Archaeologists uncover seventh century iron sabre at tomb in Hungary.

Archaeologists from the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest and the Szent István Király Museum in Székesfehérvár have uncovered a rare seventh century iron cavalry sabre, among other grave goods, while excavating what is believed to be the tomb of an Avar warrior. The tomb, which is near Székesfehérvár, was detected in satellite images by the 'Cemeteries from Space' program, a collaboration between several Hungarian museums which uses satellite and other remote sensing images to look for signs of ancient activity in croplands and other areas where they might not be obvious to people standing on the ground.

A seventh century cavalry sabre unearthed at a tomb in Hungary. The sword is corroded, but still intact. Szent István Király Museum.

The tomb is thought to have dated to between 670 and 690, and had been partially looted, but still contained grave goods including the sword, some silver belt fittings, gilded metal ornaments for braiding into hair, earrings made from glass beads, a long knife, and arrowheads. Other artefacts likely to have been present, such as the shafts of the arrows, and a leather belt for the silver fittings, and probably a leather quiver for the arrows, had decayed away. The skeleton of the warrior appears to have been damaged during the looting process, particularly around the chest area.

The remains of a Avar warrior unearthed in a seventh century tomb near Székesfehérvár in Hungary. Szent István Király Museum.

The Pannonian Avars occupied a large area of Central Europe during the sixth to ninth centuries, forming a state known as the Avar Khaganate, which at its peak stretched from Czechia to eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, most of what we know about the Avars today comes from Byzantine sources, a civilisation with which their relations were not always good. Byzantine records suggest that they had migrated from Central Asia, and were probably related to the nomadic Avars of that region. They may have had a Turkic or Mongolian ruling class, or have fled Central Asia to avoid domination by such a group. Genetic studies of remains from Avar graves in Europe have confirmed a genetic relationship to the Avars of Central Asia, with both groups originating in northeast Asia. However, they were not related to the Avars of the Caucasus Region, who appear to have been a separate group. Such studies have also suggested that women left their parents households to join those of their husbands, which would imply a patrilineal society.  From the middle of the eighth century the Pannonian Avars began to lose territory in the west to the expanding Frankish Kingdom, with chiefdoms incorporated into that state being Christianised and losing their cultural distinctiveness. From the beginning of the ninth century, invading Bulgars from the east also began to seize territory from the Pannonians, eventually leading to the end of the Khaganate as a distinct political entity.

A piece of gilded metal, interpreted as an ornament which would have been worn on a hair braid, from the tomb of a seventh century Avar warrior near Székesfehérvár in Hungary. Szent István Király Museum.

See also...

Archaeologists uncover Anglo Saxon sword in Kent.

Archaeologists working at an Anglo Saxon cemetery near Canterbury in Kent, England, (the exact location of which has not been revealed to protect it from looting) have uncovered an Anglo Saxon sword of exceptional quality. This sword has a decorative patterned hilt in silver and guilt, and a blade with a runic inscription, and has been compared to high-quality swords previously discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk and Dover in Kent. Part of the scabbard was preserved along with the sword, this being made from leather and wood, and lined with Beaver fur.

An Anglo Saxon sword unearthed at a sixth century cemetery near Canterbury in Kent. Alice Roberts/BBC/Rare TV.

The grave is the twelfth of about two hundred at the cemetery, which is being excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Duncan Sayer of the University of Central Lancashire, and which contains both male and female burials. All of the male graves excavated at the site so far have contained weapons buried as grave goods, typically spears and sheilds, while all the female graves have contained knives, tools, and items of jewellery, a pattern typical of Anglo Saxon cemeteries.

Interestingly, the occupant of the grave which yielded the sword was also buried with a gold pendant with an inscribed image of a serpent or dragon, an item which would normally be associated with high-status women in Anglo Saxon cemeteries. Since the sword's owner is not thought to have been female, this may be a keepsake from a female relative or loved one. 

The excavation will be featured in the upcoming series of the BBC TV program 'Digging for Britain'.

See also...

A woman buried with weapons in tenth century Hungary.

