Danish archaeologists have solved the mystery over the significance of the Mjöllnir amulets worn by the Vikings. Indeed, they represented Thor’s hammer, the researchers said.
The rune-inscribed Mjöllnir amulet [Credit: National Museum of Denmark]
More than 1,000 intricately carved pendants shaped like hammers have been found across Northern Europe since the first millennium A.D.
Although it was widely believed these amulets were hammers, a debate remained over their true meaning. The objects’s unusual shape, featuring a short handle and a symmetrical head, raised doubts whether they represented something else entirely.
Now a 10th-century Viking amulet unearthed in Købelev, on the Danish island of Lolland, has provided a definitive answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment