Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A small figurine found in Japanese Norway offers probably the most detailed depiction but of a Viking’s coiffure and distinctive beard from the period of Harald Bluetooth. Regardless of its mere three-centimeter peak, the figurine is remarkably well-groomed, probably providing the closest visible illustration we now have of a Norwegian man from a thousand years in the past, assuming their self-portrayal is correct.
Credit score: Roberto Fortuna, the Nationwide Museum
The figurine was seemingly unearthed in 1796 and portrays the top and torso of a Viking with an astute expression and an elaborate coiffure. This gaming piece was found in a burial mound at Fløgstad farm in Sørum village, located roughly 30 kilometers northeast of Oslo. For over two centuries, it remained saved away within the archives of the Danish Nationwide Museum till it just lately reemerged when curator Peter Pentz sought artifacts for a brand new Viking exhibition in Copenhagen.
“It’s distinctive that we now have such a vivid depiction of a Viking, even a three-dimensional one. It is a miniature bust and as shut as we are going to ever get to a portrait of Viking,” says Peter Pentz, who’s a curator on the Nationwide Museum.
He seen the little Viking in reference to the museum’s present exhibition about Viking Age seeresses, which the figurine is a part of.
“Once I got here throughout him in certainly one of our storage rooms a couple of years in the past, I used to be actually shocked – he simply sat there, wanting straight at me, and I had by no means earlier than seen such a Viking, not within the a few years I’ve been on the museum,”Pentz explains in a press launch.
The figurine has grow to be a focus in ongoing analysis on the Nationwide Museum, which examines collectible figurines and symbolism from the Viking Age. This examine is featured within the journal Medieval Archaeology. Viking-Age artwork is usually acknowledged for its distinctive animal motifs and infrequently depicts human figures, making this explicit figurine noteworthy. It stands out as a result of it not solely represents a human determine but in addition conveys character and expression.
Moreover, Peter Pentz highlights that the detailed depiction of the person’s coiffure affords precious insights into Viking-Age grooming practices. Regardless of some injury to the figurine, its coiffure could be recognized as having a center parting with a facet wave that leaves one ear seen, whereas being cropped on the again. The determine additionally contains a distinguished moustache, together with a protracted braided goatee and sideburns.
“Hitherto, we haven’t had any detailed data about Viking hairstyles, however right here, we get all the small print – even the little curl above the ear is marked. That is the primary time we see a determine of a male Viking together with his hair seen from all angles. It’s distinctive,” says Peter Pentz.
The just lately found figurine, although new to our consciousness, has a protracted historical past. It was one of many earliest objects cataloged on the Nationwide Museum over 200 years in the past, bearing the registration quantity 589 amongst roughly 2 million objects. These vary from Stone Age axes and runestones to fashionable artifacts, comparable to contraceptive drugs and face masks from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unearthed in 1797, this figurine was present in an equestrian burial web site believed to belong to a Viking warrior close to Viken by the Oslofjord. This burial dates again to the latter half of the tenth century throughout Harald Bluetooth’s reign, when Viken seemingly fell below his area.
See additionally: Extra Archaeology Information
Crafted from walrus ivory—a extremely prized materials in the course of the Viking Age—the figurine is a part of Hnefatafl, also known as Viking-Age chess. It represents the king, which is taken into account probably the most essential piece on this sport. Hnefatafl loved reputation from the eighth by means of the eleventh centuries and was launched into England with Viking raids earlier than ultimately being changed by chess.
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Workers Author
