Hybrid beasts of the Nordic Bronze Age

Abstract

The subject area is Late Bronze Age ornamentation examining the modes of networking, cultural transmission and local appropriation of figurative imagery in Europe ca. 1300-700 BCE. She has a BA in prehistoric archaeology with a minor in museology from Aarhus University, and will be finishing her MA as part of her PhD. This article is based on her bachelor's dissertation with new perspectives added and is the result of close collaboration with Helle Vandkilde.

On the Fringe: Sheepdogs and Their Status Within Bronze Age Ontologies in Scandinavia

“…The kind of hybridity suggested for dogs in the triad of herding might be complementary to, but not identical to, the hybridity suggested for art from the Bronze Age (Ahlqvist & Vandkilde 2018;Goldhahn 2019) and the Iron Age (Hedeager 2011;Kristoffersen 1995Kristoffersen , 2010 objects. Hybridity as an artistic imagining is frequently interpreted on the basis of hybrid beings that extend the bounds of species to incorporate elements from humans and different animal bodies, and is understood to express an ontology where boundaries between different types of bodies are not fixed but fluid, with porous bodies (Kristoffersen 1995;Ingold 2011).…”

“…Game describes this as a kind of hybridity, in which the rider experiences oneself as a hybrid being, that is sometimes glimpsed in prehistoric art (e.g. Kristoffersen 1995;Ahlqvist & Vandkilde 2018). It serves as an example of the usefulness of an exploration of the human-animal interface at an anecdotal level.…”

A storm of swords and spears: The weapon dancer as an enduring symbol in prehistoric Scandinavia

“…Increasing academic attention is being directed towards the potential continuity which may exist between Bronze and Iron Age Scandinavian belief systems. Over the past twenty years several archaeologists have presented arguments suggesting key Norse religious elements-including symbolism and ritual practice-may have been shaped by enduring symbolic structures of the Bronze Age (e.g., Ahlqvist & Vandkilde, 2018;Andrén, 2014;Fredell, 2003, pp. 250-253;Glørstad & Melheim, 2016;K.…”

“…This proposed animistic focus of weapon dancer imagery is strengthened further when examining the horned helmets with which every example is characterized. Scholars of Indo-European religion argue that these horned-headpieces represent a long-standing Indo-European tradition where the transformative capabilities of divine and heroic figures were portrayed through the use of hornedhelmets (Ahlqvist & Vandkilde, 2018;K. Kristiansen & Lisbeth, 2014;J.…”

“…For example, the Greek Dioscuri were consistently depicted with either horns or horned-helmets in Bronze Age imagery due to several myths depicting their transformation into bulls (K. Kristiansen & Lisbeth, 2014;Speidel, 2004). While Indo-European allusions should always be taken with a grain of salt, such an interpretation is strengthened by the bird-beaked terminal ends which many of the horns of the dancers are shown with (Figure 5)-suggested to represent the heads of eagles, alluding to Odin's frequent transformation into the animal in many of the Norse myths (Ahlqvist & Vandkilde, 2018;Gräslund, 2006;Langer, 2002;Nordbladh, 2012).…”