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Vikings Reborn: The Origins and Development of Early Medieval Re-enactment in Poland

100%

Gardeła L.

Sprawozdania Archeologiczne

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2016

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vol. 68

165-182

EN

The Vikings and their culture continue to fascinate thousands of people around the world and provide inexhaustible inspiration for numerous works of art, literature, music and film in which the archaeological, historical and mythological motifs from the North are reused in a creative way. Over the last 20 years the interest in the Vikings and their times has been growing at a rapid pace also in Poland where various re-enactment groups gather both young and senior enthusiasts from very diverse social backgrounds. Contemporary Vikings meet at early medieval markets, festivals and other events to trade, fight and experience a life of adventurers, merchants and warriors. The re-enactment scene has now grown so large that for some people ‘being Viking’ has become not only an exciting pastime, but actually their major occupation and a way of life. This paper contextualises and critically explores the fascinating history of this phenomenon and the lifestyles of contemporary Vikings in Poland.

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Międzynarodowe Spotkania Interdyscyplinarne „Motywy Przez Wieki” Motyw głowy w perspektywie porównawczej Bytów 13–14 kwietnia 2012

63%

Kajkowski K., Gardeła L.

Materiały Zachodniopomorskie

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2012

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vol. 9

610-613

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Ostrogi zoomorficzne z Ciepłego. Zachodniosłowiański model kosmosu?

51%

Gardeła L., Kajkowski K., Ratajczyk Z.

