Celtic Archives - New Historian

Celtic Buckle Found in Grave of Danish Viking

ScienceNordic News that he had never seen anything like the circular buckle before. After documenting his find, he sent several photographs to Else Resdahl, Professor Emeritus of Denmark’s Aarhus University – only to discover that his colleague had never seen anything like it before either. The quest to identify the artifact intensified, with several other colleagues collaborating to narrow down the origins of the buckle to the British Isles based on its design and its ornamentation. Additionally, the researchers involved in the study of the disc unanimously agreed that it had not begun life as a petticoat buckle; instead it was likely pried off a religious wooden box and then stolen in a Viking raid. Stidsing pointed out that such objects simply weren’t traded, meaning that some church or monastery – possibly a pre-Christian one – was looted through good old-fashioned plunder. The bronze ornament itself has been dated to approximately 800 CE; the grave, in comparison, is about a century younger. There’s no way to determine how this particular piece of Viking plunder made it to western Denmark. However, Stidsing theorizes that it might have first arrived on Norwegian shores, based on a few uncommon examples of similar buckles within the country. A woman from Norway could have traveled to Denmark and lived there until her death, the archaeologist suggested. In order to test his theory, the teeth of the deceased buckle owner are being subjected to strontium isotope analysis; this could help to pinpoint her geographical region of origin. With Norwegian Vikings being notorious for raiding parties sent to regions of England such as Northumberland and even farther afield, it’s a distinct possibility that Stidsing will turn out to be correct. Museum Southeast Denmark curator and fellow archaeologist Jens Ulriksen, also interviewed by ScienceNordic, agreed that such belt buckles are exceedingly rare when it comes to being found in Denmark. Ulriksen was excited by the prospect of discovering evidence of the woman being originally from Norway or from even greater distances before settling in western Denmark, adding that there’s a historical precedent: Slavic princesses, for example, were routinely married off to Danish kings from 900 CE. The archaeologist added that he wouldn’t be surprised if there was such a cultural exchange, but having it confirmed would be invaluable – especially if it led to the confirmation of dynastic connections across Scandinavia. Additionally, being able to confirm the origins of the woman as Norwegian could aid researchers in understanding the extent of Viking mobility during the medieval era. The research study associated with the new archaeological find has been published by the University of Copenhagen’s Saxo Institute. Images of the artefact can be found here]]>

New Research on Highland Identity

Historical Research. Initially focused on the history of the Celtic people, philology and culture, the magazine became devoted to securing a solution to the Highland land question. In the late nineteenth century, Britain was becoming an industrial behemoth on the back of the spoils of empire. Most imperial profits ended up in the hands of lords and businessmen who used their wealth to buy large estates. Stewart notes that James Matheson, a Scottish trader with Mackintosh & Co., bought the entire Isle of Lewis when he returned from China in 1844. On Lewis, he built Lews castle, near Stornoway. In contrast, however, the majority of Highlanders had a very different experience of the period. Recurrent famine and land clearances inflicted mass suffering on the population and led to widespread emigration from the Highlands. Importantly, the Celtic Magazine was concerned with the plight of Highlanders. Implicit in the magazine’s conception of an idealised Celtic Highland past pre 1745, Stewart argues that the magazine internalised the racial stereotypes of Highlanders made by Lowlanders and the English. By promoting Celticism as an ideal, rather than having negative connotations, the Celtic Magazine gave a voice to the Highlanders by setting them apart from the others. It must be noted that the idea of a ‘Celt’ is very problematic. What it means, precisely, is hotly debated. Often, the Celts are understood to have been a European tribe that swept into Britain before the Roman conquests. Subsequently, the Celts were pushed to the fringes of the British isles by invasions from the continent. Stewart does not address this complicated history of precisely what a ‘Celt’ was. Rather, he is examining what a Celtic identity came to mean for the Highland population, expressed through a popular magazine. Celtic identity was a means of giving voice to a large group of Scottish people who were distinct from the wealthier and more vociferous Lowlanders. For more information: www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user: Flickr upload bot]]>