#bracteates

[survivethejive]

Dr Scott Shell returns to Jive Talk this Friday night to discuss his findings in relation to Heathen iconography on bracteates of the Germanic Iron Age.

JIVE TALK: Pagan Iconography on Bracteates w/ @scottt.shellcontinentalger2464

Scott Shell received his Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley. The emphasis of his study has been on

[blueiscoool]

Dog Digs up Huge Haul of Medieval Coins in Poland

A rare collection of bracteates – thin, single-sided medieval coins – has been dug up by a dog near the city of Wałbrzych in southwestern Poland. Experts say the items – which date back to the 13th century – are the first such large discovery in over a hundred years.

The Wałbrzych branch of the Lower Silesia heritage protection office was alerted by the owner of the dog, named Kajtuś, about his rare find earlier this month. They immediately dispatched a team, including archaeologists from the University of Wrocław, to investigate.

“The person who contacted us was out walking the dog,” Anna Nowakowska-Ciuchera, the Wałbrzych heritage protection officer, told Gazeta Wyborcza. “Kajtuś started digging in the earth, and that was how he reached the jug with the coins.”

“The objects turned out to be medieval bracteates which were preserved in a damaged earthenware pot,” the Lower Silesia heritage protection office explained. Preliminary findings date the find to the first half of the 13th century and suggest that the coins were minted in Brandenburg, Saxony or Silesia.

“Finding a significant number of coins from this period is an exceptional occurrence,” added the office, because new currencies could be issued as often as two or three times a year, with previous sets of coins being melted down and reminted.

The discovered coins are in excellent condition, with mostly clear prints and little damage. Poland’s biggest collections of bracteates have previously been in Warsaw and Kraków, but the area of the new find will now become a “mecca” for medievalists, the heritage protection office predicts.

For now, however, they do not want to reveal the precise location of the discovery, to discourage amateur metal detectors from arriving, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.

Bracteates (from the Latin bractea, meaning a thin piece of metal) were used as coins in medieval times. They were printed on the obverse, with a concave “negative” of the image on the reverse.

Featuring representations of animals, fantastical designs and elements of architecture, they are an excellent material for medievalist studies, says the heritage protection office.

“The idea of stamping coins from a thin plate was caused by the low availability of ore – silver or, more rarely, gold, and the reserves of the mint. Kings, dukes, and bishops could mint coins,” the heritage protection office explains.

Only with the discovery of silver deposits near Prague did the “euro of medieval Europe”, the Prague groschen, begin to be minted, which gradually took over from bracteates.

The coins are archaeological heritage and will therefore eventually make their way into a museum rather than onto the numismatic market. First, however, they need to be properly studied and conserved – which will require time as well as academic grants.

As for Kajtuś the dog, “with his skills in mind, archaeologists are already making enquiries about his participation in excavations,” the heritage protection office joked.

[thorraborinn]

Is there a difference between an Elder Futhark ending in O-D or one ending in D-O? I've found a few articles claiming that D-O is older, but I see O-D quite often, too.

The single oldest attested full rune-row is probably the one on the Kylver stone, estimated to be from around 400 A.D. on the basis of the grave it was found near (although it isn’t beyond a shadow of a doubt that the stone and the grave go together, it’s still likely the oldest). This stone has the futhark ending do:

However on bracteates the order of the last two runes is reversed. Below are the Grumpan-C and Vadstena-C bracteates, respectively (there is also the Motala-C bracteate, but it was struck from the same die as Vadstena). On Vadstena the d rune is covered but it’s clear where it is meant to be.

Images from Hauck, Karl et al. 1986. Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit. vol. 2.2. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, pages 47 and 157 respectively.

I don’t know the Anglo-Saxon corpus very well but George Hickes’ edition of the rune poem has od like the bracteates:

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rune_poem_Hickes_1705.png)

…while Codex Sangallensis 878 has do:

For further reading I’d suggest:

Looijenga, Tineke. 2003. Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions. The Northern World, 4. Brill: Leiden.

Senra Silva, Inmaculada. 2003. The Significance of The Rune-Names: Evidence from the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic Sources. PhD. dissertation, Universidad de Sevilla

[grumpylokeanelder]

Bracteates Resources

Brakteatstudier - Studies in Gold Bracteates by Morten Axboe Arild-Hauge's Bracteate page, including a good many photos. An Oxford bibliography list on Scandinavian gold bracteates (pay site, unfortunately. Depending on your library, you might have access to the database). A Hoard from the Migration Period from Karlino (North-Western Poland) by Rozalia Tibulewicz The Year 536 and Scandinavian Gold Hoards by Morten Axboe (further papers in Danish on his Academia page.) The Chronology of the Scandinavian Gold Bracteates by Morten Axboe DN ODINN P F AUC? Germanic "Imperial Portraits" on Scandinavian Gold Bracteates by Morten Axboe and Anne Kromann Amulet Pendants and a Darkened Sun: On the Function of the Gold Bracteates and a Possible Motivation for the Large Gold Hoards by Morten Axboe