A Picture Programme in Eastern Central Sweden ca. AD 800?

Abstract

Regional production of bronze jewellery (occasionally silver) in Eastern Scandinavia dated to around AD 800 exhibits an unusual coherence with regard to technique, design and ornamentation. The items produced are equal-armed brooches, profile quadruped brooches, oval brooches, ornamental pins and pendants. Together these different forms account for the major part of a full female dress jewellery set. The ornamentation in many respects is very consistent and binds the forms closely together. The intriguing combination of Christian and pre-Christian motifs could be interpreted as evidence of various aspects of various aspects of a single syncretistic world view. This concerns the craftsmen but perhaps not the consumers. The button-on-bow brooches and the armlets of the period may have other connotations.