Germanic art, artefacts and runes, BC-AD; news & discussion

[JonikW]

I'd like to continue this thread in its third incarnation here, after it was started by me on Anthrogenica and continued by my good friend Orentil on the original GenArchivist. I hope we'll use this space to post new discoveries and discuss subjects of all kinds from archaeological artefacts to mythology and literature. I hope it will span many periods from the Bronze Age cultures that preceded the Iron Age and Proto-Germanic, to the Migration Period and the Icelandic sagas.

I'll kick things off with some news from Jomfruland in Norway that I saw today. Although they don't say so in this BBC article, the object on the right in the first image looks like it's an example of the classic Viking era "tortoise brooch":

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com...957309.amp

---

For the record, here's the original Anthrogenica thread as archived by Genoplot not long before the final posts. And here's the subsequent GenArchivist one if it survives or is salvageable at that URL.

[Orentil]

I was just about to start an own thread on Nordic mythology but now I saw that you restarted the thread (thanks for that) and explicitly includes mythologies and sagas. So I might post here some of my ideas on Eddic star-lore as well if this is not to special for this thread.

[JonikW]

I was just about to start an own thread on Nordic mythology but now I saw that you restarted the thread (thanks for that) and explicitly includes mythologies and sagas. So I might post here some of my ideas on Eddic star-lore as well if this is not to special for this thread.

Thanks Orentil. I look forward to reading your thoughts! I included the sagas in the introduction to my AG thread. But I think including mythology is logical because you could argue that the tales are an art form and in any case they're often expressed in physical objects and writings. So this way we'll have one thread for enthusiasts of these subjects rather than occasionally having trouble deciding where to post.

[Orentil]

We touched briefly in another thread the presentations of the conference "Early Germanic Poetics and Religion
from Linguistic and Comparative Perspectives (University of Copenhagen, September 18-19, 2023). Thanks again to Strider99 for making us aware of this conference. One presentation of Eldar Heide discusses Tyr and Vidar in connection to the solstices and solar phenomena. I will try to contact the author to see if I can get more information, maybe he is willing to share the ppt-presentation. At least we have so far a comprehensive abstract showing in what direction he thinks.

Abstract
Old Norse Týr and Viðarr: solar turning points, wolves and the sky
Eldar Heide
(Western Norway University of Applied Sciences)
In this paper I re-examine the information that we have about the Old Norse and Germanic god Týr. The latest research concludes that, even if the name Týr indicates that he had a connection with the sun and the firmament, this must reflect a period way before our sources. I go against this view and argue that the connection was there in Scandinavia until the Late Iron Age, at least in Denmark. Týr has a clear connection with the sun through the myth where he secures the gods’ binding of the Fenrir wolf, because this motif is linked to the myth about the wolves that chase the sun across the sky. Týr prevents the wolf from swallowing the sun before Ragnarǫk. I take a closer look at this myth in the Old Norse texts and the atmospheric phenomenon that we believe it derives from, namely parhelion. I also consider the sun phenomenon at Tysnes in Western Norway, which is the only certain Týr place name in Norway, and I moreover consider the link to Mars that is indicated by the overlapping weekday names týsdagr – Martis dies, the association between Mars and spring equinox, and the names of the constellations Ulfskjǫptr, ‘Wolf’s Jaws’, and Ásar bardagi, ‘the God’s Battle’. I conclude that Týr’s function is to defend the sun and the division of the year. As part of the interpretation, I launch a new suggestion about how the god Viðarr originated and what his function is. The argument strengthens Gísli Sigurðsson’s suggestion that we should see the Old Norse gods in connection with the firmament.

As I also spent some thoughts on Vidar, Vali and Tyr I will summarize some of my thoughts. The difference in the views might be that I will look even more to the starry sky, also looking to the solstices but connecting them to certain stars on the firmament.

[Orentil]

I already got a reply from Eldar Heide. He couldn't held the presentation as he was sick. The presentation was based on a manuscript of a paper that is planned to be published end of next year.

