Snaptun Stone
The Snaptunstein ( Danish Snaptunstenen also Snaptun Essestenen or Alvsten - German "Elfenstein" called) was discovered in 1950 in Snaptun, east of Horsens in Jutland in Denmark on the seashore. It is dated to around 1000 AD.
The Snaptunstein is made of soapstone , is about 20 cm high, 24.5 cm wide and 7.5 cm thick. Soapstone is not found in Denmark. The stone must have come from Norway or western Sweden, where there are numerous quarries. The snap stone was used to protect the nozzle of a bellows. Soapstone is suitable for use in high heat and has also been used for molds. A hole has been drilled through the stone in the lower half. On the upper part there is the incised head of a man with curly hair and bushy eyebrows, which is said to be one of the extremely rare mask-like representations of the god Loki (also Loptr or Hveðrungr ) who is associated with fire.
The mask motif was popular in the Viking Age (800-1050 AD) and is not least found on rune stones . The peculiarity of the Snaptunstein is the lines around the man's mouth. They are supposed to represent threads or scars, because the god Loki, who lost a bet against the dwarf Brok, had his mouth sewn up as a punishment. Since Loki didn't want to be silent, he opened his mouth, the seam burst and he had to live with the scars.
The god was generally not very popular, children were not named after him and depictions are accordingly rare. One of the few others was found as a pendant in the Gnesdowo Hort in Russia .
literature
- Hans Jørgen Madsen: Loke from Snaptun. In: P. Kjærum & RA Olsen (eds.): Oldtidens Ansigt, København 1990.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mats Burström: "Järnframställning och gravritual. En structuralistisk tolkning av järnslagg i vikingatida gravar i Gästrikland" ( Swedish , pdf ), Fornvännen , Stockholm 1990, p. 261 (accessed December 15, 2014).
- ↑ "Blæsebælgs-beskytter fra vikingetid" ( Danish ) in: Horsens Museum . horsensmuseum.dk. July 28, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2014.