VV king king HeritageHeritagemagazine

2/2000

NORTH SEA VIKING LEGACY Viking Heritage Magazine

Editorial IN THIS ISSUE Ships, navigation and We are very glad that so many of you readers enjoyed the new style migration from the north 3–5 of the Viking Heritage Newsletter. Many thanks for all your support! As you can see on the front cover, there is something new about this KRAMPMACKEN issue as well - the name has been changed to VIKING HERITAGE – a modern Viking ship MAGAZINE to better suit this new expanded version. reconstruction 5 Now we are in the midst of the summer season with many events like markets, plays, excavations etc. connected to the Viking Age The ’Vinland Map’: False testimony about theme. People with this common interest will come together in many Norse Exploration 6–8 different ways; see the list of some of these events, markets etc. in this issue. Especially highlighted are the Viking celebrations in North Eastwards – about the America. In the Viking Sail 2000 programme, about 15 replica Viking background to some ships will gather on the coast of Labrador, among them the ship on Viking Age items 8–10 the front cover, Krampmacken from Gotland. The knowledge of navigation during the Viking Age was passed by Vikings in word of mouth from generation to generation. In a few places this The Netherlands 11–13 tradition is still being upheld. "The Viking’s Heritage. Ships, navigation and migration from the North" article deals with this Norse religion subject. And what about the disputed Vinland map? In this issue we – a complicated one 14–15 are happy to present the results of the close research of the map by Kirsten A. Seaver. “Dómr of daudan hvern: a However, as you know, the Vikings also went far to the east. chronological survey of Swedish Luxury goods from the Orient were a great enticement to the Nordic picture stones” 16–19 Vikings, as you can read in this issue among many other interesting SCAR. A Viking Boat Burial subjects. on Sanday, Orkney 19 I hope you will enjoy this issue. And please, keep contacting us with any news, ideas and suggestions, big or small, on all issues connected with the Vikings and the Viking Age! Everyone here at Viking Heritage wishes you all a good summer and pleasant reading!

Marita E Ekman Editor Fourth Board Meeting held at Viking Farm at Avaldsnes, 6 - 9 E-mail: [email protected] April 2000 20–21

Presenting RANERNA – A Viking- Words of age re-enactment group 21–22 FULL CIRCLE – First Contact: Vikings and Skraelings in Wisdom Newfoundland and Labrador 22–23 Cattle die, kindred die Every man is mortal: But the good name never dies Heritage News Of one who has done well

From “Hávamál” Heritage News 24–26 (Words of “The High One”)

Viking Viewpoints About the front page: The Viking ship replica ”Krampmacken” sailing eastwards from Gotland to Miklagård Viking Viewpoints 26–27 (Istanbul). Read more about the ship om page 5. Photo: Göran Sjöstrand. http://viking.hgo.se 2 Viking Heritage Magazine

The Viking’s heritage Ships, navigation and migration from the north

250 nautical miles out into the Atlantic the wind had changed to west and was picking up. We experienced some tough sailing and some of our crewmembers started wondering if we ever would find land, or become a modern day Flying Dutchman. Photo: Olaf T. Engvig

By: Olaf T. Engvig More than 1100 years ago, the people Raised by the sea and with a culture living along the rugged coast and fjords that encouraged bravery, the Vikings When David Lewis wrote his of Norway with good supplies of fine feared none. They developed great skill in shipbuilding material had developed a navigating the high seas and finding the books on Polynesian sailing unique boat. This lapstreak boat was way without instruments. These tribes and navigation they were light, swift and had a shallow draft, but were able to escape or challenge, overtake based on a living tradition was still a very seaworthy open Viking and capture. Even when cornered, they that was on the brink of boat. It had an optimal combination of got away moving their lightly built boats extinction. At the same time, sail and oars, making it superior to all over land. As a result, Vikings had high vessels of its time. moral and made good warriors. half way around the world, Olaf Engvig had started researching old Norse sailing and navigation. How could the Vikings find their way across huge bodies of open water and in a much hasher climate, basically without help from man made navigational aid? At a time when people living on other coasts rarely sailed far away from the shore, these two cultures of navigators regularly would set their course straight out into the They came by sea. Leif Eiriksson was the first known man to bring European culture to the new world. He and his party stayed for the winter. His countrymen later ocean to small islands or developed a settlement in Newfoundland that lasted for 30 years. Oil on canvas by masses of land on the other Norwegian painter Christian Krogh. Photo of a reproduction at the Norwegian Club in side. San Francisco. Original at the Norwegian Maritime Museum, Oslo. Photo: Olaf T. Engvig.

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The Viking raiders, adventurers or people from the North in their swift and immigrants were a confident band, able boats settled on the American which would venture wide and far in continent hundreds of years before search of trading objects or new places to Columbus. settle. In doing so, they discovered land Even the Vikings who lived a that was better than the challenging, thousand years ago found life to be easy barren and weather-beaten coasts where on the new continent to the west. Leif they came from. The Norse left marks in Eiriksson was called ”Leif the Lucky” most of today's Europe, in Russia, because of the fine land he discovered. Constantinople and Baghdad, in the He gave America its first name, Mediterranean and south to the Canary Vineland the Good. Later generations of Islands. They ventured far into the immigrants were drawn to this newly North Atlantic Ocean to Svalbard, discovered continent. Many of them did settled Iceland and Greenland, and well in America and we know their story. established colonies in the Americas. Indeed, they proved the old Vikings to Based on the fine seaworthy vessels be right. Even if they did not go there in they used, their social and adventurous Viking ships, many emigrants from the spirit and the navigational skills they North went there on a one-way ticket on possessed, it is reasonable to assume that ships chartered for the sole purpose. they sailed beyond L'Anse aux Meadows Emigrants from other parts of Europe to the shores and mighty rivers of the used regular packet-or passenger ships. American continent itself, as well as the The Viking heritage is still alive. At an Caribbean Islands. These ventures would early age my father, the old master only be a mirror of what they did on the The traditional Norwegian longboat we mariner, taught me how to navigate and other side of the Atlantic Ocean. used during five voyages ”The Viking tell time by observing the movement of Unexplainable recordings of names Way”. It was built at Hårstad, Åfjord, in the sun. Later, as a scholar, I talked to 1863. The boat is 29 x 6 feet with a two and maps of land and islands to the old fishermen and learned that they feet draft, and has 10 oars and a square hardly ever used maps, or owned a watch west, made before Columbus, only make sail. It is 100% original. sense if they are related to lost Photo: Olaf T. Engvig. or a compass, but often sailed on the information from Norse navigators that Atlantic Ocean outside Norway without describe the land where they had been. sight of land. Columbus himself had knowledge that and traces of their achievements are When I decided to do my first voyage obsessed him with going to a land west forgotten. Records are often lost, if not, from Norway around the North Sea to of the ocean. It would jeopardize his they still need to be understood. York, I wanted to do it the old way. brave voyages and his claims to indicate It is challenging to prove that some Viking Chief Ottar describes his voyage that he was copying others. Columbus Norsemen traveled wide and far in to England a thousand years ago. Why was a leader in need of success, but as America. One day laboratory research in not see if his old description would work leaders before and after him, he was micro-biological and gene technology, today? We set out in an open longboat, inspired by earlier accomplishments. along with archaeological developments, and kept land to port and observed the The coast of ”Vinland de Goda” and will give us new material that might shed obstacles Ottar mentions. I later made islands far to the southwest was places light on old maps and puzzling artifacts several sailing missions, using only basic where Norsemen would go. But since and supply missing pieces of a lost navigational skills and my knowledge of these places were well inhabited, the men history. This might prove that some the sea and my boat to find the way. from the North did like they did everywhere else. They simply left the area, were killed, or made peace and blended into the existing population. The most common scenario was probably integration. ”The Nice Viking”, a skillful and hard worker who immigrated to York, Ireland, Normandy, Iceland, Greenland, and other places acted well. Skrelinger, later named Native Americans, would have accepted a well-behaved Viking. The Norsemen worked iron, and had artifacts and ”tricks of the trade” that must have impressed the native inhabitants of the land. Compared to the existing Sailing west on ”Solundarhav” without maps and compass, using the sun and our population, the immigrants were few, own experience as our only navigational aid. Photo: Olaf T. Engvig http://viking.hgo.se 4 Viking Heritage Magazine

It was easy. Even a voyage straight out into the Atlantic to try to sail to the islands to the west was done in the same manner. Nothing on board could aid KRAMPMACKEN me, but a following long boat had the means of recording and recorded my way – a modern Viking ship reconstruction of navigating for later interpretation. I proved to be right on my positions and Text by Torgny Andersson. where I was sailing at all times during Revised and translated by Olle Hoffman, Viking Heritage several days of an extremely exhausting journey. We did it ”The Viking Way”, and we experienced much of the same Krampmacken will be one of early Medieval boats found around the hardship the Vikings must have the ships participating in Baltic Sea are also shorter than 15 metres. Boats longer than 12 metres are experienced a thousand years ago. this summer’s tremendous ”The Viking Way” didn't include a very difficult to pull for longer distances replica Viking ships with a 1900-century event, Viking Sail 2000 in on land. For longer towing distances, a sail and rig. We used a traditional open Newfoundland. The ship and primitive type of carriage construction longboat from Åfjord, built like a Viking crew will be trimmed during that could be dismounted and stowed longboat with its original sail and rig. under the floor of the boat was the spring in preparation for designed. Our boat is not particularly This longboat is a true descendant of the sailing off the coasts of like the fishing boats from Gotland Viking longboats. It has 10 oars and a (two- and three-man crafts). It has a square sail. Built back in 1863, it was Newfoundland and Labrador. Krampmacken has made more marked keel (which provides constructed before they excavated the better sailing qualities) and hasn’t as first relatively complete Viking ship and several longer and shorter much midship bulge. the world finally obtained knowledge of journeys since 1980. Sailing The boat’s biggest critic, the artist what these ships really looked like. in Newfoundland and Erik Olsson, expressed his criticism in We based our sailing and navigation Labrador will definitely be the following way: ”It doesn’t rest upon on a living tradition as it was handed to the water - it lies in the water like a me when I was young. We did our one of the most memorable. ”krampmack” (Gotlandic expression for voyages based on knowledge that, like common prawn)”. At the launching for the boat we used, had been handed Krampmacken is a reconstruction of a 1980 in Kovik, Erik Nylén therefore down over a period of 1200 years. In boat from the late Viking Age. Remains gave it the name KRAMPMACKEN. many ways, my experiences equals those of this boat were found in Tingstäde recorded by David Lewis. But our Lake in Gotland in the 1930’s. Under Prelude environment was very different from the the guidance of Erik Nylén, head of During the summer season of 1981 the South Sea, and their mariners covered RAGU (The Central Board of crew chosen by Erik Nylén was exposed greater distances than the Vikings did. Antiquities’ Investigations on Gotland), to hard tests both rowing and under sail. But like them, we found land based on a new boat was built during 1979-80 We rowed and sailed around Gotland with the remains from Tingstäde as a and pulled the boat across the isthmus the information we had before we set model. The boat was clinker-built, of Näs. By way of Stora Karlsö and sail. In this respect we did the same as about 8 metres long and 2 metres wide. Grankullavik on Öland the voyage went Leif Eiriksson and many other unknown It has a yacht stern, is fitted with 6 oars, on to Småland. On the journey back we Vikings before and after. a side rudder and designed for a crew of sailed directly to Kovik on Gotland. 10 men. Using the figures on the During 1982 we prepared ourselves picture stones from Gotland as models, even more with demanding sailing tests, a plaited square sail was made, 6 metres capsizing tests, a sailing-match against wide and 2,6 metres high. All the the KA3 regiment and an instructive material for the boat and the rigging is round-trip voyage to Gotska Sandön. similar to the material used by the Vikings when building their boats T0 Miklagård About the author: around 1000 AD. After the Swedish king, Carl XVI Gustaf Olaf T. Engvig grew up in Rissa, The boat was designed for rowing, had shaken the crew members’ hands Norway and was educated in square towing and sailing on the rivers to the and wished them good luck during the sailing by Jacob Kvithyll, better east and the south of the Baltic Sea. It journey, we set out on June 9 1983 from known as ”The Last of the Vikings”. was also intended to be pulled on land the harbour in Vändburg on south- Engvig is also a mariner, and holds between the river systems in Europe. eastern Gotland. We went across the a graduate degree in maritime That was why it was smaller than the Baltic Sea to Gdansk in Poland and the history. He is an established author boats from western Sweden, Norway mouth of the Wisla river. After a very and an experienced square sailer. and Denmark which were constructed adventurous journey on the Polish E-mail: [email protected] for vast open waters. The majority of the Viking-age or To be continued on page 13