The concept of 'warrior women' has fascinated historians, archaeologists, and the wider public for a long time. Many examples of potential 'warrior women' from archaeological sites have been put forward over the years, in the form of women buried with weapons and/or armour. However, gender assignment is often difficult in archaeological contexts, as is determining the relationship between the individuals within graves and the goods buried with them, particularly when the remains are fragmentary. Where a person is buried with a single weapon or piece of armour this is as likely to be a talismanic object or mark of social status as it is an indicator of their ever having held a military role.

A number of female burials with weapons have been reported in Hungary's Carpathian Basin, dating from the Sarmatian Period (1st–5th centuries AD), the Gepid Period (second half of the 5th century–567 AD), the Langobard Period (510–568 AD), and the Avar Period (ca. 567–9th century AD). However, typically only a single arrowhead, small piece of chainmail, or similar isolated item has been found in the grave, which is significantly less than is found in male 'warrior burials' from the same cultures, making it unlikely that these represent female warriors.

The Maygars, or Hungarians, migrated from the steppes of Eurasia to the Lower Danube region around 830 AD, subsequently reaching the Carpathian Basin by the late nineth or early tenth century. They soon came to control the area, forming the Kingdom of Hungary at the end of the tenth century. During this time, Hungarian mounted archers gained a fearsome reputation, both within the Carpathian Basin and in conflicts across much of the rest of Europe. Hungarian warrior burials are common from this period, with warriors found buried with a range of weapons including axes, spears, sabres, swords, and swords with sabre hilts, as well as composite bows, arrows, quivers, and bow-cases. Archery equipment is far more ubiquitous in these graves. However, our understanding of these burials is limited by the preservational conditions in the Carpathian Basin, which mean that in most cases only inorganic parts of weapons and equipment have survived, and an apparent lack of any correlation between the presence and quantity of grave goods and the social status of the person they are buried with.

In a paper published in the journal PLOS One on 26 November 2024, a team of archaeologists led by Balázs Tihanyi of the Department of Biological Anthropology and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Szeged, and the Department of Archaeogenetics at the Institute of Hungarian Research, describe a woman buried with weapons from the tenth century Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld Cemetery in Hajdú-Bihar County, Hungary.

Map of Hungary showing the location of the Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld archaeological site. Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

The Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld Cemetery, close to the village of Sárrétudvari in Hajdú-Bihar County, was excavated in 1983-85, and has since been effectively destroyed as an archaeological site by intensive agriculture. The site contained a small number of burials dating back to the Bronze Age, and 262 graves dating from the tenth century AD. The skeletons of 263 individuals were recovered from the 262 graves excavated, with another two individuals identified but two fragmentary to be recovered. Of these individuals, 101 were identified as sub-adults, and 162 as adults. 

An initial assessment of the individuals from the Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld Cemetery, based upon morphological examination of their skulls and post-cranial skeletons, determined that 70 were female and 85 were male, with the remainder impossible to classify. A subsequent analysis based upon examination of the pelvis only (thought to be a more reliable technique) determined that 52 of the skeletons were female and 69 were male, with a larger proportion of undiagnosable remains. 

The majority of the graves have west-east orientation (i.e. head to the west, feet to the east), although some are orientated north-south, and a smaller number south-north. Most of the individuals were buried flat on their backs in an extended position, although two had bent knees. 

A wide range of grave goods were buried with the individuals in the Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld Cemetery. These include items of jewellery such as penannular hair rings, earrings, strings of beads, bracelets, and finger rings, clothing elements such as belt buckles, bell buttons, and broaches which would have been used to secure dresses, knives, fire-lighting tools, and riding-related items, such as stirrups, bits, fragments of saddle, and even horse bones. Notably, 58 of the individuals were burried with weapons, a far higher proportion than is seen in other known cemetery-sites in the Carpathian Basin in the same period. These weapons include sabres and axes, as well as many archery-related items, such as arrowheads, traces of quiver, and antler bow plates.

