on theapplication of scientific techniques tothe study of archaeology, Liverpool July1995. Sinclair, A. Slater, E. Gowlett, J.(ed). 1997. Oxford.

Carlsson, D. 1999. “Ridanäs”,Vikingahamnen i Fröjel. Visby.

Dahlström, C. Eriksson, T. 2002. Rapportfrån utgrävningen av den vikingatidahamn-och handelsplatsen i Fröjel,Gotland 2000. Fröjel DiscoveryProgramme, Dnr 220-1955-00.

Gustin, I. 2004. Mellan gåva och marknad.Handel, tillit och materiell kultur undervikingatid. Malmö.

Hawthorne, J. G. Smith, C. S. 1979.Theophilus; On Divers Arts. TheForemost Medieval Treatise on

Painting, Glassmaking and Metalwork.New York.

Hårdh, B. 1996. Silver in the Viking Age. ARegional-Economic study. Stockholm.

Hedegaard, K. R. 1992.Bronzestøberhåndværket i yngregermanertid og tidlig vikingetid iSkandinavien – teknologi ogorganisation. Lag 1992. Højbjerg.

Jakobssen, S. 1991. Hersker og smed.Smedarbeider i Tønsberg i perioden ca1150-1350. Tønsberg.

Jakobsson, T. 1996.Bronsgjutarverkstäderna på Birka – enkort presentation. Icke-järnmetaller,malmfyndigheter och metallurgi,Föredrag från symposium påJernkontoret den 16 mars 1995.Forshell, H. (ed). Stockholm.

About the authorsNNyy BBjjöörrnn GGuussttaaffssssoonn is anarchaeologist specialized in thematerial culture of late Iron AgeScandinavia, in particularmanufacturing techniques andworkshop strategies. Email: [email protected] SSööddeerrbbeerrgg is an archeologist,specialized in Iron Age/Early Medievalmetallurgy and experimental researchon technical processes from the era.Email: [email protected]

two pits and a few rather obscure pieces ofceramics and slag. This is in fact the mostthrilling part of archaeological work – andthe most time-consuming.

The project “Metallurgical ceramics800–1200” is supported by the BeritWallenberg Foundation.






By Malin Lindquist

The Viking AgeThe raid on the Lindisfarne monastery offthe coast of Northumberland in thesummer of 793 is generally accepted asthe beginning of the Viking Age. Forabout 250 years the Scandinaviansdominated practically all of Europe. Theend of this splendid time is marked by thefatal defeat of the Norwegian King HaraldHardrade, when he attempted to conquerEngland in 1066. These raidingexpeditions in western Europe have giventhe Vikings their reputation as wildplunderers and warriors.

However, Nearly everybody was afarmer in those days. Their world wastheir farm. They were all-roundhandymen – as indeed Gotlandic farmersalways have been. They tilled the land andtended their livestock. The women’s mainduty was the house and home. Childrenhad to contribute to the family livelihoodas soon as they were able.

However some managed to expand

their realm. Travel was imperative, notonly for practical reasons; it was part of aman’s upbringing to have travelled far andwide. “He who has not travelled has learntnothing and knows nothing about people”can be read in Havamal.

For those who left, the world really didbecome bigger. It stretched from Irelandin the west to Russia in the east, fromIceland and Greenland in the north toGreece and Istanbul in the south-east.

They headed east and they headedwest. Those who could not find theirlivelihood in their own countriesemigrated to Iceland and onward toGreenland and Newfoundland. They setout to find a new homeland, thusconstituting our first emigrants. Somewent plundering in the rich countriessuch as the towns, monasteries andchurches in England, France and Spain.Others went on trading journeys throughRussia to faraway trading markets.

There are numerous theories on theunderlying causes of the Viking-ageexpansion. A crying need for land,overpopulation and internal conflicts mayhave constituted some of these causes.

Over the seaThat the Vikings’ sheer skill in buildingseaworthy sailing ships was the key totheir successful expansion is a generally

The big world – the enticement of theOrient. From the exhibition. Photo Raymond Hejdström

The Worlds of the Vikings– an exhibition at Gotlands Fornsal, Visby

“He who has not

travelled has learnt

nothing and knows

nothing about people”.From Hávámal.




accepted claim. TheViking-age shipbuilderswere undoubtedly skilful.They built different typesof boats for differentpurposes. Never have morebeautiful or moreutilitarian boats beenproduced in Scandinavia.

Warships, or long boats,were up to 20 metres or more in length.Narrow, slender and elegant in design,they were able to carry a crew of up to 60men with weapons and horses.

Trade ships were broader and deeper,built with cargo-carrying capacity in mind– 20 to 30 tons was not uncommon.They could even transport a familycomplete with household goods andlivestock across the Ocean.

Smaller, lighter and shallow-draughtboats were used for trading trips alongrivers and lakes. They had room for 10 to12 men onboard.

Experience had taught them tonavigate according to natural elements –the currents, the direction of birds inflight and the stars at night.

The small world During this period many acres of landwere claimed for cultivation. Of the cerealcrops, barley was the most importantgrain. Cultivated root vegetables andgreens included cabbages, onions, beans,turnips and peas.

The animals were smaller than thosewith which we are familiar today. Theyprovided food and raw materials, such ashides, feathers, horns, antlers and fleece.They were used as draught and ridinganimals. Animals also featured as statussymbols and were significant in variousaspects of religion. This was particularlytrue of the horse.

The amount of livestock on a farmdepended on the area of availablepastureland. The livestock inventory alsodetermined the acreage of tilled land,since animal dung was used to fertilize thefields.

Diet was based on the farm’s ownanimals and crops, which weresupplemented by the yields from hunting,fishing and gathering. Primary producewas dried or smoked. Salt was still a rarecommodity. Honey was the mostcommon sweetener. The most commonfare on the Vikings’ table was porridgeand bread, accompanied by meat, fish orvegetables, according to season andsupply.

The core of society was the clan andthe family. Their realm was the farm,which satisfied all their needs. Inheritancedetermined possession – then as now.

These people were not Vikings!

The big worldCountries such as England, France andSpain enticed the Vikings with theirtowns, monasteries and churches, whoseriches were ransacked by the formidableDanish and Norwegian Vikings. Theseraiding expeditions in Western Europehave given the Vikings the reputation ofwild plunderers and warriors and alsotheir name.

Only those who participated inplundering expeditions in affluent Europecan rightly be called Vikings. They wereprobably a minority among Viking-agepeople.

Only one Gotlander is known to havetaken part in these raids. It was Helgefrom Hablingbo parish on whosegravestone is written: “Vatair and Helgairhave erected the stone after Helge, their

The small world – weavingwas one of the women’smain tasks. Photo Raymond Hejdström


The vane, a noble ornament on the stem. FromKällunge church, Gotland.

Photo Raymond Hejdström



father. He had gone west with the Vikings.”He was a Viking! The word Viking

means someone fighting at sea, a pirate.From eastern Sweden, possibly mainly

Gotlanders, young men set out on far-flung trading expeditions eastwards toplaces such as the Bulgar bend on theRiver Volga and Miklagard (the Swedishname for Constantinople, known today asIstanbul).

