Wear patterns on figures from the Viking Age reveal how they were used
Until now, researchers have mainly focused on identifying who is portrayed on amulets from the Viking Age. Marianne Hem Eriksen wanted to find out how they were used.
The amulets in the new study are normally exhibited at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. On the Aska man in the photo, researchers found clear traces of hammer and chisel – the head was deliberately cut off. The figure is often interpreted as Mimir from Norse mythology, whose severed head was Odin's adviser.(Photo: Ola Myrin / Swedish Historical Museums, CC BY 4.0 and C. Tsoraki)
One of the ten amulets in Marianne Hem Eriksen's recently published study is among the very few depictions of a pregnant woman from the Viking Age.
She is wearing a helmet on her head and holds her hands around her large belly.
Both the face and the belly of the figurine appear polished. As if someone may have rubbed these two places a lot.
"People have wondered whether this means that people rubbed the belly of the amulet, perhaps as part of a fertility ritual," says Eriksen.
With the help of wear-pattern analyses and various digital photo analyses, Eriksen and her colleagues are now able to say more about how the amulets they studied were used.
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And their analysis of the pregnant belly showed that earlier assumptions were wrong.
There were no signs indicating that people had rubbed the belly.
Gods, kings, and warriors
Eriksen leads a large research project that in recent years has tried to find new knowledge about the Iron Age and Viking Age's relationship to the body.
One category of Viking Age objects that features the human body most prominently is the small metal figures known as amulets.
They used to be a rare find. But their numbers have increased significantly over the past 10 to 15 years thanks to metal detectors.
"There has been a strong desire to determine who these figures represent," says Eriksen.
She believes that some of the interpretations are based on accepted assumptions without asking very many questions.
"Broadly speaking, depictions of people have often been interpreted as Norse gods, warriors, or kings," she says.
More recent discoveries have led to better gender balance, with more women now represented.
But Eriksen and her colleagues have not focused on identifying whom the figures might depict.
"What we have tried to understand is how they were used. How they were handled, made, and worn," says Eriksen.
And what they found was that this small group of ten amulets had been used in very different ways.
The Aska pendant was found in a woman's grave dated to around the year 900. The Swedish History Museum describes the figure as a pregnant woman standing with her legs apart and her hands placed beneath her belly.(Photo: Ola Myrin / Swedish Historical Museums, CC BY 4.0)
Some are heirlooms, others are brand new
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Several of the amulets appear to have been in use for a long time. Their edges are rounded and they show many signs of wear. They may have been given as gifts, traded, or passed down through generations. The wear marks show that they were used a lot.
Other amulets appear completely unused.
"In those cases, we wonder whether they may have been made specifically for a burial, when they are found in grave material. Perhaps they were produced as grave goods?" Eriksen speculates.
Two of the amulets have been damaged.
One small figure with an erect penis – often interpreted as the fertility god Freyr – has a broken arm. Analysis reveals that the broken end was polished and rounded so it would no longer be sharp.
A male head, on the other hand, appears to have been intentionally cut off from the rest of the body.
"They used a hammer and chisel to cut it off. And in this case, nothing was done afterwards to smooth the break," says Eriksen.
The ten amulets analysed by the researchers. Numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 are valkyries.(Photo: Ola Myrin / Swedish Historical Museums, CC BY 4.0)
Similar valkyries, different uses
Half of the amulets are five so-called valkyrie pendants.
In Norse mythology, valkyries were sent by Odin to decide who would die in battle and bring the fallen to Asgard.
It has been assumed that women wore the valkyrie pendants as jewellery.
But Eriksen and her colleagues find a wide range of uses for these amulets, which outwardly look very similar.
Some appear never to have been used at all, while others were used a great deal. Some have loops for suspension, suggesting they may have been worn as jewellery. Yet analysis indicates that some were attached to hard surfaces rather than to the body. The researchers speculate that they may have been mounted on other objects. One amulet was even found attached together with a Christian object.
"This strongly supports the idea that we must view these figures not only as symbols, but also as practical objects," says Eriksen. "When we see such variation within such a small sample, it suggests there's much more information still to be uncovered."
Eriksen also challenges the assumption that valkyrie amulets must have been worn by women. Some have been found in men’s graves, and most warriors were likely men.
"If we consider that these mythological beings, the valkyries, are the ones who choose the fallen warriors on the battlefield and decide who enters Valhalla, it's also possible that warriors themselves wore valkyrie pendants, carrying them into battle. At the very least, we cannot simply assume gendered use," she says.
Raises entirely new questions
Archaeologist Zanette Glørstad Tsigaridas at the University of Stavanger's Museum of Archaeology finds the new study interesting.
"They make use of new methodological approaches in the field to examine a category of objects that is often easily labelled as amulets or symbols – and then they uncover entirely new insights and open up completely new questions within that category," she says.
How the amulets were designed is not random, explains Glørstad Tsigaridas, who specialises in the Viking Age.
"There is a level of thought and attention to detail that clearly mattered. This study gives us a much firmer foundation for understanding how these objects were actually used. That allows us to engage with them in a more active way," she says.
The wear analysis shows that people did not deliberately rub the pregnant figure's head or belly. Still, the head itself shows signs of wear, Glørstad Tsigaridas notes.
"We cannot be completely certain what caused the wear marks. But the decoration on the head is worn away, and you can almost see that it has been rubbed in some manner," she says. "But that could perhaps be due to how it was used or mounted."
