The Viking Age mountain grave at #Mesætre in Grimsdalen (Dovre, Norway) was found in 2011 and excavated 2013. The objects from the burial dates it to the middle of the Viking Age, probably the first half of the 10th century. C59044-C59045 @Kulturhistorisk
1/14 The grave was a cremation patch burial, a flat grave without any cairn or mound. Amongst the burnt fragments of human bone there was also identified pieces from a dog. In addition to bone there was recovered four burnt fragments of decorated antler.
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The beautifully ornamented axe from Mammen. Found in burial mound tree-ring dated 970-971AD. It's been presented a hundred times focusing on decoration. Let's nerd it out on misconceptions about its shape instead. Photo: Roberto Fortuna & Kira Ursem, National Museum, Denmark
1/5 This drawing is from a thorough publication about the Mammen axe and presents the misconseption of shape very clearly. This reconstruction of pointed lugs is ill-founded. Drawing: Orla Svensen, in publication by Ulf Näsman 1991.
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This thread is a story about 'The Beasts of Oseberg'- five exquisitely carved and mysterious #Viking Age objects @kulturhistorisk
Photo: Kirsten Helgeland @Kulturhistorisk Many will have seen pictures of these animal heads found in the ship burial of Oseberg, AD 834. The heads where originally five in number: The Academic, The Lions head, The Carolingian and The Baroque head no.1 and no.2.
Photo: Kirsten Helgeland

A #VikingAge #spear of Jan Petersen type K decorated with copper and silver. Dating from the 10th century. Found in Maarem, Telemark, Norway. Preserved length 45 cm, 300 gram. C29700d @Kulturhistorisk
1/7 The blade of the spear is also decorated. This is a form of #Patternwelding along the weld line attaching the edge steel to the core. It's often called Wolf's Tooth pattern.
#WolfsTooth
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Recently I found myself in need of a proper 'door of Óðinn' (Old Norse kenning for shield). Thus I had to gather some wood and hide, heat up the forge and make one.
1/11 I made this #Viking #shield primarily based on those found in the #Gokstad ship burial, but also remnants from other archaeological finds and information in the writings of Theophilus 'On Diverse Arts' Chapter 17 (c.1100).

https://twitter.com/VegardVike/status/960792271204618240

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These past few weeks I have been back to old tricks continuing the #conservation of the #Viking #Helmet from #Gjermundbu @Kulturhistorisk
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Photo: Geir Anders Rybakken Ørslien Almost a year ago I took the helmet apart. It consisted of 7 fragments:

https://twitter.com/VegardVike/status/961377600391303168?s=19

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The #Gjermundbu helmets spectacle faceplate is of ('Hold Brillan!', trøndsk proverb). X-ray does not reveal remnants of precious metal decoration, but a two part construction can be observed, overlaped and forge-welded at each temple and in the nose area. #Viking @Kulturhistorisk The spectacle faceplate is cleaning up nicely during micro-sandblasting. I take care not to damage the extremely shallow filling of the decorative lines - just a fraction of a millimeter deep. I need to try some XRF-analysis to possibly identify the filling material. #Gjermundbu

Today I started #conservation work on the Gjermundbu helmet - sometimes refered to as the only #Viking Helmet. The process will entail disassembly, micro-sandblasting, detailed photos of all parts, X-ray, 3D-scan and a new mounting. Photo: Jessica Leigh McGraw @Kulturhistorisk The #Gjermundbu helmet presented in this tweet is from a rich equestrian grave from the second half of the 10th century - a cremation burial that involved destruction/'killing' of the weapons. C27317 @Kulturhistorisk

Old pictures of the grave goods: unimus.no/foto/#/search?…