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Today is Valborg, a holiday celebrated in parts of Europe with the lighting of large bonfires, and it always takes place...
30/04/2025

Today is Valborg, a holiday celebrated in parts of Europe with the lighting of large bonfires, and it always takes place on the last day of April each year. The evening is one of camaraderie, festivities, and time spent gathered around large bonfires drinking with friends and strangers alike, until the bonfires die down and the night is capped off with pub-runs.

Valborg originally began as a pre-Christian holiday with roots in Germany and parallels in many other pagan traditions, such as the Celtic Beltane and the Scandinavian segerblot. After the arrival of Christianity, as with many other holidays, a saint was assigned to convert an established pagan festival into a Christian one. The saint associated with the holiday in the 15th century was Saint Walpurgis, an 8th century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and missionary to the Frankish empire.

Valborg was originally celebrated as a festival marking the arrival of spring and the transition from the old to the new. This was done symbolically by burning large bonfires made from natural debris that had been collected. When the holiday became associated with Saint Walpurgis, the bonfires remained, but were imbued with a new meaning, as the Christian interpretation of the pagan fires was that they were used to scare away witches. To ward off these evil beings, people made noise and lit large fires. The fires also symbolically aligned with Easter’s theme of death and resurrection.
Today in Sweden and Finland, the celebration of Valborg is no longer associated with Saint Walpurgis or the banishing of witches, but has rather gone back to its roots, a celebration of spring and what is new and full of life and a farewell to what is old and lifeless.

Many regions have their own customs and traditions associated with the celebration of Valborg, and in Sweden and Finland the holiday has become one of the biggest to celebrate at universities, through various ceremonies such as cap-donning rituals, parades or rafting events.

Copyright © 2025 Scandinavian Archaeology – Posse Publishing

🍻DRINK ME OUT AND PUT ME DOWN🍻A Historical Booze Cup from GotlandDid you know Swedes once had special ‘booze cups’ with ...
03/04/2025

🍻DRINK ME OUT AND PUT ME DOWN🍻
A Historical Booze Cup from Gotland

Did you know Swedes once had special ‘booze cups’ with drinking instructions?

In Scandinavia, like many other countries, drinking traditions have been part of Scandinavian history for as long as alcohol has existed. In fact, drinking customs have been so deeply ingrained that even special songs were composed just for the occasion.

Alcohol consumption and Scandinavian drinking traditions are also reflected in historical objects, among them, this small cup, a so-called ‘booze cup’. Made of copper with a diameter of only 65 mm, it bears a rather direct message to the drinker in capital letters:

“DRINK ME OUT, PUT ME DOWN, IF I STAND UP, FILL ME MORE”.

Swedish original: ”SUP MIG UT OCH LÄGG MIG NER, STÅR JAG UP SÅ FYL MIG MER”.

The cup, a so-called 'supkopp' or booze cup, was used until the 18th century to drink brännvin, a type of strong liquor. Cups like this were usually made of copper, silver, or glass, and their décor ranged from modest to lavish, and thus, served as a status symbol for their owners.

The exact origins of this cup remain unknown, but today it is housed in the Museum of Gotland, Sweden, suggesting it may once have belonged to someone who lived on the island.

The cup encapsulates the spirit of drinking and serves as both a testament to historical drinking culture and a reminder of the humor that sometimes accompanied it.

While we hope past drinkers didn't take the inscription too literally, it certainly encapsulates the festive spirit of the time—responsibly, of course.

Images: Kristofferson, Bo-Göran/Gotlands Museum.
Hallwylska museet. Statens Historiska Museum. The happy Violinist by Gerard van Honthorst/wikimedia commons.

Gotlands Museum

We are back, this fine April Fool’s Day, for another edition of Great Hoaxes in Scandinavian Archaeology! And once again...
01/04/2025

We are back, this fine April Fool’s Day, for another edition of Great Hoaxes in Scandinavian Archaeology! And once again, we’ll be returning to North America for today’s episode.

