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Name : Hårby Valkyrie
What it is : Silver statuette
Four views of the Viking Age Hårby Valkyrie figurine that was discovered in Denmark.
Where it is from : Village of Hårby , Funen Island , Denmark
When it was made : Around A.D. 800 ( other Viking Age )
Related : Apulian rhyton : A 2,300 - yr - older Spartan - hound - mould cup that was likely used at boozy bashes
What it tells us about the past :
This cast flatware statuette of a Valkyrie — a fabulous maiden over who assistsOdin , the Norse graven image of state of war — is a unique example ofViking Agemetalworking that furnish clues about the role of armed adult female during the time period ( 793 to 1066 ) .
The naturalistic distaff figure of speech was discovered by metal detectorists in the Danish village of Hårby in 2012 and is currently on display at the National Museum of Denmark .
The tiny distaff figurine is just 1.3 inches ( 3.4 centimetre ) improbable and weigh 0.4 snow leopard ( 13.4 grams ) . Its body is partly hollow , and much of it has been covered with a slight bed ofgold . A black metal alloy predict niello has been used to spotlight and decorate the object .
The female figurine is depicted with her haircloth gathered up into a ponytail that cascade down her back . She wears a V - neck frock that end with a pleated skirt , and a form of intricate knot run around the back and sides . Her leftover branch is protected by a shell , while her correct hand clutch a scant double - edge brand .
Because the shape is of an armed woman and likely stage a Valkyrie , Mogens Bo Henriksen , archeology curator at Museum Odense in Denmark , andPeter Vang Petersen , curator of prehistory at the National Museum of Denmark , wrote in a study of the figurine in the periodicalSkalkin 2013 .
Valkyries were responsible for select which soldiers should exit on the battleground . These assistants to the Norse graven image of warfare then accompanied the dead warrior to Valhalla , where they served them plenty of alcoholic beverage to tide them over until the oddment of the existence , when Odin require the dead soldier ' support to vote out the giants at Ragnarok .
The ornamental style of the figurine suggests it was made around A.D. 800 , or the former Viking Age . It was find in a area where archaeologists and detectorists unwrap other metallic element aim , including Arab coin , silver ingots and dispose jewelry . Experts think the area may have been a Lord ’s farm in the Viking Age , complete with a metal wiliness workshop .
Armed distaff shape have been feel elsewhere in Denmark and in England , but they are typically two - dimensional pendants or brooches . The partly hollow Hårby Valkyrie , however , may have decorate the top of a charming stave , Henriksen and Petersen pen . According to the Norse saga , divination women , or völvas , used exchangeable staffs in their rituals . One of the distaff residents of the farm may once have owned the Hårby Valkyrie and used it as a symbolisation of big businessman .
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But it is also possible that the statue is not a Valkyrie at all but rather a depiction of a tangible woman . Norse sagas and poems mention that women sometimes took up arms , and theOseberg Viking ship textilesalso depict cleaning woman carrying swords and holding spears , archaeologistLeszek Gardełanoted in his book " Women and Weapons in the Viking reality : Amazons of the North , " ( Oxbow Books , 2021 ) . In gain , about 30 Viking Age inhumation across Scandinavia hold the remains of charwoman who were buried with war - grade weapons , such as swords , spearpoint and shields — clew that some elect charwoman from this time may have fought as warrior .
ArchaeologistJulia Wihlborgsuggestedthat the sword and shield of the Hårby Valkyrie may represent a woman who had manly qualities or who became a piece , nurture the question of whether distaff warrior were actually involve as men in Viking Age society .
However , because most of the armed female figurine have been light upon as isolated finds rather than in planetary house or graves , experts have yet to solve the puzzle of artillery - manage women in the Viking Age .
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