5 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine By Kirsten A. Seaver The ’Vinland Map’: With a flawless publicity campaign in October of 1965, Yale University Library and Yale University Press announced the library's acquisition of the so-called False testimony about Vinland Map and the publication of a book entitled The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation. The publicity blitz was Norse Exploration repeated thirty years later for a second edition, the campaign and re-publication both spearheaded by Wilcomb E. artifact. A few of these will be discussed they had only a superficial (and outdated) Washburn. Five essays added to the below, after a look at some circumstances knowledge of Norse history and culture; original volume were said to constitute that have not received much public they lacked the linguistic skills to access further proof of the map's authenticity, attention, but which should give scholars Nordic primary and secondary literature; but one looks in vain for either hard pause. and the imposition of secrecy precluded evidence or an impartial approach. One question concerns the unusual consultation with more knowledgeable The primary purpose of the 1965 circumstances of the book's creation and scholars. The result is that their work and book, authored by the reputable British publication. The three original authors the map together have provided a skewed and American scholars R.A. Skelton, were sworn to secrecy, and neither the picture of medieval Norse maritime Thomas E. Marston, and George D. first nor the second edition was subjected experience. Painter, was to show that the map dates to an independent peer review -- unusual Ironically, the map's fake nature is from around 1440 and is an authentic at a scholarly press. The second problem most obvious in the representation of cartographical representation of Norse is the $25,000,000 insurance valuation North America which gave the map its discovery in North America, based on still in force, although this small black- name. In the extreme northwest, we find knowledge passed down over several and-white map (for a large island with two deep inlets, centuries. In 1965, the potential for which the New accompanied by two excitement was considerable, Haven legends. The shorter one because Helge and Anne Stine names the island Ingstad's discovery five years Vinlanda Insula and earlier of a Newfoundland states that Bjarni Norse ruin site from about (byarnus ) and Leif 1000 A.D. was still barely Eiriksson (leiphus known, and it had not been erissonius) discovered it made in 1957 when the together. This contradicts Vinland Map first appeared the information in the ”Saga of on the antiquarian market. the Greenlanders” and the ”Saga of The book's secondary Eirik the Red,” which describe the purpose, somewhat more voyages of Bjarni Herjolfsson and Leif Eiriksson as separate ventures. convincingly met than the Vínland primary one, was to comment as Father Josef The first time Leif and Bjarni went on a formerly unknown version of the Fischer S.J. sailing together was in 1765, when David ”Tartar Relation” reporting on a papal envisioned it: A crude Crantz, a German Moravian brother, mission to the Mongols in 1245-47, with rendition of Nova Scotia and Cape published his two-volume Historie von which the map had been bound at the Breton combined. Grönland. Long the only work on re- time of acquisition. Later research has colonized Greenland available to non- confirmed that this text is a genuine mid- Scandinavian readers, it was widely read fifteenth-century manuscript, just like the antiquarian dealer Laurence Witten by people who did not realize that fragments of Vincent of Beauvais' originally paid $3,500) has not been Crantz's summary of the Norse period in Speculum Historiale which, still in their expertly assessed. The third troubling Greenland was wrong. When Crantz mid-fifteenth-century binding, were circumstance is the lack of appropriate wrote that Leif Eiriksson ”fitted out a found to have been a part of the same expertise among the authors charged with ship with 35 men, and went to sea with volume as Yale's ”Tartar Relation.” analyzing a manuscript map supposedly Biærn,” he confidently cited works by the From the moment the map and the connected with Norse exploration. French historian Paul Mallet and the book were made public, scholars have Although both the Vinland Map and Norwegian Erik Pontoppidan, both of questioned whether the Vinland Map's the texts with which it is physically whom were said to have transcribed their association with the two textual associated are manuscript works, neither information from 'Arngrim Jonas' [sic] manuscripts suffices to authenticate the the three authors of the 1965 edition nor and Torfæus and confirmed it with map, given its lack of provenance, the those writing the additional essays for the Adam of Bremen's work. dubious nature of the map's ink, and the 1995 version had curatorial expertise with Alas, Crantz had simply misread many other troubling aspects of this manuscript maps and texts. Furthermore, Mallet's terse and encyclopedic French. http://viking.hgo.se 6 Viking Heritage Magazine

The ”Vinland Map” -- purportedly from The fortunate part of his mistake is that fertile and even having vines.” ca. 1440 and reflecting the Norse its reuse in the Vinland Map is conclusive The map was clearly made by someone discovery of America. Literary evidence evidence that the map could not possibly familiar with the work of Adam of shows that it cannot predate 1765; have been made prior to 1765, because Bremen as well as of David Crantz, and there are a number of indications that it nowhere did the other authors to whom with an intimate knowledge of early was made shortly before World War II. he referred say that Leif and Bjarni were cartography and of the many riddles (Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.) shipmates. Instead, the two men associated with its study. It is equally undertook separate voyages for entirely clear that the map's creator wished to different purposes, as the sagas make indicate the wide missionary reach of the clear. medieval Roman Church, and to couple custom. The very fact that the map Adam of Bremen, whose Gesta it with the saga knowledge of the Norse purports to show the exact location and Hammaborgensis (circa 1070) contains the discovery of America and the enduring actual outlines of Vínland indicates that the map is a fake demonstrating the earliest written reference to Vínland, mystery of Vínland's location. The nineteenth-century passion for precise mentioned neither Leif nor Bjarni in patchwork information in the longer labeling. connection with the ”island of Vinland” Vínland legend also uses the Icelandic While attempting to indicate unique whose natural attractions he described. It Annals entries about the Greenland Norse information, the map's creator is nevertheless to Adam's view of Norse bishop Eirik Gnúpsson who went in made so many linguistic and cultural Atlantic ventures that we owe much of search of Vínland circa 1121. mistakes (erissonius for Eiriksson being what we see in the Vinland Map. He Nowhere, however, does the map one) that, coupled with the indications wrote that Greenland as well was an reflect Norse familiarity with the that the accompanying textual island, and as such it is depicted on the Norwegian coast as it runs north and east manuscripts originated somewhere in the map, to the consternation of anyone to the White Sea, nor does it show the Upper Rhine region, we may safely aware that until early in the twentieth Faeroes or the Scottish Islands as Norse assume that the map was the work of century, European cartographers did not sailors would have experienced them. someone on the Continent -- someone know whether Greenland was an island, Iceland is named ”Isolanda hibernica” -- steeped in the ideas founded on the much less how it was shaped. Adam's the Irish Island. Worse yet is the widespread nineteenth-century interest in text is also reflected in the longer Vínland assumption that to the Norse, Vínland the Norse in Iceland and Greenland that legend on the map ( similarly attributing had been a well-defined location instead led to the first systematic excavations of joint discovery to Bjarni and Leif), which of a general region named for a salient Norse ruins in Greenland. describes this ”new land” as ”extremely feature, in accordance with Norse Just as revealing as the textual

7 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine connection to Crantz's work is the case anti-Catholic, Norse-besotted Nazi By Malin Lindquist depiction of the New World as an island. ”culture bearers” would have had to Because modern archaeological wrestle with a map showing the wide A small insignificant whetstone from reconstructions of Greenland Norse reach of Roman missionaries which could Timans, in the parish of Roma on voyages are very recent, the mapmaker not be dismissed out of hand because of Gotland, dating from the end of the 11th failed to represent the Davis Strait region the Norse connection. But while creating century is perhaps the best testimony of as the Greenland Norse knew it, either in this tease, this decent old scholar would the extensive contacts the people of the early eleventh century or after the also have had the satisfaction of drawing Gotland had with the surrounding world. four centuries of continuous exploitation the world map he believed had once In the carved runes can be read: Ormika of North American resources. The Norse existed, in which Vínland was Nova – Ulfair- Greker – Jerusalem - Island – would have experienced the Greenland Scotia and Cape Breton combined. Särkland meaning: Ormika and Ulfair west coast and the American east coast in have visited Greeks, Jerusalem, Iceland essentially the same way as early Additional reading and Särkland; an example of two Renaissance voyagers did -- as an almost Fischer, Father Josef, S.J., The Discoveries Gotlanders wishing to immortalize their continuous, U-shaped coastline blocked of the Norsemen in America, translated far-off journeys. Särkland was the off to the north. by B.H. Soulsby. London, 1903. Norsemen´s name for the Arab Caliphate Saenger, Paul, ”Vinland Re-read.” Among the handful of continental while the Byzantine scholars whose published works Review article in Imago Mundi 50 (1998), pp. 199-202. empire, was demonstrate both the knowledge and the called anomalies present in the Vinland Map, Seaver, Kirsten A., ”The 'Vinland Map': Who Made It, and Why? New Light on an only one person seems to fill the bill, Old Controversy.” The Map Collector 70 namely the German-Austrian (Spring 1995): 32-40. cartographic historian Father Josef ------”The Mystery of the 'Vinland Fischer, S.J. (1858-1944). An expert on Map' Manuscript Volume.” The Map fifteenth-century world maps, Father Collector 74 (Spring 1996): 24-29. Fischer was convinced that the Norse had ------”The Vinland Map: A $3,500 left behind a cartographic record of their duckling that became a $25,000,000 North American exploration, which, like swan.” Mercator's World, Vol. 2:2 the rest of his contemporaries, he (March-April 1997), pp. 42-47. ------”R.A. Skelton, Thomas E. considered a daring venture of short Marston, and George D. Painter, The duration. Unable to read the Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation.” Scandinavian languages, he depended on Review article in Speculum, Vol. 73 : 3 Rock crystal correspondence with Gustav Storm, (summer 1998), pp. 896-99. set in silver from Finnur Jónsson, and Aksel Anton Skelton, R.A., with Thomas E. Marston, Gustavs, in the parish of Fröjel. Dated to Bjørnbo while writing his 1902 treatise and George D. Painter, The Vinland Map late Viking Age. The crystal with its on the Norse discovery of America -- a and the Tartar Relation.” New Haven, diameter of 4.8 cm is the largest of its kind. treatise in which David Crantz's Historie 1965. Re-issued in 1995 as a second edition with five new prefatory essays. Photo: Raymond Hejdström, appears in the bibliography, and in which Washburn, Wilcomb E., Proceedings of Gotlands Fornsal Adam of Bremen is lauded. the Vinland Map Conference. Chicago Bjørnbo was well aware that the and London, 1971. medieval Norse lacked a cartographic Wallis, Helen, et al. ”The Strange Case Greece. Both were powerful states during tradition. However, he believed that the of the Vinland Map.” The Geographical our Viking period. early fifteenth-century Danish Journal, 140 : 2 (June 1974): 183-216. cartographer Claudius Clavus had Wilford, John Noble, ”Disputed The enticement of the Orient Medieval Map Held Genuine After All,” personally visited Norse Greenland, and Luxury goods from the Orient such as he died before Fischer learned that he had The New York Times., 12 February, 1996, pp. B-7 and B-12. silk, pearls and spices, but above all silver, recently changed his mind. Meanwhile, were a great enticement to the Nordic Fischer commented to Bjørnbo on the Vikings who could offer swords, wax, numerous Irish monks living on Iceland slaves and furs in exchange. To reach when the Norse arrived there. Hence, these coveted products they sailed on presumably, the name Isolanda hibernica Russian rivers, in the beginning on the on the map. In a number of other ways, About the author: Kirsten A. Seaver is an historian of Volga river, later on the Dnepr, through Fischer's letters tie in with many key Gårdarike, the Norsemen´s name for aspects of the Vinland Map and show early North Atlantic exploration and cartography, as well as a novelist. She Russia. This 9th and 10th century Oriental similarities with the writing on the map. has published six books and a trade along the rivers of eastern Europe, His motives for making the map, number of articles. In Viking Heritage which went via Gotland was probably shortly after the Nazis had seized power Newsletter 1/2000 she contributed destined for western Europe. in Germany, were probably as with the article ”Far and Yet Near: At the bend of Volga lay Bulgar, the complicated as the map itself. He was an North America and Norse Greenland”. capital of the Volga-Bulgarians’ country old man by then and had reason to think E-mail: [email protected] he would not live much longer, in which and one of the very big marketplaces, just where the river Kama meets the Volga. http://viking.hgo.se 8 Viking Heritage Magazine Eastwards – about the background to some Viking Age items in Gotlands Fornsal, the Historical Museum of Gotland