In 1936, the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada received a visit from a prospector by the name of James Dodd, who had some unusual iron pieces to sell. According to the prospector, he had come across them all buried near Beardmore, Ontario, several years prior. Imagine the curators’ surprise when those pieces turned out to include the head of a Viking axe, a broken Viking sword, and a small iron bar which might once have belonged to a shield.

Dodd fetched a handsome sum of $500 CAD for his find, and when the museum curator contacted archaeological colleagues in Europe, they all attested that they did, in fact, appear to be bonafide Norse weapons.

The story caught the attention of a local journalist, who ran as fast as he could with it and began to present wherever he could on the incredible find of a Viking grave in Ontario. The Norse settlement of L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, had not yet been located, but there had long been speculation that the Vinland of Norse sagas was to be found in the North American east coast, and these findings—the Beardmore relics, as they came to be known—whet people’s curiosity for this idea.

So—where, you may ask, is the hoax here? The twist is that in this case, it is not the authenticity of the findings that is in doubt. But even early on, archaeologists were sceptical about the museum’s decision to simply take Dodd’s word on where they were found—particularly as he hadn’t quite been able to keep his story straight. Such an amazing find demanded some pretty convincing evidence, which Dodd had not provided. Even the European archaeologists who attested that the photographs looked genuine could not rule out that they were well-produced fakes that had been artificially “aged”, since they could not examine them personally.

When the heat from the archaeological community became too much, the museum returned them to its archive and rebuffed any requests to examine them. The game was finally up when Dodd’s son, Walter, came forward some twenty years later to testify that his father had found them, not in the ground while prospecting, but in someone’s basement in Port Arthur, modern Thunder Bay, Ontario.

After investigation, it has since been shown that they likely came from Norway in the 1920s—thus, the sword, the axe, and even the difficult-to-identify bar are now all generally accepted as the genuine article, but they were almost certainly not put in the ground by a Viking explorer in Ontario.

This story serves as a cautionary tale demonstrating an important principle of archaeology: that the context in which an object was found (what we call provenience (archaeological context)) is just as important as the object itself! Without documentation (that is, better documentation than “trust me, that’s where I found it”), an object is severed from its own history and our ability to learn from it is seriously hampered. So, if you do stumble upon what you suspect to be an archaeological artefact—as tempting as it is to pick it up—the best practice is to call the local museum and get an expert on site.

EPILOGUE: Only shortly after the revelation of the Beardmore relic hoax, L’Anse aux Meadows was discovered and provided concrete proof of the Norse presence in North America. In the 1970s, a remarkable find of early medieval Scandinavian artefacts—including a fragment of chainmail—were found on Ellesmere Island, the northernmost island in Canada. These provided proof that Norse artefacts did indeed travel far beyond the Norse settlements in Newfoundland and Greenland, though it remains a mystery whether they were carried there by Scandinavians themselves or by Indigenous people via contact. The Ellesmere artefacts also challenge the conspiratorial idea that archaeologists would have any reason to “suppress” the Beardmore relics, if the authenticity of their discovery could be proven. Alas for them.

Copyright © 2025 Christopher Nichols / Scandinavian Archaeology – Posse Publishing

Images: McGill-Queen's University Press, Copyright © 2025 Lovisa Sénby Posse / Posse Publishing, Jan Demiralp on Unsplash, Cristian on Unsplash, Trnava University on Unsplash, Dylan Kereluk / Wikimedia commons.

In Scandinavia, the arrival of Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts is a recent addition the Christmas canon (despite the...
24/12/2024

