Viking Age Birds

Details on the book, I co-edited with Riley Smallman and Sigmund Oehrl on the official FB page of the Publisher Brepols 🐓

𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀
𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻-𝗕𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗔𝗗
Klaudia Karpińska, Riley Smallman, Sigmund Oehrl (eds)

More Info: https://bit.ly/4rFrfRb

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations

Introduction

Part 1: Murderous Talons and Sharp Beaks: Iron Age Raptors and Falconry Relationships

1. European Graves with Raptor Bones (c. AD 500–1000) and Raptor Imagery Revisited: On the Different Evidential Values for the Practice of Falconry
Oliver Grimm
2. Viking Age Falconry in Norway as Seen by a Modern Practitioner
Ellen Hagen

Part 2: Reimagined and Recreated: Birds in Iron Age Iconography and Symbolism

3. Ein fjölkýngiskona var þar komin í álftar ham: Aquatic Birds and the Afterlife Journey in the Imagery of the Gotlandic Picture Stones
Sigmund Oehrl
4. Christian Doves and Óðin’s Ravens: The Birds of the Manx Crosses
Dirk H. Steinforth
5. Birds in Pre-Christian Slavic Iconography and Religion
Paweł Szczepanik
6. Wonders from Beyond: ‘Bird’s Feet Pendant’ from a Grave of a Viking Age Ritual Specialist at Fyrkat, Denmark
Leszek Gardeła

Part 3: Flights of the Otherworld: Birds in Iron Age Funerary Practices and Beliefs

7. Funerary Practices Most Fowl: Patterns of Symbolic Chicken Deposition Through Iron Age and Roman England
Riley Smallman
8. ‘Quoth the Raven’ — On Thought, Memory, Cognition, and Multispecies Engagements in Scandinavian Iron Age Beliefs and Society
Kristin Armstrong Oma
9. Blood on Ashes: Unburnt Domestic Chicken Remains in Viking Age Cremation Graves
Klaudia Karpińska

Some time ago, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a captivating session on human-avian relations in the Iron Age during the EAA Conference. It resulted not only in numerous captivating observations but also in a thorough publication exploring aspects of these multilayered interactions. Recently, the book including these papers was published by Brepols in the series ‘The Archaeology of Northern Europe’. The book contains nine chapters presenting a discussion on varied aspects of human-avian relations in the past. Among them is my chapter entitled ‘Blood on Ashes: Unburnt Domestic Chicken Remains in Viking Age Cremation Graves’, presenting new observations on the meanings of birds in the Viking Age cremation rituals. It explores unique graves from different parts of Scandinavia containing unburnt bird bones.

I would like to thank Riley Smallman and Sigmund Oehrl for their excellent collaboration on the book edition and all the authors for their fascinating papers! 🪶

Between Bones and Beliefs: Human-Bird Relations in Central and Northern Europe in the First Millennium AD Some time ago, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a captivating session on human-avian relations in the Iron Age during the EAA Conference. It resulted not only in numerous captivating observations b…

Details about book, I coedited together with Riley Smallman and Sigmund Oehrl, are included on the FB page of the Medieval Updates 😊

Between Bones and Beliefs: Human-Bird Relations in Central and Northern Europe in the First Millennium AD, eds. Klaudia Karpińska, Riley Smallman, Sigmund Oehrl (BBrepols February 2026)

https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503614823-1

Human-avian relationships developed in many ways throughout the Iron Age, particularly in the first millennium AD in Central and Northern Europe. These airborne animals foraged and scavenged close to settlements, inviting interactions — wild birds were hunted, and domesticated poultry were bred for meat, feathers, and eggs; other birds were kept for entertainment or sport, with raptors trained for falconry, and the importance of birds is noted in texts ranging from Pliny the Elder to Old Norse poetry. This volume offers new insights into the extraordinary role played by birds in the past, from their roles in the pre-Christian beliefs and rituals of Iron Age societies to their appearance in early Christian iconographies, and from the discovery of their remains in everyday and ritual contexts to the styles employed by artists on jewellery and weapons. The result is a unique insight into the important relationship between birds and humans in the cultures of Central and Northern Europe in the first millennium AD.

