Denmark
Category archives for Denmark
Another Gold Foil Figure Die from Zealand
Posted by Martin R on February 1, 2013 
Another one of the rare production dies for 6/7/8th century gold foil figures has come to light, again on Zealand! This is an unusual design depicting a lady from the front. She’s wearing a long dress, a cloak and two bead strings. She seems to be cupping her hands around a ring at her abdomen.…
New Dates for the Bronze Age
Posted by Martin R on January 23, 2013 When I was an undergrad in 1990 we were taught that all six periods of the Scandinavian Bronze Age were 200 (or in one case 300) years long. The most recent radiocarbon work shows that they all had different lengths and were more likely 130-280 years long. And the periods with the most abundant metalwork…
Best Danefae of 2012
Posted by Martin R on January 18, 2013 Most prosperous countries have legislation for what kinds of archaeological finds a citizen has to hand in to the authorities. In Denmark, still using a Medieval term, such finds are termed danefae, “property of the dead”. And here is Danish TV4′s list of the top-10 such finds of 2012. All but one of them have…
Valkyrie Figurine From Hårby
Posted by Martin R on January 7, 2013 
Etymologically speaking, ”valkyrie” means ”chooser of the slain”. The job of these supernatural shield maidens in Norse mythology is to select who dies on the battlefield and guide their souls to Odin’s manor, where they will spend the afterlife training for the Twilight of the Gods, the final battle against the forces of chaos. After…
New Migration Period Hoard
Posted by Martin R on September 18, 2012 
A few weeks ago my friend Tobias Bondesson and his fellow amateur detectorists Iohannes M. Sundberg and Tommy Olesen found a 3.5 kg silver and gold hoard from the 5th century AD near Roskilde in Denmark. They reported their find to the town museum, the hoard was lifted by experts and excavations are ongoing. This…
Bronze Age Mortuary Cult In Viborg
Posted by Martin R on March 8, 2012 Yesterday I went to Jutish Viborg by train, plane and bus. This took a bit less than eight hours. Exiting Aalborg airport into the icy sleet I managed to walk straight into the glass wind breaker outside the turnstile, banging my forehead and knee. Everybody around studiously avoided noticing my antics. On arriving in Viborg…
The Dancing Beasts of Hvirring
Posted by Martin R on November 28, 2011 Here’s a cool new detector find from Hvirring in central Jutland, Denmark. I’ve never seen a piece like this before: measuring only 45 mm in length, it must be a top mount for something – box, horse yoke, staff? But the motif, four dancing gripping beasts, and the style they’re executed in, place the thing…
Recent Archaeomags
Posted by Martin R on September 16, 2011 Here’s a quick look at the most recent windfall of popular archaeomags that has reached my big black mailbox. I’ve decided to terminate a few of the complimentary subscriptions, so these rundowns will be shorter and/or less frequent in the future. If you want, Dear Reader, you can check back at the five instalments I’ve…
Sacrificial Finds in the Late Bronze Age Local Landscape
Posted by Martin R on July 20, 2011 Since the autumn of 2009, I’ve spent most of my research efforts studying sacrificial finds in the Bronze Age local landscape. I was thus pleasantly surprised (though a little disappointed because I missed the whole thing) when I learned that there had been a symposium on the theme “Sacrificial finds in the Late Bronze Age…
Recent Archaeomags
Posted by Martin R on March 15, 2011 Skalk’s first issue for 2011 opens with a great article by Mr. Bronze Age Religion himself, Flemming Kaul. It deals with two wooden votive helmets found in a bog on Lolland in Denmark. Their closest parallels are from a big multiperiod deposit of pre-Roman metal helmets found at Negova/Negau in Slovenia. One of the latter…