Here the trade-routes from north to south met with those from east to west. Thanks to Arab storytellers like Ibn Fadlan we know that the Norsemen traded with swords and furs, took slaves who they sold and buried their dead in mounds together with food and drinking vessels. This Ibn Fadlan, who visited Bulgar in the year 922, was sent out by the Caliph of Bagdad to spread the faith of the Koran and facilitate conversion to Islam. There he met the Norsemen, who he and his colleagues called rus. His description of their exterior is flattering: I never saw more stately men, they are like palm trees, ruddy-cheeked and with red hair. He mentions their clothing: They wear neither jackets nor caftans, the man wears a dress that covers one side of the body and leaves one hand free. This is a description of a cloak such as one can see on the Gotlandic picture-stones. His main attitude is however quite negative: They are like lost donkeys. Moreover this Arab ambassador sees rus as dirty, even filthy, sexually licentious and ungodly and who dedicate themselves to beer- drinking and carousing day and night. The Map over Viking-age Europe and the meeting between an educated Muslim routes of the Vikings eastwards and trading routes changed. and heathen Norsemen must have been westwards. Towards the end of the 10th century frustrating – for both of them. Map: Gotlands Fornsal, revised by the Califphate started to fall apart and the Therese Lindström. silver mines to run short. The Byzantine Towards Miklagård empire became a more and more “Painted in striking colours, And his brothers Rodvisl, Oystain and important trading partner and the Volga This stone was erected by Hegbjörn Emund river more and more insecure. The Dnepr Who have stones erected after Ravn, river was now the most important trading South of Ruftain. route between north and south. Now They came far into Aifur towns like Kiev, Smolensk and Gnezdovo in Gårdarike became important places on Vivil commissioned it” the way to Miklagård, the capital of Despite its small size the runic stone from Byzans and the center of Christianity. Pilgårds, in the parish of Boge provides Norsemen entered the service of the one of the most suggestive reminders Byzantine emperor – he even had from the Viking period. Shortly and Varjagi-guards of his own. Even today vigorously the runes tell us about five runes in the Hagia Sophia – the mosque brothers who in the end of the 10th (then a Christian church) are a reminder of these Norsemen’s visit. On a marble Picture stone from Ire, in the parish of century left for a journey eastwards. One Hellvi, from 600-800AD. brother, Ravn, fell into the water and balustrade Halvdan has carved his name From E Nyhlén, J P Lamm: Bildstenar. drowned. The stone tells not only about a in runes. 1987. Reproduced with permission. tragic event, it is also a proof of how the

9 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine

Furs and slaves Thanks to these long journeys Scandinavia became a participant in a large trading-system stretching far away into Asia. The contacts were, as trade often is, mostly peaceful. The dream of a good deal was mutual. The price was paid in weighed silver, either coins or raw material. It was weighed on a small pair of scales that the merchant always carried with him. Certainly there was a great deal of suspicion – and rightly so. Often there are little marks in the silver, made to check the content. If it were too yellow it meant that the silver was mixed with copper.

Brought home luxury A string of marketplaces and harbours along the Gotlandic coast indicate that the Gotlanders themselves took part in the eastward trade. The luxury of the Orient made a great impression – especially the splendid clothing. They The silver hoard from Ocksarve, in the parish of Hemse, was discovered in 1997 and returned home full of impressions but can be dated to post-999AD, this being the date of the most recent coin in the hoard. also with a souvenir or two. On the The composition of the hoard is unique and includes large quantities of so called picture-stone from Broa, in the parish of bundles of silver, entwining rods and objects from the Russian empire. The coins are Halla, dating from 700–800 AD the rider German, English, Danish, Byzantine and Arabic. sits on his horse dressed in a pair of smart Photo: Raymond Hejdström, Gotlands Fornsal puffed trousers of Oriental cut. The women wore necklaces of multicoloured magnification effect and can have been A very good example of a typical glass beads, semiprecious stones such as used as magnifying glass at the exquisite silver-hoard from the Viking period is the rock crystal and carnelian. The men goldsmith shops from the Viking period one from Hägvalds, in the parish of preferred belts with heart-shaped oriental that have been found on Gotland. Gerum. It contains a representative bronze-garnets or with the thongs selection of coins minted in England, decorated with bronze spirals in Russian Silver in the furrow Germany, Bohemia, and the Byzantine manner. The silver that was not converted directly kingdom together with silver pieces and On a picture-stone from Ihre, in the after homecoming was saved and hidden bits of jewellery. It was all found in a pot parish of Hellvi, there is a peculiar scene: on the farm or in the immediate with a flat stone as cover. two men in striped and checked clothing neighbourhood. These, more than a 1000 Another famous treasure is known as are holding or supporting something that year-old, hidden treasures are mostly “Stavars treasure” which contained nearly looks like a coffin. In the middle a figure found during cultivation. A silver spiral 1,500 Arabian coins minted in in a long shirt seems to ”rise”. The scene stuck on a farmer’s harrow, some coins Samarkand, Tashkent and Bagdad, some is more or less impossible to interpret but glimpsed during a little deeper of them during the reign of Caliph harun visitors to Jerusalem and Constantinople ploughing…. Sometimes they are found – al Rashid, famous from the anthology had no doubt heard amazing stories in a more unexpected way; while building of tales: One Thousand and one Nights. about a man called Jesus. Could this be a a poultry house or constructing a duck Hiding a fortune is not peculiar in Viking’s idea of the resurrection of pond. itself – the earth serves as a safe. Why Christ? Why not. Every year there is a silver hoard found they are still there – that is the question. One category of finds that are more or on Gotland. Today we know of close to less unique for Gotland are the about 800 such hoards. Arabic coins dominate thirty round or oval rock crystal lenses in hoards from before 970 AD, later on About the author: that have been found in Gotlandic they consist of English and German Malin Lindquist is senior curator and Viking-age silver-hoards. Normally they coins. Notes from the beginning of the responsible for the exhibitions at have a flat underside and a dome-shaped 19th century tell about hoards found in Gotlands Fornsal. Educated in the upper side with silver clasps. Without a the Gotlandic soil as early as the 17th University of Uppsala, Sweden, she doubt they come from the Orient. century. Tradition tells us about a dog has worked many years as an Persian stone-cutters, with the town of who while scratching in the ground archaeologist, mainly on Gotland. Basra as their production center, were ”found” Arabic coins which his master e-mail: [email protected] famous for their rock crystal. Some of had melted down and made into a silver these lenses also show an excellent goblet. http://viking.hgo.se 10 Viking Heritage Magazine Vikings in The Netherlands

By Jan Stobbe

INTRODUCTION The discovery of two Viking silver hoards on the former island of Wieringen in 1996 and 1999, shows a new aspect of the relations between the local Frisians and the Scandinavians during Carolingian times. The two relatively substantial amounts of jewellery, coins and unminted silver within a few hundred yards of each other and the proximate dates indicate a probable temporary settlement of Norsemen. Additional scattered finds both in the vicinity and in the region (the northwest coastal area) emphasise the strategic and economic importance of the pagus Wirense or Wiron and its Main Viking trade routes (Northern and Germanic peoples and society during Western Europe). Wieringen, Textel and position in the Viking Age. Medemblik are indicated by the black the Early Middle Ages ignores their The Weg van de Vikingen Foundation dot north of Dorestad. astonishing achievements in trade, was founded on 23 November 1998 shipbuilding, seafaring skills and with the support of the Municipality of booklet will be available from July craftsmanship. Wieringen. Both the Foundation and 2000. The Frisians were together with the local government have embraced the Funds are provided by the Franks the most powerful people on the region’s unique cultural heritage, with Municipality, the Regional Continent. After the defeat of the the strong support of the Development Scheme, the Frisian king Redbad in 719 AD, the local inhabitants. Province of North kingdom became part of the Frankish The main objectives of Holland and some private empire. The Frisians retained their the Foundation are companies. Weg van de independence, however, and trade regarding the Vikingen has described the throve as never before because of the conservation of the importance of the suggested protection of the Frankish authentic landscape, the international Viking government and the church of Saint cultural and natural theme in a feasibility Martin of Utrecht, combined with their heritage, the support of study which resulted in a unique position near two main trade initiatives related to marketing strategy with a routes. Due to internal problems within science and education in focus on the development the divided Carolingian empire and the the 1st millennium A.D. of small businesses with ever increasing threat of the Norse and the improvement in locally grown products, new attractive raiders on the coastal frontiers, the accessibility to the period for the wider tourism packages, bed and breakfast emperor, Lothar I, gave Dorestad and public. The policy and products of the facilities and a heritage centre, Viking foundation are included in the planning other parts of the Frisian territory in World. scheme for 2000 - 2004 entitled ”The successive grants to the Danish Viking First Millennium in the Third”. warlords Roric and Godfred, on Initial results show a great Vikings in Frisia during condition that they organise the defence appreciation by the local and regional Carolingian times and peace at the frontiers in the name inhabitants, who strongly support the For two centuries (c. 810 - 1010), the of Frankish rule. This, as history reveals, initiatives. The local Museum Huis van coastal areas of Frisia were regularly never happened. de Aarde has a small but impressive attacked by raiders from Denmark. The exhibition on the era with an authentic classic view of Vikings plundering and In Pagi Wirense, Texla and reconstruction of local dwellings made burning the most important emporium Medemelacha from sod, twigs, clay and driftwood and of the Frisians, Dorestad, and elsewhere The north-western coastal area was an animated with living history. A portable is probably greatly exaggerated. This important area from Merovingian times exhibition, internet site and informative image of the Vikings in relation to other onwards (and although situated outside

11 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine the limes, in Roman times too). It was • Seventy-eight complete and close to the main trade routes incomplete Carolingian denarii Denmark-Vlie-Almere-Dorestad and • Fragment of a brooch fastening Denmark – North Sea to the Continent strap-end. and probably the British Isles. The date of deposit – probably by a Inaccessible over land, the accessibility Dane – is c. 850 AD. The composition by sea and rivers probably made the area of the hoard refers to the eastern parts of both strategic and economic of Europe, and transport by the Russian importance, as well as a convenient rivers via the Baltic Sea. place to stay during the voyages. The hoard is in the possession of the The pagi of Texla (now the state Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Waddenzee island of Texel), Wiron the Netherlands. (Wieringen) and Medemelacha (the The second hoard, Westerklief II, emporium of Medemblik – the only consists of c. 320 grams of silver, international trading place which is including 165 grams of hacksilver and mentioned in old documents and has ingots, 20 complete and partial been excavated and proven to be such) West Frisia in the 9th century: Legend: 1. Carolingian coins and 62 Arabic coins. were comparatively well populated (a The hoard is currently being studied; rough indication: Wieringen about 500 Habitation area in the coastal region; 2. Pleistocene Hinterland; 3. Holocene more specific information will be areas; 4. Boundary of Roric’s territory included in one of the forthcoming based on the list of property of St. issues of this newsletter. Martin’s of Utrecht. (Drawing: AAC. The hoard will be on exhibit in the Reworked by Therese Lindström.) Museum Huis van de Aarde te Den Oever, from 3 June 2000 onwards. The scattered contemporary finds Holocene deposits, in the hamlet of include more dirhems found in all parts Westerklief, in an old reclaimed area. of the former island, fragmentary There exists a saga concerning a possible filigree jewellery, a gold coiled finger Viking Hall here. ring and Frankish enamelled disc The first hoard (Westerklief I) buried brooches. Other finds in a wider region in a Badorf pot, consists of 1,662 grams include Anglo-Saxon pennies, a superb of silver and consists of: silver neck ring, a Moorish dirhem • Six pennannular arm rings with St. Michael’s Church, Oosterland, struck at Cordoba in Spain and some similar decoration Wieringen c. 1125. Norse coins. • Neck ring c.o. three round rods twisted around each other inhabitants in the 9th century A.D.). Latest news • Three silver coin-ornaments: two The pagus of Wiron probably had an The council of the Municipality of Sassanian drachmes of Xusro II (590- important status. In the inventory list of Wieringen decided on 27 April 2000 to 628) set in a multiple filigree ring; the church of Saint Martin of Utrecht ban all metal-detecting in the one with a dirhem of Abu al Abbas many royal and clerical demesnes are Westerklief area. A very limited Safah (750-754) mentioned in Alvitlo, Strude, and submission will be granted to bonafide Vatrop, localities which are still in • Sixteen silver ingots and organised detectorists only, and existence. In the relatively small pagus four churches were erected and dedicated to Willibrord, Saint Michael, Saint Hippolytus and Saint Nicholas. All churches can be dated in Romanesque times (late 11th – early 12th C.), with at least three of them having predecessors in the 9th or 10th century, and are contemporary with the Viking visits.