Pomorania Antiqua

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2019

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vol. Tom XXVIII

s. 65-152

EN

The present paper focuses on elaborately decorated zoomorphic spurs discovered in an early medieval cemetery at Ciepłe in Eastern Pomerania, Poland. Its primary aim is to discuss the spurs from Ciepłe in the context of other contemporary finds with similar decorative motifs and to unravel their symbolic significance. By referring to archaeology, textual sources, and folkloristic accounts, it is argued that the zoomorphic spurs contain references to Slavic mythology and that they could have served as portable models of the Slavic pagan universe and as expressions of pre-Christian worldviews. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part, entitled “Contexts” (Pol. Konteksty), is an attempt to determine the cultural provenance of spurs from Ciepłe as well as that of their parallels which have been discovered in various locations across Poland, Germany, and Scandinavia. The second part, entitled “In Search for the Key to Interpretation” (Pol. W poszukiwaniu klucza interpretacyjnego), seeks to provide a new reading of the symbolic meanings of the spurs. The beginning of the article pays significant attention to the famous early medieval cemetery at Lutomiersk in Central Poland. Archaeological excavations, conducted in the 1940s under the direction of Professor Konrad Jażdżewski from Łódź University, revealed two lavishly furnished graves (grave 5 and grave 10) which, among other things, contained elaborately decorated zoomorphic spurs. Because these items were poorly preserved, with some of their essential components missing (e.g. the goads), Jażdżewski was unsure if they had actually served as spurs and labelled them “saddle mounts”. Since relatively little was known about the material culture of West Slavic elites at the time when the finds from Lutomiersk were published, it was assumed that the spurs belonged to foreign immigrants, perhaps Scandinavian or Rus warriors who had come to Poland to serve in the retinues of the first Piasts. The opinion on the foreign origin of the spurs and, consequently, of the population buried at Lutomiersk prevailed in Polish academia for a very long time. When in later years fragments of zoomorphic spurs similar to those from Lutomiersk were found at other sites, they were immediately labelled foreign products. This was the case of the finds from the early medieval stronghold at Wrocław Ostrów Tumski and those from the early medieval cemetery at Cerkiewnik – in both instances, the fragmentarily preserved zoomorphic spurs from these sites were labelled by their discoverers as foreign (i.e. non-Slavic) objects. By conducting a thorough analysis of the contexts of the finds from Lutomiersk, Wrocław Ostrów Tumski, and Cerkiewnik, as well as examining the complicated and sometimes controversial history of their interpretations, the first part of this paper demonstrates that the previous views on the foreign provenance of zoomorphic spurs must be rejected. There is nothing in the design nor in the context of discovery of these items to indicate that they are non-Slavic items. After a comprehensive revision of previous academic views concerning the finds from Lutomiersk, Wrocław Ostrów Tumski, and Cerkiewnik, the discussion moves on to examine the more recent finds of zoomorphic spurs from an early medieval cemetery at Ciepłe in Eastern Pomerania. During archaeological excavations conducted in 2009 by Zdzisława Ratajczyk from the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk, a richly furnished chamber grave was found (grave 42/2009). The grave contained the remains of a man buried in a supine position who was accompanied by a wide range of objects – by his right arm lay a sword and a spear, at the waist the man had a whetstone, and in the feet-area a set of stirrups and a large bucket were placed. Remarkably, the copper alloy spurs were worn on the man’s feet. The spurs from Ciepłe belong to exactly the same type as those from Lutomiersk, Wrocław Ostrów Tumski and Cerkiewnik, but in contrast to these earlier discoveries, they are preserved complete. The spurs from Ciepłe are adorned with a number of zoomorphic motifs; three animals resembling cattle are depicted on each of their arms and the arms themselves terminate with animal heads, probably of snakes. Another animal, most likely a horse, with its head facing backwards, is shown on the goad. Also the straps that allowed for fastening the spurs to the shoes have fittings and belt-ends in zoomorphic form, as well as a ring with a swastika motif which served as a kind of belt loop. In addition, each of the spurs has little bells attached to their arms. Interestingly, these bells still produce sound. In recent years several new fragments of zoomorphic spurs have been found in various localities in Poland, Scandinavia, Germany and Russia. Among them is a goad discovered at Skegrie in Skåne, Sweden, a buckle from Schwerin in Meklenburg- Vorpommern, Germany, a goad from Lubniewice in Poland and a goad from Kumachevo in the Sambia Peninsula, Russia. All these finds are briefly discussed in the present article and it is argued that they could attest to the mobility of West Slavic elites, who probably lost the spurs (or fragments thereof) during their travels. Ultimately, the first part of the paper ends with the conclusion that there are no reasons to consider the zoomorphic spurs from Lutomiersk, Wrocław Ostrów Tumski, Cerkiewnik, and Ciepłe, as well as their fragments found at other sites in Poland and beyond, as foreign products. It is argued that they should rather be seen as originating from the West Slavic area, probably from what is today Poland. Previous scholars who suggested that the spurs and their owners had come from Rus or Scandinavia worked at a time when West Slavic material culture was still poorly researched and vaguely understood. This led them to the erroneous assumption that the Western Slavs did not use zoomorphic motifs in their art. However, recent archaeological excavations conducted in Poland show unequivocally