What is it about?
Protective magic is a universal phenomena. An analysis of the uniquely preserved Viking Age ship burial from Oseberg, Norway, demonstrates the likely performance of a complex protective ritual during the burial, and emphasizes the importance of analysing objects within their find contexts. It is indicated that magic protection was one aspect of the use of animal style.
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Why is it important?
Archaeology rarely touches upon issues like fear and superstition, partly because it is difficult to pinpoint in the archaeological record, partly because we have more faith in rationalist models for societal development. But fear and superstition are persistent phenomena in human history and should be addressed as research topics in order to assess their social importance.
Perspectives
This article is part of a series, where I try to get to grips with the famous ship graves from Oseberg and Gokstad. These graves were excavated very early - 1880 and 1904 respectively - and are challenging to work with, due to their complexity. However, they have an immense wealth of information about Viking Age society in store for us, if we can manage to untangle their archaeological records.
Professor Jan Bill
University of Oslo, Museum of Cultural History
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Protecting Against the Dead? On the Possible Use of Apotropaic Magic in the Oseberg Burial, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, February 2016, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0959774315000438.
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