Discovery of the oldest mention of the god Odin
Gold bracteate found with the Vindelev Treasury showing runic inscriptions mentioning the god Odin.
The deciphering of runes inscribed on a gold medallion mentioning Odin suggests that Norse mythology has its origins 150 years earlier than we imagined.
Since its discovery in 2020, the Vindelev treasure, buried in the 6th century on a Danish site, has provided scientists with details about the organization of power and religion in Denmark before the start of the Viking Age. In March 2023, a publication revealed that runes inscribed on one of its component parts, dated to the 5th century , made mention of the god Odin. This discovery pushes the estimates of the origins of Norse mythology back 150 years.
VINDELEV'S TREASURE
During the winter of 2020, two amateur archaeologists, Ole Ginnerup Schytz, and Jørgen Antonsen, made a major discovery for Norse history, at the Vindelev site, not far from the Viking site of Jelling, in Denmark. They bring to light a treasure composed of twenty-three gold coins, or more exactly, twenty-three bracteates, finely ornamented Nordic medallions.
These objects are first studied by the teams of archaeologists from the museums of Vejle, led by Mads Ravn , before being entrusted to the local museum for almost a year and a half. The discovery is then dated to the end of the Germanic Iron Age, in the 6th century , a period which forged the foundations of the Viking era.
Treasure of Vindelev. Gold collection of around twenty Roman and Scandinavian coins, dated to the 5th and 6th centuries , found at Vindelev in Denmark.
These 794 grams of real gold, "buried at the site of what appears to be a Danish longhouse of the time", indicate that the site was a center of power, explains Mads Ravn, the chief archaeologist . This collection of medallions has some singularities.
First of all, the medallions are dated to different centuries. Lisbeth Imer, runologist for the National Museum of Denmark, explains that they were "used over a very long period, and transmitted over generations". Scientists have identified large Roman coins, depicting 4th century emperors . The largest of them represents Constantine the Great. Alongside these coins were found bracteates made in Scandinavia, from gold, also Roman. The bracteates found would therefore have an obvious link with the Western Roman Empire. The engravings "clearly imitate those found on certain Roman coins", in particular representations of faces in the style of emperors.
However, the elements that make up the treasure of Vindelev “were made in Scandinavian”, affirms the linguist Krister Vasshus. The molding techniques, as well as the use of a runic language, indicate that it is not a Roman production. So there was a marked cultural influence. However, this observation is not sufficient to establish with certainty any alliance. They could simply be parts obtained in the context of commercial exchanges, then melted down, before being remolded by the Scandinavians.
Some of the valuable items found were "deliberately destroyed by their owners", says Mads Ravn. It may be rituals of offering to the gods, quite common at this time and in this region. These destructions are not insignificant, and would be linked to the disastrous volcanic incidents which raged in the middle of the 6th century . Studies done on ice cores in Greenland indicate that large amounts of ash darkened the sky around the year 536 .
Historians of the time spoke of a mysterious cloud or an endless eclipse that drowned out the sun's rays and heat. This period, probably the coldest of the last two millennia, caused a great famine, important migrations, and caused the collapse of many social structures mainly in Northern Europe.
The state of some of the medallions could constitute proof that the populations offered objects of great value as sacrifices, cultivating the hope of seeing the sun again pierce this thick black mantle which covered the sky.
"HE IS ODIN'S MAN"
The treasure was handed over to scientists in early 2023. Krister Vasshus , linguist and specialist in the history of ancient Scandinavian languages and Lisbeth Imer , researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, specialist in runology and epigraphy, then manage to decipher the runes inscribed on one of the bracteates , decorated with fine motifs which represent the head of a man and a horse. “Just above the head” represented on the medallion, describes Mads Ravn, “the runes mention the first, and oldest inscription of the name of Odin that we have found. They date from the 5thcentury ". This mention of the main god of the Aesir, 150 years earlier than previously estimated, calls into question the influences that laid the foundations of Norse mythology.
This operation was a real challenge. “These runes are 2 millimeters wide. […] We had to use a microscope”, explains Krister Vasshus. Also, “some of the runes were quite worn. There can be different reasons for this. […] They could have been damaged by touch or because the medallions were worn”. It turns out that this type of bracteates could adorn the clothes of powerful and influential people. Finally, the arrangement of the runes in a circle "does not allow them to be assigned a beginning or an end", adding to the difficulty of interpretation.
Identified runes (in red), inscribed on the bracteate dated to the 5C . in the treasury of Vindelev mentioning the God Odin.
These bracteates were worn to emphasize a dominant position, as well as a connection with the divine. It is also assumed that they indicated possible alliances, between Scandinavian kings for example. Krister Vasshus explains that nearly “11,050 bracteates have been found in northern Europe, and mostly in Scandinavia. […] Some of the pieces found at Vindelev are identical to those found in other places. They were produced by stamping. A person therefore used the same stamp on several medals”. It therefore seems that the powers that be had some sphere of influence in southern Denmark. It could also be one and the same king.
" Wōd[a]nas weraz " (runes highlighted in red in the photograph above, editor's note) is translated from a "proto-Nordic" language as " he is Odin's man ". The name, or nickname Jaga , referring to the term "hunter", has also been identified. These elements probably referred to a powerful man, a leader or an influential king in the region. Prior to this discovery, the earliest mention of the name "Odin" had been found on a skull fragment , dated to the early Viking Age. This bracteate, and more generally the treasure of Vindelev, therefore make it possible to reconsider the antiquity of the origins of Norse mythology.
These details also shed new light on the Germanic Iron Age (which extends from the 5th to the 9th centuries ), marked by major migrations, the decline of the Western Roman Empire (in 476) and the rise of disparate kingdoms called "barbarian kingdoms", in this Danish region. These treasures bear witness to a time punctuated by multiple and complex influences, which shaped a "prelude to the Viking era", says the site's director of archaeological research.
Fragment of Ribe's skull, 725 AD
Scientists wonder about the organization of a power characterizing an unstable society, which predates by several centuries the first times of the kingdom of Denmark, the oldest mention of which, dated around 980, towards the end of the era viking, figure on the stones of the Jelling site, just next to the Vindelev site. “The Denmark we know today”, explains Krister Vasshus, “had no defined borders or administration”.
“We can say that the Germanic peoples had kings, or some kind of military leaders”. The bonds of power were also closely intertwined with those of the divine, as evidenced by this inscription. However, the lack of written materials for this given period, in northern Europe and especially in Scandinavia, complicates the task of defining the status of Vindelev's “man of Odin”.
“Many have wondered if we should reconsider the early Viking period, which is quite strange. This would presuppose that Norse mythology is the only thing that makes up the Viking Age”, specifies Lisbeth Imer. " But this is not the case. The Viking Age is also characterized by the mastery of steel, seafaring, etc. What this discovery can tell us is that Norse mythology existed before the Viking Age as well.”
It is not possible to determine precisely the origins of this mythology, largely because Viking culture was based on an oral tradition. However, “there are indications, […] in particular with the mention of the names of the gods”, explains Krister Vasshus. “[The cult of] Odin developed gradually over time from an unclear origin. […] It must be considered that the reference to this god was not necessarily exactly the same as that found in Norse mythology”.
We can consider that several tribes or small independent kingdoms influenced Denmark and its culture, in a relatively complex way, adds Mads Ravn. Contact with the Roman Empire brought “new conceptions of civilization, culture, art”. “It is then possible to imagine that the Nordic peoples were somehow attracted by the ideas of a still very influential Roman Empire”.
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