One of these armed burials was  Grave No. 63, located at the western end of the cemetery, which contained an individual buried with a southwest-northeast orientation, lying on its side, with knees bent. This individual was buried with a range of grave goods, including a silver penannular hair ring near the left part of the occipital bone, three bell buttons (one positioned beneath the skull, another beneath the right clavicle, and the third close to the knees), a string of beads near the left clavicle, including faience beads with blue eye-shaped inlays, yellow and white semiprecious stone beads, and segmented glass beads in various colours, an 'armour-piercing' arrowhead found at the distal end of the grave pit (several iron fragments possibly belonging to further arrowheads were also found in the soil of the grave), fragmented iron parts of a quiver situated near the left side of the skeleton from the shoulder to the toes, and an antler bow plate with convex sides and peaked ends located near the hip and the left hand, which was possibly being gripped by the individual when buried.

Artifacts found in grave No. 63: 91) arrowhead; (2) bell button; (3) silver penannular hair ring; (4) a string of beads; (5) fragments of bell buttons; and (6) antler bow plate. Zoltán Faur & Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

The individual from Grave No. 63 (SH-63) has a skull with a reasonably well-preserved cranium, but lacking most of the face, of which only the mandible, fragments of the two maxillae, and the left zygomatic bone remain. More than 50% of the post-cranial skeleton is present, but the bones of the spine, sternum, and pelvis are mostly represented by bone fragments. SH-63 has been determined to be an adult on the basis that all of the bones which would be expected to have fused in an adult individual are fused, and the thinness of the bones has been taken as an indication that this was an older individual, although it was not possible to make a more precise age estimation.

The skeletal remains discovered in grave No. 63. (A) Photo indicating the current state of preservation of the bones; and (B) Photo of the burial No. 63 in situ. Luca Kis & Ibolya Nepper in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

The poor preservation of the skeleton. and in particular the pelvis, of SH-63 made it difficult to determine the individual's sex by morphological means. The skull did appear to show some feminine traits, but this was not deemed sufficient to assign a sex to the skull by previous studies. Tihanyi et al. were able to extract genetic from a tooth, one humorous, and the petrosal process of the temporal bone. All three of these indicate that the individual was female, the sample from the pars pretrosa with sufficient confidence to rule out the possibility of the individual being male.

Cranial features used for sex determination showing feminine characteristics. (A) A very small mastoid process; (B) A smooth frontal contour with little or no projection of the glabellar area; (C) Complete absence of nuchal crest with a smooth external occipital surface; and (D) A smooth mental eminence with slight projection above the surrounding bone. Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

Examination of the skeleton of SH-63 revealed a number of signs that the individual was suffering from osteoporosis, notably bone fragility, traces of a reduced trabecular system in the vertebrae, an increased diameter of the medullary cavity in the long bones, thinning of cortical bone in both the skull and postcranial elements, and several antemortem bone fractures. Since osteoporosis is a condition which predominantly affects older women, this could be another indication that SH-64 was female, although Tihanyi et al. are careful to note that the observed conditions are only indicators of the disease, not enough for an absolute diagnosis. Previous studies of skeletons at Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld have found six other possible cases of osteoporosis, five affecting skeletons confidently assigned as female, and one affecting an individual of unknown sex. No instances of confidently male skeletons with symptoms of osteoporosis have been found.

The skeleton shows a number of signs of injuries having been suffered in life. These include a possible two-part neck fracture to the right humerus, an injury most commonly associated with an accidental fall onto an outstretched arm. Such injuries are most commonly seen in adolescents and the elderly, with older women suffering from osteoporosis being particularly vulnerable. 

Changes observed on the proximal end of the right humerus, at the level of the surgical neck. (A) Lateral and anterior views; (B) Anterior and medial views; and (C) Medial and posterior views. Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

Another fracture is present on the right scapula, with two parts of the bone having apparently healed without rejoining, producing new secondary facets which faced one-another. The left scapula also shows signs of a fracture, although in this case it appears to have healed more normally. Fractures to the scapula are unusual, and are generally associated with older individuals, as in younger people the scapula tends to be well-protected by overlaying muscle. Again, such injuries are generally associated with falls, and an individual with osteoporosis would be more vulnerable to such injuries.

