Beads are among the most numerous objects found in the Scandinavian Viking period find materials. Most artifact catalogs are nation-specific and give only superficial coverage of beads, at best. Callmer believed that the two centuries between 800 and 1000 AD best defined the placement of beads in graves during the Viking age before grave goods ceased with the advent of Christianity. The research area - Scandinavia, which here includes the German province of Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden - was chosen because the territory constitutes an area with similar dress customs, basic burial practices and other cultural characteristics, according to the author. Gotland was judged too different to be included. Bead material from other adjacent areas did not exist or was inaccessible at the time of publication.
Author(s): Johan Callmer
Series: Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, Series in 4°, 11
Publisher: Gleerup
Year: 1977
Language: English
Pages: 256
City: Lund
Illustrations 4
Preface 5
Abbreviations 6
I. Introduction and problems 7
II. Choice of primary material 10
III. Primary systematization and definitions of beads 33
IV. Basic chronological analysis of the bead finds 56
V. Bead groups and their chronological position 78
VI. The provenance of the bead groups 94
VII. A survey of the chronological, chorological and social position of bead finds in Scandinavia ca 800-1000 A.D. 105
VIII. The chronology revised 167
IX. Beads and trade 174
X. Final remarks 180
References 182
Bibliography 208
Table I 218
Appendix I 226