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A Conical Bronze Boss and Hedeby's Eastern Connection A conical bronze boss and Hedeby’s eastern connection Kalmring, Sven http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/2014_001 Fornvännen 2014(109):1 s. 1-11 Ingår i samla.raa.se Art. Kalmring 1-11:Layout 1 14-02-12 13.26 Sida 1 A conical bronze boss and Hedeby’s Eastern connection By Sven Kalmring Kalmring, S., 2014. A conical bronze boss and Hedeby’s Eastern connection. Forn- vännen 109. Stockholm. In 1950 a collection of finds from Hedeby harbour were published by an amateur in a regional periodical. They have not received much scholarly attention since. Out of the assemblage, only a penannular brooch came as a loan into the collections of the museum at Schloss Gottorf and entered the scientific debate. One of the finds illustrated in the 1950 article is a small conical bronze boss with an hexagonal basis. The search for comparisons leads into the Rus’ and to Gnёzdovo on the Upper Dnepr. The artefact is part of a small but distinct Eastern and Oriental find horizon in Hedeby that survived in its High Medieval successor, the town of Schleswig. Sven Kalmring, Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schlossinsel, DE–24837 Schleswig, Germany [email protected] In late summer of the year 1949 the Schleswig port alluding to jaws and teeth of pigs, horses, lawyer and enthusiast Otto von Wahl (1914–84) cattle, goats, game and carnivore as well as other was surveying along the waterfront of Hedeby leftovers such as hazelnut shells, wild cherry (von Wahl 1950). In 1933 Herbert Jankuhn had stones, fish bones, bird bones and a tortoise shell. directed a first survey of the harbour parallel to He lists stone objects including a steatite bowl, his ongoing settlement excavations. A professio- schistwhetstones,basaltmillstonefragments,mica nal diver from Kiel detected “several pile remains” schist, flint and echinites besides numerous glass near the shore, indicating a harbour. At the time and metal slags in addition to comb parts, antler however Jankuhn concluded that the harbour pins, an antler wedge and raw deer antler pieces. basin would be too deeply silted-up to permit any Among his finds are pale green, blue and dark appropriate underwater investigations (cf. Kalm- green/blackish glass fragments and beads includ- ring 2010, p. 63). Sixteen years later and with ing one of a rock crystal and one of amber. He bare hands, the Schleswig lawyer dug two trial foundroughandfinepotsherdsincludingSlavonic pits among the trampled-down reeds along the pots, Badorf and Pingsdorf ware plus a green- shallow underwater terrace right in the central glazed sherd, metal artefacts including an arrow- harbour area (ibid. p. 61, fig. 31). head, boat rivets, a lead spindle whorl, a bronze The pits on the terrace were situated approxi- brooch pin and a worked swan bone – the latter mately 30 meters apart. In a short announcement interpretedasatoolfordoublingthreads(vonWahl published the following year, von Wahl mentions 1950, p. 88 f). not only “antler and bone finds as well as pile re- Highlighted by a photograph are a penannu- mains” (1950, p. 87). He adds a fairly detailed re- lar bronze brooch, a necklace of c. 120 black beads Fornvännen 109 (2014) Art. Kalmring 1-11:Layout 1 14-02-12 13.26 Sida 2 2 Sven Kalmring Fig. 1. Hedeby harbour. Hollow bronze boss with hexagonal base and six short feet. A terminal at the tip of the cone has been broken off. Photo: Otto von Wahl Jr. (made from jet?) and a small pyramidal bronze Birka piece is a cast cylindrical cone with a circu- object(cf.Kalmring2010,p.64,fig.33).Thebrooch lar base of two centimeters, a flat top with three (Capelle 1968, p. 106 [no. 87], pl. 26:2) has an ornamental rims and a beadlet-like terminal on ogival cross-section that identifies it as deriving top (fig. 2:1). At right angles at its base are three from south-western Finland or the Åland islands semicircular pierced plates, of which two still con- (Müller-Wille 1988, p. 759, fig 4:2). But apart tained fragments of iron rivets when it was found from the brooch the objects stayed with their (Holmquist Olausson & Petrovski 2007, p. 233). proud finder and remain in the possession of the The hall was built some time in the period AD family von Wahl. 950– 1000, and the finds have a distinct martial OttovonWahl(1950,p.89)describesthepyram- character (Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006). The same idal object as “a 2.5 cm high hexagonal bronze appears to be true also for the Birka cone. That cone, at its vertex six small ‘feet’, inside hollow cone, and two gilded arched mounts with Byzan- (compare figure, but now cleaned), use unknown”. tine and