Finding Poetry in the Ground— a Kenning of Silver from Neble, Zealand

Authors

  • Peter Pentz The National Museum of Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v10i0.124251

Abstract

Abstract:

A circular pendant found near Neble, Zealand is interpreted as a double-sided amulet, decorated respectively on one side as a shield and as a wheel on the reverse. This dual iconography is suggested as a material reference to the kenning shield-wheel, known from Snorri Sturluson´s Skáldskaparmál.

References

Andrén, A., 2000. Re-reading embodied texts: An interpretation of rune-stones. Current Swedish Archaeology 8, 7–32.

Barreiro, S., 2014. Two Enraging Gifts in Egils saga. Mirator 15(2) 2014, 122-137.

Clunies Ross, M., 2005. A tale of two poets: Egill Skallagrímsson and Einarr skálaglamm. Arkiv för nordisk filologi 120 (2005), 69-82.

Clunies Ross, M., 2007. Stylistic and Generic Definers of the Old Norse Skaldic Ekphrasis. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 3, 159-192. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.2.302723

Clunies Ross, M., 2011. A history of old Norse poetry and poetics. Boydell & Brewer.

Clunies Ross, M., 2017. Bragi inn gamli Boddason, Ragnarsdrápa. In: Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold, eds. Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols.

Domeij Lundborg M., 2006. Bound Animal Bodies. Ornamentation and Skaldic Poetry in the Process of Christianization. In: A. Andrén, K. Jennbert and C. Raudvere, eds. Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives. Origins, Changes and Interactions. An International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 39-44.

Duczko, W., 1989. Runde Silberblechanhanger mit punziertem Muster. In: Greta Arwidsson, ed. Birka, ii.3: Systematische Analysen der Gräberfunde. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 9-18.

Edda: Skáldskaparmál, Anthony Faulkes trans 1998. London: Viking Society for Northern Research.

Gade, K.E., 2009. Halldórr skvaldri, Útfarardrápa. In: Kari Ellen Gade, ed. Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0038713412001303

Gardeła, L. and Odebäck, K., 2018. Miniature Shields in the Viking Age: A Reassessment. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 14, 81–133. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.5.116391

Guðmundsdóttir, A., 2012. Saga Motifs on Gotland Picture Stones. The Case of Hildr Högnadóttir. Gotländskt Arkiv 84, 59-71.

Hedeager, L., 2011. Iron Age Myth and Materiality: An Archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203829714

Heslop, K., 2009. Seeing things in the shield poems and other skaldic ekphrases. Conference paper, Mediale Auffälligkeit/Conspicuous Mediality, Zurich, 14-16 September 2009. Retrieved December 23, 2020 from http://kate-heslop.com/media/seeing_things_in_the_shield_poems.pdf

Hines, J., 2007. Ekphrasis as Speech-Act: Ragnarsdrápa 1-7. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 3, 225-244. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.2.302725

Homeri Ilias 2000. M.L. West ed., vol. 2. Rhapsodias XIII-XXIV et indicem nominum continens. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana. Stuttgart and Leipzig: B.G. Teubner.

Horn Fuglesang, S., 2007. Ekphrasis and Surviving Imagery in Viking Scandinavia. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 3, 193–224. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.2.302724

Jensen, B. 2010. Viking Age Amulets in Scandinavia and Western Europe. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 2169. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Kries, S., 2004. Fela i rúnum eða í skáldskap: Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian approaches to riddles and poetic disguises. In: T. Honegger, ed. Riddles, Knights and Cross-dressing Saints. Bern: Peter Lang, 139-164.

Lund, J., 2017. Connectedness with things. Animated objects of Viking Age Scandinavia and early medieval Europe. Archaeological Dialogues 24(1), 89–108. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1380203817000058

Mundal, E., 2020. Edda und Skaldendichtung, Handbuch der norrönen Philologie, Bd. 1, Kap. 5. Oslo: Novus 2020.

Oehrl, S., 2019. Die Bildsteine Gotlands: Probleme und neue Wege ihrer Dokumentation, Lesung und Deutung. Friedberg: Likias.

Price, N., 2010. Passing into poetry: Viking-age mortuary drama and the origins of Norse mythology. Medieval Archaeology 54, 123–156. https://doi.org/10.1179/174581710x12790370815779

Price, N., 2014. Nine paces from Hel: Time and motion in Old Norse ritual performance. World Archaeology 46, 178–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.883938

Stavnem, R., 2004. The kennings in Ragnarsdrápa. Mediaeval Scandinavia 14, 161–184.

Stavnem, R., 2014. Krønike og kunst. Om den norrøne skjaldedigtning som kilde til vikingetiden. Historisk Tidsskrift 113(2), 321-340. https://tidsskrift.dk/historisktidsskrift/article/view/56651

Squire, M., 2013. Ekphrasis at the forge and the forging of ekphrasis: The ‘shield of Achilles’ in Graeco-Roman word and image. Word and Image 29(2), 157-191. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2012.663612

Warming, R. F., Larsen, R., Sommer, D. V. P., Brandt, L. Ø., and Pauli Jensen, X., 2020. Shields and hide. On the use of hide in Germanic shields of the Iron Age and Viking Age. Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission, 155-225. https://doi.org/10.11588/BERRGK.2016.0.76641

Downloads

Published

2021-05-13 — Updated on 2022-01-11

Versions

How to Cite

Pentz, P. (2022). Finding Poetry in the Ground— a Kenning of Silver from Neble, Zealand. Danish Journal of Archaeology, 10, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v10i0.124251 (Original work published May 13, 2021)

Issue

Vol. 10 (2021)

Section

Brief Communication

License

Counting from volume 11 (2022), articles published in DJA are licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). The editorial board may accept other Creative Commons licenses for individual articles, if required by funding bodies e.g. the European Research Council. With the publication of volume 11, authors retain copyright to their articles and give DJA the right to the first publication. The authors retain copyright to earlier versions of the articles, such as the submitted and the accepted manuscript.

Articles in volume 1-8 are not licensed under Creative Commons. In these volumes, all rights are reserved to DJA. This implies that readers can download, read, and link to the articles, but they cannot republish the articles. Authors can upload their articles in an institutional repository as a part of a green open access policy.

Articles in volume 9-10 are not licensed under Creative Commons. In these volumes, all rights are reserved to the authors of the articles respectively. This implies that readers can download, read, and link to the articles, but they cannot republish the articles. Authors can upload their articles in an institutional repository.