[Orentil]

A nice 9th century brooch from Somerset before and after restoration with my favourite theme: dragons

https://www.nordisch.info/archaeologie-g...stauriert/

[JonikW]

A nice 9th century brooch from Somerset before and after restoration with my favourite theme: dragons

https://www.nordisch.info/archaeologie-g...stauriert/

That's just so beautiful and from a place that I often visited in childhood when I lived nearby. Although that article and the Guardian one don't say it as far as I can see, that looks like a good example of the Trewhiddle style and we might expect something of this kind in Somerset.

[JonikW]

As I just mentioned in the aDNA section, I attended a viewing of the Marlow Warlord’s artefacts today, the first time they’ve been assembled in one place since they were found.

I was invited to this event at the museum in Aylesbury because I’d contributed to the crowdfunding round to preserve his grave goods. It was a small gathering: a few archaeologists, the detectorists who made the discovery, the landowner, the farmer and his family and a couple of other people including me.

The artefacts were spread out on two tables and I’ll post images of them here. This was a high status burial of the late fifth century (around 500 at the latest I was told). That means it dates from long before the more obviously elite gold and garnet bling of the Sutton Hoo period.

We enjoyed a couple of talks with slides and I also got the chance to examine the artefacts in person and discuss them one-on-one with one of the main archaeologists involved.

The artefacts were displayed along with some replicas that have been commissioned. You can see the two copper-alloy vessels here, along with reproductions that were made by craftsmen in India. No one in Europe was willing to try copying the work but apparently there are still craftsmen in India who are proficient in the same techniques, so they accepted the commission.

best free image hosting

This fire striker is fascinating. The archaeologist said that most examples from the period have ends that curled upwards (I saw a few images during one of the presentations). I remember that Orentil and I once speculated on AG about potential fire strikers within the bracteate imagery. We’d struggled to find images of fire strikers from the Migration Period, but the ones that I saw illustrated looked similar to the Viking Age examples and so also resembled the enigmatic shape that appears on some of the bracteates.



This sword was a striking discovery. They think that the cross guard and the pommel area each had a thin inset of bovine horn set between the iron. The only parallel they were able to find after liaising with collections on the continent and in Scandinavia is a Nydam IV sword from southern Jutland, dating from 450 to 475 AD.



While the Nydam find was a sacrificial deposit involving a defeated army that could have come from beyond that region, the Marlow scabbard chape adds some interesting additional information on the potential origin of the sword assemblage.



The scabbard chape from the Marlow sword (shown with a replica) has its only known parallels in northern Jutland, where there are very similar examples with transverse lines that date from the mid to late fifth century. I was allowed to hold this chape in my trembling bare hands (the copper-alloy is so well preserved that there was no risk to the object). So all in all, they are confident that the Marlow Warlord’s sword and scabbard came from Jutland. You’ll notice an almost vertical cut at the bottom left, which they think may have been caused by a sword blow that perhaps also detached the knob at the base of the chape.

I was also able to hold and turn over in my hands this band that was once wrapped around the scabbard near the top (I forget the technical name). I could see clearly that the frontal, decorated section had been reused and attached to a later piece of copper alloy. I also spotted some faint marks in one corner of the reverse as I was examining it, possibly including a rune (although that could of course also be due to chance damage). I pointed them out to the archaeologist I was with and he confirmed they are already looking at them.



I also saw the base of a Kempston type glass beaker, which they’ve pieced together. They have many more fragments, some less than 1mm in thickness, that they’re unable to reassemble. The thinness of the object and the difficulty of transporting it lead them to believe it was produced in Kent. There’s a real hotspot of production there (I saw a map that included the continent) and they have discovered that they were produced from recycled Roman glass.

Finally, the warlord was buried with two spearheads. These beautiful objects, seen here with two reproductions, could date from quite a wide period but around the year 500 at the latest.

upload images online

Intriguingly, there was no shield in the Marlow burial, a fact that marks it out as unusual. That’s also regrettable because the bosses are diagnostic and can be accurately dated. Anyway, all in all a dream day out for me while my family wandered patiently around Aylesbury.

[Ambiorix]

As I just mentioned in the aDNA section, I attended a viewing of the Marlow Warlord’s artefacts today, the first time they’ve been assembled in one place since they were found.

I was invited to this event at the museum in Aylesbury because I’d contributed to the crowdfunding round to preserve his grave goods. It was a small gathering: a few archaeologists, the detectorists who made the discovery, the landowner, the farmer and his family and a couple of other people including me.

The artefacts were spread out on two tables and I’ll post images of them here. This was a high status burial of the late fifth century (around 500 at the latest I was told). That means it dates from long before the more obviously elite gold and garnet bling of the Sutton Hoo period.

We enjoyed a couple of talks with slides and I also got the chance to examine the artefacts in person and discuss them one-on-one with one of the main archaeologists involved.

The artefacts were displayed along with some replicas that have been commissioned. You can see the two copper-alloy vessels here, along with reproductions that were made by craftsmen in India. No one in Europe was willing to try copying the work but apparently there are still craftsmen in India who are proficient in the same techniques, so they accepted the commission.

best free image hosting

This fire striker is fascinating. The archaeologist said that most examples from the period have ends that curled upwards (I saw a few images during one of the presentations). I remember that Orentil and I once speculated on AG about potential fire strikers within the bracteate imagery. We’d struggled to find images of fire strikers from the Migration Period, but the ones that I saw illustrated looked similar to the Viking Age examples and so also resembled the enigmatic shape that appears on some of the bracteates.



This sword was a striking discovery. They think that the cross guard and the pommel area each had a thin inset of bovine horn set between the iron. The only parallel they were able to find after liaising with collections on the continent and in Scandinavia is a Nydam IV sword from southern Jutland, dating from 450 to 475 AD.



While the Nydam find was a sacrificial deposit involving a defeated army that could have come from beyond that region, the Marlow scabbard chape adds some interesting additional information on the potential origin of the sword assemblage.



The scabbard chape from the Marlow sword (shown with a replica) has its only known parallels in northern Jutland, where there are very similar examples with transverse lines that date from the mid to late fifth century. I was allowed to hold this chape in my trembling bare hands (the copper-alloy is so well preserved that there was no risk to the object). So all in all, they are confident that the Marlow Warlord’s sword and scabbard came from Jutland. You’ll notice an almost vertical cut at the bottom left, which they think may have been caused by a sword blow that perhaps also detached the knob at the base of the chape.

I was also able to hold and turn over in my hands this band that was once wrapped around the scabbard near the top (I forget the technical name). I could see clearly that the frontal, decorated section had been reused and attached to a later piece of copper alloy. I also spotted some faint marks in one corner of the reverse as I was examining it, possibly including a rune (although that could of course also be due to chance damage). I pointed them out to the archaeologist I was with and he confirmed they are already looking at them.



I also saw the base of a Kempston type glass beaker, which they’ve pieced together. They have many more fragments, some less than 1mm in thickness, that they’re unable to reassemble. The thinness of the object and the difficulty of transporting it lead them to believe it was produced in Kent. There’s a real hotspot of production there (I saw a map that included the continent) and they have discovered that they were produced from recycled Roman glass.

Finally, the warlord was buried with two spearheads. These beautiful objects, seen here with two reproductions, could date from quite a wide period but around the year 500 at the latest.

upload images online

Intriguingly, there was no shield in the Marlow burial, a fact that marks it out as unusual. That’s also regrettable because the bosses are diagnostic and can be accurately dated. Anyway, all in all a dream day out for me while my family wandered patiently around Aylesbury.

Very impressive exhibit, thanks for sharing JonikW! I must admit I was pretty excited seeing the fire striker since much of my work revolves around stone tool production and usage  the connections with both northern and southern Jutland are unsurprising yet fascinating, especially considering what one might presume to be an Anglian family background to the warlord and the close geographic proximity of Angles in the Jutland Peninsula with Jutes to the north - did you get a good look at what the potential rune(s) could have been, or does the faintness of the marking(s) make it impossible to note anything other than the fact there might be markings there? Here I am thinking especially of the association of individual runes with specific words (so not just operating as a straightforward representation of a sound value but also as visual representations of concepts), an often forgotten about fact (in fact, IIRC, Jackson Crawford even disputes the notion altogether for whatever reason).