This is where goods were exchanged –Nordic weapons and furs for the covetedsilver, which was transported home in vastquantities.

Those people were not Vikings! The Oriental sources differentiate

between the Vikings and the Varangians.The Scandinavians, who went East totrade were called Varangians by the peoplethey met. One interpretation is that itoriginally is a Scandinavian word meaningsworn or under oath. These Scandinavians,who headed east, are known asVarangians.

Cultural clashes Merchants who travelled to these foreignmarkets met people from near and far.They met other cultures, other religions,and other languages. How did this affectthem and how did they communicate, onthe whole: how did they manage?

Of course it is impossible to answerthese questions. According to Ibn Fadlan,an Arab who met these Norsemen, therewere interpreters but I can imagine thatthey developed a kind of “pidgin-language” just like all people whotravel have always done. Thedream of doing good businessalso unites people and they

always find ways to communicate.Bulgar by the bend of the River Volga

was, according to Ibn Fadlan, a marketplace were “they all live in tents that aredecorated with oriental carpets”. He alsotells that the Nordic merchants builtwooden houses by the river. The place wasprobably also filled with sheds andbazaars. The area around the town wasgood for trading: people came from allaround with all kinds of goods to sell.Merchants from the Caliphate, perhapseven China could offer silver, silk, andother luxurious objects for furs andweapons.

Here our Nordic traders moved amongpeople, doing business. Among othersthey met the Arabian emissary, Ahmadibn Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibnMuhammed, called Ibn Fadlan for short.Admittedly, he described them as “straydonkeys” and “getting drunk day and night”,but he also reported that he had “neverseen such perfect bodies; they were like palmtrees, tall, blond and ruddy”.

Famous is the description of aVarangian funeral and how slaves, foodand drink are carried on board and howthey set fire to it all which highlyastonishes the Arab. Perhaps even moreinteresting is to hear what the Norsemenhad to say:

“You Arabs are really stupid. You take theperson you love the most and put him intothe earth and insects and worms will eat

him. We burn him rapidly in a fire and hewill go directly to Paradise.”

This is not what we, in modern terms,call racism – this is more of a culturalclash between sophisticated Muslims and(in their eyes) barbarians from the North!

Halvdan in MiklagårdMiklagård was the magnificent capital ofthe Byzantine Empire, the centre ofChristianity with churches and palaces, artand culture and a pleasant climate. Thiswalled town had about 100,000inhabitants. Birka’s estimated populationat the same time was one thousand.

This golden city must have impressedthe Nordic visitors! Imagine the impact ofthe bazaars! There were – just like today –a throng of people and goods from theOrient, Africa and Europe. A successfuldeal resulted in the acquisition of luxurygoods such as ivory, cloth, spices, silverembroideries and gaudy glass beads, rockcrystal and cornelian, which were thenconveyed home to the North.

Some of these Varangians probablynever returned home. One of them mighthave been Halvdan – he who carved hisname in runes in one of the balustrades inthe Hagia Sofia church in Constantinople.What did he think standing in thegalleries following the orthodox service?Maybe he hesitated about whether to stayor to go home. If he stayed he probablybecame a soldier in the Emperor’s




The Worlds of the VikingsThe exhibition “The Worlds of theVikings” opened May 15, 2005 in theCounty Museum of Gotland. It will beopen till the middle of May 2006. Atthe same time the Spillings Hoard ison display in the Treasury.

The exhibition wishes to changethe common picture of the Viking asa warrior and a plunderer. It presentshim as a farmer, merchant and sailor.

The name refers to the differentworlds in which the Vikings lived. Inone, “the small world”, the realmwas the farm, which satisfied all theirneeds. Nearly everybody was afarmer and all-round handymen – asindeed Gotlandic farmers alwayshave been. The core of society wasthe clan and the family.

However some of them managedto expand their realm. Young men setout on far-flung trading expeditionsto places such as the Bulgar bend onthe River Volga and Miklagard = “thebig world”.

Some probably never returnedhome, but many did, bringing withthem a considerable fortune, some ofit displayed in the County Museum ofGotland.

Malin Lindquist

About the authorMalin Linquist is well known to thereaders of VHM as she hascontributed several articles over theyears. In her daily work she is thesenior curator and responsible for thearchaeological collections at theCounty Museum of Gotland. She hasworked as an archaeologist for manyyears, mainly on Gotland.Email:[email protected]

Varangian guard. Otherwise he returnedhome full of memories, impressions andmaybe a considerable fortune to hide inthe Gotlandic soil.

And just remember this: “East of the river Elbe there are no

Vikings and west of the river Elbe there areno Varangians.“

(Stig Wikander: Araber, Vikingar,Väringar)

This is an important and well-documented book that has been well received byinternational professional press. The inquiry ranges over half a millennium, andcovers all of Europe with some slices of Asia and Africa. The author has collectedand analysed a great deal of written and archaeological primary source materialfrom those parts of the world.

Thus the book exceeds the Viking world in both time and space butMcCormick also introduces an important new concept The Northern Arc, whichis a new trade route between the North Sea and the Orient. It runs via southernJutland across the Scandinavian Peninsula or via the Baltic, along the Russianrivers to Byzantium and the Caliphate. This route vas opened by Frisian andOriental merchants, who had the necessary geographic know-how, during the 9th

century and was the economic prerequisite for trading places like Haithabu,Birka, Paviken, Novgorod and Kiev.

McCormick shows that the trade between northern Europe and the Orientflourished during the final centuries of the first millennium. This is contrary tothe Pirenne thesis from the mid-20th century, which says that Islamic expansionin the Mediterranean disrupted commerce.

Regrettably, one of McCormick’s conclusions is that Europe’s most abundantproduct around 800 was the Europeans who were sold as slaves to the moreadvanced economies of Africa and Asia.

The European economies did engage deeply with those of the Muslim worldand Byzantium. Birka was an important place because it was situated far outsidethe range of Christian juridictions, which meant that the treatment of evenChristian slaves was uninhibited.

One of the book’s shortcomings is that a result of the trading activities –Islamic coins is not discussed in full regarding Scandinavia. One reason isobviously that we still lack a handsome survey of those finds, but actions tocorrect that should be taken in Scandinavia.

This book ought to be read by everyone engaged in studies of the Viking-ageeconomy.

Carl Löfving

Origins of the EuropeanEconomy. Communicationsand Commerce AD 300–900

Written by MichaelMcCormick. Published by CambridgeUniversity Press. 2001.ISBN 0-521-66102-1

N e wb o o k !




The FearlessVikings…

The main issues on the agenda werenaturally the final reports, the summingup of project activities throughout the lastthree years. Also, tangible results like thenew Sagalands book, the Sagalands map,the website etc. were on the agenda.

The main purpose of having a meetingin the Faroe Islands was of course to visitour Faroese partners: the NationalMuseum of the Faroes and the FaroeseTourist Board and look at the projectsthey have been running on the islands ofSandoy and Skúvoy.

These two islands lie south of the mainisland Streymoy, where Tórshavn issituated. Sandoy is quite a large island anda major agricultural area, whereas Skúvoyis a rather small island with a currentpopulation of around 40 persons.

SkúvoyDuring our excursion day, we headed forSkúvoy from Tórshavn on an earlySunday morning, arriving there in perfectsunshine. Then we made our way fromthe village, lying above the landing place,up through the relatively steep river valley,

Viking Heritage Magazine 3/05 D E S T I N AT I O N

VIKING

These projects are co-financed by the EU InterregIIIB Baltic Sea Region programme and NorthenPerihery programme and NORA.

Destination VikingDestination Viking is a concept for presenting the Vikings and the Viking Age. Itincludes museums, visitor centres, prehistoric villages, re-enactment groups etc., andis working with research, presentation and the development of a trans-national touristdestination.

Destination Viking includes a number of separate projects, currently the DestinationViking Living History (former Baltic Stories), funded by the Interreg IIIB Baltic SeaRegion programme and the Destination Viking Sagalands project, funded by theInterreg IIIB Northern Periphery programme.

The project Destination Viking Living History has now come to an end, see VHM2/2005. But the Destination Viking Sagalands project continues and will contribute toViking Heritage Magazine for the coming two issues.

Project consultant for DestinationViking projects:Mr Geir Sør-Reime, Senior AdvisoryOfficer, Rogaland County Council ggssrr@@rrffkk..rrooggaallaanndd--ff..kkoommmmuunnee..nnoo

Project manager Destination VikingLiving History:Mr Björn Jakobsen, Director, FotevikensMuseum bbmmjj@@ffootteevviikkeenn..ssee

Project manager Destination VikingSagalands:Mr Rögnvaldur Gudmundsson, Director,Tourism Research & Consulting rrooggnnvv@@hhii..iiss

Co-ordinator of Destination Viking +Viking Heritage partnership:Mr Dan Carlsson,Associate Professor,Gotland University ddaann..ccaarrllssssoonn@@hhggoo..ssee

DESTINATIONVIKING

By Geir Sør-Reime

Destination Viking Sagalands held its lastordinary meeting in the Faroe Islands justprior to St. Olof’s Mass, the National Day ofthe Faroe Islands (29th July). The meetingwas held in Tórshavn, July 22–27, 2005.

Map by Dan Carlsson.







whish is the main agricultural area,towards the top of the island. Thelandscape rises quite steeply from sea levelto almost 400 metres above sea level, andon the top you can see that the other sideof the island is a vertical cliff wall.

The view of us on the top remindedme of the story of Asterix meeting withthe Vikings. There it is told that theVikings knew no fear, even whenthrowing themselves off such high cliffs.

There is, in fact, a Saga relating toSkúvoy and a Viking jumping off the

rocks into the sea and swimming to thedistant Su∂uroy, where unfortunately, hewas killed. The story refers to SigmundurBrestisson, who was sent to back to Faroesby Olof Tryggvasson to try and christenthe Faroese. Trondur in Gøta chased himand forced him to escape by jumping intothe sea. The whole story appears in theFæreyinga Saga.

A stone with an engraved Celtic-stylecross on the old graveyard on Skúvoy isattributed to Sigmundur.

SandoyOn Sandoy, the regionaltourist board hasdeveloped a Viking, orrather a Fairy trail. Guidedwalks are already offeredalong this trail, which

includes stops where stories from theSagas, but even legends, myths, and otherstories are told. Work is in progress toproduce very attractive signboards at theselocations, so that you can also do the walkon your own.

During our stay on Sandoy, we had thepleasure of paying a visit to the village ofSandur. Here, excavations around thechurch have shown a series of churches onthe site, and current excavations in thevicinity of the church have revealedcultural layers of around 2 metres. It isprobable that Sandoy was an importantcentre in the Faroes from the Viking timesonwards.

At the small village of Dalur we wereinvited to a traditional Faroese Sundaydinner, with soup, lamb and rhubarbpudding, followed by a long session oftraditional Faroese songs and dance.

KirkjubøOur programme also included a visit toKirkjubø, the traditional seat of thebishops of the Faroe Islands. Here, theoldest church on the islands, the Olof ’sChurch, a stone church dating from the12th century, and the ruins of the St.Magnus Cathedral, built in the 13th

century stand alongside the manor house.This house is composed of several olderhouses built together, and in the oldestpart, the large hall, we had a superb

Viking Heritage Magazine 3/05DESTINATION

VIKING

The Celtic-style cross onthe grave of SigmundurBrestisson. Photo RögnvaldurGudmundsson.

The Sagalandsgroup in the villageof Dalur at Sandoy. Photo RögnvaldurGudmundsson.



dinner, followed by story telling andtraditional dancing.

The public seminarAs usual, the programme also included aseminar open to the public. This seminarwas held in downtown Hotel Hafnia andquite a few local people attended.

The lectures included papers by SímunV. Arge, an archaeologist at the NationalMuseum of the Faroe Islands. He spokeabout the archaeology/early history of theislands of Sandoy and Skúvoy.

Later, Olga Biskopstø from the OuterIslands Committee told us about the workthis association of people living on theouter islands of the Faroes is currentlydoing to promote development of theoutlying islands including Skúvoy.

We also had a paper by Niels Halm,the Director of the Nordic House inTórshavn, discussing festivals and eventsand the opportunities for the Sagalandsnetwork to join what they are doing at theNordic House.

A new Sagalands projectAmong the other important issuesdiscussed at the meeting were the ideas ofdeveloping an extension proposal toenable the network established during thelast years to be maintained until a newmain project can be launched. It issuggested that the current project beextended for another 11/2 years. Duringthis period, a new project proposal will be

developed. This new project was also discussed at

the meeting. It was agreed that the newSagalands project will have a broaderscope than just the Viking period, butthat it will still focus on culture- andheritage-based tourism.

The final meeting of the currentDestination Viking Sagalands project willbe held in Newfoundland, Canada,September 15–22.

It is likely that a few new partners willjoin the Sagalands project during theextension project, and I do hope thatnone of the current partners will jump offthe cliffs either, but stay on together withthe other fearless Vikings to face a newand exciting stage in the history of theSagas!


VIKING

On top of Skúvoy. Photo Rögnvaldur Gudmundsson.

We offer Viking Age replica artifacts from Denmark and Sweden. TURM A/S,distinguished Danish silversmiths, makes our jewelry from moulds provided by theDanish National Museum. Our glass is from Scanglas AB of Sweden and is also inreplica, made with 1000-year old glass blowing techniques. These pieces are in manyNordic museum gift stores and, owing to their authenticity, have been selected by theSmithsonian and other major U.S. museums for their Viking exhibits. We shipworldwide.

A sketch of a runestone in theMoesgard Museum, Aarhus,

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piece as a brooch or pendant.