that zoomorphic motifs were actually widely employed in the material culture of the Western Slavs and that various animals also played significant roles in their pre-Christian beliefs. After establishing the cultural provenance of the spurs and demonstrating that they are unequivocally West Slavic products, the discussion moves on to the second part of the article which focuses on their symbolic meanings. Before providing a holistic interpretation of the iconographic programme shown on the spurs, an attempt is made to decode the symbolic content of their various individual details. Separate sections are therefore devoted to the ring with a swastika motif (Pol. przewleczka), the buckle and zoomorphic mounts (Pol. sprzączka i okucia zoomorficzne), the goad (Pol. bodziec), the arms of the spurs (Pol. ramiona ostrogi), the small bells (Pol. zawieszki dzwoneczkowate) and the strap end (Pol. końcówka paska). It is demonstrated that these different constructional details, both in a stylistic and conceptual sense, have close parallels in other finds known from the West Slavic area. Afterwards, the authors move on to argue that the spurs represent a model of the pagan cosmos, and that their different features refer to the motifs known from the Slavic cosmogonic myth preserved in nineteenth- and twentieth-century folkloristic accounts. In its most basic variant, the myth tells the story of the world’s creation and of the eternal conflict between the two divine antagonists who in folkloristic accounts are known as God and Devil, but who most likely represent pre-Christian deities Perun and Weles. Perun was the god of the sky and lightning while Weles, in some sources known as the “cattle god”, ruled over death and the underworld. According to the Slavic cosmogonic myth, the world was created from a grain of sand which the Devil/Weles picked up from the bottom of the primordial ocean (in some variants of the story, while doing so he took the shape of a waterbird). When Perun cast the grain onto the water, it immediately started to grow and turned into an island. Soon after the act of creation was completed and after the gods stepped out on land, Weles tried to kill Perun and take control of the newly-created world. The gods therefore engaged in a conflict of cosmic importance. As may be inferred from folkloristic accounts, at some point the two antagonists created supernatural helpers to fight this battle in their name – Perun had a flying serpent called Żmij which was capable of breathing fire or lightning, while Weles created snakes and dragons which had the capacity to absorb water causing draught and famine. These serpentine creatures – like the gods themselves – had opposite characteristics and the conflict between them obviously symbolised the cycle of life and the changing of the seasons – i.e. the coming of winter when everything died and when the soil was dry, and the coming of spring announced by the first lightning and rainfall that would fertilise the land. In light of the above, it is argued that the different features of the spurs can be seen as references to the motifs known from the Slavic cosmogonic myth. The ring with the swastika represents the sun while the wavy ornament on the spurs’ arms represents water. The horse on the goad probably plays the role of a psychopompos, i.e. a carrier of human souls that made their journey to the otherworld possible. This reading is also in line with the interpretation of the horned animals which are shown on the spurs’ arms, perhaps standing on an island. Based on what we know about the Slavic otherworld and about Weles – also known as the “cattle god” who presided over the dead – it seems that these horned animals could depict human souls grazing on an otherworldly pasture in animal form. The zoomorphic motifs on the buckles and strap mounts seem to allude to the everlasting conflict between Żmij and water-absorbing snakes or dragons. Finally, the bells attached to the spurs’ arms probably represent the grain of sand picked up from the abyss (or alternatively the cosmic egg from which – according to another variant of the cosmogonic myth – the world has hatched), while the belt end with a bird-like head is most likely a depiction of the Devil/Weles in his role as the “holy diver”. In conclusion, the detailed analysis of the zoomorphic spurs from Ciepłe (and their parallels) has helped to debunk a number of scientific myths that have long been present in Polish archaeology. By demonstrating that the zoomorphic spurs were West Slavic products – and not, as previously thought, foreign “imports” from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe – it has become possible to offer their comprehensive interpretation in the light of written, archaeological and ethnographic sources referring to the pagan beliefs of the Slavs. Establishing the Slavic origin of the zoomorphic spurs has also provided strong arguments confirming the same cultural attribution of a number of other objects of previously obscure provenance (e.g. the decorative parts of bridles from graves 5 and 10 from Lutomiersk) and has consequently led to the disenchantment of erroneous beliefs about the existence of graves of Scandinavian or Rus “mercenaries/ warriors/riders” at Lutomiersk. Ultimately, this study has shown that the West Slavic material culture was much richer than previously thought, and that animals played a very important role in pre-Christian worldviews. In addition to the above, the results of this research set out many new and exciting paths for future studies of West Slavic migrations and of the ways in which they expressed group identity and cohesion through the use of luxurious objects deeply saturated with symbolic meanings.

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1 Materiały Zachodniopomorskie

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1 Ratajczyk Z.

Vikings Reborn: The Origins and Development of Early Medieval Re-enactment in Poland

Międzynarodowe Spotkania Interdyscyplinarne „Motywy Przez Wieki” Motyw głowy w perspektywie porównawczej Bytów 13–14 kwietnia 2012

Ostrogi zoomorficzne z Ciepłego. Zachodniosłowiański model kosmosu?