Hi Peter,

It is a shame that the importance of this influential culture appears to be under appreciated, and the same could be said of the early Anglo-Saxons as well, seemingly lost to popular conciousness as a foot note between the Roman Invasion and the later Vikings Wars.

Pollington observes in 'Wayland's Work' that 'Southern Scandinaviain the 4th and 5th c. was not an area on the edge of a crumbling empire, but had a long tradition of supplying troopsand military expertise to the the Roman Empire from at least the the 2nd c. Marcomannic Wars. Adapting to the realities of the post-Roman world was not difficult for leaders drawn from families which had negotiated their way through centuries of power struggles among their neighbours and supporters'.

Although he speaks specifically of the Angeln area of the Jutland pennisula, the same can be said of southern scandinavia.

A consequence of this relationship was also merchantile trade and its control by local magnates, changes within social structure and religeous practice in which local leadership controlled rites reinforcing their own power base and their social standing within the local comminities, developing a religeon based upon a dominant ideology of war and the worship of Wodin/Wotan/Odinn.

The outward manifestion of these changes are clearly shown in the decorative elements of the martial material goods from the lavish boat burials, which used an iconography which reinforced these beliefs and was understood by the viewer. These individuals where favoured by the gods.

best
Dave

I have been looking through the pictures and hope that someone can confirm a construction detail. It looks like each bear is made with a hole through it and an (iron?) pin is run through the bears, spear socket and shaft. The pin is then peened over on both ends. I can see the pin exposed on the back of at least one bear in a photo, but I have not convinced myself that I can see the pin exposed on both bears.

Can anyone confirm that the pin goes all the way through both bears?