[JonikW]

As I just mentioned in the aDNA section, I attended a viewing of the Marlow Warlord’s artefacts today, the first time they’ve been assembled in one place since they were found.

I was invited to this event at the museum in Aylesbury because I’d contributed to the crowdfunding round to preserve his grave goods. It was a small gathering: a few archaeologists, the detectorists who made the discovery, the landowner, the farmer and his family and a couple of other people including me.

The artefacts were spread out on two tables and I’ll post images of them here. This was a high status burial of the late fifth century (around 500 at the latest I was told). That means it dates from long before the more obviously elite gold and garnet bling of the Sutton Hoo period.

We enjoyed a couple of talks with slides and I also got the chance to examine the artefacts in person and discuss them one-on-one with one of the main archaeologists involved.

The artefacts were displayed along with some replicas that have been commissioned. You can see the two copper-alloy vessels here, along with reproductions that were made by craftsmen in India. No one in Europe was willing to try copying the work but apparently there are still craftsmen in India who are proficient in the same techniques, so they accepted the commission.

best free image hosting

This fire striker is fascinating. The archaeologist said that most examples from the period have ends that curled upwards (I saw a few images during one of the presentations). I remember that Orentil and I once speculated on AG about potential fire strikers within the bracteate imagery. We’d struggled to find images of fire strikers from the Migration Period, but the ones that I saw illustrated looked similar to the Viking Age examples and so also resembled the enigmatic shape that appears on some of the bracteates.



This sword was a striking discovery. They think that the cross guard and the pommel area each had a thin inset of bovine horn set between the iron. The only parallel they were able to find after liaising with collections on the continent and in Scandinavia is a Nydam IV sword from southern Jutland, dating from 450 to 475 AD.



While the Nydam find was a sacrificial deposit involving a defeated army that could have come from beyond that region, the Marlow scabbard chape adds some interesting additional information on the potential origin of the sword assemblage.



The scabbard chape from the Marlow sword (shown with a replica) has its only known parallels in northern Jutland, where there are very similar examples with transverse lines that date from the mid to late fifth century. I was allowed to hold this chape in my trembling bare hands (the copper-alloy is so well preserved that there was no risk to the object). So all in all, they are confident that the Marlow Warlord’s sword and scabbard came from Jutland. You’ll notice an almost vertical cut at the bottom left, which they think may have been caused by a sword blow that perhaps also detached the knob at the base of the chape.

I was also able to hold and turn over in my hands this band that was once wrapped around the scabbard near the top (I forget the technical name). I could see clearly that the frontal, decorated section had been reused and attached to a later piece of copper alloy. I also spotted some faint marks in one corner of the reverse as I was examining it, possibly including a rune (although that could of course also be due to chance damage). I pointed them out to the archaeologist I was with and he confirmed they are already looking at them.



I also saw the base of a Kempston type glass beaker, which they’ve pieced together. They have many more fragments, some less than 1mm in thickness, that they’re unable to reassemble. The thinness of the object and the difficulty of transporting it lead them to believe it was produced in Kent. There’s a real hotspot of production there (I saw a map that included the continent) and they have discovered that they were produced from recycled Roman glass.

Finally, the warlord was buried with two spearheads. These beautiful objects, seen here with two reproductions, could date from quite a wide period but around the year 500 at the latest.

upload images online

Intriguingly, there was no shield in the Marlow burial, a fact that marks it out as unusual. That’s also regrettable because the bosses are diagnostic and can be accurately dated. Anyway, all in all a dream day out for me while my family wandered patiently around Aylesbury.

Very impressive exhibit, thanks for sharing JonikW! I must admit I was pretty excited seeing the fire striker since much of my work revolves around stone tool production and usage  the connections with both northern and southern Jutland are unsurprising yet fascinating, especially considering what one might presume to be an Anglian family background to the warlord and the close geographic proximity of Angles in the Jutland Peninsula with Jutes to the north - did you get a good look at what the potential rune(s) could have been, or does the faintness of the marking(s) make it impossible to note anything other than the fact there might be markings there? Here I am thinking especially of the association of individual runes with specific words (so not just operating as a straightforward representation of a sound value but also as visual representations of concepts), an often forgotten about fact (in fact, IIRC, Jackson Crawford even disputes the notion altogether for whatever reason).