In Scandinavia, the arrival of Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts is a recent addition the Christmas canon (despite the fun, but baseless, theory connecting Santa to Odin). As in many other European countries, before the time of Santa, someone else was bringing the gifts, and many times they had a darker side than the jolly big-bellied man in red.
In Scandinavia, the julbock (Yule goat) has for a long time been a mascot for Christmas. Even though his role is reduced nowadays, he is still ever present as part of Yule games and decoration, classically made out of hay. However, the julbock had a much greater function than simply a decoration, and his role has changed throughout the ages.
It is believed the julbock tradition derives from one of the animals slaughtered during the old pagan jól celebrations. From the 11th c. AD, the julbock developed into a devil-like character who followed Saint Nicholas. The theme with this was that Saint Nicholas was the one who was able to hold the devil in line.
By the 18th century, youths would dress up and walk around farms to sing carols and ask for food and drink. One of the party members would be dressed as the julbock, and many times, this character frightened the children—in a way, Scandinavia’s rival to the infamous Krampus (indeed, the julbock and Krampus may have evolved out of a common tradition in the distant past).
As with many traditions initially belonging to the peasantry, the julbock caught the attention of the upper class, and in the 19th century it was brought into their homes. The new tradition was that a male member of the family dressed up as a julbock, many times including a hay mask, and gave gifts to the children. His appearance, however, was still quite scary. In the mid-20th century, the tradition disappeared in favour of Santa Claus, perhaps partially due to his friendlier appearance.
And with this little story, we at Scandinavian Archaeology wish you all a wonderful Yule! Thank you for reading, and we look forward to returning in force this upcoming year!
God jul!
Text: Lovisa Sénby Posse. Copyright 2021 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Image: Anonymous, early 20th c.

It seems there's just something about the late October season that brings out the spooky side in many of us. And this ca...
31/10/2024

It seems there's just something about the late October season that brings out the spooky side in many of us. And this can be seen far back into the pagan past: for the Brittonic Welsh, it was Nos Galan Gaeaf; for the Slavic, the autumn Dziady; for the Gaels, famously, it was Samhain. Later, even the Christian faith had its All Souls’ Day. The common theme running through all of these festivals—all of which are still, in some form or another, observed today—is the notion of communion between the living and the dead, when the barrier between the two worlds is not as solid as it otherwise might be. On one hand, this is a good thing: it means we may contact and be visited by our lost loved ones. On the other hand, it might mean it is easier for otherworldly, perhaps dangerous, beings to enter our world.

The timing makes sense. The harvest is over, and the fields lie fallow. The annual plants are dying off, the trees shaking away dead leaves. The days become shorter, nights darker and colder. The summer’s warmth and life have all but vanished. No wonder so many people believe that the dead are so close at hand at this time of year…

But what of the old Scandinavians? Did they hold to a similar tradition of an early winter festival, with all its dualistic connotations of death and fertility? Indeed yes: now is the time of the Álfablót.

The Álfablót is, like most pagan Scandinavian festivals, obscured behind a heavy veil of mystery. And not merely to us in the modern day: one of the few surviving sources we have for the event is in the poem Austrfaravísur, in which the Christian Norwegian protagonist Sigvatr Þórðarson chances to be travelling in Götaland, modern Sweden, on the night of the fateful event. In need of a place to sleep for the night, Sigvatr stops at several homesteads to ask for lodging (under the sacred law of hospitality) but is rebuffed each time—the residents will not permit him to enter, for their homes are hallowed that night, and they were holding the Álfablót inside.

Not much to go on. But from the name, we can deduce that this event involved the mysterious álfar (“elves”) of Norse folklore. Very little is known of these beings in general, though they appear to have had various powers to do good for humanity…if properly appeased with sacrifice. In various sources they are associated with healing and fertility. The fertility aspect may go a long way to explaining why the Álfablót is held when it is: after the harvest. Sigvatr’s hostile reception by his would-be hosts indicates that they were deeply afraid of what might happen if their rites to the elves were interrupted—perhaps the sacrifice was meant to thank the elves for their help in bringing the fields to life, or to entreat them to return again next spring. A loss of such beings' favour could spell disaster.

There is also a theory that elves are associated with the honoured dead, and that part of the Álfablót involved either worship or commemoration of departed familial ancestors. This might explain why, in contrast to the spectacular public festivals of Jólablót and Dísablót, the Álfablót appears to have been a very private, household affair: some things are best kept in the family. Thus, if interrupting the ritual ran the risk of not only offending the spirits of fertility, but also inducing a haunting by dissatisfied family ghosts, it’s little wonder that the people were so furious to be interrupted by Sigvatr!

