Abstract
The vivid presence of material objects in Scandinavian cosmology, as preserved in the Old Norse myths, carries underexplored traces of belief systems and the material experience of Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1000 CE). This paper proposes an archaeological reading of Norse mythology to help explain how ancient Scandinavians understood the presence and role of deities, magic, and the supernatural in everyday life. The Norse myths retain records of material objects that reinforced Scandinavian oral traditions and gave their stories power, memory, and influence. From Thor’s hammer and Freyja’s feathered cloak to Sigyn’s bowl and Ran’s net, such materials and the stories they colour are informed by everyday objects of Iron Age life – spun with the magic, belief, and narrative traditions that made them icons. The mythic objects promoted a belief system that expected and embraced the imperfections of objects, much like deities. These imperfections in the divine Norse objects and the ways in which the gods interact with their materials are part and parcel of the Scandinavian religious mentality and collective social reality. This work ultimately questions the relationship between materiality and myth, and seeks to nuance our current understandings of the ancient Scandinavian worldview based on the available textual evidence.
Highlights
The vivid presence of material objects in Scandinavian cosmology, as preserved in the Old Norse myths, carries underexplored traces of belief systems and the material experience of Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1000 CE)
For this paper I am interested in how a study of the Norse myths that focuses on the material objects mentioned in these texts might nuance our understandings of Scandinavian belief during the Iron Age (400–1000 CE)
A discussion of materiality in Norse mythology could not find a more fitting introduction than the infamous trickster deity, Loki, who procures the treasured gifts of the gods in connection with replacing the golden hair of the goddess Sif
Summary
Sanmark 2002; Steinsland 2005; Dobat 2006; Price 2007; Andrén 2014). The Norse myths in particular offer opportunities for an insight into the Scandinavians’ interaction with their mythology in everyday life, such as their engagement with mortuary performance and ritual (Price 2010), the slaughter practices for cattle in Scandinavian dairy economies – possibly with reference to the mythical cow Auðhumla whose milk sustains the giant Ymir (Dubois 2012), the participation of the warring berserkers and úlfheðnar in the cult of Odin (Schjødt 2011), and the eating of horsemeat in dedication to the gods (Þorgilsson and Benediktsson 1968, ch. 7; McKinnell et al 2004, 54–56; O’Donoghue 2007, 62). (5) The texts of the thirteenthcentury Icelander Snorri Sturluson, Snorra Edda and Heimskringla, remain a valuable source for much of our knowledge of Norse mythology These texts, authored by a single expert with his own motivations and biases, are coloured by Snorri’s Christian outlook, and he mischaracterises Scandinavian pagan belief as a single coherent religion, whereas Iron Age belief was more likely a diverse aggregation of regional and local religious practices, beliefs, and traditions (cf Sanmark 2002). This brief survey of textual sources containing mythological content or information reminds us that these sources cannot be evaluated with a one-size-fits-all methodology or theoretical approach. The imperfections evident in divine objects and the ways in which the gods interact with materials are part and parcel of the Norse religious mentality as well as collective social reality
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