Hellvi helmet eyebrow

Last updated

Hellvi helmet eyebrow
Hellvi ogonbrynsskydd (cropped).jpg
Material Iron, bronze, silver
Createdc. 550–600
Discoveredc. 1880
Hellvi, Gotland, Sweden
Present location Statens historiska museum, Stockholm
Registration 470807_HST

The Hellvi helmet eyebrow is a decorative eyebrow from a Vendel Period helmet. It comprises two fragments; the arch is made of iron decorated with strips of silver, and terminates in a bronze animal head that was cast on. The eyebrow was donated to the Statens historiska museum in November 1880 along with several other objects, all said to be from a grave find in Gotland, Sweden.

Contents

The eyebrow dates to around 550 to 600 AD, and would have once adorned one of the "crested helmets" that appeared in England and Scandinavia around that time. Many of these also featured decorated eyebrows, such as the Sutton Hoo helmet and the Broe helmet; the Hellvi example is one of a number of decorated eyebrows that have been found without other traces of the original helmet, including the Lokrume helmet fragment in Gotland and the Gevninge helmet fragment in Denmark.

Description

The back of the eyebrow Hellvi helmet eyebrow - 330268.jpg
The back of the eyebrow

The eyebrow survives in two fragments, each about 4 cm (1.6 in) long, that originally formed a continuous arch. [1] [2] They are made of iron; the smaller of the fragments terminates in an animal head, made of bronze. [3] The bronze and iron pieces were cast together, the hardened iron placed into the mould of the molten bronze. [4] Both fragments are inlaid, or possibly cast, [5] with vertical strips of silver. [3]

Discovery

The circumstances of the discovery of the eyebrow are largely unknown. It was donated along with other items, all said to be from a grave find in Hellvi socken in Gotland, [6] to the Statens historiska museum in November 1880, and assigned the collective inventory number 6,684. [7] The donation, from "the watchmaker Unnerus," was recorded the following year in Månadsblad, a monthly publication of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. [7]

In 1969 Birger Nerman published an illustration of the reconstructed fragments in his volume II of his work on the Vendel Period finds from Gotland, Die Vendelzeit Gotlands; [1] six years later, in volume I, he added a textual description. [3] At some point before 1977, the eyebrow was further conserved at Greta Arwidsson's request, permitting more of its construction details to be perceived. [8]

Typology

The eyebrow has been roughly dated to the beginning of the Vendel Period, during the second half of the sixth century. [9] Based on this period, and location, it fits into the corpus of "crested helmets", each characterized by a rounded cap and usually a prominent nose-to-nape crest, that appeared around this time in England and Scandinavia. [10] [11] More than half of the known examples are from Sweden; up to twenty are from Gotland alone, although these were typically found in cremation burials and, like the Hellvi example, comprise only a fragment or two. [12] [13] [14]

The Hellvi example is one of many crested helmets to have featured decorated eyebrows. [5] The Broe helmet—also from Gotland—and the Sutton Hoo helmet both have eyebrows with animal-head terminals, and inlaid strips of metal. [15] The decorative motif of incised vertical strips has been repeated on other helmets, such as from Vendel and York, [16] [17] in what is probably a cheaper imitation, or an invocation of an earlier style. [18] [19] Other decorated helmet eyebrows have also been discovered alone. These include another decorated eyebrow from Gotland, in Lokrume, [20] an eyebrow from Uppåkra on the mainland, [21] and an ornate helmet eyepiece from Gevninge, Denmark. [22] The singularity of at least the latter two finds has led to an association with the Germanic god Odin, who reputedly gave one of his eyes to drink from the well of wisdom. [23] Another artefact found in Hellvi—a Roman mask that saw continued use in the Iron Age, and was found in a house dating to around 550—had one eye removed and buried nearby, further suggesting the contemporaneous significance of singular eyes. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton Hoo</span> Archaeological site in Suffolk, England

Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was discovered. The site is important in establishing the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia as well as illuminating the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendel</span> Parish in the Swedish province of Uppland

Vendel is a village at Tierp Municipality in Uppland, Sweden. The village overlooks Vendelsjön, a long inland stretch of water near the Vendel river which has its confluence with the river Fyris. Vendel was the site of an ancient royal estate, part of Uppsala öd, a network of royal estates meant to provide income for the medieval Swedish kings. A large number of archaeological finds have been found here, which have given their name to the Vendel Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valsgärde</span> Farm and burial site

