Difference between revisions of "Arm and Neck Rings"

Revision as of 19:58, 27 February 2013

Arm and Neck Rings
Contents 1 Neck rings [V] 1.1 Rod 1.2 Plaited 1.3 Twisted 1.4 Embellished Twisted 2 Arm rings [V] 2.1 Rod 2.2 Plaited 2.3 Twisted 2.4 Embellished Twisted 2.5 Hiberno-Norse – Coiled arm-ring 2.6 Hiberno-Norse (Scots-Norse) - Ring Money 2.7 Wire 2.8 Danish - Plate 2.9 Band Shaped 2.10 Hiberno-Norse – Broad-band arm-ring 2.11 Deep Transverse Grooves 2.12 Massive 2.13 Spiral 2.14 Jet 3 References

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A great number of rings – for the neck, the arm and the finger have been found in areas of Viking occupation. Owen-Crocker states that she thinks that these rings were a more popular form of adornment for Viking women than the wearing of beads [OWEN-CROCKER 2004: p.165]
It does not appear that the wearing of Neck- and arm-rings continued into the 11th century in Scotland. [GRAHAM-CAMPBELL and BATEY 1998: p.237]
Gold was mainly found as finger rings due to cost

Neck rings [V]

Literature

"The women wear neck rings of gold and silver, one for each 10,000 dirhems which her husband is worth; some women have many." Ibn Fadlan 'Account of the Rus'

Rod

9th Century southern Scandinavian.
Archaeology

Denmark, Illebolle, Langeland, Denmark. [ROESDAHL 1992:cat.147]

Discussion
The spiral ring found along side the neck ring found at Illebolle, Langeland, Denmark proves that these rings could be cut up and then worn on the arm.

Plaited

Thin intertwined metal strands fabricated from (usually two or three) wires of constant thickness. A number of such metal strands are then laid next to each other to form the major motif of the ring.

Twisted

The motif is formed from a single twist of wires. In this case the wires are relatively thick and typically constructed with slowly varying thickness.

Embellished Twisted

The motif of thick twisted wires is embellished by a thin wire or a thin twisted wire

Arm rings [V]

All of the styles used as neck rings are also found in a smaller form as arm rings. These are described above under neck rings

Rod

Date:860-1000AD Norway; 950-1000AD Sweden & Denmark; 950-1050AD Gotland.
The earliest find of a rod arm ring is from the Norwegian Hon hoard [SHEEHAN 1992:fig.4] and dated after c.860 [GRAHAM-CAMPBELL 1980:p.143 cat.486]. This type of arm ring does not begin to occur commonly in other parts of Scandinavia until after the middle of the 10th century where it becomes common after 975AD in southern Swedish, Gotlandic and Danish hoards. It remains common in Gotlandic hoards well into the 11th century [SHEEHAN 1992:fig.4]