Gold bracteates

This paper offers a brief preliminary presentation of my bracteate chronology, which is treated in full in 'Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit - Herstellungsprobleme und Chronologie' (2004). A more detailed discussion of the methods used can be found there, as well as definitions of the variables used and detailed descriptions of the groups resulting from the analyses.

2012 a hoard of four gold bracteates were found at the Stavnsager settlement in East Jutland. Two C-bracteates both carried runic inscriptions. The larger (IK 647) has a garbled futhark in a band ending in birds’ heads, closely related to other bracteates from the area, while the smaller (IK 650) only carries the runes ïz under the chin of the quadruped. The other two bracteates are of type D, one (IK 648) featuring a bird, while the other (IK 649) is exceptional in having the runic inscription aalul, perhaps a garbled alula (alu forwards and backwards). This is the first example of an indisputable D-bracteate with runes. The bracteates and their inscriptions will be discussed by Axboe & Imer in the forthcoming publication of the Sachsensymposion at Durham 2012.

This dissertation discusses Roman imperialism and runic literacy. It employs an interdisciplinary terminology. By means of terms new to archaeology, the growth of a specialized language, a technolect, is traced until it enters the realm of literacy. The author argues that there is more than one way for literacy to appear in prehistoric cultures. The ’normal’ perception is that literacy grows out of a need to keep records of a growing economic surplus. The ’other’ way for a culture to become literate is that someone else forces literacy upon it. This has been the case in many parts of the world subject to Western imperialism. The onslaught of Roman imperialism caused the invention of runic literacy in Northern Europe during the Early Roman Iron Age. The invention of the runic script should thus be seen as a preemptive reaction to the threat of Westernization. A comparison is made with a number of Early Modern Period cases of newly invented scripts caused by the arrival of literate Westerners in West Africa. The invention and introduction of the runes may well have been a dictated shift in literacy, seeking to break away from Latin. A number of dictated shifts in literacy from Early Modern Period America and Modern Period Asia are studied in comparison. The interaction between Germanic and Roman affinities was accentuated by the Roman army’s recruitment of Germanic men. These came to dominate the Roman army. This gave rise to a Germanic kleptocracy, a criminal rule in the post-Roman world. The role of runic literacy changed in the post-Roman aftermath of the Migration and Vendel Periods as the kleptocratic elite found it increasingly difficult to support a lavish lifestyle that included runic literacy. As a result, there was a decline in runic literacy in Northern Europe until the economic revival of the Viking Period. By then, it was clear that the North was soon to be integrated into the Christian West.

The bracteates of the Migration Period are golden pendants that belong in the female sphere of high-status material
culture. Outside Scandinavia, they were mainly found in female burials. The complicated images on these bracteates
are an authentic expression of Germanic ideology at a time when writing was almost unknown. Clusters of motifrelated
bracteates, produced by a copying process, allow us to reconstruct regions of dynamic exchange that make up
a common area of culture, religious beliefs and communication. Regardless of how their regulated iconography may
be interpreted today, the bracteates are perhaps the most important evidence of membership in and communication
between the elites of the Migration Period in northern Europe. One series of bracteates with closely related images is
known today as „female bracteates«. Their motif can be interpreted as a woman with objects of high social status,
thus visualising female elites of the migration period.

Goldbrakteaten und Frauengräber. Die materielle Kultur als Mittel der Elitenkommunikation
in der Völkerwanderungszeit
Die völkerwanderungszeitlichen Goldbrakteaten gehören als goldener Anhängeschmuck, der außerhalb von Skandinavien
hauptsächlich in Frauengräbern gefunden wird, in die weibliche Sphäre der gehobenen Sachkultur. Einige ihrer
bildlichen Darstellungen lassen genauso wie die Fundumstände Rückschlüsse auf die Lebenswirklichkeit ihrer Besitzerinnen
zu. Gleichzeitig sind die goldenen Bildträger dafür geeignet, Verbindungen der Menschen und Elitenkommunikation
über weite Regionen Nordeuropas hinaus zu rekonstruieren. Von besonderem Interesse ist eine kleine Gruppe
motivisch verwandter Stücke, die als Darstellungen von Frauen interpretiert wird. Diese sog. Frauenbrakteaten sind mit
Bildchiffren hohen sozialen Status ausgestattet. Somit visualisiert das Motiv weibliche Eliten der Völkerwanderungszeit.