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendel Period</span> Period of Swedish prehistory (540–790 AD)

In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. Unlike the preceding and succeeding eras, the Vendel Period left very few precious metal artifacts or runic inscriptions. Instead, it is extremely rich in animal art on copper-alloy objects. It is also known for guldgubbar, tiny embossed gold foil images, and elaborate helmets with embossed decoration similar to the one found at Sutton Hoo in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benty Grange helmet</span> 7th-century boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet

The Benty Grange helmet is an Anglo-Saxon boar-crested helmet from the 7th century AD. It was excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 from a tumulus at the Benty Grange farm in Monyash in western Derbyshire. The grave had probably been looted by the time of Bateman's excavation, but still contained other high-status objects suggestive of a richly furnished burial, such as the fragmentary remains of a hanging bowl. The helmet is displayed at Sheffield's Weston Park Museum, which purchased it from Bateman's estate in 1893.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birger Nerman</span> Swedish archaeologist (1888–1971)

Birger Nerman was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton Hoo helmet</span> Decorated Anglo-Saxon helmet

The Sutton Hoo helmet is a decorated Anglo-Saxon helmet found during a 1939 excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. It was buried around the years c. 620–625 CE and is widely associated with an Anglo-Saxon leader, King Rædwald of East Anglia; its elaborate decoration may have given it a secondary function akin to a crown. The helmet was both a functional piece of armour that would have offered considerable protection if ever used in warfare, and a decorative, prestigious piece of extravagant metalwork. An iconic object from an archaeological find hailed as the "British Tutankhamen", it has become a symbol of the Early Middle Ages, "of Archaeology in general", and of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Helmet</span> Anglo-Saxon helmet from the late seventh century found in Wollaston, Northamptonshire

The Pioneer Helmet is an Anglo-Saxon boar-crested helmet from the late seventh century found in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. It was discovered during a March 1997 excavation before the land was to be mined for gravel and was part of the grave of a young man. Other objects in the grave, such as a hanging bowl and a pattern welded sword, suggest that it was the burial mound of a high-status warrior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halla, Gotland</span> Place in Gotland, Sweden

Halla is a populated area, a socken, on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Halla District, established on 1 January 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sune Lindqvist</span>

Sune Lindqvist was a Swedish archaeologist and scholar. He worked at the Swedish History Museum, where he was responsible for the finds from the boat graves at Valsgärde, and later at Uppsala University, where he wrote two major works alongside several hundred other publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knut Stjerna</span>

Knut Martin Stjerna was a Swedish archaeologist and scholar, notable for a number of papers analyzing Beowulf from an archaeological perspective. He was a lecturer at Uppsala University, where he taught, among others, Birger Nerman and Sune Lindqvist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guilden Morden boar</span> Anglo-Saxon copper alloy figure of a boar

The Guilden Morden boar is a sixth- or seventh-century Anglo-Saxon copper alloy figure of a boar that may have once served as the crest of a helmet. It was found around 1864 or 1865 in a grave in Guilden Morden, a village in the eastern English county of Cambridgeshire. There the boar attended a skeleton with other objects, including a small earthenware bead with an incised pattern, although the boar is all that now remains. Herbert George Fordham, whose father originally discovered the boar, donated it to the British Museum in 1904; as of 2018 it was on view in room 41.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tjele helmet fragment</span> Viking Age fragment of a helmet

The Tjele helmet fragment is a Viking Age fragment of iron and bronze, originally comprising the eyebrows and noseguard of a helmet. It was discovered in 1850 with a large assortment of smith's tools in Denmark, and though the find was sent to the National Museum of Denmark, for 134 years the fragment was mistaken for a saddle mount. In 1984 it was properly identified by an assistant keeper at the museum as the remainder of one of only five known helmets from the Viking era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gevninge helmet fragment</span> 6th or 7th century artefact

The Gevninge helmet fragment is the dexter eyepiece of a helmet from the Viking Age or end of the Nordic Iron Age. It was found in 2000 during the excavation of a Viking farmstead in Gevninge, near Lejre, Denmark. The fragment is moulded from bronze and gilded, and consists of a stylised eyebrow with eyelashes above an oval opening. There are three holes at the top and bottom of the fragment to affix the eyepiece to a helmet. The fragment is significant as rare evidence of contemporaneous helmets, and also for its discovery in Gevninge, an outpost that is possibly connected to the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. It has been in the collection of the Lejre Museum since its discovery, and has been exhibited internationally as part of a travelling exhibition on Vikings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torslunda plates</span> Ancient bronze moulds of mythological images