It is a shame that we know nothing of the specific rituals carried on indoors during pagan Álfablót. But it does appear that in Scandinavia, as with much of the rest of the world, the spirits and the dead were out in great force on this night, and it is probably for the best that we try not to make them angry.

In our own way, we would now like to say Happy Hallowe’en to all our friends near and far! Enjoy your night, and remember to honour the hidden folk, whatever name you may give them.

Image: Älvalek (1866; August Malmström).

Dearest readers of Scandinavian Archaeology: we owe you all a great apology.Due to a variety of colliding circumstances—...
30/10/2024

Dearest readers of Scandinavian Archaeology: we owe you all a great apology.

Due to a variety of colliding circumstances—personal, professional, and otherwise—Scandinavian Archaeology has been away without leave for quite some time now. Although the reasons for this absence have been unavoidable, we realize now that we should have given you, our loyal supporters and readers, a heads-up that we were going to disappear for a while. We’ve been gone without explanation for far too long, and that’s on us. For that, we are sorry.

However, we would like to now take this opportunity to assure you that Scandinavian Archaeology will soon return! There have been a few items in the news recently that we are dying to talk about, and of course we’ve still got a few centuries’ worth of archaeological discoveries to catch up on as well. So, stay tuned, and we will see you in the near future.

— All best and med vänliga hälsingar from the crew at Scandinavian Archaeology

Illustration: Henrik Rosenborg. Copyright 2021 Henrik Rosenborg Art.

Several years ago, a trove of golden treasures and artefacts was discovered in Vindelev, Denmark (near the famous royal ...
18/03/2024

Several years ago, a trove of golden treasures and artefacts was discovered in Vindelev, Denmark (near the famous royal site of Jelling). The finds from the site are many and fascinating, and now one of the more significant findings may have been noted: the earliest known mention of Wodanaz—later known as Odin—the old Nordic god of war, kings, poetry, and magic.
Among other things, the gold hoard contains numerous bracteates. A bracteate is a type of round, flat medallion probably used as a marker of status in the Migration Period and Vendel Period of Scandinavia (c. 375-750 AD). They are made of or plated in gold, and typically feature a large face in the centre surrounded by naturalistic, mythological, and geometrical motifs. A minority of these also feature runic inscriptions in the Elder Futhark script, used to write the language we know as Proto-Norse. Such is the case in the bracteate featured above. The main image depicts man with a long, elaborate hairstyle riding a horse, featuring also a semi-circle and a sw****ka (a fairly common image on these artefacts). So far, so common. Making it slightly less common are the aforementioned runes; and making it truly remarkable is the name of the great god himself.
Prior to this find, the earliest-known mention of Odin was from the late 6th c. AD. The bracteate from Vindelev, however, dates to the early 5th c., beating the previous record by the better part of 200 years.
The full meaning of the runes cannot be fully understood owing to the degradation of part of the inscription over time. What can be told is that the figure in the image is not, apparently, meant to be Odin himself; rather it depicts a powerful man who went by the name of Jagaz, who is described as “Odin’s man”.
We cannot, as of yet, know exactly how closely the Nordic cult of the Migration Period resembled the Nordic mythology of the Viking Age. But this find shows that by this early stage, Odin was already becoming a significant player in it—at least as far as the elite stratum of society went.
Text: Christopher Nichols. Copyright 2023 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Image: Nationalmuseet (Arnold Mikkelsen).

Three distinctive golden “collars” (“krage” in Swedish) of the type pictured above have been recovered from Sweden: one ...
15/03/2024