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www.vikingtrader.net




By Julie Gibson

and Tom Muir

There has long beendiscussion as to whathappened to the originalinhabitants of Orkney whenthe Vikings took over. Didthey intermarry peacefully?Or, did a more sinister fatebefall them?

Experts are divided on the subject. It has been claimed thatthere was continuity between the Pictish and Viking inhabitantsin the archaeological record.

By contrast the placename record does not bear this out –recent research by the Shetland archivist, Brian Smith comparesthe placenames of Orkney with those of Tasmania, where an alienrace systematically exterminated the local population, replacinglocal placenames with English ones. The overwhelming number ofplacenames in Orkney derives from the Old Norse, with almostno evidence for names of an earlier time.

The main written source for the Viking invasion of Orkneycomes from the Orkneyinga Saga, in this we are told that KingHarald Fairhair led an expedition against Viking raiders based inOrkney and Shetland. There is no mention made of the originalpopulation.

The only reference to an earlier people comes from the late12th century Historia Norwegiae (a near contemporary ofOrkneyinga Saga, it was compiled from earlier unknown sources).In this it claims that Orkney was inhabited by Picts and Papae(priests), referred to as two races, but then described in such a way


VIKING

Brough of Birsay Viking settlement, Orkney. The remains of longhouses on the slope tothe left of the picture are Viking period – the conglomeration of buildings in theforeground and to the right are 12th century and later. St Peter’s church, also 12th

century, lies in the centre. Acknowledgement: Raymond Parks.

Orkney. Map by Dan

Carlsson

Genocide in Orkney?The fate of theOrcadian Picts



as to render them part of a mythologicalpast, rather than real people.

The reality of the Picts is undoubted.These were the people inhabiting Orkneyfrom the 4th to the 8th or 9th centuriesAD. Then, Orkney was a distinct andoutlying part of a much larger kingdomand references from the mid 6th centurytell of Orkney’s minor king or “regulus” atthe court of the “potentissimus” or mostpowerful, Pictish King Bridei who alsoheld hostages from Orkney at his court.

The Picts are most famous for theirsculptured stone work – in particular theirenigmatic symbol stones. Although therewould always have been volatile politicalrelationships between potentates, theevidence of the sculptured stones found inOrkney that bear identical symbols tomany found elsewhere in the heartlands ofPictish Scotland, clearly demonstrate thatthe islands were thoroughly Pictish at thetime of the Vikings arrival.

At risk of over-simplifying argument, itcan be said that archaeological evidencefor the continuity of the Pictish people atsettlement sites is based on Pictishartefacts being found in Norse style(rectangular) buildings, and to a lesserextent on Viking material being found in

Pictish (curvilinear) buildings. An interpretation of cultural

continuity, based on material apparentlyalien to the style of building it is foundin, is questionable. It seems reasonable tosuggest instead that this kind of findingcould have stemmed from Vikings usingabandoned buildings or taking materialwhich had originally been Pictish andusing it for themselves. An example wouldbe a particularly long-lived round Pictishhouse, excavated at Pool in Sanday thatwas still being used as an outhouse, wellinto Norse times.

The most frequently found material onPictish sites is pottery. The absence ofpottery, a basic cultural artefact, duringthe earlier Viking period is noticeablethroughout the islands. Pottery returns, ina different form and fabric only in laterViking (Norse) times.

If there had been a Pictish populationcontemporary with the Vikings and evenif they were enslaved, one could expectthat they would continue to make and usepottery for themselves at least, as theyalways had. This very basic change inmaterial culture would suggest that thePicts were driven from the islands orslaughtered.

Pictish burials are not common in

Orkney. Burial in long cists (stone-slablined graves containing bodies laid outstraight) occurs, in both pagan andpossibly Christian contexts during thisperiod.

At Moaness, Westness, Rousay thecemetery is more famous for its paganViking burials, particularly a very richwoman’s burial including a raided ortraded Irish brooch. But the burial groundis also adduced as an argument forcontinuity, since the majority of burialsthere were Pictish, in long cists orientatedeast-west (so possibly Christian) and wereleft undisturbed by the later Vikingburials.

This lack of disturbance has been heldto be a signifier of respect by the Vikingsfor their Pictish neighbours. However, thePictish graves were marked on the surface,and easily avoided. They did not hold anygrave goods or treasure, and there seemsto be no good reason why they shouldhave been disturbed. By contrast one ofthe pagan Viking graves (which hadcontained goods, presumably) had beendug into.

The dates for the Pictish style gravesand the pagan style Viking graves do notapparently overlap. (With the proviso thatthe calibration curve at about 1000 AD isparticularly flat, and uninformative!) The


VIKING

Interior of later Norse longhouse on the Brough of Birsay. The style of building was still essentially Viking, with the long hearthretained as a central focus of the main living room. Other rooms with different purposes were built as extensions. Acknowledgement: Vikki Szabo


A drawing showing three Pictishwarriors from a broken symbolstone found on the Brough ofBirsay. There was evidence ofPictish occupation before thearrival of the Vikings. The manin front is more elaboratelydressed and carries a highlydecorated shield, suggesting he

was of superior status to hiscompanions. His hairstyle (looking likehe has left his curlers in!) is similar toone shown on a Pictish carving fromJarlshof in Shetland.Acknowledgement: Drawing by Anne Brundle.


Westness graves can thereforeequally well be held to supportthe idea of Picts being wiped outonce the pagan Vikings hadproperly arrived.

Recent research hassuggested that some Pictishcombs were made fromReindeer antler – whichwas not available inBritain. This has beeninterpreted as indicatingtrade between Scandinaviaand Orkney before theViking invasion. The land-hungry Vikings could havebecome familiar in this waywith the political geography of the richcattle lands of Orkney.

The peripherality of Orkney to themain Pictish kingdom, which was equallybeing raided by Vikings, but also pressedby Scots, could have meant that theOrkney Picts were left to defendthemselves. A local population distributedamongst islands was for the most part,probably easy pickings.

Historia Norwegiae says of the Pictsthat they were “only a little taller thanpygmies [who] accomplished miraculousachievements by building towns, morningand evening, but at midday every ounce ofstrength deserted them and they hid for fearin underground chambers.”

Written only a few hundred years aftertheir defeat this story reinforces the“otherness” or non-human attributes ofearlier inhabitants - whose humanity wasand perhaps had been, irrelevant to theirconquerors? A folk memory recorded onthe island of Rousay in the late 19th

century echoes this claim. The story goes that “It was a tradition

of the first coming of the Norse men toRousay, when the fairy people made such ashow of glittering spears on the hillside aboveTrumland that the Viking ships sheered offand departed. They returned, however, and

drove out the old people of the island, whomigrated to the west side of Rousay, andthere made themselves undergrounddwellings.”

Both of these references suggest thatthe earlier chambered tombs, earth houses(underground chambers) and ancienthouses buried through time wereconsidered to be the homes of the Picts.The term ‘Picts houses’ is still used inOrkney to refer to any ancient building,no matter what period they date from.

