Oval brooches and Viking Age graves

Viking Studies Research Group

Oval brooches are among the most characteristic artefacts from the Viking Age. Generally worn with female Scandinavian dress, their presence in graves in Britain, Ireland, and Iceland has tended to be regarded as evidence for the presence of Scandinavian women, and as important for displaying and claiming Scandinavian identities. This way of interpreting oval brooches does not  take into account the variations in how they were used. Through a detailed study of Viking Age oval brooches discovered in burials in Britain, Ireland, and Iceland, I will examine how these artefacts were used in life, how they were used in burials, and how these types of use relate to each other. I will argue that the variations visible in the material suggest that oval brooches played different roles in burials, and that their meaning was dependent on how they were used, both before and during the funerary rites. Ultimately, I will demonstrate the importance of contextualising grave goods and highlight their potential as a source of information about Viking Age death and burial.

Email cms-office@york.ac.uk for the Zoom link.