The silver hoards A com- position Both silver hoards were discovered in of the two hilly landscape, which was formed Viking during the Pleistocene, and consists silver mainly of boulder clay with later hoards http://viking.hgo.se 12 Viking Heritage Magazine

Continued from page 5 In May 1985 we started the second stage and went down the Bug river to the rivers, Wisla and Bug, we came to a small Wisla. We journeyed south on this river Polish town, Drohiczyn, situated about 50 fighting a strong counter-current. After kilometres from the Russian border. In some time we left the Wisla and went up this town the boat was pulled up on land the San river. A few days later we lifted the since the Russians refused us permission to boat and pulled it on its trailer towards the continue into their country. This first Dukla Pass which we passed on the 47th stage had taken us 35 days. We had day. From this point it was ”downhill” for accomplished about 600 kilometres of us. After about 300 kilometres of pulling Gold coiled which 260 kilometres had been rowing on land we put Krampmacken in the finger ring, and about 250 kilometres sailing. Over the Ondava river close to the Czechoslovakia- found in remaining distance Krampmacken had Hungary border. The journey continued Stroe. been towed both on land and water. We on the Tisza and Dunav rivers (the Probably had sailed through the ”Devil’s cave” and Danube). We travelled through Poland, Anglo-Saxon, we had pulled the boat across a dam 22 Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Jugoslavia, c. 7th-8th C. meters high. We had managed to reach Romania and Bulgaria. The final 140 AD. our goal for this stage. kilometres to the Black Sea, In 1984 we tried, unsuccessfully, at a Krampmacken was pulled on land. After a regulation within spatial planning is high diplomatic level to receive permission great deal of trouble with the Bulgarian scheduled for later this year. from the Russians to continue our authorities and some problems when Even as this article is being written, journey. crossing the Iron curtain new scattered finds of dirhems, this (Bulgaria/Turkey) we reached our goal, the Vikings’ Miklagård, today’s Istanbul on time from a locality near the church of day 131 of the second stage. During this Saint Nicholas on Wieringen, are being stage we had rowed 2726, sailed 560 and reported. Heritage News pulled the boat 658 kilometres. More specific news about the second Viking silver hoard, the projects and old ”Krampmackarna” news from Viking Age Holland will be The boat was left in Istanbul and the crew in the next issue of the Newsletter. Children – did they exist? returned home by air. In 1987 Extensive information on and best – an exhibition for Krampmacken was brought back to reference about Vikings on Wieringen: Gotland in a Hercules aircraft. The Besteman, J.C. ”Viking Silver on children about children KRAMPMACKARNA society was formed Wieringen”, (1999) of which copies are at the Historical Museum in the end of the 1980’s. One of the available from the following address: of Gotland (Gotlands Fornsal) society’s goals is to arrange another ”Viking journey” on the Russian rivers. Stichting Weg van de Vikingen: The society is an INTEREST SOCIETY By Malin Lindquist OPEN TO EVERYONE. A. Mauvestraat 102 The exhibition uses finds from 1741 JK Schagen Contact persons: Netherlands prehistoric graves to explain what archaeology is. Children from stone Stig Dotes, Änget Lau, 0224-214237/fax 0224-295526 SE-620 16 Ljugarn, Sweden, age to Viking age will be represented e-mail: [email protected] Phone: +46 498 491116 by a boy from the stone-age dwelling website: www.vikingen.nl Sören Gannholm, Ammunde Burs, at Eksta and a five year-old girl from (under construction) SE-620 13 Stånga, Sweden, Vallstena. A series of pictures shows Phone: +46 498 483262, how a culture layer grows, and Language checked by Ian S. Gibson E-mail: [email protected] reconstructed Viking-age dresses http://gotland.luma.com/krampm.html show how children of that time were dressed. In older times children were considered as "small grown-ups", and Further reading: it was only towards the end of the I Österled - Uppströms genom 19th century that they were allowed About the author Polen, Erik Nylén, Uddevalla 1983 to be – just children. That is why this ISBN 91-7192-590-2 Jan Stobbe is director of the period is also represented. Stichting Weg van de Vikingen, and Vikingaskepp mot Miklagård, The exhibition opens on Friday, tourism and cultural heritage officer Erik Nylén, Borås 1987 of the regional government Gewest June 2 and runs until August 2001. ISBN 91-7798-119-7 Kop van Noord-Holland, Schagen, It will accompanied by workshops Österviking. Göran Sjöstrand, the Netherlands. and school programs. Arboga 1988 E-mail: [email protected] ISBN-91-85516-392

13 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine Norse religion – a complicated one

By Anna Malmborg go through some kind of sex-change after all. All the same, linguists have taken In the Norse religion there are a number Tacitus’ information seriously and say of Gods and Goddesses with more or less that Njord in Swedish place-names must elaborate functions in myth and ritual. be feminine, since these place names are There are two kinds of gods, Asir and found near places whose names tell us Vanir, according to the Icelandic writers. that male gods, such as Thor and Ull, Some of them are more known to us were worshipped here. The god and the today than others, and for a few we have goddess would then have been not much more information than a worshipped as a cult pair. name. The information you have to work with as a religion historian is of course Bronze Cult place names the Icelandic sagas and skaldic and Eddic statuette of poems, but also archaeological material, Place names can tell us much about the Frey. gods and their cult. They give place names and historical sources such Södermanland information about where and when the as rune stones and Greek and Roman Sweden. writers as well as the later medieval gods were worshipped. They also give writers. clues to with which other deity a god is worshipped as a cult pair, but they say are all the goddesses said to be one, but nothing about who worshipped those Dumézil´s thesis the gods are at least three? Can it be that gods. Thor is a god often mentioned in Many religion historians try to structure the male gods are one as well? This is of place names, mostly in connection with the pantheon into three functions, after a course a theoretic question as well as a female deities as the disir and Freya. His model created by Georges Dumézil some structural thesis, not the reality as it was cult place is often the Hof, today 50 years ago. He argued that all Indo- perceived by the Vikings and their interpreted as a building for cultic feasts. European peoples had a three-fold predecessors back then. Frey is worshipped in an Aker, the field, pantheon: priest-magician, warrior and as well as Frigg and Freya. Some scholars fertility gods. The Norse gods for these Nerthus/Njord argue that the fertility cult is an older functions would then be Odin, Thor and In the many different sources available strain and that it often was conducted in the Vanir, that is Frey and Freya. I do not for understanding the Norse religion fields and not in cult buildings. The cult like this model for several reasons, the there are several gods and goddesses and in Hof and Sal should then be a younger main reason being the fact that these they are described in many ways, strain, with gods as Odin and Thor as gods can be very much alike. Frey is doubtless a result of regional variations in the most popular. The German Bishop sometimes described as a warrior, Odin ritual as well as myth. One of the most Adam of Bremen describes the temple in learned some of his magic skills from mysterious gods is Njord, the father of Uppsala and says that the gods Freya and Thor was worshipped by Frey and Freya in the Icelandic poetry worshipped here were Odin, Thor and farmers as the god who gave rain. and sagas. In the Roman historian Frey, with Thor the most prominent. Some scholars are still following the Tacitus’ description of the Germans from This has not always been the case in this dumézilian model and argue that the AD 98, Njord is described as a goddess, area, since we find place names goddess Freya in her Nerthus or Terra Mater, that is Mother mentioning Ull and Njord in the different apparitions bears Earth. How can a goddess become a god vicinity. Another term that appears in all three functions and 800 years later? There are a number of place-names is ”al”, a word otherwise not that she is thereby a theories. Maybe it was a hermaphroditic known from the Nordic languages. suitable partner for all the deity from the beginning, or maybe they Linguists have tried to identify it with male gods. This is were two, a god and a goddess, just like the Gothic word ”alhs”, used in the Silver something that Frey and Freya. The theory that I choose Bible as a term for ”temple”. Fröjel in interests me a lot, why to believe in is one that says that Tacitus probably misinterpreted his informant, who was talking about a cult involving a god and a goddess, as is usual in fertility Silver figurine, cults. The goddess’ real name should perhaps then have been Erthu, equivalent to the depicting Freya with the heavy later Jord, and the god’s, Nerthus, Small bronze neck jewellery statuette, possibly the equivalent to Njord. These two names and a round one-eyed god Odin. sounds similar and could easily have been belly. From Found in mixed up. That then explains why Njord Östergötland, Skåne, Sweden. is a male god in later sources, he did not Sweden. http://viking.hgo.se 14 Viking Heritage Magazine

