Important Viking Age Artifacts

Why This Matters

Viking Age archaeology isn't just about admiring beautiful objects in museum cases—it's about reading material culture as evidence for social hierarchy, religious transformation, trade networks, and technological innovation. When you encounter these artifacts on an exam, you're being tested on your ability to connect physical objects to broader interpretive frameworks: What does a ship burial tell us about cosmology? How do artistic styles serve as chronological markers? What do hoards reveal about economic systems and political instability?

The artifacts in this guide span roughly 750–1100 CE and come from across the Viking world, from Scandinavia to Russia to the British Isles. Don't just memorize names and dates—know what each artifact demonstrates about Viking society. Ask yourself: What concept does this object illustrate? How would I use it to support an argument about trade, belief, status, or cultural contact?

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Ship Burials and Maritime Technology

The ship was central to Viking identity—not just as transportation, but as a cosmological vehicle connecting life, death, and the afterlife. Ship burials represent enormous investments of wealth and labor, making them key evidence for elite power and religious belief.

Oseberg Ship

• Burial of two high-status women (c. 834 CE)—the richest Viking burial ever excavated, challenging assumptions about gender and power in Norse society
• Elaborate wood carvings in the "gripping beast" style provide a key chronological marker for early Viking Age art
• Grave goods included textiles, tools, and a ceremonial wagon—evidence that ship burials were staged performances of wealth and identity

Gokstad Ship

• Seaworthy ocean-going vessel (c. 890 CE)—replicas have successfully crossed the Atlantic, proving Viking maritime capabilities
• Buried with a male warrior along with horses, dogs, and a peacock—indicating far-reaching trade connections
• Clinker-built construction with overlapping planks demonstrates the technological sophistication that enabled Viking expansion

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Weapons and Warrior Elite Status

Weapons in Viking contexts are rarely just tools—they're status markers, ritual objects, and symbols of social identity. The quality of metalwork and decoration directly correlates with the owner's rank.

Mammen Axe

• Ceremonial rather than functional—silver and gold inlay on iron indicates this was a prestige object, not a battle weapon
• Depicts a bird (possibly Odin's raven) and foliate designs—blending pagan imagery with emerging Christian-influenced plant motifs
• Found in a chamber grave at Mammen, Denmark (c. 970 CE)—the defining artifact for the Mammen artistic style

Ulfberht Swords

• Crucible steel blades with carbon content rivaling modern steel—evidence of advanced metallurgical knowledge or access to high-quality imported materials
• "VLFBERHT" inscription functioned as a brand name; many counterfeits exist, showing the sword's prestige value
• Distribution across Europe from Ireland to Russia demonstrates both trade networks and the mobility of elite warriors

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Religious Belief and Transformation

Artifacts related to belief systems track one of the most significant cultural shifts in Viking history: the transition from Norse paganism to Christianity. Material culture shows this wasn't a clean break but a gradual, syncretic process.

Thor's Hammer (Mjölnir) Pendants

• Mass-produced protective amulets—molds for producing both Thor's hammers and Christian crosses have been found together, suggesting craftsmen served both markets
• Distribution peaks in the 10th century as Christianity spread—wearing Mjölnir may have become a deliberate identity statement against conversion
• Found in both male and female graves—indicating broad popular piety beyond the warrior elite

Jelling Stones

• "Denmark's birth certificate"—the larger stone (c. 965 CE) declares Harald Bluetooth "made the Danes Christian" and unified Denmark and Norway
• Features the earliest Scandinavian depiction of Christ—shown bound in interlace patterns, blending Christian iconography with Viking artistic traditions
• Runic inscriptions provide crucial evidence for royal ideology and the political dimensions of religious conversion

Portable Altars and Reliquaries

• Evidence of Christian practice among Vikings—some acquired through trade, others through raids on monasteries
• Reliquaries from insular (British Isles) workshops found in Scandinavian graves indicate cultural appropriation of Christian sacred objects
• Dual function possible—objects may have held different meanings for Christian makers and Viking owners

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Artistic Styles as Chronological Markers

Viking art styles aren't just aesthetic categories—they're dating tools. Memorize the sequence and key characteristics, as identifying style can help you date artifacts and trace cultural connections.