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Part 1: Murderous Talons and Sharp Beaks: Iron Age Raptors and Falconry Relationships

European Graves with Raptor Bones (c. AD 500–1000) and Raptor Imagery Revisited: On the Different Evidential Values for the Practice of Falconry -- Oliver Grimm

Viking Age Falconry in Norway as Seen by a Modern Practitioner -- Ellen Hagen

Part 2: Reimagined and Recreated: Birds in Iron Age Iconography and Symbolism

Ein fjölkýngiskona var þar komin í álftar ham: Aquatic Birds and the Afterlife Journey in the Imagery of the Gotlandic Picture Stones -- Sigmund Oehrl

Christian Doves and Óðin’s Ravens: The Birds of the Manx Crosses -- Dirk H. Steinforth

Birds in Pre-Christian Slavic Iconography and Religion -- Paweł Szczepanik

Wonders from Beyond: ‘Bird’s Feet Pendant’ from a Grave of a Viking Age Ritual Specialist at Fyrkat, Denmark -- Leszek Gardeła

Part 3: Flights of the Otherworld: Birds in Iron Age Funerary Practices and Beliefs

Funerary Practices Most Fowl: Patterns of Symbolic Chicken Deposition Through Iron Age and Roman England -- Riley Smallman

‘Quoth the Raven’ — On Thought, Memory, Cognition, and Multispecies Engagements in Scandinavian Iron Age Beliefs and Society -- Kristin Armstrong Oma

Blood on Ashes: Unburnt Domestic Chicken Remains in Viking Age Cremation Graves -- Klaudia Karpińska

Short summary of citations of my papers. I am grateful to all who read and cite my papers! I hope that my work helped them in some ways in their research. If you cited my publications (and your work is not on this list), please let me know.

Citations of My Papers Recently, I was notified by the ResearchGate about a new citation of one of my papers. It is an article in German dedicated to the graves with bird remains that were discovered in Denmark and North…

Check out blog on the new posts ;) . Recently it was published there relation from my Doktorkreering that took place on 21 September 2023.

Doktorkreering At the University of Oslo, four times a year are organised doctoral conferment (Norwegian: Doktorkreering). This ceremony aims to award doctors from all the Faculties of the University of Oslo with…

With the announcement of my PhD defence, I would like to start help campaign to help brave Ukrainians fighting for freedom and independence at the frontlines. During their heroic actions, they often get wounded.

I would like to encourage you to donate to the Medical battalion “Hospitallers”Hospitallers Paramedics (https://www.hospitallers.life/needs-hospitallers) and Foundation “W międzyczasie” (https://pomagam.pl/dfa8df) providing professional medical assistance.

I believe that the most beautiful matter will be to help to save lives!

Thank you very, very much in advance!

I have the pleasure and honour to invite you to my public defence which will take place physically and online on the 15th of May 2023. It will start with a trial lecture at 10:15 am and continue to public defence at 12:30 pm. The physical thesis defence will take place at the University of Oslo in Helga Engs hus, auditorium 3. The online stream will be held on Zoom. More details on the website ( https://www.hf.uio.no/iakh/english/research/news-and-events/events/disputations/2023/karpinska.html ).

Public defence: Divergent Lives, Bloody Sacrifices, Flights Between Worlds. Birds in Viking Age Funerals and Beliefs - Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History Master Klaudia Dominika Karpińska at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History will defend her dissertation On Wings to the Otherworld: Bird Remains in Viking Age Graves from Scandinavia for the degree of philosophiae doctor (PhD).

Today, were published two new posts on the blog. Check them out! 🤓

1. Cataloguing the Finds: https://vikingagebirds.wordpress.com/2023/03/09/cataloguing-the-finds/

2. Animals and Animated Objects in the Early Middle Ages: https://vikingagebirds.wordpress.com/2023/03/09/animals-and-animated-objects/

Cataloguing the Finds In January 2023, I began other tasks in the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. My main work was to put into the internal database details on finds that were found during exploration by…

On my blog, I updated details concerning my current , conference presentations and publications. Check it out! 🐦🐓🦆

VIKING AGE BIRDS Stand With Ukraine 🇺🇦 On July 7, 2022 By Klaudia KarpinskaIn UncategorizedLeave a comment As a result of the cruel russian invasion, tragic events and atrocities are happening every day in Ukraine. Therefore, people who decided to stay in Ukraine and those who are going to other countries are...

Thank you very much for captivating papers and fascinating discussions on human-avian relations during the at EAA European Association of Archaeologists ( ) ! 🐔🐣🐓🦆🦢🦉🦚🪶

Here is a summary of this fruitful event:

EAA 2021: Session 141 On 9 September 2021 in the morning together with Riley Smallman (HumAnE Bioarchaeology, University of Exeter) and Sigmund Oehrl (Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universi…

Today at EAA European Association of Archaeologists
, together with Sigmund Oehrl and Riley Smallman, I will host with fascinating on the meanings of in the . You are very welcome to join us! 🦚🐓🦅🦉🦆🐦