DN’s science reporter Karin Bojs of the sensational silver ring and Viking contact with the Muslim world.
Silver ring has in itself been known since the end of the 1800s, when archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe dug it up. He found it in a woman’s grave in Birka, Viking town on Björkö a couple mil west of Stockholm.
On the ring is an encased stone, which scientists have believed are semi-precious stone amethyst, and it is some mysterious characters incised.
Now a research team led by biophysicist Sebastian Wärmländer at Stockholm University, examined the ring with the electron microscope. Their findings are published in the journal Scanning.
The study reveals that the stone is not at all an amethyst, but a purple glass pearl which could be just as exclusive as the Viking Age. The mysterious characters seem to be Arabic letters that form the word “Allah”.
Karin bent. Photo: DN
The researchers also show that the ring had barely had time to wear out of daily use. It must have gone almost straight from the silversmith to the woman in the tomb, with only a few intermediaries.
Silversmeden in question should have been somewhere in the Arab world – it shows both their format and the engraved words.
A few more like rings found in Birka, and they have been linked to a Muslim culture called seljuk, and was widespread in eastern Turkey, Syria and Iran. But the other rings have no inscriptions. Therefore, it is now examined the ring unique. It is an indisputable evidence of close contacts between Mälardalen and the Muslim world already 1200 years ago.
Other types of sources have long borne witness to such contacts. For example, Arabian silver. Both the Icelandic sagas and rune stones says on “Särkland” – which has been interpreted as “Saracen country” or caliphate in Baghdad.
In addition, there are several texts by Arab writers, such as the Arab Ibn Fadlan and Ibn Khordadbeh, which tells of long, ruddy men from the north who traveled by boat on the rivers and traded in furs and slaves. These texts depict some very unpleasant behavior, like how “Rus” treated his slave girls, and has by some researchers dismissed as unreliable.
Today’s technical findings make such ancient written sources can be read in a new light .
It is also possible to see how the Vikings from Norway have left some descendants after him in Scotland and northern England, while the Vikings from current Denmark and southern Sweden were focused on South East of England.
In this week’s edition of the journal Nature came another study that reveals the Scandinavian Vikings’ movements. Stephen Leslie and his collaborators published a major study of contemporary Brit Planters DNA.
Their results confirm that Scandinavians left genetic traces in the British Isles. But maybe not so much as one would think.
The most obvious Viking heritage in the Orkney Islands, where about one third of the population’s predisposition can be traced back to the current Norway. You can also see how the Vikings from Norway have left some descendants after him in Scotland and northern England, while the Vikings from current Denmark and southern Sweden were focused on South East of England.
Overall, the study shows that Scandinavian Vikings left rather modest genetic inheritance behind in the UK. At least it looks like with the technology that scientists behind the Nature study has used.
However, there are different kind of DNA technology, which among other things has begun to be used by genealogists who can actually track how our relatives among the Vikings traveled around the world and produced children. (It works best for straight fädernelinjer, but also straight dam line lines provide certain information.)
So far, both written sources, archaeological and DNA told me most about the Vikings’ travels westwards, to Iceland, Scotland and England. This will open a larger window also against journeys to the East – thanks to new technologies like DNA and scanning electron microscope.
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