Good question Ambiorix and I should have said. What I saw were some vague markings ending in what was identical to a clear ᛋ rune, in that exact shape rather than the one with a downward slanting middle line of the kind we might expect to have seen immediately after the time of the elder futhark ᛊ variant.

[JonikW]

As I just mentioned in the aDNA section, I attended a viewing of the Marlow Warlord’s artefacts today, the first time they’ve been assembled in one place since they were found.

I was invited to this event at the museum in Aylesbury because I’d contributed to the crowdfunding round to preserve his grave goods. It was a small gathering: a few archaeologists, the detectorists who made the discovery, the landowner, the farmer and his family and a couple of other people including me.

The artefacts were spread out on two tables and I’ll post images of them here. This was a high status burial of the late fifth century (around 500 at the latest I was told). That means it dates from long before the more obviously elite gold and garnet bling of the Sutton Hoo period.

We enjoyed a couple of talks with slides and I also got the chance to examine the artefacts in person and discuss them one-on-one with one of the main archaeologists involved.

The artefacts were displayed along with some replicas that have been commissioned. You can see the two copper-alloy vessels here, along with reproductions that were made by craftsmen in India. No one in Europe was willing to try copying the work but apparently there are still craftsmen in India who are proficient in the same techniques, so they accepted the commission.

best free image hosting

This fire striker is fascinating. The archaeologist said that most examples from the period have ends that curled upwards (I saw a few images during one of the presentations). I remember that Orentil and I once speculated on AG about potential fire strikers within the bracteate imagery. We’d struggled to find images of fire strikers from the Migration Period, but the ones that I saw illustrated looked similar to the Viking Age examples and so also resembled the enigmatic shape that appears on some of the bracteates.



This sword was a striking discovery. They think that the cross guard and the pommel area each had a thin inset of bovine horn set between the iron. The only parallel they were able to find after liaising with collections on the continent and in Scandinavia is a Nydam IV sword from southern Jutland, dating from 450 to 475 AD.



While the Nydam find was a sacrificial deposit involving a defeated army that could have come from beyond that region, the Marlow scabbard chape adds some interesting additional information on the potential origin of the sword assemblage.



The scabbard chape from the Marlow sword (shown with a replica) has its only known parallels in northern Jutland, where there are very similar examples with transverse lines that date from the mid to late fifth century. I was allowed to hold this chape in my trembling bare hands (the copper-alloy is so well preserved that there was no risk to the object). So all in all, they are confident that the Marlow Warlord’s sword and scabbard came from Jutland. You’ll notice an almost vertical cut at the bottom left, which they think may have been caused by a sword blow that perhaps also detached the knob at the base of the chape.

I was also able to hold and turn over in my hands this band that was once wrapped around the scabbard near the top (I forget the technical name). I could see clearly that the frontal, decorated section had been reused and attached to a later piece of copper alloy. I also spotted some faint marks in one corner of the reverse as I was examining it, possibly including a rune (although that could of course also be due to chance damage). I pointed them out to the archaeologist I was with and he confirmed they are already looking at them.



I also saw the base of a Kempston type glass beaker, which they’ve pieced together. They have many more fragments, some less than 1mm in thickness, that they’re unable to reassemble. The thinness of the object and the difficulty of transporting it lead them to believe it was produced in Kent. There’s a real hotspot of production there (I saw a map that included the continent) and they have discovered that they were produced from recycled Roman glass.

Finally, the warlord was buried with two spearheads. These beautiful objects, seen here with two reproductions, could date from quite a wide period but around the year 500 at the latest.

upload images online

Intriguingly, there was no shield in the Marlow burial, a fact that marks it out as unusual. That’s also regrettable because the bosses are diagnostic and can be accurately dated. Anyway, all in all a dream day out for me while my family wandered patiently around Aylesbury.

