Invitation systems and identification in Late Iron Age southern Scandinavia?

The gold foil figures from a new perspective

Authors

  • Maria Panum Baastrup

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2016.1151692

Keywords:

Invitation systems, gold foil figures, Late Iron Age, Scandinavia

Abstract

The ability to identify oneself has always been important, because people in all periods entered into relationships in which their role depended upon their identity. This must have been of great importance to long-distance connections in prehistory, in cases where people did not know the appearance of the foreign individuals they were to connect with. The aim of this article is to present an idea of how a system of identification may have been established. It is intended as ‘food for thought’ on the subject. Gold foil figures could have played a role in prehistoric invitation systems, the identification of a person’s true identity and in the dependency upon magnates in southern Scandinavia during the 6th–8th centuries AD. The gold foil figures may have been tokens issued by the magnate and served as invitations to special events, at a time when there was apparently a preoccupation with organising cult activities at the elite residences and restricting places at and admission to such events. The figures did not guarantee that it was the right guests who arrived on these occasions, but presenting this type of token may have minimised the risk of allowing in impostors.

Author Biography

Maria Panum Baastrup

Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen K, Denmark

References

Al-Asad, K., Briquel-Chatonnet, F., and Yon, J.P., 2005. The sacred banquets at Palmyra and the function of the tesserae: reflections on the tokens found in the Arsu Temple. In: E. Cussini, ed. A Journey to Palmyra. Collected Essays to Remember Delbert R. Hillers. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 22. Leiden-Boston, 1–10.

Andersson, L., 1989. Pilgrimsmärken och vallfart. Medeltida pilgrimskultur i Skandinavien. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Andrén, A., 1991. Guld och makt - en tolkning av de skandinaviske guldbrakteaternas funktion. In: C. Fabech and J. Ringtved, eds. Samfundsorganisation og regional variation. Norden i romersk jernalder og folkevandringstid. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter 27. Højberg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, 245–256.

Andrén, A., 2002. Platsernas betydelse. Norrön ritual och kultplatskontinuitet. In: K. Jennbert, A. Andrén, and C. Raudvere, eds. Plats och praxis – studier av nordisk förkristen ritual. Vägar till Midgård 2. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 299–342.

Axboe, M., 2001. Amulet pendants and a darkened sun. On the function of the gold bracteates and a possible motivation for the large gold hoards. KVHAA Konferenser 51. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 119–136.

Axboe, M., 2005. Guld og guder. In: K. Boe, ed. Ragnarok. Odins verden. Silkeborg: Silkeborg Museum, 41–56. Axboe, M., 2007. Brakteatstudier. Nordiske Fortidsminder, Serie B, Bind 25, København: Det Kongelige: Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.

Baastrup, M.P., in prep. Metalfundene fra Toftegård. Back Danielsson, I., 1999. Engendering performance in the Late Iron Age. Current Swedish Archaeology, 7, 7–20.

Back Danielsson, I., 2007. Masking moments: The transition of bodies and beings in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 40. Stockholm: Stockholms universitet.

Christensen, T., 2015. Lejre bag myten. De arkæologiske udgravninger. Højbjerg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. Colledge, M.A.R., 1976. The Art of Palmyra. Hampshire: Westview Press.

Hauck, K., 1992. Frühmittelalterliche Bildüberlieferung und der organisierte Kult (Zur Ikonologie der Goldbrakteaten, XLIV). In: K. Hauck, ed. Der historische Horizont der Götterbild-Amulette aus der Übergangsepoche von der Spätantike zum Frühmittelalter: Bericht über das Colloquium vom 28. 11.-1.12.1988 in der Werner- Reimers-Stiftung, Bad Homburg. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Phil.-hist. Klasse, Nr. 200., Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 433–574.

Hauck, K., 1993. Die bremische Überlieferung zur Götter- Dreiheit Altuppsalas und die bornholmischen Goldfolien aus Sorte Muld. Frühmittelalterlische Studien. Jahrbuch des Instituts für Frühmittelalterforschung der Universität Münster, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 409–479. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110242256.409

Hauck, K., 1998. Goldblechfiguren. In: H. Jankuhn and H. Beck, et al., eds. Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 12. Berlin: Walter de Gruyte, 318–323.

Helmbrecht, M., 2011. Wirkmächtige Kommunikationsmedien – Menschenbilder der Vendel- und Wikingerzeit und ihre Kontexte. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 4, no. 30. Lund, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens historia.

Helmbrecht, M., 2013. Figures, foils and faces – Fragments of a Pictorial World. Anthropomorphic Images from the Vendel Period and Viking Age Found at Uppåkra. In: B. Hårdh and L. Larsson, eds. Folk, fä och fynd. Uppåkrastudier 12. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, no. 64 Lund: Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens historia, 9-31.

Jørgensen, L., 2002. Kongsgård – kultsted – marked. Overvejelser omkring Tissøkompleksets struktur og funktion. In: K. Jennbert, A. Andrén, and C. Raudvere, eds. Plats och praxis. Studier av nordisk förkristen ritual. Vägar till Midgård 2. Lund, Nordic Academic Press, 215–247.

