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Details
LOT 1694
Viking Age Bronze Necklace Bead Group
CIRCA 9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
1/2 - 1 1/8 in. (41 grams total, 13-28 mm).
Comprising tubular beads with ribbed detailing and waisted tubular beads. [16, No Reserve]
Provenance
UK gallery, early 2000s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. Bliujiene, A., ‘Curonian bead sets with bronze spacer plates and their Scandinavian parallels’ in Fornvannen, 2001, no.96, pp.235-242, fig.3 for similar bronze beads.
Footnotes
From the small number of identified child burials dating to the Viking-Age, it appears that small bronze bells, toys and mirrors are often artefacts associated with children. There is also some evidence that large numbers of beads were attached to outfits or worn as ornaments by children in certain areas, like those of Baltic Curonian.
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This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock: sudden shooting pains localised to a particular area of the body, such as in rheumatism, arthritis or muscle stitches or cramps. Elves were thought to shoot darts or arrows where such pains had no obvious external cause. Belief in elfshot persisted into the 20th century in rural areas, and as proof country folk would sometimes find small arrowheads (the remains of Neolithic or Mesolithic flints, or naturally-occurring spear-shaped stones) that were believed to be the magical weapons that caused the afflictions. Belief in elfshot began in the Pagan Germanic period.
