3D Valkyrie Figurine

This little figurine is much more than a child's toy or a piece of jewelry. The figurine is thumb-sized and "...made of gilded silver, with some black niello inlay decoration" (Kennedy). It was discovered by amateur archaeologist Morton Skovsby near the village of Harby on the Danish island of Funen. The depiction of the figure shows a  woman wearing a long patterned dress. She is holding a sword in her right hand and a shield in her left hand. The women's hair is in a very neat and textured ponytail that goes down the back. The hair forms a loop between the ponytail and back of the women. This suggests that it was a pendant of some sort. The figures lower legs and feet are missing. It is believed the figure dates back to about 800 CE and is the only 3D artifact of a valkyrie. Upon inspection, museum curator Mogens Bo Henriksen, immediately knew what it was and says "'There can hardly be any doubt that the figure depicts one of Odin's valkyries...'" (Kennedy).

To help understand the religious importance of the Vikings from this figurine, we must look at some Norse mythology. Valkyries were female warrior deities that served the leading Norse god Odin. Odin would send them to battles to retrieve the most heroic soldiers that died in battle. They would take them back to Odin's hall, Valhalla, where their spirits would be held. The soldier's "...purpose in the afterlife is to prepare for the battle that will be the end of the world, Ragnarok..." (Winters). To be taken by the valkyries meant that a Viking soldier was worthy of fighting alongside Odin in the ultimate end battle. This artifact was made around 800 CE, which is about the time the Viking raids began in Anglo-Saxon Britain and Charlemagne controlled continental Europe as we discussed in class. I believe a possibility was that this figurine was created for a Viking soldier to wear into battle as a signal to be taken by the valkyries into Valhalla. Other than reflecting the religion of the Vikings, this figure also shows their intense metalwork. The pendant is made of mostly gilded silver but other parts "...are colored black by niello, a mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides used as an inlay" (Lobell). This technique took time and patience but it shows the Vikings valued the contrast of different tones and textures in their metalwork.

An underlooked aspect of the artifact is the broken off legs and feet. Henriksen says, "'...the figurine was recovered near an excavated area known to have been a metal workshop'" (Lobell). This suggests that it might have been discarded for waste. Now, why would an important religious symbol be discarded as waste? It is possible that the figure broke and its owner no longer wanted it. I believe that since "...it was found among fragments of scrap metal, so somebody may have started to chop it up to be melted down to extract its silver content" (Kennedy). In class, we discussed how the Vikings were slowly turned from the Norse religion to Christianity in Denmark and Scandinavia. With the Vikings adopting Christianity, they might have not seen a purpose to keep this Norse religious artifact that reflected a different afterlife than Heaven. However, this is only an explanation given to why it's broken and found with scarp metal. One thing for certain is that this pendant while being the size of the thumb represents such a large part of the Vikings culture. Whether it is their Norse religion (that had been popularized today by Marvel characters such as Thor and Valkyrie), their talent of metalwork, or how they changed over the 7th and 8th centuries. 

References:

1. Kennedy, Maev. "Flight of the valkyrie: the Viking figurine that's heading for Britain." The Guardian, 4 Mar. 2013,  https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/mar/04/viking-valkyrie-figurine-british-museum.
2. Winters, Riley. "The Powerful Valkyries as Icons of Female Force and Fear." Ancient Origins, 12 Jul. 2015,  https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/powerful-valkyries-icons-female-force-and-fear-003407.
3. Lobell, Jarrett A. "Visions of Valhalla." Archaeology magazine, May/June 2013, https://www.archaeology.org/issues/90-1305/trenches/752-denmark-harby-valkyrie-figurine.