Snakehead ring
The snakehead ring is an East Scandinavian phenomenon of the Iron Age with an accumulation of finds on the islands of Gotland and Öland (23) in Sweden (38 in total). Outside of Scandinavia only a few rings were discovered. B. in the large weapon victim find in Thorsberger Moor (Schleswig-Holstein), in a grave from Emersleben (Magdeburg), a find from Flurstedt (Erfurt) and a treasure from Cottbus.
description
At the end of the 19th century the gold choker began to be called a snake head ring, although this naming is unfortunate, because in many cases the open ring does not have a snake head at the ends, but the term has been introduced. There are also rings with a bird and bird head symbolism.
The heterogeneous jewelry group was divided into groups A, B and C by the Swedish archaeologist Hans Hildebrand early on. His approach was the degree of stylization, where A stands for a naturalistic head representation that is reminiscent of a dragon (Noussis, Finland), while B (Gräsgard, Öland) is more stylized, and with C-rings the heads become a button (Välla , Bohuslän) were reduced.
The ring type has only been found in today's Sweden in connection with graves in the rich women's grave from Tuna in Västmanland . Otherwise the rings belong exclusively to sacrificial finds . In other parts of Scandinavia, they have often been found in graves and interpreted as a symbol of rulers. Most of the grave finds are found in women's graves, which could mean that this was primarily a woman's jewelry. The weight analyzes show, however, that the rings found in women's graves are usually lighter than those from men's graves or depot finds.
It is unclear why there is the contrast between the parts of Scandinavia. Perhaps the rings had different functions in the regions. Since they occur in rich graves on Zealand, it makes sense to consider them as symbols of rulers. Maybe they also marked some form of identity. One theory is that the snakehead rings were a symbol of honor for people who were high in the military hierarchy. This would e.g. B. explain their occurrence in the Thorsberg weapon victim find.
On Gotland and Öland, however, snakehead rings can be found in contexts of finds that are interpreted as divestments. There you can also find intentionally destroyed rings. It can be assumed that they were laid down as sacrifices with the intention not to recover them.
See also
literature
- Kent Anderson: Sweden's richest women's grave. In: Gold of the North. Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2184-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Volume 77, ISBN 978-311027360-1 , p. 643