Archaeologists have reveal several composition of elite Viking jewellery on a lowly farm in Denmark that escort back between the late seventh to the early 11th hundred .
The site , call Vestervang , is located across a farmstead in Zealand , Denmark . It was slat for residential development , but oeuvre in the area let out hint of a late Iron Age settlement — including the remains of 18 longhouses and 21 pit business firm . These dwelling were n’t construct at the same time , but were built up over clock time in six phases over the bridge of four centuries .
arm with metallic element detectors , the archaeologists find a arresting batch ofViking Agejewelry . They were taken aback by just how beautiful and intricate the pieces were — some of them even embed with gold .
What did Viking really see like ?
Among the finds was a 2.9 inch firearm exhibiting an image of a heart - mould brute pass with rounded ears and circular optic . Archaeologist Ole Thirup Kastholm , and generator of the novel paper , lay claim it ’s a rare objet d’art that would have been super valuable and “ high ending ” in Viking times .
He ’s quoted inLiveScience :
The neck is covered by a beadlike chain , ” Kastholm writes . “ Above the creatures forelegs , there are differentiate elbow marijuana cigarette and three - fingered hand or feet , which awkwardly grasp backwards to what might be hind legs or wings . ” The object belike had three like images originally , but only one survives .
In summation to the animal mental image , the point , possibly a dependent , also evidence three masked figure , each with a “ drooping mustache . ” A “ circular fool is seen between the eyebrows and above this , two ears or horns emerge , giving the humanlike masquerade an animal character , ” Kastholm compose .
He said that the animal image itself seems to be anthropomorphic , something not unusual in Viking years artistic production . “ Some of these anthropomorphous picture show , though , might be see to it as representation of ‘ shamanic ’ action , i.e. as mediators between the ‘ real ’ world and the ‘ other ’ world , ” Kastholm wrote in an email to LiveScience . He ca n’t say for certain who would have wear it , but it “ sure as shooting ( was ) a person with connections to the elite surroundings of the Viking age . ”
Other piece include a Christian interbreeding which may have been produce in continental Europe around A.D. 500 to 750 — predate the farm situation .
The find also included a clover , an oval double - shell breastpin , and a gilded copper alloy brooch .
study more atLiveScienceandThe History Blog .
And check out the entire subject field at the Danish Journal of Archaeology : “ Vestervang at Kirke Hyllinge , Zealand : a tardy Iron Age colonization with rich stray finds . ”
All images Ole Kastholm / Roskilde Museum .
ArchaeologydenmarkVikings
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