Jørgensen, L., 2003. Manor and market at lake Tissø in the sixth to eleventh centuries: the Danish “Productive” Sites. In: T. Pestell and K. Ulmschneider, eds. Markets in Early Medieval Europe. Trading and “Productive” Sites, 650-850. Cheshire, Windgather, 175–207. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv138wtdg.21

Jørgensen, L., 2009. Pre-christian cult at aristocratic residences and settlement complexes in southern Scandinavia in the 3rd – 10th centuries AD. In: U. Freeden, H. Friesinger, and E. Wamers, eds. Glaube, Kult und Herrschaft. Phänomene des Religiösen im 1. Jahrtausend n. Chr. in Mittel- und Nordeuropa. Akten des 59. Internationalen Sachsensymposions und der Grundprobleme der frühgeschichtlichen Entwicklung im Mitteldonauraum. Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte Band 12. Bonn, Habelt, 329–354.

Lamm, J.P., 2004. Figural Gold Foils found in Sweden: a study based on the discoveries from Helgö. In: H. Clarke and K. Lamm, eds. Excavations at Helgö XVI: Exotic and Sacral Finds from Helgö. Stockholm, Kungl. Vitterhets historie och antikvitets akademien, 41–142.

Larsson, L., ed., 2004. Continuity for centuries: a ceremonial building and its context at Uppåkra, southern Sweden. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, Series in 8, 48, Uppåkrastudier 10. Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Larsson, L. and Lenntorp, K.M., 2004. The enigmatic house. In: L. Larsson, ed. Continuity for centuries. A ceremonial building and its context at Uppåkra, southern Sweden. Uppåkrastudier 10. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, No. 48, Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 3–48.

Mannering, U., 2004. Dress in Scandinavian iconography of the 5th–10th centuries A.D. In: J. Maik, ed. Priceless invention of humanity – textiles. NESAT VIII. Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia Nr. 50/1. Lódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Łódz: Instytut Arceologii i Etnologii PAN, 67–74.

Mannering, U. (2006). Billeder af dragt. En analyse af påklædte figurer fra yngre jernalder i Skandinavien. Unpublished. Ph.d.-dissertation. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet.

Mannering, U., 2008. Iconography and costume from the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia. In: M. Gleba, C. Munkholt, and M.-L. Nosch, eds. Dressing the past. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 59–67.

Mannering, U., 2012. Guldgubber og dragt. Fund & Fortid (2012), 10–13.

Mannering, U., 2013. Man or woman? – perception of gender through costume. Danish Journal of Archaeology 2, 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2012.760893

Mannering, U. and Andersson Strand, E., 2008. Guldgubbernes dragter. In: C. Adamsen, et al., eds. Sorte muld. Ystad: Bornholms Museum, 55–62.

Michaelsen, K.K., 2015. Den romerske forbindelse. Gudme- Lundeborg og Romerriget i jernalderen. Odense: Odense Bys Museer.

Nørgård Jørgensen, A., 1999. Waffen und Gräber. Typologische und Chronologische Studien zu Skandinavischen Waffengräbern 520/30 bis 900 n.Chr. Nordiske Fortidsminder, Serie B, Volume 17. København: Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab.

Raja, R., 2015. Staging “private” religion in Roman “public” Palmyra. The role of the religious dining tickets. In: C. Clifford Ando and J. Rüpke, eds. Public and Private in Ancient Mediterranean Law and Religion. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 65, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 165–186.

Steuer, H., 1987. Helm und Ringschwert. Prunkbewaffnung und Rangabzeichen germanischer Krieger. In: Studien zur Sachsenforschung 6. Hildesheim, Hannover, Oldenburg: August Lax, Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Isensee Verlag, 190–236.

Thrane, H., 1998. Overvejelser af kultindholdet i Gudmes bebyggelse. In: L. Larsson and B. Hårdh, eds.. Centrala platser, centrala frågor. Uppåkrastudier 1. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, No. 28. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 249–261.

Tornbjerg, S.Å., 1998. Toftegård. en fundrig gård fra sen jernalder og vikingetid. In: L. Larsson and B. Hårdh, eds. Centrala platser, centrala frågor. Uppåkrastudier 1. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, No. 28. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 217–232.

Watt, M., 1999a. Gubber. In: H. Beck, et al., eds.. Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Band 13. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 132–142.

Watt, M., 1999b. Guldgubber og patricer til guldgubber fra Uppåkra. In: B. Hårdh, ed. Fynden i Centrum., Keramik, glas och metal från Uppåkra. Uppåkrastudier 2. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, no. 30. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 177–190.

Watt, M., 1999c. Kings or gods? Iconographic evidence from Scandinavian gold foil figures. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 10, 173–183.

Watt, M., 2003. Guldgubbernes dragter – mode eller herskersymbolik?. In: A.H. Krag, ed., Dragt og magt. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 29–45.

Watt, M., 2004. The Gold-Figure Foils (“Guldbugbar”) from Uppåkra. In: L. Larsson, ed. Continuity for centuries: a ceremonial building and its context at Uppåkra, southern Sweden. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8, 48, Uppåkrastudier 10. Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 167–221.

Watt, M., 2008. Guldgubber. In: C. Adamsen, et al., eds.. Sorte muld. Ystad: Bornholms Museum, 43–53.

Downloads

Published

2015-05-01

How to Cite

Baastrup, M. P. (2015). Invitation systems and identification in Late Iron Age southern Scandinavia? The gold foil figures from a new perspective. Danish Journal of Archaeology, 4, 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2016.1151692

Issue

Section

Debate Article