Etikett: Portable Antiquities

  • Advent calendar Flap 5, the Stala Pickaxe

    Advent calendar Flap 5, the Stala Pickaxe

    Flap 6 Behind flap 6 in this year’s Advent calendar is the so-called Stala Pickaxe. It was found on the island of Orust in Bohuslän, Sweden and received its name from Stala parish, where it was discovered in 1857. In 1867 it was displayed at the World Exhibition in Paris, and a few years later…

  • Advent calendar Flap 5, the Hedeby Mask

    Advent calendar Flap 5, the Hedeby Mask

    Flap 5 Behind flap 5 in the Advent calendar we find the Hedeby Mask. This mask was discovered during excavations at the Viking Age trading town of Hedeby/Haithabu. According to archaeologists, it had been reused as caulking in the hull of a Viking ship. The mask is felted from wool and shaped like an animal.…

  • Advent calendar Flap 4, the Konsterud Horn

    Advent calendar Flap 4, the Konsterud Horn

    Flap 4Behind flap 4 of the Advent calendar we find the Konsterud Horn. This horn is a so-called vallhorn, a type of blowing instrument that in Sweden represents a living tradition with roots stretching back thousands of years. The Konsterud Horn was made sometime around the year 0, making it nearly 2,000 years old and…

  • The Blomskog Portal

    The Blomskog Portal

    A Swedish language version can be found below. In today’s post, I would like to write about the Blomskog portal. This is a partially preserved portal from a stave church. The stave church once stood in Blomskog, not far from Årjäng in Värmland, Sweden. Unfortunately, the stave church no longer exists. The portal was discovered…

  • Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida in Inari

    Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida in Inari

    So I have decided to branch out the blog and also include museums and portable antiquities. It feels natural to do so as they are great places to explore the finds and the culture of the people that created the sites that I normally visit and write about. They also deserve to get some free…

  • The Cammin Chest

    The Cammin Chest

    This is a plaster of Paris copy of the Viking Age chest known as the Cammin Chest. The original was once located in Kungälv/Kongahälla on the west coast of what is now Sweden. In 1131 it was stolen in a raid by the Vends and it was later housed in a monastery in Cammin in…