Borre Style Artifacts (c. 850–950 CE)

• "Ring-chain" pattern of interlocking circles is the diagnostic feature—appears on metalwork, stone, and wood
• Gripping beast motif shows animals clutching the frame or their own bodies—a distinctly Scandinavian innovation
• Wide geographic distribution from Norway to Russia indicates the style traveled with Viking expansion

Jellinge Style Artifacts (c. 900–975 CE)

• S-shaped "ribbon animals" in profile, often with pigtails and spiral hips—more naturalistic than Borre
• Named after a silver cup from the Jelling burial—directly associated with the Danish royal dynasty
• Transitional style bridging earlier geometric patterns and later, more elaborate ornamentation

Mammen Style Artifacts (c. 960–1020 CE)

• Bold, asymmetrical animal forms with double contour lines creating a three-dimensional effect
• Incorporation of plant motifs—possibly reflecting Christian influence or contact with continental European art
• Represents peak of Viking artistic elaboration before the more refined later styles

Ringerike Style Artifacts (c. 1000–1075 CE)

• Elongated, tendril-like animals with flowing, dynamic compositions—influenced by Anglo-Saxon and Ottonian art
• Plant ornament becomes dominant—acanthus-like foliage reflects increased Christian artistic influence
• Found on both pagan and Christian monuments—illustrating the transitional period

Urnes Style Artifacts (c. 1050–1150 CE)

• Graceful, intertwined animals with figure-eight loops—the most refined and elegant Viking style
• Named after the Urnes Stave Church in Norway—a Christian building decorated in "pagan" artistic tradition
• Marks the end of distinctly Viking art as Scandinavian styles merge with broader European Romanesque

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Commemorative Monuments and Inscriptions

Runestones and picture stones served as public monuments—they communicated status, commemorated the dead, and recorded historical events. They're crucial for understanding Viking literacy, social values, and historical consciousness.

Gotland Picture Stones

• Narrative scenes depicting ships, battles, and mythology—including images interpreted as Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir and Valhalla
• Span multiple centuries (5th–12th century)—allowing scholars to track iconographic changes over time
• Function debated—possibly grave markers, memorial stones, or territorial boundary markers

Lindisfarne Stones

• Document the Viking raid of 793 CE—one stone depicts armed men, possibly the earliest visual record of a Viking attack
• Christian crosses and inscriptions show the monastic context and the perspective of the victims
• Important for understanding Viking impact on insular Christianity and the beginning of the "Viking Age" as a historical period

Rune Stones (General)

• Over 3,000 survive from the Viking Age, mostly in Sweden—the largest corpus of contemporary Viking writing
• Formulaic inscriptions typically name the commissioner, the deceased, and sometimes describe deeds or travels
• Evidence for literacy, inheritance customs, and geographic mobility—many mention travel to England, Greece (Byzantium), or the East

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Hoards and Economic Systems

Hoards—buried collections of valuables—are time capsules of economic activity. They reveal trade networks, wealth accumulation, and often moments of crisis when owners couldn't retrieve their buried treasure.

Cuerdale Hoard

• Largest Viking silver hoard from Britain—over 8,600 items totaling ~40 kg, buried c. 905–910 CE
• Mixed contents include Scandinavian jewelry, Anglo-Saxon coins, Islamic dirhams, and Frankish material—demonstrating the cosmopolitan nature of Viking wealth
• Hack-silver economy—many items cut into pieces for use as bullion, showing weight-based rather than coin-based exchange

Gnezdovo Hoard

• Evidence of Varangian (Viking) presence in Russia—found near Smolensk on the Dnieper trade route to Byzantium
• Combination of Scandinavian, Slavic, and Byzantine objects—illustrates the cultural hybridity of Viking settlements in the East
• Supports saga accounts of Viking involvement in the formation of the Rus' state

Viking Age Coins

• Imitative coinages copied designs from Islamic, Byzantine, and Carolingian models—showing Viking participation in broader monetary systems
• Royal minting began in Denmark under Harald Bluetooth (c. 975 CE)—coins became tools of political legitimacy
• Circulation patterns reveal trade routes and the geographic extent of Viking economic networks

Viking Age Scales and Weights

• Standardized weight systems based on units compatible with Islamic dirhams—evidence of long-distance trade integration
• Portable kits found in graves and hoards indicate individual merchants rather than centralized trade
• Lead weights sometimes decorated—showing that even utilitarian objects carried cultural meaning

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Cross-Cultural Contact

Some artifacts are significant precisely because they show interaction between Vikings and other cultures—through trade, raid, or settlement.

Sutton Hoo Helmet

• Anglo-Saxon, not Viking (c. 625 CE)—but essential for understanding the shared Germanic warrior culture that preceded and influenced the Viking Age
• Scandinavian parallels in helmet design and burial practice suggest ongoing cultural connections across the North Sea
• Demonstrates elite warrior ideology that Vikings later inherited and transformed

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two ship burials would you compare to discuss gender differences in Viking elite mortuary practice, and what key evidence would you cite from each?

2. Place these artistic styles in chronological order: Urnes, Mammen, Borre, Ringerike, Jellinge. What is the diagnostic feature of each?

3. How do Mjölnir pendants and the Jelling Stones provide different types of evidence for understanding Viking religious transformation?

4. Compare the Cuerdale and Gnezdovo hoards: What do their contents reveal about the geographic direction of Viking trade in each case?

5. If an FRQ asked you to evaluate the evidence for Viking metallurgical sophistication, which artifacts would you discuss and what specific features would you cite?