The Prussian swords' scabbard tips of the Viking Age: The origin and semantics of images

V.I. Kulakov

Institute of Archeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117292 Russia

E-mail: drkulakov@mail.ru

Received May 11, 2021

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2021.3.151-163

For citation: Kulakov V.I. The Prussian swords’ scabbard tips of the Viking Age: The origin and semantics of images. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2021, vol. 163, no. 3, pp. 151–163. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2021.3.151-163. (In Russian)

Abstract

The semantic analysis of the images on the Prussian swords’ scabbard tips of the Viking Age was performed, for the first time in Russian archaeology. The spread of various subtypes of sword scabbard tips in the Prussian settlements and adjacent areas was considered. The oldest tips, subtypes KIa and Kib, were the social markers (their owners were the noble retinue) and are known only from the burial grounds of Northern Sambia, where the retinue antiquities are especially numerous. Here, the tips with a pair of birds are also commonly found. They continue the tradition of using the bird-tipped scabbards to mark the retinue members. Subtypes KIIIb and KVa of the sword scabbard tips spread to the east of Sambia in the 11th century, thereby testifying that the Western Baltic warriors tried to seize control over the local river trade routes. When the veteran warriors left the retinue because of their age, they still carried their weapons as a social marker of their status. The weapons were also used as an element of the burial inventory. In the Prussian settlements, the tips of subtype KVb, Curonian in their origin, were relatively numerous only in Sambia. A few of them were found at the archaeological sites of the Masurian Lake District. This indicates that the Western Baltic tribes shared the same cult of sacred trees and placed the tree symbols on their sword scabbard tips.

Keywords: Southeastern Baltic, Prussians, Curonians, Scalvians, semantics, sword scabbard tips

Figure Captions

Fig. 1. Types of the sword scabbard tips found in the area where the Prussians lived in the 10th–11th centuries: 1 – subtype KIа: burial ground Kl. Kaup, accidental find in grave K42; 2 – subtype КIb2: Löbertshof; 3 – subtype КIIIb: grave К68 of burial ground Kl. Kaup; 4 – type КIV: burial ground Dollkeim/Kovrovo, accidental find; 5 – subtype КVb: burial ground Andullen/Anduliai, Klapėdos raj., Lietuva; 6 – subtype КVb: unnamed mound, burial ground Gr. Kaup (1, 3 – [10, Fig. 53, 105]; 2, 4 – [11, Taf. 14, 3, 8]; 5, 6 – [9, Fig. 143]).

Fig. 2. Finds of the sword scabbard tips of the Viking Age in the Southeastern Baltic: 1 – Lochstedt; 2 – Hünenberg/The Giants’ Mountain; 3 – Dollkeim/Kovrovo; 4 – Kaup/Mokhovoe; 5 – Laptau/ Muromskoe; 6 – Brandenburg/Ushakovo; 7 – Bledau/Sosnovka; 8 – Medenau/Logvino; 9 – Löbertshof; 10 – Magotten/Rechnoe; 11 – Pokirben/Povarovka; 12 – Gr. Friedriеchsberg/Sovkhoznoe; 13 – Moditten/Kaliningrad; 14 – Marienburg/Malbork; 15 – Tapiau/Gvardeisk; 16 – Magotten/Rechnoe; 17 – Saalau/Kamenskoe; 18 – Linkuhnen/Rzhevskoe; 19 – Yrzekapinis/Klintsovka-1; 20 – Nowiny Bargłowskie; 21 – Mohrung/Mrągowo; 22 – Długosz; 23 – Kiauten/Smirnovo; 24 – Pakalniškiai; 25 – Jurbarkas; 26 – Marvelė; 27 – Viehof/Tyulenino; 28 – Kiauten/Smirnovo [4, 1 pav., with the author’s additions].

Fig. 3. Images of a deity with arms bent at the elbows: 1 – pendant from the Dollkeim/Kovrovo burial ground; 2 – sword scabbard tip from grave Y-117 of the Yrzekapinis/ Klintsovka-1 burial ground; 3 – sword scabbard tip from grave 94 of the Žasinas (Lietuva) burial ground; 4 – figure found accidentally in Lindby, Sveden; 5 – figure from Schwedt-an-Oder (Deutschland); 6, 7 – pendant and figure from Veliky Novgorod [16, Fig. 4].

Fig. 4. Front the house seen on Lenin Street, Zelenogradsk, Kaliningrad region (author’s photo, 2005). Some elements of the composition have been destroyed when the house was repaired.

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