Changes observed on the lateral margin of the right scapula. (A) The two separate bone fragments of the lateral margin (anterior view). Note: the glenoid cavity is in the upper left corner of the photo; and (B) The margins of the two bone fragments forming a secondary facet. Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

Signs of traumatic injury in life are quite common in male skeletons from Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld, but relatively unusual in females, suggesting the two sexes had very different lifestyles. Multiple injuries, and in particular injuries to the arms, are particularly common on male skeletons buried with weapons or riding equipment. Thus, although the injuries to SH-63 are consistent with a diagnosis of osteoporosis, they are also typical of the injuries seen in individuals buried with weapons and riding equipment. 

Interestingly, SH-63 also showed asymmetry in the development of the tendon and muscle attachments, with the right side being more developed than the west, sugesing a lifetime spent carrying out activities which promoted such asymmetric development. This has previously been recorded in male skeletons from Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld, and has been theorised to be associated with practice with weapons. 

The way in which SH-63 was buried is also interesting. The southwest-northeast orientation of the grave is at odds with the majority of the graves at Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld, but it is by no means unique; there are several other graves with this orientation, the majority of which are at the western end of the cemetery, where SH-63 was found. Notably, most of these other southwest-northeast orientated graves also contain weapons. SH-63 is also one of two individuals buried on one side with flexed knees at Sárrétudvari–Hízófóld; all others being buried on their backs with limbs extended. The other such individual, SH-69, has previously been determined to have been female, and was buried with a silver penannular hair ring, two bronze finger rings, and a knife, but no weapons or other potential military equipment. Some previous studies of other sites from the same period within the Carpathian Basin have suggested that bodies buried in a flexed position tend to have less grave goods than those in an extended position, and it has been proposed that such individuals may have been slaves. However, Tihanyi et al. could find no study which has caried out a systematic analysis of this phenomenon, and suggest instead that is may relate in some way to the sex of the individuals buried this way, although, since the majority of female burials are also on their backs in an extended position, it is unclear how.

(A) Silhouette of the skeleton of SH-63; (B) Illustration of the burial based on archaeological, anthropological, and archaeogenetic data. Luca Kis in Tihanyi et al. (2024).

Thus individual SH-63 appears potenrially to have been a woman both buried with, and practiced in the use of weapons, who developed a number of traumatic injuries later in life, either due to this unconventional lifestyle or to the onset of osteoperosis, or some combination of both. However, Tihanyi et al. are careful to point out that the poor preservation of SH-63 means that this interpretation cannot be taken as proven.

See also...

Body of 1300-year-old Frankish warrior unearthed at Ingelheim am Rhein.

Archaeologists working at an early medieval cemetery at Ingelheim am Rhein, about 40 km to the west of Frankfurt, this June unearthed the body of a Frankish warrior dating from about 1300 years before the present, according to a press release issued by the Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim on 4 August 2023. The body was located in a Merovingian cemetery between Rotweinstrasse and Stevenagestrasse, which had been under investigation since 2015. Most of the graves within the site had previously been looted during the later medieval period, so the discovery came as somewhat of a surprise. 

The warrior was armed with a spathe, a double-edged sword with a blade of about 75 cm and a total length of about 90 cm, originally made popular by Roman cavalry officers, but widely used in the early medieval period, as well as a sax, a second shorter sword with a heavy cutting edge, and a large knife, as well as a spear and a shield. 

The warrior from grave 447 with his impressive arsenal of weapons: shield boss, sword (spatha) and broadaxe as well as, next to the head, the tip of the lance. Another heavy knife is hidden under the skeleton. Christoph Bassler/Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim.

The warrior is thought to have been between 30 and 40 years of age at the time of his death, although how he died is unclear, with no signs of either physical injury or disease found on his skeleton to date. Despite his impressive array of arms, he is unlikely to have been either a professional soldier or particularly rich. Instead, he was probably a comfortably off freeman, who would have been expected to maintain a set of arms and serve in his lords militia when called upon to do so. 

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.

Understanding the threat to social cohesion presented by the emergence of a warrior caste in the Nordic Bronze Age.