Byzantine-inspired ornamentation –a It can be added that the bronze cone in its unre- paradiase motif – seem to belong to one or more stored condition does not reveal any remains of conical helmets of the Kievan Rus’ or low-domed decoration on its six sides. Yet towards the basis Byzantine helmets (Holmquist Olausson & Pet- of the triangular frames there may be traces of a rovski 2007). worn framing line. The tip of the cone seems to A representation of Jaroslav the Wise (c. 978– once have ended in a terminal, but now only 1054) on a lead seal found at Novgorod shows the shows a weathered-down fracture (fig. 1). Grand Prince of Kiev with a conical helmet and knobbed top (Janin & Gajdukov 1998, p. 259 pl. Parallels 1:2a). Such pointed tips on helmets are typical of A similar cone measuring 2.2 cm has been found the so-called spheroconical helmets of Kirpich- in the hall building of Birka’s Garrison (cf. Holm- nikov’s type II. Their definition is “riveted 4-part quist Olausson & Kitzler Åhfeldt 2002). During dome, no nasal, spike on the top usually hollow metal detecting at the royal manor site of Tissø to attach the plume [or Sultan] as well as bronze on Zealand (cf. Jørgensen 2003) two similar but or copper sheathing on the surface, as well as dis- as yet unpublished cones have been found. The tinctive embellishments” (Kirpichnikov 1971). Fornvännen 109 (2014) Art. Kalmring 1-11:Layout 1 14-02-12 13.26 Sida 3 A conical bronze boss and Hedeby’s Eastern connection 3 Fig. 2. Pointed helmets with top cones. 1) Birka’s Garrison. Cylindrical bronze cone, height 2.2 cm. Holmquist Olausson & Petrovski 2007, fig. 3c. 2) Černigov. Spheroconical helmet from the Černaya Mogila barrow. Williams 2013, fig. 44. 3) The Madrid Skylitzes. Varangian guard with pointed helmets. Detail fol. 26va. Fine examples of this type are the 10th centu- nian (775–820) in the hippodrome of Constan- ry Gul’bishe and Černaya Mogila helmets (fig. tinople after his assassination (fig. 2:3). Note 2:2), named for two barrows at Černigov in north- though that the Bulgars (fol. 82ra) and the Mula- ern Ukraine. The pointed Gnёzdovo-2 helmet di Muslims (fol. 38v) are depicted with similar belongs to the subgroup IIa and differs some- helmets. what in details such as an openwork gilded metal Both the cones from Hedeby and Birka may band and a nasal. It was found in a 10th century belong to helmets. But there are differences be- barrow, burial no. 41 at Gnёzdovo on the Upper tween them. The bases have different shapes, the Dnepr near Smolensk. main difference is how they were mounted. The Byzantine helmets of this era, on the other Birka piece was riveted onto an object. The He- hand, are believed to hark back to “Romano-Sas- deby piece is designed to be inserted into a base sanid” origins, but also show influences from the with its little feet. Steppe and Sarmatian culture (Stephenson 2011, A somewhat closer parallel to the Hedeby piece p. 13). According to written sources, the Byzan- is a similarly sized decorative boss from Gnёzdovo, tine army used two types of helmet: one hemi- recently imaged in the catalogue of a Viking exhi- spherical in the Roman tradition and one point- bition in Leoben, Austria. There it is erroneously ed and conical (Kolias 1988, p. 76). Helmets of described as a “pyramidal belt fitting” (Minasian the pointed conical type are depicted in the rich- 2008, p. 113). It was found in the major barrow ly illustrated Madrid Skylitzes, a 12th century no. 24 of the Ol’šanskaja mound group at Gnёz- copy of the Synopsishistoriarum (Σύvoѱɩç ίστοριών), dovo, excavated by I.S. Abramov in 1905 (Spicyn written in the 1070s by the historian Ioannes 1906, 191f., fig. 17; cf. Bulkin 1975, fig. p. 141). Skylitzes (Berger 2001). One good example is the This mound group was related to a settlement depiction of the Varangian guard (fol. 26va) dur- complex consisting of the Ol’šanskoe gorodišče ing the laying-out of Emperor Leo V the Arme- and the adjacent Ol’ša settlement, located two Fornvännen 109 (2014) Art. Kalmring 1-11:Layout 1 14-02-12 13.26 Sida 4 4 Sven Kalmring Fig. 3. Decorative central bosses from baroque brooches. 1) Gnёzdovo. Solid bronze boss from barrow no. 24, height 2.8 cm. Spicyn 1906, fig. 17. 2) Birka’s Garrison. Key with stylised falcons superimposed on handle. Hedenstierna-Jonsson 2006, fig. 8. 3a) Gnёzdovo. Baroque silver brooch 994/93 of the 1868 hoard. Guščin 1936, pl. II:12. 3b) Gnёzdovo. Central boss of baroque brooch 994/93. Drawing by Ingmar Jansson. kilometres downstream from the core settlement (fig. 3:1) is 2.8 cm high and has a square base with of Centralnoe gorodišče at present-day Gnёzdo- four bent mandrels of which one today is broken vo (cf.
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