Another story that was recorded in thelate 19th century tells how the Picts weredriven from the coastal sites to the parishof Harray in the centre of the WestMainland. The Vikings led an attack fromthe east and west, eventually defeating thePicts to become the undisputed masters ofOrkney. Like all folktales, it is verydifficult to say how old it really is; was itan account of a final battle, theculmination of Viking warbands killing ordisplacing the original population, islandby island, or a 19th century invention?

A recent DNA study of today’spopulation of native Orcadians andShetlanders showed that a very highproportion was descended fromNorwegians. This genetic research is just

FFuurrtthheerr rreeaaddiinngg::Historia Norwegiae. Translated by Peter

Fisher. Museum Tusculanum Press,Copenhagen, 2003.

Orkneyinga Saga. Translated by HermannPálsson and Paul Edwards, PenguinClassics, London, 1981.

Scar, a Viking Boat Burial on Sanday.Olwyn Owen and Magnar Dalland,Tuckwell Press, East Linton Scotland,1999.

Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europein the later Iron Age AD 300–800.Edited by Jane Downes and AnnaRitchie, Balgavies Scotland, 2003.

New History of Orkney. William P.L.Thomson, 2nd edition, Mercat Press,Edinburgh, 2001.

Blood of the Vikings. Julian C. Richards,Hodder, 2001.


VIKING

A Pictish house built in theditch between the Iron Agebroch tower and its rampartdefences. The Picts,apparently did not see theneed to defend their houses.Here Pictish people wouldhave lived in the comfort ofmany small, roundish rooms -note the built-in cupboardsand fancy stairs. Credit: FrankBradford 59°N.

About the authorsJJuulliiee GGiibbssoonn is the CountyArchaeologist for Orkney. Sheparticipated in the excavation ofWestness Viking Cemetery, workingwith Sigrid Kaland of BergenUniversitet, and was instrumental inidentifying the Scar boat burial onthe island of Sanday.TToomm MMuuiirr is Exhibitions Officer forOrkney Museums and Heritage. He isa storyteller and writer, specialising infolklore. Both are participants in theDestination Viking Sagalands project.Email. [email protected]

another piece of the jigsaw; another clueas to the fate of the Orkney Picts whostood and watched the sails of the Vikinglongships appearing over the horizon.




by Maria Blomster

Since the 6th century farmwas reconstructed in 1990,making prehistory come alivehas been quite a natural taskat Gene Iron-age village inthe province ofÅngermanland, in north-eastern Sweden. The creationof Iron-age roles and re-enactments have beenintegrated as a natural part ofand a kind of precondition forthe development of activitiesand daily life on the farm, asis the case in few otherreconstructed prehistoricfarms. The roles have alsofunctioned very positively inensuring social and mentalintegration among the peopleworking at Gene.

Background and historyThe ancient area of the Gene farm,situated about five kilometres outside thetown of Örnsköldsvik in northernSweden, was discovered by mere accidentin the 1970s. The municipality intendedto build apartments in the forested area ofGenesmon, but thanks to a known andpartially excavated grave field with 13grave mounds in this area, archaeologistswere forced to do an excavation first.

During this excavation a uniqueprehistoric sedentary settlement wasfound and dated to the ScandinavianRoman Iron Age period (0–600 AD).Traces of two longhouses, each 40 meterslong, were found with the post-holes andwalls clearly indicating how the houseshad been built.

The excavation prompted a rethinking

of the archaeology of the middle andnorthern parts of Sweden at that time.Until the 1970s, scholars believed thatonly groups of hunters and gatherers hadlived in northern Sweden during theRoman Iron Age. However the uniqueartefacts found at the Gene settlementsuch as iron tools, bronze-casting forms,agricultural tools, and glass-beads fromthe Middle East, indicated atechnologically advanced society and thatthe people at Gene had lived as farmerswith quite large herds of livestock.

Both the family members and their

livestock lived in the longhouse, whichwas divided into 7 different parts. Thefirst longhouse was dated from 0–300 ADand the second from the period 300–600AD.

Two barns, a pit-house for linenweaving, a bronze-casting house, anextremely large unique smithy with fourfireplaces and even more buildings werefound. When the smithy burned downthe roof of turf and birch-bark had beenexcellently preserved thanks to a coalingprocess after the fire, and under the roofthe blacksmith tools were found.

Based on all these facts, the Gene farmwas a very large farm for the time withabout 15 inhabitants, most certainly awealthy chieftain’s farm where agriculture,fishing, livestock-breeding, advancedhandicraft technology and contacts withother cultures were all part of daily life.

How to recreate Iron-age life?After the years of excavation a foundationwas made, and the reconstruction of thefarm started in 1990. In reconstructingthe Gene farm the aim was to create thebest and most authentic farm as possiblebased on the documented excavation andarchaeological findings.

With this technical authenticity it alsobecame natural to think about the otherside of the coin: the authenticity of theIron-age people and Iron-age living! Howdid they live their daily lives? What didthey wear? What did they talk about andthink about? The last question we canonly imagine.

Very soon it became necessary to createa sort of historic daily life at Gene,naturally with archaeological facts as astarting point, but more and more aimedat creating an Iron-age atmosphere forGene Iron-age Village’s many visitors,such as schoolchildren, tourists andcompanies. This cannot always beaccomplished with the help ofarchaeological facts alone.

However archaeology helps us tounderstand some of the relationships


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How to make the Iron Age come alive – Theatre and re-enactments at GeneIron-age farm in northern Sweden

Iron-age actors at Gene Iron-age village.Photo Agne Säterberg



between different familymembers during the IronAge. One example of thisis that the farm chieftaincould be either a woman ora man, since the 13 ancientgrave mounds in the areacontain both men´s andwomen’s graves.

We also know thatpeople in these days livedmostly at peace with eachother and thereforeprobably had maids insteadof slaves.

Moreover the Icelandic Sagas tell usabout the sorcery (völva) existing in theprehistoric society as a medium betweenthe world of the humans and that of theprehistoric gods. In the Sagas we also findnames of people, names that probablyhave been used even in the Iron Age, afew hundred years before the Viking Age.

The creation of a familyBased on these facts, gradually a familywith names was created by the peopleworking at Gene. When they startedwork, everyone was given his or her ownrole in the family and a personal name.The chieftain’s name was Sixten, his wifeHägvid and their four children Harald,Sigrid, Sigvald and Sibbe.

The character of the real person simply

formed the character of the Iron-age one,and many of the people working at Genehave kept their names for many years.Some have identified with their role sostrongly that it has been nearly impossiblefor them to have a separate identity.

Other persons have, however, changedroles over the years, or new roles havebeen created when needed. Other thanthe six family members there has been agrandmother, maids, labourers andneighbours from the neighbouring farms,Bäck and Vågsnäs, all with their ownpersonalities. In this way a sort ofunwritten, invented history has beencreated at the farm.

Re-enactmentsThe unique thing about Gene Iron-agevillage has been the fact that the visitors

have always experienced Iron-age lifewhen visiting Gene, since the staff arealways acting in their roles when workingand wearing Iron-age clothing.Depending on who has been working, thevisitors have met different familymembers playing their own role.