The emergence of a warrior caste is seen as one of the defining features of the European Bronze Age, accompanied by concepts of a warrior ideal. The precise role of such warriors within society is debatable, and likely to have varied from place to place, but it is generally accepted that a ruling warrior elite appeared in Southern Scandinavia, northern Germany, and parts of Poland and the Netherlands. However, the exact nature of this ruling class is uncertain, with centralised kingdoms, local chiefdoms, extended ruling families, and flatter societies in which one's status was entirely dependent on personal prowess have all been suggested. 

Whatever the truth of this, the widespread occurrence of Warrior Burials (individual warriors buried with weapons and other grave goods indicative of social status), buried weapons hoards, and rock art depicting the actions of warriors, all clearly send a message that these were an important group of people.

Warriors are considered to have been important figures in the trade in metals. They are known to have taken part in (sometimes lengthy) journeys by both land and sea. Moreover, the presence of items associated with personal grooming in Warrior Burials suggests that they were image conscious, and possibly felt the need to distinguish themselves from other members of the community. Such a desire to distinguish themselves may have related to the membership of an elite caste which controlled access to some forms of knowledge, possibly concerning navigation, the symbolic interpretation of rock art, or the use of weapons.

Studies of the Bronze Age societies which produced these warriors have not generally considered the impact of their activities upon those societies. Warriors are assumed to have gone to war, fought, and then returned and continued with their lives, something which seems unlikely given our knowledge of later warrior societies, and the difficulties that modern soldiers often have re-integrating into their societies after taking part in conflicts.

In a paper published in the European Journal of Archaeology on 3 August 2022, Christian Horn of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg, considers the threat that such warriors may have presented to their own societies, and how those communities may have dealt with that threat.

Horn considers the evidence for warfare during the Nordic Bronze Age, and considers against whom such conflicts are likely to have been fought. He then considers the impact that the presence of the warriors who fought in these wars may have had on the societies which produced them, and looks for evidence for those societies having taken steps to cope with this threat.

Warfare appears to have been a common practice during the Nordic Bronze Age. The Early Bronze Age saw the appearance of the first swords, weapons which were to become the preferred status symbol of warrior classes for the next three millennia, as well as the refinement of spears, which had been around since at least the Neolithic, as weapons of war.

Bronze weapons are less prone to corrosion than iron weapons, which has allowed the examination of many Bronze Age weapons for traces of use. This has uncovered significant evidence of these weapons being used regularly (rather than just held as status symbols), including V-shaped notches, likely to have been caused by blows from other blades, U-shaped notches, variously interpreted as being caused by impacts against axes, shields, or bone, and signs of the weapons having been regularly repaired and maintained to keep them battle-ready.

(a)–(b) Early Bronze Age spears from Torsted (Denmark, NM K B15118.19); (c) Late Bronze Age spear from Bad Oldesloh (Germany, LMSH KS923); (d) Early Bronze Age full-hilted sword from Bragby (Sweden, SHM 14759); (e) Early Bronze Age sword from Vreta Kloster (Sweden, SHM 10419:211). Horn (2022).

Evidence of violence is also fairly common in burials from the Early Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia. Examples of this include burial from Over-Vindinge in Denmark, where the skeleton of a man aged between 50 and 60 buried between 1600 and 1500 BC was found to have a broken spear tip embedded in his pelvis. Another burial site, at Kråkerøy in Norway, produced the body of a man who was suffering from malnutrition, but had apparently died as a result of several sword blows to the head and neck. Another male body showing signs of having died from sword blows to the head and arm was found on a former seafloor at Granhammar in Sweden, possibly indicating that he died in a conflict at sea in about 800 BC.

Larger scale sites are also known from the region. At Sund in Norway the bodies of 22 men, women, and children, apparently all killed in a single incident, were found. These remains all showed signs of long-term malnutrition and hard labour, making it likely that they were slaves or other low status individuals. Finally in the Tollense Valley in Germany, a battlefield site has produced 140 sets of remains to date, with roughly 5-7% showing signs of violent injuries (this does not mean that the other remains are those of people who died peacefully, as fatal injuries to soft tissue will not be preserved in skeletonised remains). Many of these injuries appeared to be old wounds, which had healed at the time of the battle, implying warriors who had taken part in more than one conflict.

