Guldgubber – a Glimpse into the Vendel Period

Abstract

Guldgubber are tiny gold sheet figures with embossed or engraved pictures of anthropomorphic figures. Guldgubber are found all over Scandinavia at so-called central places (e.g. Helgö, Uppåkra, Borg, Gudme and Sorte Muld). They have been found around post-holes in halls (if found in situ) and, judging by the repetition of an identical stamp motif they represent mass production. The pictures of the guldgubber can be divided into five main categories: men, women, double figures, wraiths and animals. The conventional theories of temple money or of identifying individual Viking gods on younger Iron Age pictures is discarded here. Other probable theories presented are that the guldgubber were a kind of votive offerings to higher powers or entities. They may also have been used as documents in a legal context, symbolizing legal gestures in an oral tradition society. They mayfurthermore have been used for the benefit of the travelling or the dead.