Very impressive exhibit, thanks for sharing JonikW! I must admit I was pretty excited seeing the fire striker since much of my work revolves around stone tool production and usage  the connections with both northern and southern Jutland are unsurprising yet fascinating, especially considering what one might presume to be an Anglian family background to the warlord and the close geographic proximity of Angles in the Jutland Peninsula with Jutes to the north - did you get a good look at what the potential rune(s) could have been, or does the faintness of the marking(s) make it impossible to note anything other than the fact there might be markings there? Here I am thinking especially of the association of individual runes with specific words (so not just operating as a straightforward representation of a sound value but also as visual representations of concepts), an often forgotten about fact (in fact, IIRC, Jackson Crawford even disputes the notion altogether for whatever reason).

Good question Ambiorix and I should have said. What I saw were some vague markings ending in what was identical to a clear ᛋ rune, in that exact shape rather than the one with a downward slanting middle line of the kind we might expect to have seen immediately after the time of the elder futhark ᛊ variant.

After discussing that ᛋ rune, I came across something interesting tonight in the Pollington book on runes that I mentioned on Anthrogenica back in July, when I bought a copy at Sutton Hoo. I'm still slowly making my way through that enjoyable book along with the other titles I have on the go.

This is a very interesting image from Pollington (after Seebold) of some of the rune forms found on bracteates. There's a missing m rune although I have no idea why because it did feature on bracteates and many of the other forms shown on this Seebold rune row are conventional. The unconventional forms that jump out here have a beauty, and in some cases a logic, of their own.



For comparison, here's the standard elder futhark rune row courtesy of Wikipedia:



You'll notice that the bracteate rune row has the Migration Period variant of the more typically younger futhark ᛋ form that exactly resembled the mark I spotted on the back of the Marlow Warlord scabbard fitting. For the sake of completeness, I'll mention here that I didn't notice the potential ᛋ and accompanying markings when I viewed the object straight on. It was only as I turned it in my hands and the light caught at the right angle that the faint forms became visible.

EDIT: I'd better make clear that I'm posting the bracteate rune row only because it's remarkable and I haven't seen it collected in one place before. I always love unusual variants of all kinds. So although it ties in with my Marlow posts, I'm not making a direct connection.

[Orentil]

I mentioned the find of this folding chair, approx. 600 AD in Rothenburg/Endsee, Bavaria last year back on AG. Now it was restored. Not really spectacular (no runes) but at least rare.

https://www.blfd.bayern.de/mam/blfd/pres...bnisse.pdf

[JonikW]

I mentioned the find of this folding chair, approx. 600 AD in Rothenburg/Endsee, Bavaria last year back on AG. Now it was restored. Not really spectacular (no runes) but at least rare.

https://www.blfd.bayern.de/mam/blfd/pres...bnisse.pdf

Interesting that there seem to be 18 chairs broadly of this type from the Nordic Bronze Age. Must be something in the water, given the modern Scandinavian chair designers and Ikea :-)

ADD: Your later one reminds me of this quote from Tacitus, Orentil, contrasting with the Roman dining on couches (although the Romans did of course have chairs too). Pretty sure I've seen an IA wooden chair from Germany somewhere and we may even have discussed it:

"22. As soon as they rise from sleep, which they often protract well into the day, they wash in water that is usually warm; can one wonder, where winter holds such sway? After washing, they have a meal, with a separate place and a table for each."

[Orentil]

You surely remember this wooden chair from Wremen?

https://www.museum-wremen.de/historisch.htm

PS: thanks, I didn't remember that there were already 18 pieces found in the NBA

[JonikW]

You surely remember this wooden chair from Wremen?

https://www.museum-wremen.de/historisch.htm

PS: thanks, I didn't remember that there were already 18 pieces found in the NBA

Thanks! Do you know if there's a robust date for that within the "third to fifth" centuries? The motifs seem to be a wonderful mix of earlier Germanic art mixed with a lot that's familiar from the Migration Period. I think I've seen yet another example and have a book in mind that I'll pluck off the shelf later tonight to check.

ADD: Sorry to say I've had no luck finding my chair image. I only remember it was in an oldish book. But I did find this pot from Greussen, which is the kind of thing I meant in relation to the pre-Migration Period elements of your Wremen chair - at least to my eye. It dates from about 200 I believe.