Weapons, and Human remains, give a good idea about the physical effects of violence in Early Bronze Age Scandinavia, but art has the capacity to reflect how this violence was perceived and imagined by the people involved. Rock art dating to the period is widespread across Southern Scandinavia, and includes over 6000 known depictions of Human figures, as well as more than 20 000 depictions of boats. Not all aspects of life are shown in this art. Pottery and houses are never shown, and agricultural activities are known form only a few sites. 

In order to analyse the representation of violence in these images, Horn looked at a dataset of 4000 images held by the Swedish Rock Art Research Archive. Images which were damaged or unclear were excluded from the study, leaving 3742 Human figures.  Of these, 977 could be identified as male, while 32 can be identified as female. Offensive weapons were carried by 74% of the male figures, 34% of the unidentified figures, and 6% of the female figures, while defensive weapons were carried by 575 figures, 226 of which also had an offensive weapon; of these 417 could not have their sex identified, while 158 were male (i.e 16% of unidentified figures and 15% of males had defensive weapons).

A network analysis carried out by Horn found that male figures were strongly associated with exaggerated calves, swords and boats; axes, spears, and shields were also common. Female figures were also strongly associated with exaggerated with exaggerated calves and boats, but their association with swords was much lower, and other weapons absent. Long hair was also important for female figures.

Weapons are far more common in male burials than female ones in the Scandinavian Bronze Age, and violence-related injuries more frequent on male bodies, both of which suggest a male-dominated society in which social status was linked to the ability to wage war. Many pieces of rock art also depict figures in which weapons are fused with male sexual organs, apparently indicating the concept of sexual violence, and not just against women; these scenes depict both heterosexual and homosexual couplings, as well as couplings between Humans and Animals.

Scenes potentially showing sexualized violence. (a) A warrior with erect penis stabs a sexless figure with a sword or spear (Tanum 158:1); (b) Scene depicting various forms of sexual intercourse involving armed figures, and a figure with a raised spear in a fighting position (Kville 182:1). Horn (2022).

The depiction of acts of sexual violence, combined with evidence of violence against low-status individuals, makes it unlikely that these Bronze Age Scandinavian fighters were 'clean' warriors bound by some sort of noble code. Rather, these individuals appear to have been capable of using severe violence and brutality to subdue opponents. The depictions of weapons being carried and presence of weapons in burials probably indicate that the open carrying of weapons was normal, something well documented in more recent warrior-dominated societies. The widespread depictions of violence also make it likely that violence was celebrated rather than sanctioned. In such an environment it would be very easy for warriors to turn violence against weaker groups within their own society, in order to protect or bolster their own social standing.

The Battle of Tollense took place in the thirteenth century BC, a time also noted for numerous other conflicts. This has been linked to the appearance of the Urnfield Culture, which brought with it new belief systems and practices which clashed with local religions and customs. Some of the fighters from Tollense have been shown to have come from far from a long way away from the battle, suggesting they were invading outsiders. However, the much of the conflict occurring during this period still seams to have been local in nature. 

All of the fighters appearing in Bronze Age Scandinavian Rock Art are depicted in the same way, armed with similar weapons. The Vitlycke Panel at Tanum in Sweden depicts two identical warriors fighting across a boundary, shown by a row of spots. This may imply a standardised way of drawing such fighters, regardless of their actual origin or appearance, but Horn believes that is part of a body of evidence suggesting most conflict was in fact local in nature. The spear tip which killed the man at Over-Vindage was of local manufacture, and the man buried at Granhammar appears to have been killed by a local axe. The victims of the massacre at Sund were also probably killed in some local conflict, possibly linked to slaving.

Scene showing three or four warriors with similar bodies and equipment in a fight across a border depicted by a row of cupmarks at Vitlycke (Tanum 1:1). Horn (2022).

Warriors in Bronze Age Scandinavian rock art are often closely associated with boats, which again appear standardised in form, with very little variation. A scene depicting a Horse battle at Litsleby in Sweden, thought to date to the end of the Bronze Age, shows two groups of mounted warriors, again with no difference between the figures or their equipment. All of this appears to represent Scandinavian warriors fighting other Scandinavians, rather than invaders from elsewhere in Europe with different weapons and cultural items.

