Thresholds and Passages: The Meanings of Bridges and Crossings in the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages

Living Places or Animated Objects? Sámi Sacrificial Places with Metal Objects and Their South Scandinavian Parallels

“…One specific type of brooch of the Urnes type was deposited in the Sámi sacrificial place Vindelgransele, Lycksele parish (Statens Historiska Museum, SHM 22815) and in a south Scandinavian wetland context, a bog in Mollerup in Jutland (Lund 2009, 121-122). Keys were found on the sacrificial place at Unna Saiva (Serning 1956, 131), just as keys are typical wetland finds in south Scandinavia (Lund 2005(Lund , 117, 2006(Lund , 2009. Thus, it can be argued that there is a parallelism in the two traditions in terms of object types chosen for hoarding.…”

“…These parallels have not been the object of prior investigations. These finds are characterized by weapons, tools, coins, jewellery, keys and whetstones that were deposited in lakes, bogs and watercourses at places with standing water (Zachrisson 1998;Hedeager 1999;Andrén 2002;Lund 2004a;Pedersen 2004;Lund 2005;Ryste 2005;Lund 2010). The majority of the south Scandinavian depositions consist of only 1-3 objects, but a few such as Råbelöv Sjö in Scania, Tissø on Zealand and Gudingsåkrarna on Gotland included, respectively, 35, 50 and around 500 objects (Müller-Wille 1984;Jørgensen 2002;Lund 2008Lund , 2009; see Figure 1).…”

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

“…A number of scholars have subsequently pointed out that the number of wetland depositions may have been very low in the 6th–8th centuries (as only a few finds from this period have been made in total), but that they increased significantly in the Viking Age. These finds include weapons, but also tools, keys, whetstones, coins, jewellery and other objects of precious metal, whole and fragmented, that were deposited in lakes, bogs and watercourses at places with standing water (Zachrisson 1998; Hedeager 1999; 2003; Andrén 2002; Lund 2004; 2005; 2008; 2009; Pedersen 2004; Ryste 2005). The majority of the south Scandinavian depositions consist of only one to three objects, but a few locations such as Råbelöv Sjö in Scania, Tissø on Zealand and Gudingsåkrarna on Gotland contained respectively 35, 50 and around 500 objects (Müller-Wille 1984; Jørgensen 2002; Lund 2009, 77–79).…”

More Theory for Mortuary Research of the Viking World

“…Occasionally, the inscriptions on the rune stones themselves declare that the stones were raised at crossroads, as on two rune stones in the county of Småland (Sm 45 and Sm 60). In her study of Late Viking-age rune stones in the Mälar valley and the county of Uppland in particular, Zachrisson (1998: 194) has concluded that these rune stones were mostly placed where different boundaries met, most specifically at property boundaries as well as at bridge crossings (see Lund, 2005 for bridge crossings). Crossroads inevitably entail slowing down and, when slowing down, encounters with rune stones and other features are prolonged.…”