The Torslunda plates are four cast bronze dies found in the Torslunda parish on the Swedish island Öland. They display figures in relief, representing what are presumed to be traditional scenes from Germanic mythology. The plates are moulds designed for production rather than display; by placing thin sheets of foil against the scenes and hammering or otherwise applying pressure from the back, identical images could be quickly mass-produced. The resulting pressblech foils would be used to decorate rich helmets of the sort found at Vendel, Valsgärde, and Sutton Hoo. Two of the plates may have been made as casts of existing pressblech foils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lokrume helmet fragment</span> Decorated fragment from a 10th-century Viking helmet

The Lokrume helmet fragment is a decorated eyebrow piece from a Swedish helmet dating from the Viking Age. Discovered in Lokrume, a small settlement on the island of Gotland, it was first published in 1907 and is in the collection of the Gotland Museum. It is made of iron, the surface of which is decorated with silver and niello that forms an interlaced pattern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horncastle boar's head</span> 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ornament depicting a boar

The Horncastle boar's head is an early seventh-century Anglo-Saxon ornament depicting a boar that probably was once part of the crest of a helmet. It was discovered in 2002 by a metal detectorist searching in the town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire. It was reported as found treasure and acquired for £15,000 by the City and County Museum, where it is on permanent display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gevninge</span> Village in Region Zealand, Denmark

Gevninge is a village, with a population of 1,652, in Lejre Municipality on the island of Zealand in Denmark. Its old section is located alongside a small river, Lejre Å, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from its mouth at Roskilde Fjord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broe helmet</span> Iron Age helmet

The Broe helmet is a decorated iron helmet from around the Vendel Period. Discovered around 1904 in a cremation grave in Broe, a farm on the Swedish island Gotland, it was located alongside other items including fragments of shields, weapons, bridles, and game pieces. Due to its extremely fragmented condition, only an incomplete reconstruction of the helmet is possible, but it appears to have been an example of the "crested helmets" that flourished in England and Scandinavia from the sixth through eleventh centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germanic boar helmet</span> Decorated helmet in Germanic cultures

Germanic boar helmets are attested in archaeological finds from England and Sweden, dating to Vendel and Anglo-Saxon periods, and Old English and Old Norse written sources. They consist of helmets decorated with either a boar crest or other boar imagery that was believed to offer protection in battle to the wearer. They have also been proposed to be a costume for the ritual transformation into a boar, similar to berserkers, and to be associated with Freyr.

References

  1. 1 2 Nerman 1969a, fig. 607.
  2. ↑ SHM eyebrow.
  3. 1 2 3 Nerman 1975, p. 30.
  4. ↑ Arwidsson 1977, p. 29.
  5. 1 2 Bruce-Mitford 1978, p. 158 n.3.
  6. ↑ Nerman 1969b, p. 14.
  7. 1 2 Månadsblad 1881, p. 181.
  8. ↑ Arwidsson 1977, pp. 29, 29 n.4.
  9. ↑ Nerman 1975, pp. 4, 30.
  10. ↑ Steuer 1987, pp. 199–203, 230–231.
  11. ↑ Tweddle 1992, pp. 1083, 1086.
  12. ↑ Nerman 1969a, figs. 600–620.
  13. ↑ Nerman 1975, pp. 29–30.
  14. ↑ Steuer 1987, pp. 199–200, 230–231.
  15. ↑ Bruce-Mitford 1978, pp. 158 n.3, 168–171.
  16. ↑ Webster 1998, p. 188.
  17. ↑ Webster 2002, p. 217.
  18. ↑ Bruce-Mitford 1952, p. 752 n.21.
  19. ↑ Bruce-Mitford 1974, p. 211.
  20. ↑ Lindqvist 1925, pp. 192–193.
  21. ↑ Larsson 2007, pp. 19–20.
  22. ↑ Christensen 2002, pp. 42–43.
  23. ↑ Price & Mortimer 2014, pp. 524, 531, 533.
  24. ↑ Price & Mortimer 2014, pp. 526–530.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.