Above all, in the summer when thereare activities and guided tours for visitorsevery day, the roles have become clear inthe short re-enactments (role playing),arranged during all guided tours. Thesere-enactments can be recurrent ones, usedday after day or year after year, but someof them can also be created here and now,depending on the specific occasion. Forexample, dialogues between two or morepeople in the family are alwaysspontaneous and just like it could havebeen in real Iron-age life.

The special thing about the re-enactments at Gene, however, is that thepeople act in their Iron-age roles, but thenext second leave these roles to talk to thevisitors in the present. This becomesespecially obvious during the guided tourswhen the guides switch between thepresent (when telling facts) and Iron-agetimes (when acting in a role).

The Gene play – living historyat its bestDuring the latest years, there has been aneed to develop the history of the Genefamily. A real family history is verydynamic, and naturally that was also the


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Iron-age actors at GeneIron-age village in 2003.Photo Agne Säterberg

The Iron-age longhouse in Gene Iron-age village. Photo Agne Säterberg



case with the Iron-age family at Gene.Another reason to develop history wasalso that new people became employed atGene, creating new characters andhappenings in the family.

Therefore, in 2001, the Gene play hadits first performance on an outdoor stageoutside the longhouse at Gene Iron-agevillage. The reason for this first play wasactually the visit of a group of delegatesfrom the network of prehistoric villages inSweden (Nätverket Sveriges LevandeForntid). The play, which was a sort ofwelcome to the group, was a success andafter that theatre as a form of livinghistory attracted a great deal of attentionin many prehistoric villages all overSweden.

The actors in the play were the wholestaff group of amateur actors, as well aschildren and horses, about 20 persons intotal. Since the joy of creating theatretogether was so great, new plays with newhappenings were written the followingsummers. These were then performed forthe public, with tickets sold for theperformances.

The first play dealt with a newhappening in the family at Gene: Theoldest son Harald’s fiancé, Isgerd, arrivesat the farm from another province inSweden to live with Harald and his familyat the Gene farm. Confusion and envy,

but even friendship, all were given a facein an Iron-age way. Isgerd brought severalpeople with her to the farm, among themher brother Isbjörn who decided to stay atGene and become a blacksmith.

In the following plays of 2002, 2003and 2004, the plot evolved. Harald andIsgerd got married and their conflicts withthe neighbouring reindeer, non-agriculture culture were some of them.

In 2004, men from the King’s army(hirden) invaded the Gene farm onhorseback, trying to force the men of thefarm to join the army to go to the RomanEmpire.

In all the plays, the aim has been topresent as good archaeological facts aspossible. Research has therefore been anatural part of the work in creating true-to-life situations. When we are unsure ofhow to do something, we have just leftthat happening and chosen anotherarchaeologically safer one. Iron-age clothesand good properties have, of course, beena natural part of the plays, as well asshowing different social status betweendifferent people. This has beenaccomplished most easily with clothes andcolours.

In addition to this archaeological sideof the play, however, the Gene play, withhundreds of visitors over the years, hasbeen a fantastic instrument to use in

creating our own Iron-age Saga. Finally ithas fulfilled its aim in an excellent way; tocreate living history in a place wherewritten sources are missing and thusrecreate Iron-age life in modern times.

FFoorr ffuurrtthheerr iinnffoorrmmaattiioonnThe Gene Fornby Foundation Bäckagården892 43 DOMSJÖSWEDEN

At present the activities at Gene Iron-agevillage are run by:AGMA- Forntid & ÄventyrBågegatan 6891 31 ÖrnsköldsvikSWEDEN+46 070- 602 39 [email protected]


VIKING

What do we really know about Viking Age? Much is based on a romantic view ofhistory and disconnected facts from Sweden’s period as a great power and the 19thcentury. But language doesn’t lie. The runic stones in our country give solidevidence of how people talked, wrote and the way they lived. Through them wecan obtain knowledge about our history.

There is a good supply of reference material: more than 135,000 words and3,300 preserved Nordic inscriptions from 800 to around 1100 AD areavailable. The runic stones dominate in the provinces of Uppland, Sörmlandand Östergötland, but many inscriptions are found even outside Scandinavia.

Vikingarnas språk describes the development of the history of languageand gives a lesson in how to read runes and interpret the Eddic poems.

The work is a readable, scientific account of the Viking-age language,society and culture. Vikngarnas språk is only available in Swedish atpresent.

The author Rune Palm is a runologist and senior lecturer in Nordiclanguage at the University of Stockholm. CC

N e wb o o k !

Vikingarnas språk 750-1100(The language of the Vikings)

Written by Rune PalmPublished by Norstedts FörlagISBN 91-1-301086-7

About the authorMaria Blomster is a museumeducationalist and has worked withprograms and activities for schools,companies and other groups. She hasbeen one of two people responsiblefor developing the year-roundactivities at Gene Iron-age villageover the past four years. At themoment she runs her own company -AGMA- Forntid och Äventyr.Email: [email protected]

www.destinationhogakusten.com






The dust jacket of the book reads:Viking Empires is a definitive new account of theViking world. From the first contact in the 790s,this book traces the fascinating history of theViking Age from the North American seaboard in the westto the Baltic States in the east.

• An illustrated history of five hundred years of Vikingcivilisation

• A ground-breaking global perspectiveon the Viking Age

• Integrates social, political, cultural,economic, maritime and militaryhistory with archaeology, literatureand religion to offer a rich accountof the rise and fall of the Vikingempires.

Indeed it is an interesting andcomprehensive book, but only forthose parts of the Viking world thatare examined. The globalperspective is lacking becausealmost all the Scandinavianactivity east of the Baltic isomitted.

The reason may be that the direct Vikingactivity there is difficult to trace in written sources.Certainly the origins of the Rus are obscure, butScandinavians and Frisians were important actors alongwith Finnish, Slavonic and Oriental peoples when thetrading route between the Baltic and the Orient wasopened up during the 9th century. The large hoards of

Islamic coins, especially on Gotland, are proofof this.

This route was crucial for the Viking-ageeconomy in southern Scandinavia. It is named

“The Northern Arc” by Michael Mc Cormick in his book,which was published as early as 2001 (Look for the reviewof this book in this magazine). Neither the hoards norMcCormick’s book are discussed in the volume.

The main viewpoint for Viking Empires is the North Seaand the Atlantic area viewed from Ireland and

Scotland. The developments in theseparts of the globe are related in

full. This includes thecolonisation of Iceland, Greenland

and Vinland in North America.Even the necessary conditions for

this – ships and seafaring arethoroughly discussed in different

chapters.A new and important perspective of

the book is summarised in the chapterScandinavian and European integration:

reform and rebirth. It is stressed that theScandinavians from the Migration Period

to the Middle Ages were a part of the largerEuropean economy. In this chapter the early

medieval Danish rulers, the Scandinavianarchdiocese and the Crusades are discussed.

As usual there are a few errors in the text but in myopinion the book is well documented - west of the Baltic.

