The Ribe horse and its relatives

Abstract

The Ribe horse and its relatives

In 1976 a foundry from the early Viking Age was found in Ribe, south-west Jutland, and among the finds was a mould for a horse-shaped ornament (fig. 1). The horse, which is 4.5 cm long, is not fully preserved, and clay particles have been washed out, so its details are not easily seen. It was therefore photographed with light directed from eight oblique angles, and on the basis of these photos a drawing was made (fig. 2), leading to a reconstruction of the whole horse (fig. 3). Particularly interesting is the very detailed saddle -the finest depiction of a saddle known from the Viking Age.

More than 20 horse-shaped ornaments are known from the Nordic Iron Age, and all have a line underneath connecting the hoofs. Traditionally most of them are dated to the time around the year 700. Here a more detailed frame of dating is proposed on the basis of some clearly dated horse-pictures. The dating differences are most clearly seen in the shape of the horse's neck, which is rather tall and slim in the Viking Age (fig. 4), short and broad in the Vendel Age (fig. 5) and semicircular in the Migration Period (fig. 6).

None of the Nordic specimens can be dated earlier than the beginning of the Migration Period, about the end of the fourth century, but in Europe south of Denmark similar specimens are known during the whole Iron Age from about 500 BC (fig. 7). Older than that date are related equine cheek-pieces from southern Europe and the Orient, especially Luristan -from where the first equestrian nomads, possibly the Thraco-Cimmerians, rode into Europe. These early riders brought the horse-shaped ornament to Europe, where it was taken over by the Celts and their successors. In Asia the type of ornament was preserved until the Middle Ages, and ornaments of that type were exported from the Perm area of the Urals to northern Scandinavia during the Viking and Middle Ages (fig. 4:8).

Søren Nancke-Krogh