Freya´s husband. Thor is also, in princes and chieftains. Freya herself is addition to Frey, in some ways regarded said to be the foremost Valkyrie. as a fertility god, and Frey is, together Among other gods and goddesses A man on skis, with Njord, the god of ships as well as involved in death we find, of course, Hel, possibly the skiing the god of riches. Frey is said to have the the goddess of the Underworld. She too god Ull. Picture from the Böksta best horses, but the ultimate steed is can be seen as a part of the Great rune stone, Odin’s horse, Sleipnir, who carries gods Goddess, or maybe she is just a literary Sweden. and men to the Underworld. Frey’s personification of the grave. In poetry servant, Skirner, on the other hand, is Death can be described as an erotic Gotland would then mean Frey´s or said to borrow a horse from his master to union between the dead and Hel, and Freya´s temple. go to the Underworld in order to the grave is the bed that they lie in. The propose to the giantess Gerd on behalf of functions of death and fertility are often The great goddess of the North his master. intimately connected in religions, since they are both inevitable parts of Among the many goddesses who are said existence. to be a part of Freya, the great goddess of The radiant Vanir In Icelandic sagas there are also many the North, are Frigg, Odin’s wife, Gefjon, Freya, Thor’s wife, Sif and Idun are scary stories about the dead still alive in the goddess who separated the Danish described as golden or radiant, a quality their grave-mounds watching over their island of Själland from the mainland of that also the male Vanir and their grave-goods. Grave-robbers have to fight Sweden with her plow and Idun, the servants have. Frey and his servant them and cut their heads off before they goddess of youth. Frigg and Freya share Skirner are radiant, as is Balder, the can get away with the treasures. Other the function of assisting pregnant sagas tell of how families when they first women, also attributed to the Valkyries, arrived in Iceland chose a mountain as and both are said to be Odin’s consort as their holy mountain, where all family well as unfaithful to him for jewellery. members were supposed to go after Frigg means the loveable one, while Freja death. Stories like these have given means mistress. This seems to be a mix- scholars the idea that other beings, said up, since it is Frigg who is married to to live in mounds and mountains, play Odin, Master of the Gods, and Freya is the part of receivers of the dead. Such the Goddess of love. beings would then be the elves in Gefjon, as well as Freya, is said to care mounds and the giants in mountains. for those who die as maidens, and Gefjon Sleipner, Odin’s eight-legged horse, is also described as willing to sleep with pictured on several Gotlandic Conclusions men for jewellery. Gefjon means the one picture-stones. that gives, and another name for Freya is Norse religion is very complicated, both Gefn, the same expression. Freya is also in structure and to study. Functions vary unfortunate son of Frigg and Odin. said to have two daughters, Hnoss and among the gods and sources are Some scholars have tried to interpret Gersimi, whose names are interpreted as constantly self-contradictory. I can fully these gods as gods of the sky, the stars or precious thing. Frigg, Freya and Gefjon understand the need some scholars feel to other celestial bodies. Freya has a name, are also described as goddesses of bring order into this chaos by using Mardöll, that means the one who shines foresight and magic. Dumezil’s model with the three-folded over the sea. This could mean the polar pantheon, but I still think it is a way of star, that the Vikings used to navigate by. The male gods making things too easy. This is/was a Heimdall is the god who has been said to complicated and fascinating religion that Among the gods many functions, as well be many celestial bodies, the polar star one never get tires of studying, since as attributes, seem to be shared. Male among them, as well as the sun and the there is always something new to discover gods connected to goddesses with similar moon. or learn about the gods. Its beauty lies in functions are supposedly also similar, these contradictions and its complexity, since they are to be considered as one of Death so why spoil the fun? a cult pair. It was not so easy to say where you go Odin is the ambivalent god of war, after death during the Viking Age. Some but even Thor and Frey are described as believed they would go to Odin’s abode, warrior gods. Oden has a parallel in the About the author: Valhalla, and if they did not die in battle little-known god Od, who said to be Anna Malmborg is a student in they could mark themselves with the comparative religion at the University spear on their deathbed in order to get of Stockholm. She has also studied there. But not everyone who dies in Archaeology, History and the Nordic Silver figurine from battle is said to go to Valhalla, half of languages. In a coming issue, Anna Öland, Sweden, of them go to Freya in her abode, Folkvang, will tell us about Scandinavian a woman with a folklore of the Viking Age. drinking horn. a name that means the battlefield. Freya and Odin are also connected through the Possibly one of the E-mail: [email protected] Valkyries serving Valkyries, the female beings who choose mead in Valhall. the slain in battle as well as help young

15 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine “Dómr of daudan hvern: a chronological survey of Swedish picture stones”

By Bart Brigé was made in honour of this dead relative. bottom right consist of the typical And just in this period, the corpse of the formula ”X raised the stone for Y”, a deceased often couldn’t be buried. From formula which was not used until the First Period: From the origins to the the isle of Gotland, people began to arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia. rise of Christianity (4th-10th century) undertake trade missions in the Baltic Sea However, the runes were added several area. These missions were not without centuries later, and the picture thus I. Gotland danger, since it often happened that one contains the typical elements of the Of all the existing definitions of a picture or more crew members drowned in a classical Gotlandic picture stone. stone, the most general one describes it as storm at sea. And the absence of the a detached stone or mountain side, onto Above all, acceptance into Valhalla is corpse(s) made raising memorial stones which one or several figures are depicted. guaranteed by the depiction of figures necessary. Using this general definition, picture and scenes from religious beliefs and the From approximately 400 AD the stones can be found in the entire death cult. Three of these figures can be stones become higher and narrower, and Scandinavian area, especially in Sweden, found on almost every stone: the ship, in addition to strictly ornamental between the 4th and the 12th century. the horseman and the Valkyrie who elements and geometric designs, the Nevertheless, the name is often welcomes the deceased to Valhalla (upper picture stones are also decorated with exclusively used for one specific kind, left of figure 1) by offering him a certain figures, e.g. ships, a heritage from which became known as THE picture drinking horn. The Scandinavians were the Bronze Age. stone: the classical picture stone from the convinced that the journey to the From the 8th century onwards, the isle of Gotland, dating from the period hereafter consisted of two stages: the ship same figures and scenes are always between 700 and 1100 AD (see figure 1). transported the deceased to the shores of depicted until the picture stones the land on the other side, where a horse Apart from the easily recognizable disappear at the end of the Viking era. was waiting to take him to Valhalla itself. shape, the ornamentation which runs This leads to a relatively early heyday: the The significance of the horseman is based along the entire rim of the stone and the classical picture stone, like e.g. the stone on the very first person who used a horse division of the surface into several from Tjängvide (see figure 1). for the journey between Asgard and workspaces, the most unique In fact, this stone is quite unique due Midgard: Odin. Therefore the horseman characteristic is the technique used to to the presence of runes, both at the top always has this double meaning create the different figures. Instead of left and bottom right. Runes are unusual Odin/brave warrior brought to the cutting out the figures themselves, as is on Gotlandic stones, since the picture Valhalla, as evidenced by the horse on the practice in the rest of Scandinavia, the already tells the whole story. later Gotlandic picture stones; it often has surrounding and thus superfluous stone Furthermore the eight legs, and thus must be identified as surface is removed and coloured in. runes on Sleipnir, Odin’s horse, bringing great Of course, this type of impressive the honour to the deceased it carries. stone is based on a number of earlier and more primitive types. The oldest type Very important is the fact that all dates from the 4th century AD, and is no these pictures are general more than an unadorned piece of stone, representations that function as a of which the part above the surface general background against which measures less than half a meter. But even the deceased’s situation had to be from the very beginning, the stones’ interpreted. A picture stone shows the primary function is the one which will honour granted to all brave warriors, dominate until their disappearance: and thus also the person X for whom combining indigenous Germanic the stone has been erected. tombstones with Roman public The other figures on the monuments, they were erected as Tjängvide stone can be interpreted private memorial stones for a in two ways: either as scenes that social and cultural elite. take place upon the deceased’s Why did these stones become arrival at Valhalla (warriors necessary? In those days, every endlessly preparing themselves important family had their own for the final Ragnarök battle and burial site, where every relative the dog which accompanies his had to be buried. If the corpse of master to the hereafter), or as a the deceased wasn’t available for depiction of the situation leading any reason, a fictitious grave Figure 4. The Böksta stone. Photo: Iwar Andersson, to the acceptance of the indicated by a memorial stone ATA, Riksantikvarieämbetet, Sweden. horseman into the hereafter. The http://viking.hgo.se 16 Viking Heritage Magazine deceased thus has proven his skill in based on a Roman example. Although symbols, figures and scenes from the same battle and has been claimed by Odin, this is highly unusual on Scandinavian myths and sagas. disguised as a wolf. This is exactly the memorial stones, it is very well known Furthermore the greatly over-rated reason why pictures are used on these from contemporary amulets: bracteats. magical characteristics of runic and Scandinavian memorial stones: they Bracteats are golden disks which have picture stones need to be put into supply us with visual proof of the several figures and designs depicted on perspective. Runic inscriptions and deceased’s honourable life. Thus the one side. These bracteats came into pictures are magical, but only in the sense presence of figures and scenes from myths existence as adaptations of coins from the that they, by their existence, ensure the and sagas on picture stones is explained as 4th century Roman Empire, but were very presence of (or transition to) a certain well: it is a great honour to be associated soon given a Nordic content: horsemen desired circumstance, i.e. peace and with heroes like Sigurd, the dragon slayer. showing the honour for the deceased and the family, The essence of the existence of picture stones acceptance into Valhalla, etc. lies in the ever present and dominating focus Visualization means realization. on the honour and judgement of every deceased, dómr of daudan hvern, which Second Period: The rise of according to the Icelandic Hávamál is the Christianity (10th-11th century) only thing which will always exist. Then, around 980, king Harald Bluetooth of Denmark raises the II. Swedish mainland Jelling stone. The figure of Christ In contrast to Gotland, runes had on the south-western side of this already been used for several stone marks an absolute milestone centuries on the Swedish in Scandinavian history: the mainland, runes that retained their coming of Christianity, which dominant position on memorial eventually led to the assimilation stones as well. Any possible picture is of Scandinavia into and by thus no more than a confirmation of (Western-) Europe. the runes’ message – on Gotland, it First of all, the custom of is the other way around; this means raising memorial stones was itself that we can hardly speak of a generally spread by the coming of picture stone tradition in this area Christianity. After all, the and explains the focus on Gotland. converted believer now had to However, the reason for their be buried in the sacred ground existence is exactly the same: picture near the church, and was thus stones, or rune stones with a picture, separated from his ancestors and are raised as a memorial stone, when the relatives, who were all buried in the body of the deceased cannot be buried. family’s own burial ground. A solution Of all the known picture stones in for this problem was found by extending Sweden’s central area, exceptions so to the custom which had led to the use of speak, one has intrigued researchers more Figure 1. The Tjängvide stone. picture stones: raising memorial stones than all the others: the Möjbro stone (see Photo: ATA, Riksantikvarieämbetet, when the body couldn’t be buried. The figure 2), dated to around 450 AD. The central board of the Swedish deceased received his simple grave in the Interpreting the picture – confirming the national antiquities cemetery, but a stone erected on their runes – depends on our knowledge of the private burial ground described the runes’ meaning. Unfortunately, all we family’s deeds so as to bring peace and know for sure about the message is that Nordic gods, above all Odin. Based on honour to the deceased. the stone is a monument raised for this contemporary adaptation of Roman The Christian influence on these someone called FrawaradaR, whose name examples, a new interpretation of the stones could then be distinguished in can be seen in the bottom line of the Möjbro scene could be as follows: the three different ways: inscription. The meaning of the rest of horseman is Odin, a universal example 1/ by adding a Christian element to a the runes is not known, which of course for the deceased riding to Valhalla, heathen stone, as was the case with the has led to much speculation with regard including, of course, FrawaradaR. Odin runic inscriptions on the Tjängvide stone; to the interpretation of the horseman and would then be depicted with both wolves, the dog-like figures. If the stone shows a Freki and Geri accompanying him on his 2/ by using its own symbols. This led to hunting scene, why then the sword and trips on earth. the presence of a cross on a very large shield? If it shows a battle scene, why In conclusion, it can be said that number of rune stones from the Viking then the dogs? Scandinavian artists in this first period – era; Throughout the years, researchers have from the 4th to the 10th century – do not 3/ by taking over and adapting the old emphasized the Roman influence on the render persons (e.g. the deceased) or scenes heathen symbols (snake, ship, …), horseman; but rather than a direct from daily life on picture stones. The same facilitated by the presence of identical imitation, what we see is an adaptation of symbols, figures and scenes from the religious symbols with identical content in both both form and content of a horseman, world are always completed with the same religions.