Fighting scenes. (a) Warriors with spears and two boats, Massleberg (Skee 614:1); (b) Warriors on horseback armed with shields and spears, Litsleby (Tanum 72:1). Horn (2022).

Warriors crossed boundaries into the territories of other groups to commit acts of violence, and used violence to defend the boundaries of their own group. Thus they were often absent from the group, and frequently tainted by death, which many societies have regarded as spiritually polluting. This can make warriors somewhat outsiders in their own communities, figures to be venerated, but also figures viewed with a degree of fear and suspicion.

The threat presented by warriors returning to their communities may also have been more tangible. A group of warriors returning from battle in a state of arousal and being treated with high kudos can present a threat to rulers even today, with plenty of modern warlords having ceased power under these circumstances. Even where local rulers were already from a warrior class, they could easily be overthrown by returning, battle-hardened young warriors with greater fighting skills or ruthlessness. If this happens repeatedly it can seriously threaten the stability of a society, something which is likely to have been a serious risk in the Nordic Bronze Age.

Furthermore, violence can be an addictive activity, particularly in societies where it is generally applauded, and when the use of violence becomes a successful political tool it can be very hard to stop. This may have been the cause of events like the massacre at Sund and the violent killing at Grenhammar. If the majority of conflicts being fought in Scandinavia at this time were local in nature, then the communities to which warriors were returning would have closely resembled the societies which they had been fighting, further undermining any social taboos against violence at home.

If returning warriors were, as Horn theorises, a threat to their own societies both spiritually and politically, then those societies can reasonably have been expected to take measures to minimise that threat, something for which he believes he has evidence.

Horn suggests that the burial of weapons, common in Scandinavia and other areas of Europe during the Bronze Age, could represent a ritual sacrifice associated with a right of passage which enabled warriors to give up their warrior status and move on to other roles in society. Such sacrifices may have involved the ritual destruction of the weapons. In Scandinavia and Northern Europe weapons burials almost always occur within 20 km of navigable waters; i.e. less than a day's walking distance. Thus potentially these burials could represent the giving up of the weapons of an entire group of warriors involved in maritime raiding.

Interpreting ritual activities from ancient sites is difficult, and requires careful excavation of the site. Many older weapons hoards in Scandinavia (and other areas) were discovered before archaeologists had an appreciation of this, resulting in a loss of information from these sites. However, some archaeologists, even in the nineteenth century, did provide careful context of their discoveries, enabling some interpretation to be made.

The Smørumøvre Hoard was excavated by Danish Archaeologist Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae in the 1850s. Worsaae recorded that the hoard comprised a group of bronze spearheads tightly packed together, and embedded in the floor of a former lake, possibly indicating that the had been bound into a package without their hafts before ritual deposition. The Torstead Hoard, again from Denmark, was uncovered in the 1960s, and provides better context. This hoard comprises forty spearheads and seven axeheads, deposited between 1800 and 1600 BC, within a small stone structure, which could not have held the hafts of any of these weapons. The removal of the hafts of these weapons could be a way of ritually 'killing' them by rendering them into a useless state. Some of the spears buried at Torstead also had their tips broken off, as did several swords from a hoard at Dystrup, with other swords being damaged in other ways. The Torstead Hoard was even buried in a small stone cist, similar to the ones in which Human remains were deposited at the time, re-enforcing the idea that these weapons may have been considered dead.

This ritual killing of weapons may have represented a way for warriors to shed their identities and re-integrate into their communities, something which has been recorded in some more recent societies, and proposed as an explanation for similar hoards from the Chalcolithic of Europe and Late Bronze Age of Britain.

Rock art may also have played some role in the ritual reinstatement of warriors into society. Curiously, areas where numerous hoards of Bronze Age weapons have been found tend to have very few rock paintings, while areas with large numbers of rock paintings often lack depositions of weapons, although both tend to be local to water. 