Carl Löfving

Viking EmpiresWritten by Angelo Forte, RichardOram, Frederik Pedersen. Published by CambridgeUniversity Press 2005.ISBN 0-521-82992-5

N e wb o o k !


www.nordicarts.com



Heritage NewsViking Heritage Magazine 3/05

“Golden oldmen” found ineastern NorwayA tremendously unique discovery hasbeen found in Norway. “This is a findmade only once in a lifetime”, saysProfessor Heid Gjøstein Resi, the womanin charge of the excavation.

The eleven small golden reliefs, datingfrom 600-700 AD, are only about 1,1centimetres in size and the most intactobject depicts a couple, possibly themythological figures Fröy and Gerd. It isbelieved they were used as a form ofpayment or offering at rituals.

The latest finds in Norway wereunearthed on Lofoten in the 1980s andthe biggest collection ever, around 2,300,was found on the Danish island ofBornholm. Similar finds have also beenmade in Sweden.

Archaeologists will resume digging inthe spring and then the location site willbe made public.

Source: Aftenposten

Women onViking raidsViking warriors were homemakers whocouldn’t wait to ship their wives over tosettle the lands they had conquered.Scientists from Oxford University havediscovered from studying Scots of Vikingancestry in Scotland and Orkney, that theremust have been far more Viking women inthe Dark Ages settlements than originallypresumed.

By sampling 500 residents of Shetlandusing a toothbrush to extract some of theirsaliva, the scientists were able to identifygenetic traits in the Scots, which they sharewith modern-day Scandinavian populations.

By examining two elements of DNA, onethat passed from father to son and onepassed down the female lineages, they couldwork out the gender balance of the originalViking populations.

The study showed that the geneticbalance became more male orientated thefurther away from Scandinavia; colonialstrongholds would have been safer the closerto home they were.

Source: Svenska Dagbladet

Scandinavian cooperationon the Iron AgePower, myths and monuments – is the name of a new cultural historicalcooperation between the Scandinavian countries. Using information technology, itis possible to take a virtual journey through our Nordic history.

Gamla Uppsala, Sweden, Midgard Historic Senter in Norway and KongerensJelling in Denmark all have something in common – the Scandinavian Iron Age.Recently these three sites were granted project funds from the Nordic ministerialcouncil to present our common Iron-age history.

Planning is underway for an interactive digital product to give visitors a deeperknowledge of the connection between these different Iron-age societies. Thevisitors will also be able to penetrate deeper into different time periods, look atarchaeological finds and ancient monuments, learn more about the legends aroundthe sites, and much more.

The interactive product will be accessible in the different museums and on theInternet. The project is planned to run for three years.

Source: Riksantikvarieämbetet

Two ships leaveGotland forfaraway riversAs a small event in the Viking Year2005, two famous Viking ships met atSlite, Gotland, on July 5. Their chiefs,Dotes on Krampmacken and CarlBråvalla on Viking Plym, had agreed toshow how their men met to saileastward together.

Krampmacken – the unique famousreplica ship from Gotland with sailingmemories from Miklagård and VikingPlym – the beautiful ship of splendour,now the oldest one sailing in the world.Together they made a quite spectacularpair.

Viking Plym, built in 1912, withfeatures like the Gokstad ship (but not areplica of it!), is made for ten rowers.Krampmacken was built in 1979–80; itsshape is based on a traditional designand built with six boards and nine frames.

At Slite the ships were filmed by aJapanese film team from TBS Visionand a cameraman moved between thetwo ships and a following boat. The twoships will be shown together with scenesfrom both Birka and Gotland.

Carl Bråvalla

The meeting of the two Viking shipsKrampmacken and Viking Plym outsideGotland in July 2005. Photo/copyright: Gunnar Britsewww.eco-photos.net

www.eco-photos.net



The summer is over and the organizers ofthe many Viking events can now relax afterquite a hectic period.

The Viking Year 2005 on Gotland (seeprevious issues of VHM) is not over yetbut so far the results have been positive. Allin all the Viking theme has been asuccessful venture.

The Viking village in Tofta and theCounty Museum of Gotland have had anincreasing stream of visitors during thesummer. The theatre performance in När“The Snakewoman’s children” was verypopular with its audiences, the Althing inRoma will have a follow-up next year,hopefully a whole week, people came fromthe whole island to take part in the Vikingmarket in Slite, not to mention thearchaeology sessions for children in Fröjelwhich were fully booked every day.

Dan Carlsson, the project leader, is verysatisfied with the outcome of the year.There has been vast interest shown and itwill continue to grow. Journalists and filmteams from France,Belgium, Japan,Switzerland,Germany and Italy

have visited the island during summer towrite about and document Gotland VikingIsland. Now it is time to reflect upon howwe will continue to develop the Vikingtheme on Gotland; this is just thebeginning!

The Battle ofHastings 2006A re-enactment of the Battle of Hastingswill take place on October 14–15, 2006 onthe site of the original battle in England.Re-enactors from all over the world willparticipate in this open event and in habitthe large Living History encampment.

In the year 2000 about 1500 persons incostume took part. Eleven hundred of thesewere warriors from 16 different countries.The coming event is expected to be evenbigger!

The site custodians, English Heritage,have appointed The Vikings re-enactmentsociety in charge of the event. The Vikingsare the oldest and largest Dark-age re-enactment society in the UK, founded asearly as 1971.

A website with all the details forattending the event is now available. Thereyou can find clothing and costume guides,combat rules and requirements and lotsmore.

For further information:http://hastings.vikingsonline.org.uk


Symposiumabout theBayeux tapestryin DenmarkA three-day symposium called The Bayeuxtapestry – an embroidered chronicle from theViking Age will take place in the NationalMuseum in Copenhagen on February8–10, 2006

The symposium will be held inconjunction with a separate exhibitionabout the famous Bayeux tapestry and itsclose ties to Scandinavia, starting in thebeginning of 2006 at the National Museumin Copenhagen.

The Bayeux tapestry is one of the mostimportant and magnificent documents inEurope. This excellent, beautifulembroidery is 70 m long and 1/2 m highand describes the invasion of England byWilliam of Normandy at the battle ofHastings on October 14, 1066 in imagesand with short Latin texts.

Several interesting lectures will be heldduring the symposium. Furtherinformation from the co-producerFolkuniversitetet: www.fukbh.dk or www.natmus.dk

Viking market on Gotland, summer 2005. Photo Catharina Lübeck

Viking attractions 2005

The cast of “TheSnakewomen’schildren”, the greatViking theatricalsuccess on Gotlandthis summer.

Photo CatharinaLübeck.

Ridingthe oxen.GotlandVikingIsland2005.

PhotoCatharinaLübeck

www.fukbh.dk

www.natmus.dk

http://hastings.vikingsonline.org.uk



The IMAX movie Viking:

Journey to NewWorlds – now inStockholm!The Viking film for giant screens, Viking:Journey to New Worlds, is making its wayaround the world. Now it has come toCosmonova in Stockholm.

