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VIKING Norsk Arkeologisk Årbok VIKING Norsk arkeologisk årbok Bind LXXIX – 2016 Oslo 2016 UTGITT AV NORSK ARKEOLOGISK SELSKAP Viking Open Access:https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/viking/ ISSN 0332-608x Vegard Vike Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo «Det er ikke gull alt som glimrer» – bredøkser med messingbeslått skaft fra sen vikingtid Ved å studere våpengravenes utvikling gjennom vikingtiden kan man se at øksen har gjort en «klassereise», fra å være et tømmerredskap, også benyttet i strid, til å bli et forfinet og ren- dyrket våpen. De enkle redskapsøksene fortsetter å være til stede gjennom hele vikingtiden, men innen starten av det andre årtusen e.Kr. er spesialiserte stridsøkser blitt utviklet, og har inntatt sin plass i noen av de mer statuspregede gravene. Spesielt gjelder dette den store og fryktinngytende bredøksen, som kunne utfordre selve sverdet som prangende drapsredskap. Kun et fåtall økser med skaftbeslag er funnet, og nær alle er bredøkser. Disse øksene fremstår som en fornem utgave av en i seg selv eksklusiv øksetype. I samlingen ved Kultur- historisk museum er totalt seks eksemplarer identifisert. De ble innlemmet i museets sam- linger først etter Jan Petersens verk om vikingtidens våpen i 1919, og er derfor ikke gjen- nomgått tidligere. Økser med skaftbeslag er i liten grad studert internasjonalt, og spesielt de norske funnene er svært lite kjent. Tilsvarende økser med beslag er ikke kjent for forfatteren fra øvrige samlinger i Norge. Formålet er derfor å presentere samlingen av slike økser fra Sørøst-Norge, samt å trekke inn tilsvarende utenlandske paralleller for sammenligning. Analyser av legeringen i de norske øksenes skaftbeslag er utført som del av dette studiet, og bringes inn i vurderingen. Artikkelen er todelt. Det samlede materialet av økser med beslag fra vikingtid vil bli presentert først, deretter vil øksene bli diskutert i mer detalj før de settes inn i en kultur- historisk kontekst ved å trekke inn historiske kilder. Et spørsmål er i hvilken grad de arkeo- logiske funnene samsvarer med de skriftlige skildringene. Sagatekster og historiske kilder forteller storslått om våpen dekorert med gull, men ikke overraskende ble det gylne metallet messing som regel benyttet istedenfor gull. Det blir satt søkelys på hvilken plass bredøkser med skaftbeslag kan ha hatt i Knut den mektiges tidsepoke og hos hans huskarlstyrke, Ting- liden. Tanker om og argumenter for at bredøksen kan ha hatt en rolle som fremvoksende statusmarkør for vikingtidens eiendomsløse menn – nemlig huskarlene – blir også fremsatt i artikkelen. Bredøksens tid Vikingtidens mest iøynefallende og karakteristiske øks er bredøksen, omtalt av Jan Petersen (1919:46) som type M. Bladets tynnsmidde og brede form gav opphav til betegnelsen breiðøx allerede i norrøn tid. Med utgangspunkt i forfatterens egne undersøkelser av våpen- funn kan følgende sies om bredøksen (type M). Den kommer inn i funnmaterialet i tiden etter midten av 900-tallet og videreutvikles frem mot 1000-tallet. Mindre bredøkser fore- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/viking.3906 95 Figur 1. Funnstedene for de undersøkte øksene fra Sørøst-Norge. Kartgrunnlag Statens kartverk. Tillatelsesnr.: NE12000-150408SAS. Kart: Jessica L. McGraw, Kulturhistorisk museum. Tabell 1. Sørøstnorske funn av økser med skaftbeslag. Figur Museumsnr. og Øksetype Lengde Egg Vekt Beslagtype (alle Beslag Skaftrest Kontekst funnsted messing) lengde 2 C58882/4 Langeid Type M 20,7 cm 25,3 cm 603 g Sylindrisk. Overlapping 11 cm Kirsebærslekt Grav (trekiste grav 8, Bygland, på skaftets bakside. (Prunus) og «gravhus») Aust-Agder 12 messingstifter. – sverd, mynt Platetykkelse ca. 0,5 mm 3 C25583 Hallingby, Type M 19,5 cm 21,3 cm 592 g Sylindrisk (skadet). … Løvtre, mulig Løsfunn Ringerike, Buskerud Overlapping venstre side trekile 4 C57235 Horgen, Type M 19 cm 15,3 cm 273 g Sylindrisk (sterkt … Ikke bevart Løsfunn Nes, Akershus (enhånds) skadet). Overlapping venstre side, nær front 5 C24243 Velo Vestre, Type M 13,2 cm Avbrutt 383 g Sylindrisk (sterkt … Trerest. Jernkile Grav – skjelett Jevnaker, Oppland (enhånds) egg- skadet). Overlapping sitter i treverket av mann hjørne høyre side 6 C27132 c Bjorå, Evje Type M 18,5 cm Sterkt 381 g Firetakket. Fire deler. 11,5 cm Løvtre (ikke Grav – spyd og og Hornnes, skadet Messingstifter langs ringporet) skjoldbule Aust-Agder platenes kanter. Platetykkelse ca. 0,5 mm 7 C29866 Lundehall, Type M 21,3 cm 21,7 cm 466 g Firetakket. Sterkt … Løvtre (ikke Løsfunn (nær Fyresdal, Telemark skadet. Tilsvarer beslag ringporet). gravhaug) fra Bjorå Huller i treverk fra stifter 96 kommer, men i sin klassiske form er typen stor. Eggen kan være omkring 20 cm lang, noen ganger over 25 cm. Øksebladet er smidd svært tynt og bredt med en forsterkende fortykning parallelt med eggen. Tykkelsen på det meste av bladet kan være under 5 mm, noe som gjorde øksa lett til tross for størrelsen. Bredøkseblad til tohånds bruk har hatt en opprinnelig vekt (før korrosjon) på omkring 600–800 gram. Det er betraktelig mindre enn mange av de smaleggede redskapsøksene, som kan veie opp mot én kilo. Økser finnes i mannsgraver gjennom hele vikingtiden, og kan betraktes som en gjengs del av våpensettet. På den annen side er de fleste økser i vikingtidens gravfunn ikke utformet spesifikt som våpen. De er mer som universalredskaper egnet til å tas i bruk som våpen av arbeidskaren, en praksis som man ut fra lovene kan se ble videreført opp i middelalderen (Liestøl 1976:656–657). Sverdet var derimot et rendyrket våpen, og tradisjonelt fremstod det dermed som en symbolsk markør for den landeiende storbondestanden, krigereliten, slik den blant annet er portrettert i Rígsþula (Bray 1908:212). De fleste øksetyper kunne altså passe inn i rollen som både redskap og våpen, men ved midten av 900-tallet kan man i funnmaterialet se en egen type øks dukke opp, med tynt blad og bred egg. Den nye klassen av økser er gjerne relatert til velutstyrte graver og ryttergraver (Pedersen 2014:plate 7, 9, 21, 26, 32, 33, 40, 42, 57, 61, 64). Bredøksen har nå inntatt sin plass på arenaen – en øks beregnet til mannedrap. Figur 2. Langeid grav 8 (museumsnr. C58882/4). Bredøks med komplett blad og nær komplett skaftbeslag av messing. Foto/illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/viking.3906 97 Figur 3. Hallingby (museumsnr. C25583). Bredøks med deler av skaftbeslag av messing bevart. Foto/illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. Figur 4. Horgen (museumsnr. C57235). Middels stor bredøks med rest av messingbeslag i skafthullet. Foto/illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. 