Viking figurines were ‘more than just jewellery’, and were used and handled in a variety of ways, including long-term curation, 'decapitation', and attached to Christian artefacts
‘Decapitated’ head of silver pendant, showing the traces of percussion used to detach the head from the rest of the object. Image credit: The Body-Politics project
In Viking archaeology, the study of miniature metal figurines -- possibly depicting Norse gods and mythological beings -- have been central to debates on ritual and religion. A new study focusses on how the figures were made, used, worn, and deposited, examining how miniature bodies and human bodies interacted.
Miniature depictions of bodies cast in silver and bronze from the Viking Age have long captured the imagination of scholars and general audiences alike. The figurines have been suggested to depict Norse gods and mythological beings such as Freya, valkyries, and Thor. Moreover, the objects put us 'face to face' with the past, and provide insights into how bodies were represented, dressed, and understood in the Viking Age.
In a new study published in Antiquity, researchers from the University of Leicester and the National Museum of Denmark have used digital imaging techniques as well as studied the traces of wear on ten such objects from the Swedish History Museum, to investigate how the figurines were made, used and handled by the people of the Viking Age.
According to lead author Professor Marianne Hem Eriksen, of the National Museum of Denmark, “When people in Viking Age chose to cast a human body in metal miniature, they did not do so neutrally, detached from their contemporary concepts of bodies, beliefs, gender and politics.
“Viking Age pendants and figurines were entwined with larger worlds: travels to procure silver (from which the objects were often made); Viking concepts of the body, gender and sexuality; Norse ideas of the otherworld; the skills and technology of their makers.
“We found that by focusing on how the objects were actually made, handled, used, and deposited, it opened new insights. For example, two of the artefacts have been broken, and at least one of them deliberately. We found active traces of percussion on a head pendant, meaning that this figurine had been purposefully 'decapitated' (image above). They had not smoothed the break, but rather left it visible, perhaps as an important part of the object history.
“Decapitation of human skeletal remains is not unknown from the Viking Age, and we wonder whether this, possibly mythological depiction, was treated in a way that mirrored how some human, fleshed bodies were treated."
The ten silver and bronze miniatures studied in the article. O5-10 are the so-called 'valkyrie' figurines. Image credit: The Body-Politics project
Senior author Dr Christina Tsoraki, of the School of Heritage and Culture, University of Leicester adds, "By studying the wear of the 'valkyrie' pendants -- the valkyries being female mythological beings that would bring slain warriors from the battlefield to Odin's Valhalla -- we found a lot of variation. Some have been extensively handled and worn, indicating that they may have circulated for a long time or passed from person to person as an heirloom. Other 'valkyrie' objects, however, are crisp and have seemingly never been strung -- meaning that they were perhaps made especially for the burial of a specific person.”
Author Brad Marshall adds, “It seems clear that how humans interacted with these figurines is more complex than the conventional category of 'amulet' would suggest. Scholars have argued that these valkyries were worn, especially by women, as part of religious paraphernalia.
“But some pendants have likely never been worn, some have been attached to hard materials and their loops flattened, and were perhaps put on display in feasting halls or attached to other objects. Moreover, we have no idea whether valkyrie figurines were specifically worn by women -- they are found in both men's and women's burials, and the mythological valkyries are associated with warriorhood. There is clearly more to these objects than straightforward jewellery.”
Another artefact was, according to the original early 20th century drawings, found attached upside down to a possibly Christian reliquary -- merging Old Norse and Christian religious symbolism. Professor Marianne Hem Eriksen concludes: "Straightforward stories of Norse religious amulets do not quite capture the complexity of how these artefacts were actually made, handled, and used. By exploring more deeply how the objects and their human makers and users interacted, we can tease out fascinating new stories from Viking 'art'.”