Sounds of Viking Age Scania

Form and Functions of Sound Tools from Järrestad, Löddeköpinge and Uppåkra

Abstract

This article deals with the sound and music of Vking Age Scania, primarily based on instruments and tools that can be interpreted as sound-making. The aim is to give a brief background to recent research, its sources, problems and methods.

A study of sound tools in Järrestad and Uppåkra, two central Viking Age places in Scania, follows. The result is discussed and compared to finds from Lödddeköpinge, also a central place in Scania. In the archaeological material from these three places, there are pellet bells, buzz bones and finds that could possibly be a bell, a tuning peg for a lyre, an animal call and different kinds of flutes. All three places were of great importance during the Viking Age and all of the sound tools mentioned above could most likely have been produced there or have been introduced to the places via their great networks of contacts.