1,000-Yr-Outdated Viking Object Reveals How They Possible Styled Their Hair

Hair parted within the center, cropped on the again, with a wavy lock styled above one ear. That’s not my haircut of alternative, however in the event you had been an elite Viking, it might nicely have been.

That’s the upshot of a study published last month within the journal Medieval Archaeology by which researchers re-examined a roughly one-inch-tall (three centimeters) Viking gaming piece that dates again greater than 1,000 years. It was initially found among the many burial issues of a presumed Viking warrior in Norway in 1797 and was one of many first objects registered at Denmark’s Nationwide Museum. And now, greater than two centuries later, Peter Pentz, curator on the museum, has (re)found options that make the piece actually distinctive.

The specimen stands out as a uncommon Viking portrayal of a human—one with character, expression, and a reasonably fancy haircut.

“Once I got here throughout him in one among our storage rooms a number of years in the past, I used to be actually stunned – he simply sat there, wanting straight at me, and I had by no means earlier than seen such a Viking, not within the a few years I’ve been on the museum,” Pentz stated in a statement.

A classy coiffure and a shrewd expression

The tiny figurine additionally has a protracted braided goatee, a big moustache, sideburns, and wears a “shrewd” expression. It’s among the many museum’s exhibition about Viking Age seeresses.

Vikings were seafaring warriors who unfold from Scandinavia to so far as North America between round 800 and 1050 CE. Whereas Viking artwork incessantly consists of animals, depictions of people are a lot rarer. As such, the piece gives perception into one thing equally as restricted—trendy Viking hairstyling.

“Hitherto, we haven’t had any detailed data about Viking hairstyles, however right here, we get all the main points – even the little curl above the ear is marked,” Pentz stated. “That is the primary time we see a determine of a male Viking together with his hair seen from all angles. It’s distinctive.”

After all, the evaluation presumes that the maker portrayed a typical, well-to-do Viking. However then once more, why would they provide the piece a random haircut? (That’s purely my very own hypothesis, to be clear.)

The piece is paying homage to Malta’s well-known and far older Sleeping Lady statuette, whose half-shaved head additionally has archaeologists questioning if this was how the Mediterranean island’s mysterious temple folks could have styled their hair.

The King of Viking Age Chess

Nonetheless, Pentz stated that “it’s distinctive that we’ve got such a vivid depiction of a Viking, even a three-dimensional one. It is a miniature bust and as shut as we’ll ever get to a portrait of Viking.”

The piece is carved from walrus ivory, one of many Viking Age’s most prestigious supplies, and was crucial piece—the king—in Hnefatafl, a recreation often known as Viking-Age chess. The burial it was present in dates to the latter half of the tenth century, which means the piece itself is probably going greater than 1,000 years previous. Harald Bluetooth—a Danish king greatest recognized for unifying Denmark and lending his title to Bluetooth expertise—reigned throughout this era, and the burial was in all probability inside his realm.