The three Swedish collars are unique goldsmith masterpieces of the Migration Age, because of the great number of small beings that inhabit them: animals, humans and hybrids. Whereas all of these figurines were individually carved into the gold and ornated with filigree or granulation, the small masks of the Ålleberg collar stand out as being seemingly replicates. Which method was used to replicate these originally 43 masks on the collar? A thorough study of these masks is presented as well as of the bracteates ornated with replicated or unique masks. Two different techniques are proposed for the manufacture of these small masks, both going back to Roman goldsmith techniques. One of these techniques was widely used in the antique and Germanic worlds and its roots go back to Archaic Greek methods. The technique used to make the masks on the Ålleberg collar and on a few of the bracteates’ masks is a much rarer type, which has only parallels in Roman goldsmith techniques of the second-fourth centuries A.D.

At first sight, the imagery on the gold pendant jewellery of northern Europe could be taken as depictions of falconry hunting: some gold bracteates from the Migration Period (5th–6th centuries AD) show a central motif with a large anthropomorphic head on top of a quadruped and, in addition, a small bird. Yet in comparison to other bracteate motifs and to all related images of their time, such an interpretation should be rejected – whether it is understood as a real or mythical scene. On other kinds of objects, clear portrayals of the use of birds of prey as hunting assistants are also lacking. Consequently, there is no evidence of the existence or even the knowledge of falconry in the Germanic North during the 5th and 6th centuries.

Runic inscriptions on Scandinavian Migration Period gold bracteates have long been considered problematic. Although many of them are readable, only a few are interpretable. One of the major questions about bracteate texts is whether they are related to the images depicted on the pieces. During the past quarter century, these inscriptions have been interpreted chiefly on the basis of Karl Hauck's identification of the major figure depicted on bracteates as Odin. However, there are other interpretations of the pictures that may also assist our understanding of the texts. This paper examines some of these alternative explanations of bracteate imagery, with particular reference to how the objects were used and by whom, the aim being to arrive at a better understanding of the inscriptions.

Criticising Halldór Stefánsson’s 1993 article on Japanese Reception of Old Scandinavian Mythology in Manga media, this paper surveys the tradition of artistic visualisation of Scandinavian Mythology, which leads to recognise Japanese manga as another layer of such tradition of interpreting Norse mythological elements into visual artistic works.  In its analysis, the author categorises those Japanese manga works which deal with Norse mythological elements with various ways of utilization/interpretation.  Refering to Matsumoto Sayaka’s 2018 attempt of similar categorisation, this paper treats A: Works of Medievalism, with its three sub-categories: A-1 which makes “faithful” use of the fruits of medieval (Scandinavian/Icelandic) studies; A-2 with Wagnerianism; A-3 with Pseudo-Medieval Fantasy; B: Works of Science Fiction; C: Liberally Re-told versions of Norse Myth; D: Works full of depictions of Present-Day Japanese way of life.  With 56 works in consideration, it refers to several manga works including Ishinomori Shotaro’s Cyborg 009, Azumi Ryo’s Scarlet Sword and Der Ring des Nibelungen, Miyama Noboru’s Godot, concluding that their interpretations of Norse mythology are worth sincere academic consideration and examination.

Fischer, S.; López Sánchez, F.&Victor,H., 2011. The 5th Century Hoard of Theodosian
Solidi from Stora Brunneby, Öland, Sweden. A Result from the LEO Project.
Fornvännen 106. Stockholm.
The Stora Brunneby hoard of 17 solidi with a terminus post quem of 451 is presented
and analysed as a preliminary result of the LEO Project. Its type composition
and the coins' averageweight are quite unusual and support a wider interpretation.

A belt buckle from Burwell was analysed within the scope of the project »International Framework«. Additional to the
garnet analyses (to be published) the iconography of one zoomorphic element which decorates the buckle shall be
discussed here. It is a double-headed animal with the body of a snake and birds‘ heads. Although this motif was popular
in the Early Middle Ages the origin of its predecessors goes back to antiquity. A contemporary comparison is interesting
as it links the buckle from Burwell with the iconography of Vendel period Sweden. The stylistic comparison
suggests that the motif of the Burwell buckle is an abridged motif, a cypher. It belongs to a pictorial cypher which is
documented numerously in the north-western parts of 7th century Europe.
(in German)