17 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine

Thus in the beginning, the coming of possibly the unity of the country as well. Christianity does not involve a radical Thus longer resistance in Uppland change in the use of pictures on picture resulted in a prolonged need of memorial stones. A few new motives are introduced, stones and a heyday of the rune stone but these are still connected with the tradition in this area. However, quite memorial function of the stones; the pictures remarkably this heyday is immediately are still a representation of the followed by decay. Also remarkable is the Scandinavian religion and death cult. fact there is only one motif: the rundjur or runic animal, very often depicted in a Third period: Heyday and decay battle with a snake, e.g. on the stone of (11th-12th century) Ölsta (see figure 3). During the 11th century, Christianity The only symbolical meaning which spread all over Scandinavia, which of has been attached to this motif is that of a course doesn’t mean that the battle between good and evil. Can this be Christianisation happened as fast and true, and if so, is it a heathen or a easily everywhere. Denmark and Norway Christian symbol? were no problem, but Sweden, and 1/ By no means is it a heathen symbol. especially The snake can be interpreted as the Uppland, Midgaard snake or Midgardsormen, but what about the rundjur? Is it one of the four stags that dwell on the branches of Figure 3. The Ölsta stone. the Yggdrasil tree? However this stag is Photo: Sören Hallgren, ATA, not depicted on any of the old heathen Riksantikvarieämbetet, Sweden. monuments, and consequently is much too weak a symbol of goodness to be able to face the evil of such a worthy adversary Furthermore raising this type of as the world snake. Furthermore, memorial stone still is a heathen custom; Christianised Scandinavian artists have if the snake on picture stones represents no problem whatsoever in using this heathendom, this means that you would motif, and quite often add a cross to it. first erect a monument in accordance 2/ Then again, bearing in mind the with your religious beliefs, after which difficulty in Christianising Uppland, you would represent these beliefs as an perhaps a Christian meaning is more evil which must and will be destroyed. In likely. Especially when it becomes addition the lion and the snake also clear that the coming of Christianity appear on their own, or even in groups of in fact is predicted and anticipated for instance 6 snakes or 2 runic animals. by the Nordic beliefs. Furthermore the so-called lion also The story goes that at Ragnarök functions as a dragon, namely as a all evil will be destroyed and a dragon’s head at the end of the run- or new world will arise, led by ormslinga (runic or snake/dragon band), Baldr, the god who, due to his and this lion sometimes finds it necessary innate innocence, can be to bite himself (right runic animal on described as the saint of Nordic figure 3 – the forked tail clearly suggests a mythology, and perhaps even Figure 2. The Möjbro stone. fantasy animal). Finally Christianity has a identified as Christ. What happens then much stronger symbol which can Photo: ATA, Riksantikvarieämbetet, in the eyes of the converted Sweden compete with any heathen one: the cross. Scandinavians, is that the entire world is In conclusion, it is the horror vacui or offered resistance for quite some time. changing, and that Christ (as Baldr) will the fear for the empty space of the Of key importance to this resistance show the way to a new and better world. Scandinavian artist, in combination with was the Uppsala temple, situated in the The battle between good and evil on the dominant position of decorative middle of the Swedish kingdom of that picture stones thus becomes the battle elements in Nordic art, which leads to time, and in fact the only place in between the snake and the lion (Christ), this final outburst of Germanic animal Scandinavia where organised resistance between the old and the victorious new ornamentation style. The pictures now was possible. After all, all the leaders religion. Unfortunately, this doesn’t add above all serve to satisfy the Vikings’ regularly had to attend sacrificial up. desire for pomp and circumstance, with ceremonies there, which were also thus of First of all the battle on the stones is elegance and dynamics eventually great political importance. The king was still going on, and the outcome therefore usurping any meaning the pictures might able to keep an eye on rival jarls and still undecided. When wishing to render have had. The disappearance of the strengthen his central power. By the supremacy of Christianity, you would pictures’ typical function inevitably leads accepting Christianity, he risked not only not place this supremacy somewhere in to the disappearance of the function of losing the aid of the ancient gods, but the future, but in the present. the picture stones as well. When other http://viking.hgo.se 18 Viking Heritage Magazine means of expressions then appear in Christian habits – e.g. the use of stone coffins with Latin texts – not only the pictures on picture stones, but the stones SCAR. A Viking Boat themselves cease to exist. The only problem left is the fact that the step to meaningless pictures is far too Burial on Sanday, Orkney large to be taken all at once; you would expect an intermediary stage, where the range of the pictures’ possible meanings is extended. The Böksta stone (see figure 4) provides the proof that this stage exists. New What we see is, without a doubt, a hunting scene, a scene from the daily life book! from the higher classes in Viking society – there is no such thing as a universal skier or hunter. Thus, Scandinavian artists do not render persons or scenes from daily life on picture stones, as long as the heathen religion continues to dominate. When Christianity begins to take over, it is no longer necessary to render the typical symbols and figures connected with religion and death cult. The cross now fulfils this function, and other than figures and scenes from sagas – which per definition are extremely decorative – Scandinavian artists begin to portray scenes from the daily life of the class for which the stone memorials are erected. Now and again this leads to the depiction of elaborate scenes – as is the case with the Böksta stone, more often to the By Olwyn Owen and Magnar Dalland. around them. presence of the typical runic animal. So: Publisher: Tuckwell Press Ltd. in This book contains a thorough no more general representations, but pure association with Historic Scotland examination of the boat burial from decoration and no more reason to raise 1999. many aspects. With the help of picture stones. In 1991 a remarkable Viking boat different experts the authors have dealt burial at Scar in Orkney was excavated thoroughly with the background, the and in this way also rescued just before landscape in the Viking Age, the the winter storms finally claimed it. In survey and excavation. All the finds a 7-metre long rowing boat, human have been carefully investigated and About the author skeletons of three people were found; a compared to similar ones found in Bart Brigé, from Belgium, has man aged about thirty when he died, a other places. In this book you will also studied English and Swedish at the child of ten or eleven, and an old find a discussion and a comparison of University of Ghent and was woman, probably in her seventies, an Scar and other Viking graves in Britain graduated in 1999. When choosing astonishingly old age by the standards and Ireland. the subject of picture stones for his of the time. The grave has been dated The book tells the story of the compulsory final year essay, he to between AD 875 and 950. unlikely group of people buried combined his interest in Scandinavia, Many rich finds were also buried together in the boat burial, as well as it history and language (and runes). He with the three people in the boat; a traces the origin and significance of the has tried to draw up a typology for picture stones in (central-) Sweden, magnificent carved whalebone plaque, possessions these people brought to the and to obtain information about the a highly gilded bronze equal-armed pagan afterlife. Here we get in closer pictures’ meaning based on this brooch, a fine sword, a bundle of eight contact with the human beings that typology. The results of this leaf-shaped arrows possibly in a quiver, once left their homeland to settle in a investigation were presented at the a set of 22 bone gaming pieces, two new land, more than 1000 years ago. Scandinavian days of the Dutch- lead weights, a beautiful antler comb For all who want to get a broaden speaking countries, in Amsterdam spindle whorls, a pair of iron shears, a knowledge of Archaeology, Vikings (March 23 -24 this year). His wish is weaving batten, a sickle still with its and the Viking-age World, this book is to continue this work. wooden handle and two needles in a a must. E-mail: [email protected] needle tidy with thread still wrapped

19 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine Fourth Board Meeting held at Viking Farm at Avaldsnes, 6 - 9 April 2000 By Gier Sør-Reime

The fourth Board Meeting of the North Sea Viking Legacy Project was held in the County of Rogaland in Norway from 6 to 9 April this year. In addition to representatives from the 20 partners in Scotland, England, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, observers from the North Atlantic Co-operation and from the Dutch Foundation ”Weg van de Vikingen” participated, along with one The stone cross, Kvitsøy. Photo: Kjersti Vevatne. observer from the Via Viking Norway. This importance is still shown to have originated from the project of the witnessed by the ruins of St. Clemens’ copper mines at Visnes. The mines were Baltic Sea Church there, as well as a huge stone run by a Franco-Belgian company. region. The cross still standing close to the church At the board-meeting, a number of meeting was ruins. The church was very rich, important issues were discussed, hosted jointly by receiving offerings from seafarers to including further co-operation with the two partners, secure their safe North Sea crossing or to Viking Heritage. Two major conferences, Rogaland give thanks for a sucessful crossing. The one on heritage and tourism and one on County Council islands were also the scene of major heritage and planning, were discussed. and Karmøy political meetings during the Viking and Both conferences will probably take Municipal early Mediaeval period. place early next year, the tourism Council. On the Sunday, our third During the first day, the Board conference in Gothenburg from 20 to 23 partner within the County of Rogaland, meeting was held at the Vigsnes Mining April and the other in Stavanger in the Haugesund Town Council, hosted a Museum. Copper was mined here April/May 2001. It was also decided that reception at its Town Hall. commercially from the 1860s right up to the North Sea Viking Legacy partnership After arriving at Stavanger Airport, the 1970s. The copper used to cast the would invite other Viking projects to the Board members went on a short Statue of Liberty in New York has been join in an application for a new Interreg excursion in the area close to the airport, including the Mediaeval stone church on what is believed to have been the manor of local chieftain Erling Skjalgsson (a major character in the sagas of Olaf Tryggvasson and Olaf Haraldsson). Local lore also attaches the name of Erling to a number of standing stones along the shores of the Hafrsfjord, although these stones most probably date from the Migration period. The Board then went on an excursion to the islands of Kvitsøy. These small islands, in fact the second smallest local authority in Norway, played a major role during the Viking period, when they often were the last port of call for Vikings crossing the North Sea and their first port of call upon returning to The Viking Farmhouse, Avaldsnes. Photo: Kjersti Vevatne. http://viking.hgo.se 20 Viking Heritage Magazine project on the Vikings, a project to encompass the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. During the Presenting RANERNA meeting, the partners reported good progress in their own projects. Mr. Jochen Komber, one of our foremost – A Viking-age specialists on prehistoric house reconstructions, then read a paper on some problems and challenges re-enactment group concerning the reconstructions at the Viking farm at Avaldsnes. In the evening, the Board was invited to a Viking dinner at the reconstructed Viking farm at Avaldsnes. During the late night, the party returned to its coach, wandering by torch-light over the meadows from the Viking farm to St. Olav's Church at Avaldsnes. The next evening, we attended a concert in the church, which this year celebrates its 750th anniversary. An oratorio has been specially written for this event, and we were invited to attend the second performance of this exciting and well- performed work. The Board’s meeting ended with an excursion from Karmøy to Stavanger. The first stop was the ”Five Bad Maidens”, a circle of standing-stones mentioned in the Saga of Olaf Hornbore ting 1996. Foto: Gunnar Rassmusson. Haraldsson. Although they mark a Migration Period burial, the tale tells By Ny-Björn Gustafsson some 10 Iron Age burrows and graves in that the five maidens were standing on the valley though, indicating some the shore when the saint-king passed by, significance during pre-historic and early I have been asked to write something trying to attract his attention. He historical time. about the Swedish Viking-age re- became angry and turned them into Another local name for the castle is enactment society RANERNA. As stone. The next stop was the National Hornbore; HORNBORE TING thus Ranerna would be totally out of context Monument in Haugesund, erected in translates as the ting at Hornbore. Well without the Hornbore ting (Assizes) I 1872 at the millennium of the battle of and good, -in the early 90’s a local group will start with a brief historical Hafrsfjord, after which Norway is said to of enthusiasts started to plan for an have become a unified kingdom. The description. open-air play with a Viking-age theme monument was erected on what was It all started in Hamburgsund on the along with a Viking market. It proved to then believed to the burial mound of our Swedish West Coast in the early 90’s. be a true hit! Due to the strong historical first national king, Harold Fairhair. A Some 3-km south of the little fishing interest among the people of visitors’ centre is currently being planned village there is an area known as Hamburgsund the first ”Hornbore ting” at this site. We also had the time for a ”Slottet”, the castle. There are no traces was a success. A majority of the people short visit to the important Bronze Age of the castle nowadays since it was in the community took part in the work, rock carvings at Austre Åmøy before sieged, taken and burnt by a either in the planning, the construction coming to Stavanger, and for a visit to Norwegian/Danish force in 1535, but on the grounds, or as actors in the play. the exhibits of the Museum of one can still see the remains of the Hornbore ting became an event that Archaeology there. ramparts up on Castle Mountain. more than anything else drew the people The fifth Board meeting will be held Overlooked by the same mountain lies a of Hamburgsund closer together. on the Shetland Islands from 22 to 25 narrow, sloping valley where the local It was from this local optimism and July 2000. tings were held during Viking Age and common interest for every aspect of the early Middle Ages, at least according Viking-age culture that Ranerna came to The project manager of North Sea to local tradition. There has never been evolve. The name can be derived from Viking Legacy, Mr. Geir Sør-Reime, any real archaeological survey made at the old name for northern Bohuslän: can be contacted at the site so there is no way of proving the Ranrike, Ranerna thus translates as ”the [email protected] tradition right or wrong from an people from Ranrike”. Back then, in the Language checked by Ian S. Gibson archaeological point of view. There are early 90’s, those who today make up the

