Rock art from the Stone age

STEINSODDEN, INNLANDET, NORWAY

10 000 – 3000 B.C.

16 elks are depicted on this large stone, still in open air situated by a lake in Southern Norway. Approximately 5000 years ago, people gathered here to carve the motives into the stone. It is obvious that the animals are portraying elks, but why they also show the internal organs and bone structure of the animal, we will probably never know. Perhaps the motives aided in securing the hunt, played a part in magic-religious rituals or other social activities.

Pick from Hidra

HIDRA, AGDER, NORWAY

7725 – 7535 B.C.

This Stone Age pick is among the oldest objects found in Norway. It was probably made more than 8000 years ago and most likely it’s made from the tusk of a walrus. It is a rare object in Norwegian context. If you zoom in on the model you can see that it has been decorated with small lines.

We don’t know what these signs represent, it could be marks of ownership, or indicating membership of a particular tribe?

Vessel with the image of a horse

GRÓDEK, POLAND

3000 B.C.

A clay vessel decorated with schematic zoomorphic images of horse–like animals. These animal motifs should be considered the oldest image of a horse in the eastern area of Central Europe.

Rock art from the Bronze age

HAUGE VESTRE, ØSTFOLD, NORWAY

1700 – 500 B.C.

Three, maybe four people are depicted on this stone together with two boats, one bird and a few other motives we don’t really understand well like the dots and the U-shape and the figure that might be a sea animal or a human with a fin. Still, this little stone has many of the most common motives in bronze age rock art. The boat or ship seems to be particularly important, together with different versions of sun symbolism. Perhaps the ship is pulling the sun out from the sea in the morning, and so secure a new day after the dark night? Maybe we can interpret the horse at the front in a similar way?

Bronze bucks from Hadeland

HADELAND, NORWAY

c. 500 B.C.

Two horses with antlers, later transformed into goats. These rather remarkable objects were found in 1924/25, as a part of a larger deposit. They have been interpreted as offerings to a higher bronze age power, maybe the pan European goddess with her golden neck ring and wagon. It is likely that the horse’s heads once sat on a miniature ship, and symbolized the mythological sun-horse we so often find traces of on rock art.  

Hoard of bronze

WAKIJÓW, POLAND

600 – 500 B.C.

This unique set of bronze items, probably of votive purposes, alludes style–wise to artefacts found in Slovakia, Hungary, and the Dniester zone. Traces of repairs and excessive wear of all the decorations are evidence of their great importance and long–term use.

Wolf’s head

CHODLIK, POLAND

c. 100 A.C.

Fragment of a bronze item in the shape of an animal head, most likely a wolf. The artefact was made in the Roman Empire and was most likely a decorative accessory worn on a piece of garment or attached to another utility item.

Bird (duck)

CHODLIK, POLAND

160 – 400 A.C.

An effigy of a bird (duck?) made of bronze. The item is most likely part of a ring–shaped pendant that was brought to the area of Poland from the territory of today’s Ukraine occupied by the Goths.

A Victoria sword from Stabu

STABU, TOTEN, NORWAY

c. 100 – 200 A.C.

This sword has travelled a long way from the border of the roman empire to a burial in the Norwegian inland. It`s a roman gladius with a portrait of Victoria, goddess of victory. She is standing upright with a clupeus in her right hand, a symbol both of the sun and a shield boss. On her back she has wings leading our attention towards her divinity. A palm leaf pops up from behind, while her left arm is holding her draped clothing.  These swords have been associated with the roman Aquilifers, the officers carrying the eagle standard. To lose the standard in a battle was considered the greatest dishonor. We might therefore think these swords were valuable trophies for Nordic mercenaries.

Sword with incrustation

PODLODÓW, POLAND

200 – 230 A.C.

A forged–iron blade with a copper incrustation depicting Roman deities: Mars and Victoria. It was made in the Roman Empire. The sword was bent for ritual purposes; it now consists of four sections.

Migration period booch

LARVIK, VESTFOLD, NORWAY

400 – 550 A.C.

Imagine the woman moving around in the big hall, in her best dress with all her jewelry shining as she pours beer into the chieftains drinking horn. Her big golden brooch keeping her cloak together by the shoulder decorated with powerful animals like birds of prey. As she moves the animals seem to come alive and crawl around.

Silver necklace

PODHORCE, POLAND

ok.  500 A.C.

A silver necklace with a profiled rim and a finely crafted clasp. This piece of jewellery is the only find of this kind in Polish lands. Similar items have been discovered in the area of today’s Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Avar belt fitting

ZEMBORZYCE, POLAND

750 – 850 A.C.

A late Avar bronze fitting for belt end with traces of gilding. The two lugs in its the upper section were used to attach the item to a leather belt. Both surfaces are adorned with stylized plant motifs.

The K2 Animal headpost

OSEBERG K2, VESTFOLD, NORWEGIA

834 A.C.

This is one of 5 posts from the Oseberg burial. The women who were buried here were also buried with ornately carved sleds, a wagon, furniture, horses and an entire Viking ship. The five posts are all different, depicting fantastical animals thought to have powerful religious or magical properties.

Sword from the Viking age

LANGEID, BYGLAND, NORWAY

834 A.C.

Mystical signs inlaid with gold makes up the magnificent hilt of the Langeid sword – a Viking weapon infused with Christian symbolism and laid in a pre-Christian grave while the new faith was conquering the last regions of Norway.

Little horse

DAROMIN, POLAND

1000 – 1100 A.C.

This small piece of a larger item was probably part of a spur attached to a rider’s shoe. Due to their high ornamental value, decorative objects with zoomorphic motifs are linked to the West Slavic elite of the early Piast state.

Kolt mould

CHEŁM, POLAND

1100 – 1300 A.C.

The bronze mould was used for crafting decorative items, the so–called kolts (Pol. kołt), made of thin silver or gold sheet, and later also of copper and tin, by the embossing and striking techniques. Kolts were women’s head jewellery that featured an embossed ornament and a lug for hanging on a caul or headband.