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Name : Hårby Valkyrie
What it is : fluent 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 ( Early Viking Age )
Related : Apulian rhyton : A 2,300 - class - old Spartan - hound - shaped loving cup that was likely used at sottish bash
What it tell us about the yesteryear :
This range silver statuette of a Valkyrie — a mythologic maiden who assistsOdin , the Norse god of war — is a unequalled example ofViking Agemetalworking that provides clues about the part of armed women during the time period ( 793 to 1066 ) .
The realistic female figure was discovered by alloy detectorists in the Danish village of Hårby in 2012 and is currently on display at the National Museum of Denmark .
The lilliputian female figurine is just 1.3 inches ( 3.4 centimeters ) tall and weighs 0.4 ounces ( 13.4 grams ) . Its body is partly hollow , and much of it has been cover with a lean bed ofgold . A black metallic metal called niello has been used to play up and grace the object .
The distaff statuette is depicted with her hair gathered up into a ponytail that cascade down her back . She wear a V - neck dress that ends with a pleated skirt , and a pattern of intricate nautical mile run around the back and sides . Her odd weapon system is protect by a shield , while her right handwriting clutches a short double - butt on sword .
Because the figure is of an armed woman and belike exemplify a Valkyrie , Mogens Bo Henriksen , archaeology curator at Museum Odense in Denmark , andPeter Vang Petersen , curator of prehistory at the National Museum of Denmark , compose in a study of the figurine in the periodicalSkalkin 2013 .
Valkyries were responsible for for choosing which soldiers should expire on the field of battle . These assistants to the Norse god of war then keep company the dead warriors to Valhalla , where they served them tidy sum of alcoholic beverage to tide them over until the terminal of the existence , when Odin needed the drained soldier ' keep to overcome the giants at Ragnarok .
The decorative dash of the statuette suggests it was made around A.D. 800 , or the early Viking Age . It was found in a field where archaeologists and detectorists discovered other metallic element objects , including Arab coins , ash gray ingot and throw out jewelry . Experts intend the area may have been a noble ’s farm in the Viking Age , complete with a metal foxiness shop .
Armed female figures have been incur elsewhere in Denmark and in England , but they are typically two - dimensional pendants or brooch . The part hollow Hårby Valkyrie , however , may have adorn the top of a charming faculty , Henriksen and Petersen write . According to the Norse saga , prophecy women , or völvas , used similar staff in their ritual . One of the female resident of the farm may once have own the Hårby Valkyrie and used it as a symbol of powerfulness .
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But it is also possible that the statue is not a Valkyrie at all but rather a depiction of a literal woman . Norse sagas and poems mention that women sometimes took up blazon , and theOseberg Viking ship textilesalso depict womanhood carrying swords and holding spears , archaeologistLeszek Gardełanoted in his book " Women and Weapons in the Viking World : Amazon of the North , " ( Oxbow Books , 2021 ) . In addition , about 30 Viking Age burial across Scandinavia sustain the remains of women who were buried with war - grade weapons , such as blade , spearhead and shields — clues that some elite woman from this prison term may have fought as warriors .
ArchaeologistJulia Wihlborgsuggestedthat the sword and shell of the Hårby Valkyrie may represent a woman who had manful qualities or who became a homo , raising the question of whether distaff warriors were really regarded as men in Viking Age society .
However , because most of the armed female figurine have been fall upon as marooned finds rather than in house or grave , experts have yet to fix the puzzler of arm - wielding women in the Viking Age .
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