German archaeologists found that the skulls of three medieval Viking ladies discovered on the Swedish island of Gotland within the Baltic Sea confirmed proof of an uncommon process to elongate their skulls. The method gave them an uncommon and distinctive look, based on a paper printed within the journal Present Swedish Archaeology. Together with proof that the Viking males from the island might have intentionally filed their tooth, the invention sheds mild on the function physique modification might have performed in Viking tradition
When individuals hear about Viking physique modification, they most likely consider Viking tattoos, notably because the Historical past Channel collection Vikings popularized that notion. However whether or not precise Vikings sported tattoos is a matter of appreciable debate. There isn’t any point out of tattoos within the few Norse sagas and poetry which have survived, though different uncommon bodily traits are sometimes talked about, similar to scars.
The one actual proof comes from a tenth century journey account by an Arab traveler and dealer named Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, whose journey account, Mission to the Volga, describes the Swedish Viking merchants (“Rusiyyah”) he met within the Center Volga area of Russia. “They’re darkish from the guidelines of their toes proper as much as their necks—bushes, footage, and the like,” Ibn Fadlan wrote. However the exact Arabic translation is unclear, and there’s no laborious archaeological proof, since human pores and skin usually would not protect for hundreds of years after a Viking burial.
However there may be proof of physique modification. Archaeologists within the Eighties famous “unusual marks” on the tooth of male Viking Age skulls that regarded just like the tooth had been intentionally filed. Some 130 examples of Norse skulls with filed tooth have since been discovered, 80 % from Gotland. The marks are often on the higher entrance tooth and have horizontal grooves in straight-line patterns, although there are additionally the occasional crescent-shaped marks as properly. A 2005 study by osteologist Caroline Arcini of Sweden’s Nationwide Historic Museums—who later wrote a e-book with an summary of the numerous instances she discovered of filed tooth amongst Norsemen, amongst different subjects—concluded that the marks had been “skillfully made” and that it was unlikely that the boys in query had filed their very own tooth and made the marks themselves.
There are different cultures identified to have practiced tooth modification, however it was not typical of medieval Europe, and the Vikings didn’t often have dental work accomplished. The process would have been very painful, however Arcini discovered no proof that the apply was a part of an initiation or ceremony of passage for younger males, nor was it possible such males had been warriors, elite members of society, or slaves. Given the focus of such males from Gotland, she steered the customized originated on the island or that the tooth had been filed elsewhere, however one way or the other the island was a gathering level for such males.
Matthias Toplak (Viking Museum Haithabu) and Lukas Kerk (College of Munster), co-authors of this newest research, recommend that the tooth submitting might have been a technique to establish fellow members of a closed group of retailers. The three eleventh century ladies with elongated skulls provide a extra puzzling conundrum. The skulls had been excavated from three totally different cemeteries on Gotland, buried someday within the second half of the eleventh century, absolutely dressed with ornate jewellery however little else in the best way of grave items. Two had been between the ages of 25 and 30, whereas the third was an older girl between 55 and 60.
Mirosław Kuźma/Matthias Toplak
Given that every one three burials are comparatively shut chronologically, the authors concluded the three ladies possible shared a typical background that concerned the apply of cranium modification. However there are scant clues as to why such modifications had been carried out. Per Toplak and Kerk, there may be proof of cranium elongation being practiced in varied historical and medieval cultures, from South America and Central Asia to Southeast Europe. The method usually concerned binding the heads of younger kids (often feminine) beneath the age of three with wooden or fabric.
It is doable the apply finally discovered its technique to Gotland through Bulgaria throughout this era, though one other various is that the three ladies had been really born elsewhere and finally settled on Gotland—maybe the youngsters of merchants. That may clarify why the island has no toddler or little one burials displaying indicators of elongated skulls, suggesting it was a overseas apply not extensively adopted in Viking Age Gotland.
It was possible carried out on the three ladies throughout early childhood “to precise their affiliation to a sure social group,” Toplak and Kerk wrote. “On Gotland, nonetheless, this signal was most likely unknown to the broader society. The physique modification might have been perceived as an unique or overseas trait which didn’t stop the person from being built-in into the neighborhood and its prevailing burial customs.”
Present Swedish Archaeology, 2024. DOI: 10.37718/CSA.2023.09 (About DOIs).