Three distinctive golden “collars” (“krage” in Swedish) of the type pictured above have been recovered from Sweden: one in both Ålleberg and Möne, in Västergötland, southwestern Sweden; and one in Färjestaden, Öland, an island off the southern coast. All three artefacts date to the Migration Period (c. 375-550) of the mid-Iron Age, and are the only intact examples known from all Scandinavia. They consist of stacked, hollow rings in different circumferences; the largest at the bottom, smallest at the top, creating a conical shape. The collars are likely a development from a pre-existing fashion of simpler neck rings stacked on top of each other.
The rings are not true rings, as the collars were made in two halves, connected by a hinge mechanism in the back which allowed them to be opened and closed around the neck. In the front, one half terminates in pointed ends and the other in hollow openings for these to slot into, as such closing the collar fully and connecting the “rings”. The rings themselves are decorated with golden thread and beads, and between them there are figurines and human faces measuring 0.2-0.8 mm across. The level of detail in these miniscule images is astounding.
The three Swedish collars differ in various ways. The Ålleberg collar has three rings, thicker than than the other two, and the most realistic decoration. The Möne collar is the largest with a full seven rings, but a much simpler decor. It is also less carefully made, with less attention given to the proportions of the collar compared to the other two, made to a much stricter design. Lastly, the collar from Färjestaden is regarded as the most technically advanced of the three, with its five pipes and much smaller details.
Even though the collars are unique, there are similarities between them and contemporary artefacts. A piece of a single hollow neck ring with similar decoration was found in Köinge, Halland (also southwestern Sweden), and several of these have also been found in Denmark.

Text: Anna Sunneborn Gudnadottir. Copyright 2023 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Images: Möne collar; Färjestaden collar; Ålleberg collar (all Statens Historiska Museum).

A destroyed grave dating from the Late Iron Age (c. 400-1100 AD) in Tennstopet, Örebro, Sweden contained the skeletal re...
13/03/2024

A destroyed grave dating from the Late Iron Age (c. 400-1100 AD) in Tennstopet, Örebro, Sweden contained the skeletal remains of a man who had faced down a sword, and lost. This fragment from the front of his skull, specifically, the top left part of the eye socket, has a very clear cut mark (indicated in red) slicing straight through the bone. The wound shows no signs of healing which indicates—in case there was any real dispute about this—that the wound was probably a fatal one.
By analysing the details of this cut, we can recreate quite a bit about this man’s last moments. Specifically, the cut is smooth with no associated cracking . This means that the weapon used was a sharp, thin blade—nothing so heavy as an axe, which while perfectly capable of cutting bone also tends to leave significant blunt- in addition to sharp-force trauma in the vicinity of the wound. Based on the time period and the culture in which the man lived, the weapon used was most likely a sword (or perhaps a seax/long knife). The bone was also fresh when cut, which implies that the man was most likely alive before the sword came towards his face; based on the position of the cut, however, it is fair to guess that the man was not alive for much longer afterward.
While it may be impossible to know the exact circumstances that led to this man facing down a sword, it does suggest it may still be worth practising dodging sharp objects—just in case.
Text: Cindy Levesque. Copyright 2023 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Image: Ola Myrin (SHM; Swedish History Museum). CC BY 4.0.

Þat mælti mín móðir,at mér skyldi kaupafley ok fagrar árar,fara á brott með víkingum,standa upp í stafni,stýra dýrum kne...
06/03/2024

Þat mælti mín móðir,
at mér skyldi kaupa
fley ok fagrar árar,
fara á brott með víkingum,
standa upp í stafni,
stýra dýrum knerri,
halda svá til hafnar
hǫggva mann ok annan,
hǫggva mann ok annan.

My mother told me
Someday I would buy (buy)
Galleys with good oars
Sails to distant shores
Stand up on the prow
Noble barque I steer
(Steady) Steady course to the haven
Hew many foe-men
Hew many foe-men

– Egils saga, Lausavísur, ch. 40. (Scudder & Óskarsdóttir, 2002)

The song “My Mother Told Me” (“Þat mælti mín móðir” in Old Norse), is a song dating to at least the 9th c. AD, though today it may primarily be known to many via the TV series “Vikings”. The song captures the aspirations of the age, ambitions to sail off to distant lands and explore. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age were facing a variety of economic, political, and social pressures at home, all of which led many of them to venture abroad. There are many examples that fit into the understanding of this hymn, and it serves as a great reminder of the reality of some of the Viking Age people.

