Connectedness with things. Animated objects of Viking Age Scandinavia and early medieval Europe

Abstract

This article examines a small group of artefacts of the Viking Age that may have been perceived as animated objects. These specific weapons and pieces of jewellery appear in narratives in the Old Norse sources as named, as having a will of their own, as possessing personhood. In archaeological contexts the same types of artefact are handled categorically differently than the rest of the material culture. Further, the possible links between these perspectives and the role of animated objects in early medieval Christianity of the Carolingian Empire are examined through studies of the reopening of Reihengräber and the phenomenon offurta sacra. By linking studies of the social biographies of objects with studies of animism, the article aims to identify aspects of Viking Age ontology and its similarities to Carolingian Christianity.

Crossing the Maelstrom: New Departures in Viking Archaeology

“…Simultaneously, we find increasing interest in what an individual is in terms of the study of personhood: what constituted being considered a person and what it meant to be a person in Viking Age Scandinavia. This has been explored in burials (Fahlander 2016(Fahlander , 2018Lund 2013Lund , 2017 and, with a focus on the relationship between personhood and objecthood, in hoards (Lund 2015(Lund , 2017Myrberg 2009a, b). The perspective of personhood holds the potential to challenge the preconception of grave goods as being directly and intimately linked with the deceased individual in the grave as the possessions of the deceased.…”

“…Through the 2000s, Viking Age archaeology moved from studying Old Norse paganism exclusively as a religion to examining it as worldviews, minds, and aspects of the cognitive landscape, thus including and incorporating social and cultural perspectives and consequences (e.g., Andrén et al 2006;Hedeager 2011), or what Price (2002) has termed "the Viking way." Following this line of thought, new studies have broadened these issues into a study of Viking Age ontology (Back Danielsson 2007Eriksen 2019;Fahlander 2018;Lund 2013Lund , 2017.…”

A Double-edged Sword: Swords, Bodies, and Personhood in Early Medieval Archaeology and Literature

“…Although many types of weapons are mythologized in this way, swords are the most common. Similarly, the archaeological record suggests that swords interweave a series of cultural, personal and physical relations (Ingold, 2010; Paz, 2017; Lund, 2017). Medieval swords are not physically or socially static objects.…”

“…In the right combination objects can produce an empowering aesthetic which embodies and expresses cultural values seen in art, literature, and storytelling. Specific non-human things can be described using enigmatic, multi-layered or animistic language through which they can be ascribed person-like or empowering qualities (Paz, 2017; Lund, 2017).…”

Maria Bormpoudaki, Merieke van den Doel, Wim Hupperetz, Faida Kalafatri, Lindsay Morehouse, Lynda Mulvin and Michael Schumacher, eds. Crossroads: Travelling through the Middle Agesad300–1000 (Zwolle & Amsterdam: WBooks & Allard Pierson Museum, 2017, 208pp., 218 colour illustr., pbk, ISBN 978-92-823-8929-4) - Taja Vovk van Gaal, ed. Interactions: Centuries of Commerce, Combat, and Creation. Temporary Exhibition Catalogue (Brussels: House of European History, 2017, 196 pp., 154 colour illu

“…The wider research context exploring these themes includes: Lund (2017) on Viking Age biographical objects; Rosenow and colleagues (2018) on the movement of Mediterranean glass in the first millennium ad ; Bradley (2017) exploring votive practices in prehistory and the early Middle Ages; and Bergerbrant and Wessman (2017) on several new approaches to understanding the Bronze Age and its European connectedness. The big change in the wider research arena that has not yet reached the exhibition stage is the explosion in ancient genomic and isotopic studies, proving to be pivotal in studies of migration, movement, and linguistic development.…”