A storm of swords and spears: The weapon dancer as an enduring symbol in prehistoric Scandinavia

Abstract

The past fifteen years have witnessed increasing effort to study and understand the belief system of Bronze Age Scandinavia. Different forms of material culture-including rock art and metalwork-and allusions to texts such as the Vedic Rig Veda, have led many to suggest the existence of a shared belief system with an Indo-European solar focus. Yet certain symbols attributed to this Indo-European system seem to have striking parallels in later Norse religious iconography-symbols such as weapon dancer imagery. Several examples of Bronze Age rock art display scenes of weapon-bearing figures, performing ritualistic motions that some have interpreted as dancing. Could this represent a case of prehistoric continuity? By presenting and comparing the Iron and Bronze Age evidence, this paper suggests a possible continuity in representations of warrior rituals on figurative material, underlining the importance of advertising a warrior identity and mentality in Prehistoric Scandinavian communities. In doing so, it also emphasizes the endurance of Prehistoric Scandinavian symbolic structures overall.

Miniature Spears in the Viking Age: Small Symbols of Óðinn?

“…The reason for selecting this particular weapon could be its ancient origin -spears had been commonly used by Germanic warriors long before the Viking Age, not only in armed conflict but also in ritual performances, as implied by their frequent occurrence in Early and Late Iron Age iconography showing 'dancing' warriors clad in animal skins (e.g. Holmqvist 1960;Speidel 2004;Price 2019, 306-311;Maddox 2020). It is impossible to know for certain if the spear with which Óðinn wounds himself in Hávámal is just a random spear or if it is actually his special spear Gungnir ('swaying one'), a magic weapon crafted by the dwarves (on Gungnir, see Simek 2006, 124) and mentioned in several Old Norse texts, for instance Sigrdrífumál 17 and Skáldskaparmál 9 and 33.…”

Narrative Aspects of Images of Spear Use in Scandinavian Rock Carvings

“…But it is also often far from obvious that it is combat or hunting scenes that is being displayed, whether real or idealized. Possibly, ritualized events, such as ceremonial dances incorporating the use of spears, which in turn refer to spear uses in real situations, are depicted; in that case, they would act more as 'images of (performative) images' (see also Maddox, 2020).…”