21 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine

Imagine an Some of the members of Atlantic Ocean the re- uncrossed... enactment group Ranerna at A Travelling Exhibit of the the Viking Newfoundland Museum market of Foteviken One Hundred Thousand Years of 1999. Goodbyes Foto: Hans One hundred thousand years ago, our Christian ancestors walked out of their African Qvist, H.C.Q- homeland to explore and settle the rest film HB of the world. Each gradual step of the way was to core of Ranerna had little or a very dim As with many other re-enactment bring new challenges as people sought to knowledge about what the Viking Age groups we usually travel around to adapt and prosper in changing was really about. I myself was attending period markets and events during the environments. Passing through the senior high school at the time and was summer, offering re-enactors and visitors interested mostly in swords and armour, alike the chance to buy or trade what Soapstone man with high collar rather than the every-day culture crafts we have produced during the Northern Labrador (embarrassing but true). winter season. c. 900 AD. This is But somehow the concept seemed to In the later years we have been blessed one of the few appeal people, and today, some 9 years with a reconstructed Viking-age farm surviving later there is still a group of people who right at our doorstep, Hornbore by, close representations of call themselves ”Ranerna”. Today to the Slottet area. There are many of us Dorset clothing. Ranerna is more of a re-enactment group that have participated in the The figure appears with approximately 15 members; we construction of a smithy, a naust to be wearing a have no formal record of our members, (boathouse) and more recently at the parka with a high, three sided collar. they mostly come and go as they like. ongoing reconstruction of a long house. These 15 are more committed to re- More than one member of Ranerna is Middle East, some ”turned left” into enactment though, in a scale which impatiently awaiting its completion to Europe. In only a few hundred starts at fondly interested and ends at working order. And then there are the generations or so, the descendants of total obsession. The re-enactment boats. As this is written there are two of these people ran into the uncrossable phenomena offers a lot of spin-off them; the 10m-long Blathuril, and the 8 barrier of the Atlantic Ocean. activities such as a wide variety of crafts, m-long Skarven. These two are based on The descendants of those who ranging from shoe-making to cooking the smaller boats, the færings, from the ”turned right” found the road much and MANY of things in between. Norwegian Gokstad find. Yet another longer. They gradually made their way Archery is another popular activity, and boat is under construction, this being 12 across all of Asia. By 15,000 years ago, fighting is of course an important part of m long and based on the smallest boat of they had crossed the narrow Bering Ranernas existence, but it feels good to the Danish Skuldelev find. Strait into Alaska. From there, they know that when this is written we are As the reader might have understood by spread out into the Americas. 7,000 more known for our singing than for our now there are quite a lot of ongoing years later, people had crossed North fighting. activities in Ranrike! America to Labrador. Finally, travelling On the whole, Ranerna as a group is across the Straits of Belle Isle, they still at the level where most members are For more information please check out settled on the Island of Newfoundland. working to improve and increase the our homepage at: They had reached the other side of the amount of their own period equipment, http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/ Atlantic barrier. may it be cooking utensils or swords. LaGrangeLn/midvik1/index.html This ongoing ”materialism” is of course quite vain in some respects, but it helps The Uncrossable Barrier to keep one’s interest up when trying to About the author A few thousand years later, driven by the make a period object, and the more you Ny-Björn Gustafsson is an need to find new lands and a spirit of have, the more you want…Re- archaeologist and craftsman, exploration, the Norse clans of specialising in combining Scandinavia refined the design of their enactment surely creates needs that you archaeology and re-enactment. seldom encounter in your ”ordinary” coastal boats into ocean-going vessels. life… These sturdy ships were the first built to E-mail: [email protected] withstand the wild and dangerous seas of http://viking.hgo.se 22 Viking Heritage Magazine FULL CIRCLE – First Contact: Vikings and Skraelings in Newfoundland and Labrador

encountered a number of Bronze ringed pin. Sitting Bear. groups of Aboriginal people L’Anse aux Meadows c. 1000 AD. Northern Labrador they called ”Skraelings”. The This pin would have fastened a c. 900 AD. Icelandic Sagas describe the Viking man’s cloak at his shoulder, allowing the man to Small soapstone meetings as fleeting - sometimes carvings like this swing a sword or axe without peaceful and sometimes violent. interruption. one reflect the Within two decades, the Vikings strong artistic retreated from their L’Anse aux tradition of the Dorset people. Meadows camp back to Greenland. While their bold North American and wood from the Newfoundland Polar bears held Museum collections and from other a particularly experiment did not result in Canadian museums. Icelandic Saga prominent permanent settlement, it did mark position in Dorset the beginning of a time when the replicas and Aboriginal history will be culture. ancestors of the people who had presented using the latest multi-media turned left would come to know technology. You’ll be inspired by the the North Atlantic. With these ships the those who had turned right in the boldness of the Vikings’ vision, and Vikings began to island-hop westward to journey out of Africa. impressed by the creativity with which the Orkney and Faeroe Islands, then to Aboriginal people made their lives in Iceland and Greenland... The Exhibit the sometimes bountiful, sometimes In the year 2000, the Newfoundland harsh environment of Newfoundland Full Circle Museum is presenting an exhibit to and Labrador. In the spring of the year 1000, Leif commemorate the Viking landfall in Plan to make your own journey Ericson and his crew sailed from L’Anse aux Meadows. The exhibit will ”Full Circle”. The travelling exhibit Greenland in three ships to explore a focus on the contact between the will be at the St. John’s Arts and land rumoured to be to the south and Vikings and the Aboriginal people of Culture Centre, Friday June 2 - west. The Viking arrival in L’Anse aux Newfoundland and Labrador. It will Sunday, August 6, 2000 and in the Meadows, Newfoundland marked the profile L’Anse aux Meadows as the Corner Brook Museum, Friday end of a very long ”voyage” for only authenticated Viking settlement in August 25 - Monday, October 9, 2000. humanity. After a hundred thousand the New World, a site which is now Following its Newfoundland tour, the years, the descendants of the people who recognized as both a Canadian National exhibit will travel to museums across turned right were about to meet up with Historic Site and a UNESCO World mainland Canada and the US. the descendants of the people who Heritage Site. For further information please turned left. The intriguing archaeology of L’Anse contact: aux Meadows and the history of its Kevin McAleese, Senior Curator First Contact discovery will be featured, ”Full Circle” Exhibit, Vikings! 1000Years The islands of the North together with stunning P.O. Box 1997, Station C Atlantic were uninhabited Viking artifacts made of 1 Crosbie Place before the arrival of the silver, ivory, iron and wood St. John’s Newfoundland A1C 5R4 Vikings. In Newfoundland from Nordic country Tel: (709) 729-1999 and Labrador, the Vikings museums. These objects will Fax: (709) 579-2067 be exhibited alongside E-mail: [email protected] intricate Aboriginal artifacts Web-site: http://www.gov.nf.ca./fullcircle Ramah Chert Projectile made of bone, stone, ivory Point Northern Labrador c. 750- ”Full Circle” is presented under the patronage of UNESCO 800 AD. The Exhibit is supported by: Corner notches allowed these points to be hafted to the Canada Millennium Partnership Program, a weapon - perhaps an the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, arrow or a dart. The Vikings the Nordic Council of Ministers, would have seen similar Parks Canada,Canadian Heritage the Youth Employment Strategy, points during their the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Friends of the encounters with the Recent Newfoundland Museum Indians of Labrador.

23 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine Heritage News

The Sagas of Icelanders now translated into English New Book A healing rune found in The first English translation of the entire corpus of the Sagas of the Icelanders Skänninge, Sweden together with forty-nine tales connected to them has now been published in a A small copper plate was found this spring rune expert of the Central Board of the five-volume edition from Leifur when excavating to connect some houses Swedish National Antiquities, there have to a distant heating system in the small not been any stray finds with runes in Eiriksson Publishing, Iceland. The town of Skänninge, in the county of Skänninge earlier and no other similar translation project started in 1993 and Östergötland, Sweden. It was found founds have been made in Sweden. But in thirty specially selected translators have together with a large amount of pottery Norway a similar artefact has been found been involved in the work. Read more fragments from the 11th century. This in Bergen. The copper plate will now be about the project and the volumes at: "magic" amulet was probably used for preserved and then hopefully exhibited in curing illnesses and the engraved runes the county of Östergötland. http://www.centrum.is~vinland should be interpreted as a "healing rune". From Populär Arkeologis eNyhetsbrev, According to Helmer Gustavsson, the week 15, 2000

Don’t know what to do this summer? Tired of going to the beach? Well, here are some Twenty Viking events examples of activities for Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas those of you who are Washington DC, USA July interested in the Viking Age May 24 - July 15 and Norse period. A travelling exhibition, ”Living and Re- Viking Market at Foteviken Sweden living the Icelandic Sagas”. The exhibition June 30 - July 2 will be on view at the Library of Congress. This is a great opportunity to meet with June friends and other people from all over Avaldsnes’ Viking Age Festival Norway Europe. The two days will offer feasts and Fyrkat Denmark June 14-18 a lot of craftsmen with exciting goods. All summer A Viking Age festival is held at Avaldsnes Tel: +46-40 456840 A Viking drama is performed each summer every year in June with fairytales, http://www.foteviken.se at the chieftain´s hall. competitions, food catering, concerts, Tel. +45-98 511927 exhibitions and Viking feasts with singing The 6th Viking Festival Wolin – Jomsborg and dancing. Poland The Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga Tel. +47-52 85 75 00 July 7-9 Smithsonian Institution, the National The 1999 festival was the biggest one so Museum of Natural History in Washington, International Viking Festival at far with 231 participants and with about DC, USA. Hafnarfjördur Iceland 400 000 visitors in three days. April 29 - August 13 June 22 - 25 Tel. +48-913 261 885 The exhibition includes a wide variety of This is the third Viking Festival organised http://www.optimus.szczecin.pl/viking/ artefacts, including jewellery, by Landnám in the town of Hafnarfjördur. woodcarvings, and grave goods from the Tel. +354-565 2915, +354-565 0661 A Grand Encampment L’Anse aux 9th to 11th centuries and medieval church http://www.hafnarfjordur.is/vikings/ Meadows, Canada carvings. July 17 - September 8 http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/vikings/ Scarborough Viking Festival England The summer of 2000 will see the creation June 21 – 25 of a Viking port of trade at L’Anse aux Lindholm Høje Viking market Denmark The re-creation of a Viking Summer Camp, Meadows. http://www.vikingtrail.org June 23-25 market and trading settlement in the http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca Each summer in the end of June a ”Viking Castle grounds, Viking ships moored in http://www.gov.nf.ca Market” is held at Lindholm Høje and a the town harbour. Viking drama is performed. A variety of Tel: +44(0)113 293 7744 The Age of Conversion in Northern Europe other activities take place during the http://www.yorkshirecoast.co.uk/ York, England spring and autumn. viking2000/ July 17-20 Tel. +45-98 175522 The department of Archaeology and the

http://viking.hgo.se 24 Viking Heritage Magazine Solar power and the Vikings

The sun was, of course, of utmost importance both for navigation on land and on board ship. Even now we use it to hold a steady heading at sea. At the Stockholm boat fair in March some 130,000 visitors had the chance to see a quite new Viking device which uses the sun at sea. The first ”sun shield ” in the world was pumps. A beautifully designed safety shield to ensure greater safety on the shown and raised great interest and device. I felt very proud to see all the Atlantic crossing. admiration. It is a solar panel in the admiring smiles my idea, skilfully shape of a beautifully ornamented shield. executed by three of our Vikings, With sunny greetings It will be placed on Viking Plym to received. Carl Bråvalla generate power in a battery for bilge Skidbladner will also carry a sun Täby Vikinga Skeppslag during the summer of 2000

