Viking Objects
Mystery Hacksilver
A fragment of silver from an unidentified object. The piece has been pierced at one end but may have come from an armring or other piece of jewellery. As hacksilver, it would have been used to pay for items by weight of silver.
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Viking Names
Legg
An original byname, Leggr ‘leg-bone, leg’ appears first in Norway as a byname and is borne by one of the original settlers in Iceland, but is found as a personal name in West Scandinavia. Leggr is the first element of the place name Legsby, Lincolnshire.
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Viking Names
Kol
Kolr is a common male personal name in Norway and Iceland. It is probably related to the Old Norse noun kol ‘coal’ and is attested as the first element in the hybrid name Colston (Bassett) and (Car) Colston in Nottinghamshire. It is also attested as the first element in other Old Norse names, such as Kolbeinn.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Copper Alloy-Edged Lead Weight
A lead weight edged with a copper alloy band.
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Viking Names
Bekki
The Old Norse postulated male name Bekki is possibly an Anglo-Scandinavian formation originally from Old Norse bekkr ‘brook’. However, it could also be related to Frisian Becke or Continental Germanic Becco. Another possible derivation is from Old English becca ‘mattock’. Bekki is believed to be the first element in the place-name Bigby, Lincolnshire.
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Viking Art Styles in the East Midlands: Borre
Traders, raiders, and artists? When Vikings are conjured in the popular imagination they clasp swords rather than chisels, but many of the Viking Age objects found in the East Midlands demonstrate intricate craftsmanship that still survives after a thousand years. replica watches UK Scandinavian art styles evolved throughout the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 AD) and are today classified into a loose chronology: Borre, Jelling, Mammen, Ringerike, and Urnes. These styles often overlap stylistically and chronologically, but there are enough distinctive features and recurring motifs to separate objects in various media into these identifiable styles. replica omega watches These art styles further developed in the British Isles with some objects retaining pure ‘Viking’ ornament or featuring a hybrid Insular style that slightly modifies Scandinavian features to fit a new social and artistic context. This blog series will briefly explore the characteristics of the Scandinavian art styles appearing in the East Midlands through the objects themselves.panerai replica watches The Borre Style One of the earliest Viking art styles, the Borre style, was prevalent in Scandinavia from the the late ninth to the late tenth century. The style derives its name from group of bronze harness mounts discovered in a ship grave from Borre, Vestfold, Norway. The style is characterised by a range of geometric and zoomorphic motifs and the occasional gripping beast. The Borre Style in the East Midlands The Borre style came to England with the Scandinavian settlers from the late ninth century. The style proved to be popular amongst insular artists and appears on several forms of media such as stone sculpture and metal brooches throughout the British Isles. One object in the East Midlands that exemplifies the Borre style is a gilded, copper alloy equal armed-brooch fragment found in Harworth Bircotes, Nottinghamshire. There is a diagnostic Borre style beast with gripping arms and legs that has parallels with a find in Birka, Sweden. However, the gripping beast motif in England is quite rare as this brooch fragment is one of only six Scandinavian, Viking period equal-armed brooches recorded in England. A gilded, copper alloy equal armed-brooch found in Harworth Bircotes, Nottinghamshire with a Borre Style animal. Reproduction equal-armed brooch in the Borre style made by Adam Parsons Another copper alloy, gilded disc brooch in the Borre style found in Cossington, Leicestershire was probably brought to England from Denmark. The interweaving tendrils on this disc are characteristic of the Borre style and recall interlacing loops formed from gripping beasts. Scandinavian brooches tended to be domed with a hollow back compared to the English counterparts which were flat at the time. Borre disc brooch found in Cossington, Leicestershire The Borre style is not restricted to brooches in the East Midlands, it is also found on other objects such as this copper-alloy strap-end found in Brookenby, Nottinghamshire. Borre style strap-end found in Brookenby, Nottinghamshire The style is also found on a few buckles in the East Midlands including the copper-alloy belt fragment pictured below which is thought to be from a flat buckle. The object was found near Coddington, Nottinghamshire, and has few comparable examples. Another copper-alloy buckle was found near Earl Shilton, Leistershire. This buckle consists of an oval loop with a circular cross section and has an elongated triangular pin rest in the form of an animal head. The animal head has a pointed snout, rounded head with rounded upwards pointing ears which merge into the buckle loop. Copper-Alloy Buckle Fragment in the Borre style found near Coddington, Nottinghamshire A copper-alloy belt buckle in the Borre style found near Earl Shilton, Leicestershire All of these artefacts display the variety of isomorphic and geometric designs found within the Borre style and how this style was used to decorate different kinds of objects. The Ring Chain An