‘Barbarian Scepters’ of the Viking Age from the Chernaya Mogila burial mound at Chernigov (present-day Ukraine)

Abstract

New studies carried out using synchrotron and neutron methods of imaging, electron microscopy, neutron diffraction and 3D-modelling of objects deposited in the most famous mound of Medieval Rus’ – Chernaya Mogila (10th century) – have led to the discovery of a previously unknown category of artefacts which may be interpreted as power insignia (‘barbarian scepters’). Ornaments in Mammen style (one of the styles of Scandinavian Viking Age art) and details of the artefact morphology clearly indicate the Scandinavian origin of the ‘scepters’ from this grave.