A Network of Central Places. Gold Bracteates as Evidence for Contacts, Cooperation and Rivalries of Early Medieval Central Places. Gold bracteates with their particular images and runic inscriptions are evidence for contacts among the elites in migration-period northern Europe. At the same time these highly standardized images of gods attest the ideological or rather cultural-political commonalities of the elites. Such a high level of uniformity can only be explained through very good, all but permanent exchanges between peoples. To provide such exchanges, central places were vital, because it was here that members of the elites from different places came together and met with the designers and makers of bracteates. That is why an examination of central places is a precondition for the understanding of bracteate manufacture and distribution. Identification and investigation of early central places or rather centres of power or so-called ‘productive sites’ have led in recent decades to far-reaching new insights into the economic and administrative structures of early medieval orthern Europe. Among a range of different indicators finds of Gold bracteates are among the most important clues for the localization of These sites. As examples, five well-known south-Scandinavian and north-German central places will be discussed together with their bracteate finds: Gudme/Lundeborg, Uppåkra, Sorte Muld, Ravlunda and Sievern (p. 244, Abb. 4). In a short overview several other relevant central places will be referred to. These places were multi-functional. They played already a similar role in their regions as the later towns as supra-regional trading places, centres for craft production, military garrisons, cult sites and residences for the elites. Another part of this contribution deals with the animal style, the art style that was used on numerous objects of daily use in migration-period Germanic Europe. At that time all artistic expressions were perceived as meaningful. Not only the images on bracteates, but also those on brooches or sword mounts, transmitted beyond the specific statement of each of their motifs some greater ideological or rather religious world-views and common political ideals. The Germanic animal style I integrated as a Kind of Germanic ‘corporate design’ large parts of northern Germanic Europe including its peripheral areas of influence into a shared cultural unity. The fast and faithful reproduction and distribution of these images over large parts of Europe can be explained by repeated local copying. With the help of gold bracteates it is possible to demonstrate how these processes in which images were conceptualized, distributed and copied may have functioned. Bracteates with their standardized designs and motifs attest to intense exchanges of images and with it to constant communication between the people who were responsible for design and distribution of the images. A close-knit network of central places provided the precondition for this form of communication through images among the elites. Contact, exchange and close cooperation between several centres advanced the artistic expressions right from the beginning as a common enterprise. The central places coexisted and interacted within the network. They can be perceived as places that existed and acted independently, but were geared towards shared ideas. They had lively cultural and economic exchanges following common guiding principles. They influenced each other and formed together a political-cultural network, that later became the foundation for the first Scandinavian kingdoms.

Byzantine gold coins found in China are important material evidence of the economic and cultural contact between the Byzantine Empire and ancient China. Well, what kind of information do they have? And what could researchers get from them? This paper, by sorting and classifying them into three categories --- Byzantine solidi, imitation and bracteates, is trying to clear the relative clues and questions in order to provide reference for further research

Within the higher order of the basic-type conceptions of the A-, B-, C- and D-bracteates, groups of bracteates
exist that show great similarities between their single picure images (Formulare). These so called “Formularfamilies”
are characterised by the fact that their members vary special iconographic or stylistic details which
cannot be caused by the basic type of image concept nor by the picture testimony, the manufacturing process or
the general conventions of the animal style. So we may be sure that the pieces are dependent on a mutual
presentation or the same original pattern. Therefore the Formular-families must been created through copy
processes using stil lexisting bracteates, dies (matrices) or other joint patterns. This copy method imply contact
and an intense exchange between different bracteate-areas. As a result of this fact, Formular-families are important
witnesses to the connections and communications which must have taken place between their sites of find in the
migration period. Picture-conceptions from east and west meet in Uppåkra. The bracteate producers of that
central place were ideologically and technically in the position to vary the common germanic picture code, to
change and further develop it, without completely deserting the joint framework. So the independence of
Uppåkras elite is mirrored in the souvereign production of gold bracteates.

A new find of bracteat of gold
This is an excavation report. It is a new find of a C-brakteat, 1867 it was found an F-brakeat on the same spot, direct to a small wetland and close to sea.
The brakteat found in 2016 was worn, but the brakteat found in 1867 was not. The brakteat from 1867 has runic inscriptions “WīgaR, ich, der Eril”. ”Erilar” use to be connected to the tribe Heruli. The tube is of an exclusive type.
Photos, excavation, Sweden, gold, bracteat, runic inscriptions, heruli, 2016 and 1867, wetland
All in swedish

Popular paper in Danish on Migration Period gold finds from Vesthimmerland in Central Jutland, their find history and importance. Although no 'central place' has been located in the area, several of the gold bracteates show independent and innovative iconographies, testifying to the wealth and intellectual vigour of the area.