Centre for Medieval Studies at the about Sigurd Fafnirsbane (Sigurd the Leif Erikson Parade & Festival New Jersey, University of York are hosting a major Dragonslayer). USA international conference. Tel. +46-16 10 70 00 September 30 http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/york2000/ Parade with historical speakers, who will conference.htm The Viking festival of Catoira Spain speak on various aspects of the Viking August 6 Age. Hlödver Viking Market Åland, Finland Thousands of visitors experience a re- Tel: +1-(732)388-3329 Friday 28/7 14.00 Saturday 29/7 12.00 enactment of the battle between Galicians http://www.vasaorder.com/eventsnj.htm Visit the native place of Hlödver den and Vikings. Långe, (Hlödver the Tall), as it looked Tel: + 34 986 54 60 14 October 1000 years ago. http://www.riasbaixas.net/villages/ Tel. +358-18 489014 catoira.htm Hastings2000 Battle Abbey, England October 14 - 15 The story of St Olaf Norway Hornbore Thing Sweden The event will consist of one major battle July 29th August 4 - 6 on each day, running for around 90 Based on the battle of Stiklestad, an The event will take the public back in time minutes, with the potential to stage historical play about these dramatic to the Viking Age with experiences for all smaller arena events throughout the day. events is performed every year. senses and ages. All Dark Age/early Medieval re-enactment Tel. +47-74073100 This year’s theme for the performance is: groups or individuals that have kit ”The sword does not lie”, directed by Git authentic to the date 1066 are invited to Moesgård Viking market Denmark Kraghe. take part in the battle or in the Living July 29 - 30 Tel.: +46-525 34523 History Encampment. A ”Viking market” is held on the beach http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/ Tel: +44-(0)171 973 3434 near Moesgård each summer during the LaGrangeLn/midvik1/svhbt.html http://www.vikings.ndirect.co.uk/ last weekend of July. hastings2000/index.htm Tel. +45-89 421100 September

August Largs Viking Festival Scotland The first 2 weeks of September This calender is put together by Therese Sigurd Fafnirsbane Sweden The history of the Viking in Largs dates Lindström, a former member of Viking August 2, 3, 9-10 at 7 p.m. August 5 and back to the 9th century AD. In addition to Heritage’s staff. Now she is a research 12 at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. August 6 and 13 Vikingar! the Viking history of the assistent in the project Culture Clash or at 6 p.m. surrounding area is celebrated annually. Compromise at Gotland University College. The drama is based upon the legend Tel: +44-1475 689777

25 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine Some reflections on re-enactment

By Viktoria Persdotter, thought of as ”viking-ish”, cannot be traced joined by a shared interest, to spend some further back in time than to the 1800`s, happy summer weeks together undisturbed Archaeologist and craftsman, e-mail: being a product of National-Romantic by outside demands, can not possibly give [email protected] literature, art and stage performances. us a true image of the social life of the Tendencies in modern western society to Viking Age. The extended family may seem I read Marie Gustavsson’s article on being a idealise and have a passion for both the to be the ideal, natural state, for many Viking Mother of Today, in the latest issue non-European so-called primitive and people of today who have grown up in of the Viking Heritage Newsletter, with ancient peoples, do not originate only from small, shattered families but it also contains somewhat mixed feelings, and I therefore the Age of Enlightment, and its idealisation a reverse; a strict social control, which is decided to write down my thoughts and of the ”Noble Savage”. The idea of a distant devastating for a deviant, and an reflections in this article. However, I would Golden Age, when humans were good and environment which is not necessarily safe like to point out already at this stage that I life uncomplicated, is probably as old as and solid, but can well harbour deep have not written this article in order to humankind itself. The myths about the conflicts when 2-3 generations daily wear depreciate either the re-enactment strange, luminous time, when creation was on each other. And contrary to today’s re- movement itself, or the individual author; still immaculate, ancestors carried out their enactors, the people of the Viking Age my aim is rather to emphasize the great deeds, and gods wandered the earth, could not choose their own ”persona” and tremendous complexity and manifold are already found in the most ancient social situation, as little as they could nature of the Viking-age society, and to call religious documents, and can even be traced change them, or simply abandon the ”role” for reflection and discernment when using in the Norse epic, ”Edda of Snorri”. if it became too demanding. experiences from re-enactment activities in The Viking Age is popularly depicted as The idea of a society where the family the interpretation of this era and its living a period of freedom and glory, albeit members, mainly the mothers, can offer the conditions. somewhat rough and savage, between the small children an unlimited amount of time It is easy to identify with the Viking Age inscrutable mists of the early Iron Age and and emotional engagement, is to be – a period close enough to our own to be the darkness of the Middle Ages. It is tangible in a completely different way than indeed an incontrovertible fact that the more distant periods like the Stone Age, but Viking Age represents a time of prosperity still far enough away to give off a romantic, and expansion for the Nordic countries. But Regarding mythological fairyland-light. Yet the life of assumptions that living conditions became the Viking Age for us living in today’s disastrously worse in the Middle Ages are By Olle Hoffman, western society is as inscrutable as that of a probably to be blamed as much upon the present-day non-western society. One can presence of more detailed written records, as Webmaster, Viking Heritage be fascinated by it, inspired by it, at times on the Plague, the climate’s change for the e-mail: [email protected] even imagine to understand it, but still it worse and the spread of Christianity. It is both interesting and inspiring to remains unfathomable and I myself work with the reconstruction of receive questions from visitors on our incomprehensible. prehistoric artefacts and their website. We get questions on almost all Our present knowledge of the Viking manufacturing techniques, and I consider subjects concerning the Vikings but in this Age is very limited. Archaeological finds are that we can reconstruct the fragments of the article I will take up a certain subject. just randomly preserved fragments of a far- Viking-age material culture that the Questions are sent to us from all over the from-uniform society. Written sources are artefacts represent fairly well. But we can world and from people of all ages. Perhaps scarce, and the brief runic inscriptions do never reconstruct the non-material part of most pleasant is to note that a lot of school not offer many clues about everyday life. the Viking-age culture; the ways people children seem to have found Viking The so-called Norse Sagas should not be related to each others, their norms, values, Heritage and that they find information viewed as true eye-witness descriptions from thoughts, feelings, conceptions of the and acquire knowledge that they can use in the Viking Age, as they were written down world, etc., and least of all the self-image of their school work. centuries after the actual period, and the individuals; the ways they viewed both Most questions come from the US and contain many fictional elements. The their own roles in the society in which they from Europe outside Scandinavia. In some written descriptions of Norsemen made by lived, and their own part in a larger, cosmic way it seems like the Vikings are such a well non-Nordic authors, like the often-quoted context. In these respects, the Viking Age is known and natural feature in Scandinavia Arab Ibn Fadhlan, can not be viewed as completely foreign and incomprehensible that they don’t attract any wider interest. indisputably true either. These descriptions for us. But we can probably assume that Here interest in Vikings seems to be found are often strongly influenced by the author’s most Viking-age people lived according to more in Viking societies and re-enactment own prejudices, and his wish to show off his considerably less high-flown moral rules groups. These people are incredibly own cultivation and refinement as than the ones of Havamal (part of the Edda interested in different parts of the Viking compared to the barbarians”, as well as by of Snorri), in a society which was far from Age and many of them choose to live misinterpretations and/or statements based uncomplicated and outspoken, and free almost like Vikings during a part of the upon second- or third-hand information. from anxiety, frustrations, conflicts, year. The interest in the US can perhaps to Still, since the 19th century, the Viking Age violence and oppression. a large extent be explained by the extensive has been a very popular period to interpret A group of re-enactors, where the emigration of Scandinavians during the in different ways, and a lot of what today is members gather by their own free will, 19th century. Americans with roots in http://viking.hgo.se 26 Viking Heritage Magazine

Viking Viewpoints

associated more with the dream of the memories of people born in the early 1900’s promote the social life of the family…. 1950`s about the ”happy housewife”, than and still in life. Whatever one thinks about Present-day society can, and ought to, be with the often harsh reality of the pre- day-care centres, and similar institutions of criticized. But that criticism, if it is to be industrial society. During the Viking Age, today, they must be regarded as far better taken seriously, must not come from there were, of course, many different for the physical and mental health of the comparing present-day society with our circumstances, many different ways of living infants, than being left at home all by image of a distant, and in many respects and relating to each others, and surely also themselves, more or less tied up, during the unknown prehistoric period, but begin and circumstances and situations involving both long workdays of the pre-industrial farmers ends in the present. emotional and physical closeness between and cattle-herders. However, keep on re-enacting! It is great parents and children. Nevertheless there Furthermore, in the classical, popular fun, and offers excellent opportunities for must also have been circumstances and picture of the Viking-age family, put forth creative self-expression, and reconstructing situations involving the opposite, not least in books, films, etc., the men of the family anything from ships to needles also in the areas of the Nordic countries where a are usually either out trading, or out on promotes further knowledge about the severe climate made everyone’s working Viking raids, and the supposedly strong and practical aspects of Viking-age life and efforts, even those of the mothers, outside independent women run the farm on their craftsmanship. But bear in mind that the home absolutely necessary to sustain own. This picture does not completely lack today’s interpretations of prehistoric life. This has, for example, been the connection with historical facts, but it lacks societies usually have more to tell about our situation up to rather recent times in the an important detail – most of the Viking- present society, its dreams and inland area of northernmost Sweden, where age farms did not have a large staff of thralls apprehensions, than about the actual small-scale farming, not differing much carrying out all the practical work. The fact prehistoric period itself. from the Viking-age farming, has been that half of the family members were gone carried out up to modern times, and is well thus meant twice the work-load for the ones recorded both in written records, and in the at home; a circumstance which could hardly the search for Viking relatives

Scandinavia naturally share an interest in most cases very difficult to find out were also written down a few hundred years Scandinavian history and this interest goes relationships that are a couple of hundred later. as far back as the Vikings. There are also years old. These investigations require a lot These problems or obstacles make it people from all around the world interested of time in the archives and often we get to difficult or impossible for us to grasp the in the Viking as the ‘mythical hero’ i.e. the the point where we have to realise that we ‘ordinary person’. A person who perhaps blond-haired warrior adorned with horned can not proceed any further. What’s left is lived and worked the whole life on a farm helmet that has eagerly been promoted in more or less speculation. Some of the or in a small village somewhere, who media and in publicity campaigns. problems we have to face as genealogists are married and had children and Many of the questions put to us concern that the material in the archives has often grandchildren who also stayed in the same Viking relationships in different ways. A been subjected to fires, wars and neighbourhood. For this great majority of typical question can be formulated: “Hello. plundering. When we discuss sources from the people we will never find any written My family name is…….My grandfather Middle Ages or even older we need to records. Unfortunately their stories and always told me that our name dates back to remember that every single source is so rare their history disappeared with them. the Viking Age. Do you have any information that it certainly is regarded as a literary Perhaps we can find traces of the farm or on that?” or: ”I am doing some research on our national treasure by the country who owns the village in the archaeological records. family line. It seems like our family comes it. These records are few, often fragmentary These people can be almost as hard to find from Harald Bluetooth. Can this be true?” and scattered. When approaching the in the written records even if they lived 600 Another common subject is to ask us for Viking Age we have to realise that written years after the end of the Viking Age! help in settling some details in a family tree language didn’t exist in Scandinavia in a For that reason my position is that we that is being constructed. Genealogy is modern sense. The few sources we have on should consider it impossible to find any popular and many have utilised the families and individuals are the Icelandic trustworthy relationships between the genealogy databases on the Internet. In sagas, Viking or Medieval chronicles people of today and the Vikings. I think some of these genealogy websites you can together with the rune stones. Almost genealogy is a great hobby or interest but write your family name and place of birth without exception the rune stones mention we have to be aware of the scarcity of and more or less press ‘enter’ and ‘print’ to persons only by their first name, the written sources and appreciate the reliable receive a complete family tree in your chronicles often deal with only royal bonds that we still have to the past. printer. This is of course nothing but fraud. families, chieftains and people of the I would prefer not to take this critical or It is impossible to comment on definite church. The value of the sagas as historic sceptical attitude but I think it is the right or determined family relationships in this sources is difficult to estimate since way to go. This scepticism limits the manner, when, in this case, we are dealing contemporary testimonies about the historical material but the results are with a time interval of 1000 years. It is in occurrences hardly ever exist. The sagas probably closer to the truth.

27 http://viking.hgo.se VIKING HERITAGE A network for Viking-related Knowledge

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