In Sweden, the majority of Bronze Age rock art is found along the stretch of coast between Bohuslän to Mälardalen, and long the large rivers of this area, and around lakes Vänern and Vättern. At Gerum a large panel depicts 95 boats, 43 figures, 28 animals, 16 footprints (some of them shod), and 187 cupmarks. The land here has been uplifting since the end of the last Ice Age, and the panel was likely completely covered by water until shortly before carving began, with carvings being made close to the water, possibly from a boat, constantly working their way down the rock face as it became exposed.

The carvings at the Berget III site in the Tyrifjorden-Randsfjorden area of Norway are also thought to have been made from a boat. This carvings are 1.7-1.8 m above sealevel today, but when they were carved would have been only slightly above the water when they were carved. This is also thought to have been true of the rock art at Flögen in Sweden, where a series of boats (and a single Bull), were depicted over the course of the Bronze Age. These are now between 11.66 and 12.51 m above sealevel, but would have been slightly above the water when made, making it likely that the artists were either in a boat or standing on frozen ice.

(a) Density of Nordic Bronze Age metalwork based on published large catalogues. (b) Density of Nordic Bronze Age rock art. Horn (2022).

All of the rock art is placed close to water, but never in sight of the open sea. Instead it is placed within straits, fjords, and bays in places it can be seen from land, but hidden from the sea, presumably indicating that the scenes were directed inwards, for the benefit of the local community, but hidden from outsiders.

In the Early Bronze Age, warriors (and others) were buried in stone barrows and cairns, where weapons and other grave goods could be easily placed. By the Late Bronze Age, however, cremation had taken over as the predominant way of disposing of the dead, severely limiting the potential for sending metal goods with the dead. In areas where rock art was common, the amount of grave goods placed in tombs was lower, and the tombs tended to be placed close to the panels, and often directly above them, possibly indicating that these could serve as a substitute for grave goods. The proximity of these tombs and art to the sea, while at the same time being hidden for it and visible to the community may have in some way been symbolic of a warrior's final journey.

Grave goods included in Warrior Burials were often diverse and numerous, including weapons, equipment for personal grooming, and decorative items. In contrast, the weapons depicted in rock art are generally very simple in their execution. Curiously, many weapons were drawn in the earliest Nordic Bronze Age were subsequently reworked and modified extensively through the remainder of the period, sometimes having Human figures added.

Once the practice of burning the dead became predominant in the Late Bronze Age, the amount of grave goods buried with the cremated dead shrank, and became less varied. At the same time the burials themselves became less conspicuous, typically on hillslopes, or as secondary burials inside existing tombs. The process began between about 1300 and 1100 BC, when detailed images of warriors began to appear in the rock art, with these detailed warriors becoming most common and elaborate between about 950 and 720 BC.

Horn interprets this as an attempt to depict a warrior ideal in art, as this medium took over from elaborate burials as the main way to remember the dead. This art may well have been used in conjunction with other rituals, and helped to convey older narratives about warriors and heroes, but this does not mean that such rituals were not also intended to help warriors find their correct place in society, or step into and out of the role of warrior when this was required. 

Nordic Bronze Age rock art appears to have been used to celebrate an ideal of maritime warriorhood. The placement of this art, at the entrance/exit to enclosed waterways, combined with a ritual link to metalworking, may suggest that this art played a role intended to help men change their roles, from fierce maritime warriors on the outside, to responsible members of the community when at home. 

The long-distance raiding abilities of early Scandinavian cultures are often considered in historical studies, but shorter raids against nearby communities would have been much more common, and no less dangerous. Furthermore, those involved in such nearby conflicts would have had far less time for any associated bloodlust to subside before returning to their home communities, making them more dangerous at home. This could have created a need for a ritual means to re-integrate these warriors into their home communities. Horn theorises that the location of the rock art, combined with the fact that this was periodically reworked, strongly implies that this art was involved in the journey-related rituals, the most likely of which to need a ritual intervention were war raids.

The ritual sacrifice of weapons, combined with the retelling and embellishment of local warrior legends, performed at the boundaries of communities and the outside world, could have been a way for men to keep their identities as warriors in the outside world separate from their roles within their home community, thereby reducing the danger of internal conflicts within small communities.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.