98 Figur 5. Velo Vestre (museumsnr. C24243). Liten og tykk bredøks med rest av et sylindrisk messingbeslag. En jernkile sitter i skafthullet. Foto/illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. Figur 6. Bjorå (museumsnr. C27132 c). Bredøks med firetakket skaftbeslag av messing, i fire separate deler. Beslagdelene holdes fast av messingstifter langs platenes kanter. Foto/ illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/viking.3906 99 Figur 7. Lundehall (museumsnr. C29866). Bredøks med beslag av tilsvarende type som øksen fra Bjorå. Det kan sees fra stifthullene i skaftstumpen og fra røntgen av beslagrestene i skafthullsområdet. Foto/illustrasjon: Vegard Vike, Kulturhistorisk museum. De analyserte øksene Forfatterens arbeid med konserveringen av bredøksen fra grav 8 ved Langeid i Setesdalen (Loftsgarden og Wenn 2012) var inspirasjonen til å lage en oversikt over skaftbeslåtte økser i Kulturhistorisk museums samling (se tabell 1 og figur 2–7), som igjen ble utgangspunktet for denne artikkelen og analysen av øksenes beslag. Kun øksene fra Bjorå (C27132 c) og Langeid (C58882/4) er funnet sammen med andre daterbare gjenstander. Øksen fra Velo (C24243) er funnet i en grav sammen med skjelettet av en mann. De tre øvrige øksene er løsfunn fra Hallingby (C25583), Lundehall (C29866) og Horgen (C57235). I graven sammen med øksen fra Bjorå lå det et spyd av Jan Petersens type M (datering ca. 975–1075) og en skjoldbule av type Rygh 565 (datering ca. 975–1000- tall). «[…] Spydet lå med spissen mot sør, øksen lå over dette, og skjoldbulen over denne igjen. Litt kull fantes ved siden av, men det kunne ikke avgjøres om det var brente bein. Også disse sakene lå ca. 80 cm dypt omgitt av grus.» (Fra tilvekstkatalogen, Kultur - historisk museum.) Langeid-øksen ble funnet i en flatmarksgrav med stolpehull i hjørnene, sammen med et praktsverd hvor hjaltet hadde dekor og innskrift i gull, sølv og kobber (Wenn mfl. 2016:42–54). I graven lå våpnene rett på utsiden av en trekiste, med øks og sverd ved hver langside. Inne i kisteområdet var det relativt funntomt, bortsett fra to mynt- fragmenter og en klump med bek på 4 cm i diameter. Aldersbestemmelsen ut over våpen- typologien er en prøve fra ett av stolpehullene datert til 990–1040 e.Kr. (TRa-3791, 1010 ± 30 BP), i tillegg til en myntbestemmelse til 978–1016 e.Kr. (angelsaksisk penny fra 100 Æthelred II). Samlet peker dette mot en datering av grav 8 ved Langeid til første halvdel av 1000-tallet. Når bredøkser med skaftbeslag kommer inn i funnmaterialet i første del av 1000-tallet, er kristningen av Norge i gang, men den blir ikke fullbyrdet før omkring 1050. Ettersom våpenfunn normalt stammer fra førkristne gravfunn, forventer man å finne slike økser i områder som ble kristnet sent, slike som Fyresdal i Telemark og Setesdal i Aust-Agder, hvor tre av øksene er funnet (se figur 1). XRF-analyse Øksene fra Kulturhistorisk museums samling ble alle undersøkt med XRF (røntgenfluores- cens) av forfatteren for å vurdere legeringen i skaftbeslaget. Analysene viste at samtlige skaftbeslag bestod av messing med et relativt høyt innhold av sink, omkring 20–30 % (se tabell 2). Ved førindustriell messingproduksjon var rundt 30 % det høyeste sinknivået man fremstilte (Craddock 1990; Jouttijärvi 2002:32). Øksebeslagene er altså av messing av svært god kvalitet. Eksemplarene fra Lundehall og Horgen hadde et noe lavere sinknivå enn de øvrige, men det er fortsatt messing av god kvalitet med gyllen farge.
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