This song may hold great insight into Old Norse society, marking a time when they had to fight for their place in society, whether in Scandinavia itself or overseas. The lyrics reflect the central importance of those now-famous migrations of Viking Age culture, and the emphasis placed on this aspect even at a young age. In many ways, they were successful: as explorers and questers after fame and power, those Vikings who were successful not only gained prestige at home, but they left their mark upon the world.

The hymn is thus highly relevant to the study of the age, as it captures an element of this society that remains integral to the modern perspective on the Vikings. Its fitting into the popular TV series “Vikings” is testament to this. Archaeology and history often have a way of portraying the Viking Age that is different than that of the popular media, but in this, at least, they are in agreement.

Text: Martine Kaspersen. Copyright 2023 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Image: Kelly Lacy.

The so-called Hvoshcheva sword (named for the village in Ukraine near to which it was found in the late 1800s) is someth...
04/03/2024

The so-called Hvoshcheva sword (named for the village in Ukraine near to which it was found in the late 1800s) is something of an enigma. The sword bears many of the hallmarks of a classic 'Viking sword': a straight, double-edged blade measuring just shy of 70 cm, a narrow crossguard, a grip for a single hand. But it is also quite distinctive, and shows influences from a number of different cultural traditions.
The decoration of the hilt is likely what immediately catches the eye and sets it apart from many of its contemporaries. The decorations on the bronze pommel and crossguard are distinctively Scandinavian, best resembling the "Ringerike" style. The shape of the pommel, however, is uncommon for Viking Age swords, and for this reason it was initially believed to represent a Slavic design. It was also suggested that the blade bore the remains of an inscription in the Cyrillic alphabet.
However, the alleged Cyrillic inscription has been called into question under closer examination. Moreover, later finds of sword parts from Skåne, southern Sweden (part of the Danish realm in the Viking Age) provided much closer parallels to the Hvoshcheva sword, and as a result, the Slavic hypothesis has now largely been abandoned.
But these swords still do not closely resemble any other finds from Scandinavia itself; rather, their strongest resemblance is to late Anglo-Saxon swords. Now, during this period there was a strong Scandinavian presence in England, and it is now argued that these swords were in fact created in the Danelaw (those parts of England under Danish control) by a Scandinavian smith under the influence of local English traditions; alternatively, in Skåne by a smith who had knowledge of the English style. The handle is further engraved with Irish motifs, strengthening the hypothesis of a British origin for the sword.
Either way, the Hvoshcheva sword was a long way from home by the time it was laid to rest in Rus'. It thus demonstrates two important characteristics of the Viking expansion: they travelled far, and they picked up new trends wherever they went.
Text: Christopher Nichols. Copyright 2023 Scandinavian Archaeology.
Image: Kirpichnikov, A.N. 1970. Connection between Russia and Scandinavia in the 9th and 10th centuries, as illustrated by weapon finds, Varangian problems. Scando-Slavica, Supplementum I. Copenhagen.

On June 1, 1676, the mighty Stora Kronan—flagship of the Swedish Navy—was sailing south through the Baltic on her way to...
03/03/2024

On June 1, 1676, the mighty Stora Kronan—flagship of the Swedish Navy—was sailing south through the Baltic on her way to engage the enemy fleet of the Danes and Dutch. Alas, she would never see combat. At noon on the day of the battle, Kronan took a too-sharp turn that plunged her into into the depths. An explosion in the powder magazine sealed the fate of nearly the entire crew, sinking the man-o'-war before the battle was even joined.
Exactly what caused Kronan to list and go down has never conclusively been answered, but this type of accident is not uncommon. Even experienced sailors can fall make bad decisions or fall victim to the elements. But osteological investigation of the crew's remains turned up evidence of something more sinister—and bloody—taking place on board the warship shortly before she capsized.
Today, guest writer and osteologist Cindy Levesque explores the bloody mystery of Stora Kronan, and the osteological traces of the carnage that took place in her final moments.

Read here:
https://www.scandinavianarchaeology.com/the-stora-kronan-man-o-war-mystery/

Image: Reconstruction of Stora Kronan by Admiral Jacob Hägg (1909).

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