instantly recognisable motif of the Borre style is the symmetrical, double contoured ring-chain. ‘This composition consists of a chain of interlacing circles, divided by transverse bars and overlaid by lozenges’ (Kershaw 2010, 2). Occasionally, the ring-chain terminates in an animal. The ring-chain appears in a modified ‘vertebral’ variant on stone sculptures in the British Isles where ‘a rib of truncated triangles’ is ‘flanked by side loops’ (Kershaw 2010, 2). The best-known example of the vertebral ring-chain is on the Gosforth Cross in Cumbria, but it is also found in the Isle of Man, Yorkshire, and even the East Midlands, engraved on a stone from St. Mary’s Church in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Borre ring chain design found at St Mary’s Church, Bakewell, Derbyshire © Roderick Dale References: Kershaw, Jane 2010. ‘Viking-Age Scandinavian art styles and their appearance in the British Isles Part 1: Early Viking-Age art styles‘, Finds Research Group Datasheet 42, pp. 1-7
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Oval Brooches
Oval brooches were used to fasten dresses in the Viking Age. They are diagnostically Scandinavian and indicate a Scandinavian identity wherever they are found. This pair of brooches is a reproduction of a pair found at Adwick le Street near Doncaster. The mismatched pair were buried with a Norwegian woman who died within a generation of the arrival of the Great Army in the mid-ninth century. Scandinavian brooches came in a variety of sizes and shapes which included disc, trefoil, lozenge, equal-armed, and oval shapes. The different brooch types served a variety of functions in Scandinavian female dress with oval brooches typically being used as shoulder clasps for apron-type dresses and the rest being used to secure an outer garment to an inner shift. Anglo-Saxon brooches do not match this diversity of form with large disc brooches being typical of ninth century dress styles with smaller ones becoming more popular in the later ninth and tenth centuries. However, since disc brooches were used by both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian women they are distinguished by their morphology. Scandinavian brooches were typically domed with a hollow back while Anglo-Saxon brooches were usually flat. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon brooches were worn singly without accompanying accessories.
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Vypovziv: A Viking Age outpost in Ukraine
In July 2018 a group of University of Nottingham students from the School of English went on an archaeological expedition to Vypovziv, Ukraine. The group was led by Dr Cat Jarman from the University of Bristol whose work on Viking camps at Repton has yielded spectacular results. As a result, Dr Jarman’s work with the Repton winter camp is particularly relevant to the project and allows sites such as Vypovziv to be compared more easily with its English counterparts. (c) William Pidzamecky The village of Vypovziv is located two hours north of Chernihiv and is the site of a Viking Age Rus outpost. The outpost served as a control point along the Desna river route as well as a toll/re-supply station for travellers and merchants coming along the river to or from Kyiv during the later 9th through to the late 10th century. The Viking outpost is located on top of a tall ridge that stands out in the low marshy landscape and would have bisected the Desna River. The site included a fortified area with a palisade and a surrounding open settlement. The site included a fortified area with a palisade and a surrounding open settlement. Vypovziv, and sites like it, shares many similarities such as layout, location, and types of artefacts to winter camps in England such as Torksey and Repton, where Dr Cat Jarman is currently conducting archaeological fieldwork. Vypovziv, Repton, and Torksey all had some form of defence to protect them, were located in naturally strategic positions near rivers which provided easy access by boat, and at one stage in their lifespan became administrative and/or commercial centres. All three sites had a mixture of inhabitants, including women and children, and were specifically created by Scandinavian immigrants. The main difference between them is the initial motivation for their founding, Vypovziv was established as a point of control along a trade route while sites such as Repton and Torksey began life as a base for the Great Viking Army invading England. The Nottingham team were given a previously unexcavated section within the boundaries of what would have been the settlement area of the outpost just down the ridge from the fortified area. The artefacts found ranged in date from the late 9th century to the 12th century and included tools such as needles and awls, imported and local glass beads, imported jewellery, and various pieces of pottery, one making its way from the Byzantine Empire. The last day produced perhaps the most interesting finds, two ovens demarcating two separate dwellings. The team looks forward to returning next July to continue their exciting work. The expedition was made possible by funding secured by William Pidzamecky through the Cascade Grants Programme. The group joined the archaeological team from the University of Chernihiv, led by Dr Vyacheslav Skorohod, which has been excavating at the site for over a decade.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Strap-End (DENO-E40172)
An incomplete copper-alloy strap-end decorated with zoomorphic motifs and stylised human or animal head. It has been identified typologically as belonging to Thomas Class B Type 4.