The film tells the history and culture ofthe Vikings, about how and why theyexplored and colonized land towards theWest. The film is about 50 minutes longand, among many other things, we canfollow Leif Eriksson on his voyage over theseas to North America, 500 years beforeColumbus crossed the Atlantic.

Cosmonova, a part of the SwedishMuseum of Natural History in Stockholm, isthe only IMAX-cinema in Sweden, as well asthe largest planetarium with astronomyperformances.

A little knight onhorseback – achess piece?Recently an amateur found a little knighton horseback using a metal detector innorth Nottinghamshire in England.

The find is puzzling archaeologists; it isstartlingly similar to chess pieces foundhundreds of miles away in 1831, on abeach on the Isle of Lewis. The Lewischessmen, made of walrus ivory, arethought to be part of at least fourdifferent sets. Therefore dozens of piecesare missing. The knight can’t be one ofthe missing pieces since he is made ofcopper alloy, but his helmet and shield arevery similar to those of the Lewis knights.The style suggests a late 11th or early 12th

century date. A oddity is that x-ray and metal

analyses have shown that the piece wasonce soldered onto something else and theface is too corroded to tell whether it wasas vivid as those of the Lewis soldiers,biting their shields in rage or terror. Theknight has no great commercial value, butis of immense historic importance.

Source: The Guardian

A 1000 year-old churchfound in Skien,NorwayThe remains of what seems to beNorway’s oldest church have been found.Experts now believe that Norway wasChristian long before Håkon the Good,Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldssonbegan their missionary raids. It wouldlikely push Christianisation back to the800s.

Researchers have also found twoChristian graves from 885-990 at thesame site, which may indicate that there isanother church. “There might be about1000 people buried here over a period of400 years”, says Brendelsmo, anarchaeologist at the Foundation forCultural Heritage Research. The site iscurrently destined to become a park.

Source: Aftenposten


TThhee uullttiimmaattee ffoorruumm ffoorr aallll tthhoosseeiinntteerreesstteedd iinn VViikkiinnggss aanndd tthhee VViikkiinngg AAggee!!

Viking Heritage Magazine,Gotland University PressCramérgatan 3, 621 67 Visby, Sweden.Tel. +46 498 29 97 43, Fax +46 498 29 98 [email protected] • www.hgo.se/vikingGotland University: www.hgo.se

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As a new subscriber you will receive theguidebook, Follow the Vikings. Highlights ofthe Viking World, as a special gift. This bookcontains 50 of the most importantdestinations in different countries, selected byan international group of archaeologists andis richly illustrated in full colour.

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by Godrings Tryckeri, Visby, Sweden 2005

ISSN 1403-7319

V king Heritagemagazine

Photo: Sky High Entertainment

“The cow-find”– 185 coins inthe silver hoardA new silver hoard was found on Gotland inMay 2005, see VHM 2/2005. Now the findplace has been fully investigated.

The first 30 coins were dug out of theground by grazing cows, so the hoard is nowcalled “the cow-find”. It consisted of 185Arabic coins spread in the ground. Many ofthem are Russian imitations of Arabic coinsof that time.


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NEW!

Now you can subscribe to a digital version ofViking Heritage Magazine and read it withthe help of the free, Award-Winning ZinioReader that you download.

A digital version of VikingHeritage Magazine is nowavailable at reduced price!

Digital subscription!

For further information, see: www.hgo.se/viking

Destination Viking Living History around the Baltic Sea

A new Viking Route book is out!When the Council of Europe established the European VikingRoute in 1996, the sites included were presented in the book,Follow the Vikings, edited by Dan Carlsson and OlwynOwen.

Then, in 2001, the first regional route within thisEuropean Route was established, namely the WesternViking Route. This route was the immediate result ofthe North Sea Viking Legacy project, financed by theInterreg IIC North Sea programme. This route was alsopresented in a book, Destination Viking Western Viking Route,edited by Marita Engberg Ekman.

When the North Sea Viking Legacy projectended in 2001, several partners felt that workshould continue, and in 2002, a new projectcalled Destination Viking Living Historyreceived funding from the Interreg IIIB BalticSea programme. This project has focusedprimarily on the presentation of living historyat reconstructed Viking villages, and thesevillages as well as a number of Viking-agesites in their vicinity are now beingpresented in the third Viking Route book:Destination Viking Living History around theBaltic Sea.

This guidebook, also edited by MaritaEngberg Ekman, is the same pocket size asthe Western Viking Route and has asimilar layout. It presents Living Historymuseums in five countries: Russia,Germany, Sweden, Denmark andNorway.

The book begins with a briefintroduction of the project by BjörnJakobsen, project manager, and GeirSør-Reime, project consultant,followed by a short introduction to the Vikingperiod by Dan Carlsson from Gotland University, one of theproject partners.

There is a thematic approach to each chapter. The bookopens with Avaldsnes, the first Royal throne of Norway andpresents the early history of the Norwegian kingdom andAvaldsnes as a Royal manor, followed by a presentation of theViking village there and all the Viking-age remains still to beseen in the surrounding area.

The book continues to Ale along the Göta River in WesternSweden, narrating fascinating stories about the struggle betweenthe Nordic kingdoms for the control of this important trade

route and border area. A new Viking village is now beingconstructed in Ale along the river.

Moving further south, the book stops atFotevikens Museum in Scania, southern Sweden.Here, one of the largest Viking-age Living Historymuseums has been constructed. The chapter onFoteviken also tells the story of the oldest urbansettlements in Scania.

We then jump to Trelleborg on Seeland inDenmark. Here we can read of the impressive fortifications builtaround AD 975 in the areas controlled by the Danish kingdomat that time. Naturally the main centre of attraction is Trelleborgitself and the fascinating story behind the excavations and

reconstructions at this site.Returning to Sweden, the book

then takes us to Storholmen VikingVillage in east Mid-Sweden. Theirchapter focuses on the links betweenSweden and the areas to the Eastduring the Viking period, whereas thechapter on Gunnes gård slightlyfurther west concentrates on runicstones found in the area.

We then move eastwards to theViking island of Gotland. Here theisland’s wealthy Viking past is presented,with hoards, picture stones, burialmounds and fortifications in abundance.

Then follows a chapter onUkranenland in Germany and how agroup of enthusiasts there have managedto create a reconstructed Slavonicsettlement along the Ukra River. Therelationship between Slavonic tribes andScandinavians in this area is alsohighlighted.

The final chapter is about Russia, with aspecial focus on the early Scandinavian influences at StaryaLadoga and in Novgorod. Again, the interaction between theScandinavians and Slavonic peoples is of major interest.

Geir Sør-Reime

The book can be ordered from Viking Heritage Magazine,Gotland University, SE-621 67 Visby, Sweden.www.hgo.se/vikingEmail: [email protected]

N e wb o o k !

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11//22000022VViikkiinngg--AAggee wwoommeenn iinn rruunneess ppiiccttuurreess•• FFrreeyyjjaa,, aa ggooddddeessss ooff lloovvee aanndd wwaarr

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