SWYOR-834952 Early Medieval Scabbard

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https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/1108582
Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/1108582/recordtype/artefacts archive copy at the Wayback Machine
Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1006417

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https://www.sewiki.info/b/a9fad

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Wikimedia Commons

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Beskrivning:

An Early Medieval Anglo-Scandinavian "Birka Falcon" type scabbard chape dating from AD 800 - 1100. It is an openwork V shaped scabbard chape. One face is complete; the other is damaged at the upper end. At the upper end, there is a central bar projecting upwards, with a rounded end. There is a rivet extending from the reverse of this bar. The upper edge of the chape is angled downwards on both sides from the central bar. The sides of the chape then extend higher again, but not as high as the central bar. The face of the chape has four openings, two L shaped ones at the top and two comma shaped ones below. These leave the outline of a bird with spreadeagled wings and a flaring tail in the centre. The diesgn of the incomplete face appears to have been the same. The chape is a pointed oval in cross-section. It is 54.3mm long, 40mm wide and 13.2mm thick. 15.6g. There is no evidence of any surface decoration. The metal has a purple brown colour.

There are some similar examples recorded on the PAS database. These include NLM-5BD697, HAMP-DD8CEF, NLM6140, WMID-019567, NMS-AE6472, and DENO-527092.

Perhaps the most similar is LANCUM-692561 which is described as being similar in style to the Scandinavian 'Birka Falcon', or Paulsen's 'Swedish-Varangian' style. This would place it in the 9th - 11th centuries. The LANCUM record goes on to say that chapes of this type have mostly been found in Eastern Europe. It also comments that the LANCUM chape is similar to one in collections of the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery decorated with intertwined beasts and found at Chatburn.

Similar chapes with a bird motif have been found at Gnёzdovo, Smolensky District, Russia. There, some are suspected to be imported from Scandinavia, while others are thought to be of local manufacture (S. Yu. Kainov, 2009, Sword’s scabbard chapes from Gnёzdovo, AMM 5: 79-110). The most similar chapes from Gnezdovo are classified as Poulsen type I-2.  They are also sorted using N. V. Eniosova's typology where they are classified as types B-1 and B-2.

Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson (2002, 108) discusses the status and function of chapes, noting that there are a limited range of designs and decoration. She also comments that chapes are not always found with swords, and seem to have a high status function separate to their use on the end of scabbards. She suggests they could be a symbol of office. (Hedenstierna-Jonson(2002) 'A group of Viking Age sword chapes reflecting the political geography of the time' in Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science 13).

A mould for the falcon type was found at Birka, but the Birka examples are mainly highly decorated in the Borre style. The SWYOR example has the outline of a falcon, but no further decoration. This could suggest that it is a locally made copy of the Birka type.

Another scabbard chape, but with anthropomorphic style decoration rather than the falcon design is SWYOR-97E0E5.

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CC BY 2.0

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Attribution License version 2.0 (verified 13 november 2020)

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.0