We all know the "pop culture" image of Vikings: dirty, barbaric and dark. But this is not accurate at all when you look at how the Vikings actually looked. They were actually known for their cleanliness and well-groomed appearance. Moreover, they wore lots of colour and jewellery.
About turtle brooches
Viking jewellery was of high quality and very detailed. One of the most famous pieces of jewellery from the Viking Age is the turtle brooch, also known as the oval brooch. This type of brooch is rarely found outside of Viking areas and is considered a piece of jewellery unique to Viking culture.
If we were to briefly describe the turtle brooch: it's an oval-shaped brooch that Viking women wore in pairs to fasten their overdresses (hangerocs). But of course, there's much more to it than that.
The origins of turtle brooches
The turtle brooches were a new type of brooch that emerged just before the start of the Viking Age. These oval fibulas were worn in pairs on the upper chest.
Already in the Iron Age, fibulas were worn as a constant feature by Germanic women. In graves from this period, usually two identical fibulas are found, one on each side of the collar. Such fibulas held together the tops of the 'peplos-like' dress. Sometimes an extra fibula was worn lower on the chest, probably for a separate piece of clothing. Under the 'peplos' women wore a long undershirt tunic.
Fibulas from the Iron Age varied greatly in form and style, and archaeologists have divided these into different categories, including the 'bow fibula'. This had a curved shape and was designed to hold loose clothing in place. During the Migration Period, the bow fibula became less common and was replaced by the 'disc fibula'.
With the introduction of the turtle brooch in the Viking Age, the typical position of fibulas changed. In contrast to earlier Germanic fibulas, which were worn on the shoulders, turtle brooches were worn on the upper chest. This indicates a different style of clothing, where long straps ran over the shoulders and were fastened on the back. Fragments of such straps are often found, still attached to the pins of the fibulas. This piece of clothing is known as the hangeroc.
The new position of these fibulas resembles that of secondary fibulas in older graves, such as in Juellinge, Denmark. It's possible that the hangeroc is a continuation of earlier clothing styles, which may not have differed much from Roman Chiton or Greek peplos.
Status symbol
There is still much unclear about the relationship between turtle brooches and social status, but there are various theories based on archaeological finds and their context. Turtle brooches are relatively commonly found, especially in graves. By looking at other objects found in these graves, a link to status may be established.
Due to the large number of turtle brooches found, it is likely that these jewels themselves do not indicate high status. Yet graves of women have also been found with no turtle brooches at all. These graves contained little to no wealth, suggesting they belonged to low-status women, such as slaves and people from the lowest classes of Viking society.
In a small portion of the graves, turtle brooches were found together with a third brooch. These graves generally contained more wealth than average that was given to the deceased. Therefore, it is suspected that women who wore both a pair of turtle brooches and a separate single brooch belonged to the higher ranks of society.
In the majority of graves, one or two turtle brooches were found, but no third single brooch. These graves could therefore belong to the middle class. Think of the average Viking housewife with legal rights, who kept the household running in her husband's absence.
It is likely that most Viking women wore turtle brooches and that these were not necessarily a status symbol. Status was more likely determined by the other jewellery the women wore, whether or not attached to or combined with the brooches. The quality and finish of the turtle brooches also played a role in the social position of the wearer. We'll go into that more later.
There is also a theory that turtle brooches were worn by married women, but not by children or young unmarried women. A link has been noted between the length of the graves and the presence of turtle brooches. In shorter graves they are usually not found, while they often appear in longer graves. Presumably, the length of the grave was adjusted to the length of the deceased. Shorter graves would therefore be intended for children and young women. By the absence of turtle brooches in these shorter graves, one can conclude that these jewels were not common for children and young unmarried women.
Production
You may have noticed that there are few different designs of turtle brooches as reproductions on the market. This is because little variation has been found in archaeological finds, while around 3,500 examples of these brooches were already known by 1985.
That small number of different designs has to do with how they were made: it was a form of mass production. Instead of hand-forging and engraving each brooch individually, they were cast in moulds. A jeweller designed a limited number of models, made moulds from them, and produced large quantities, which were then even traded outside his own region.
In major trading posts, such as Birka, Ribe and Hedeby, most turtle brooches were produced. Remnants of smithies have been found there, including the moulds used for them. What is particularly striking about the discovery of these moulds is that each smith or city had its own style and designs. So it was not customary for a smith from Birka to copy a design from a smith from Hedeby, even though that would have been fairly straightforward.
In theory, it was not difficult to make a mould from an existing brooch and then reproduce it. Yet this did not happen in the largest production centres. The exception to this are the turtle brooches of the Berdal type. These brooches are seen as a transitional design between the Vendel Period and the Viking Age. Because these are older, smiths in that period may have placed less emphasis on the artistic value of the designs.
Outside the major trading posts, reproductions of turtle brooches were likely produced. Brooches have been found with the same design, but of lower quality and with less sharply worked details. For women who did not live near a trading post, this was an easier and cheaper way to still get their turtle brooches. These simpler variants have not been found in wealthier graves.
Lower quality brooches probably belonged to women from the lower social classes. Moreover, these specimens often show signs of wear and repairs. After all, it was more advantageous to have them repaired and pass them down from mother to daughter than to constantly buy new brooches.
Different types of turtle brooches
Although not many different designs were being produced at the same time, archaeological finds show that changes in design style occurred in different periods and regions. Fashion in the Viking Age did not change as often as in our modern times, but innovations certainly took place from time to time.
To get a good picture of the changes in turtle brooches, they have been divided into different types. The best-known classification system for this is the one by Petersen from 1928. Some types are found more frequently than others, which gives us more context for those variants. The two most commonly found types are the P37, with the so-called "Gripping Beast" motif, and the P51, also called the late Oseberg style.
In Birka, most of the brooches found are of type P37. In Norway, three out of every five finds are in this style, and in eastern Viking areas about half. This type dates from the 9th century.
Although most finds in Birka are P37 brooches, and many moulds of this type have been found, there is another type whose moulds are also primarily found in Birka: the P27A type, also called the "Lattice type". This type is seen as the predecessor of P37 and, by some archaeologists, like the Berdal type, is marked as a transitional design.
The P51 type is the most commonly found type of turtle brooch. Finds of this type date from the 10th century. These two popular types, P37 and P51, thus come from different periods of the Viking Age.
The aforementioned Berdal type, which marks the transition from the Vendel Period to the Viking Age, is particularly associated with Ribe. The largest number of moulds of this type has been found there, so many in fact that archaeologists have been able to establish a chronological progression of designs. Outside Ribe, moulds of this type have also been found in Hedeby and Kaupang.
Gotland 'turtle brooches'
A striking fact is that there is one region in the Viking areas where the oval turtle brooches faced serious competition: Gotland.
In Gotland, a type of brooch has been found that occurs exclusively there. These brooches were, like the turtle brooches, often worn in pairs and pinned in the same place on the body. It is therefore likely that they served the same function as the turtle brooches. These brooches are called "Animal Head" brooches. Because of their triangular shape, they resemble a stylised animal head.
In some graves, these Animal Head brooches have been found not in pairs but in sets of three, suggesting that one was also worn on the collar of the undershirt. In addition, Gotland has another type of brooch that only occurs there: the so-called box brooch. Presumably, this box brooch was worn on the collar of the undershirt as an alternative to a third Animal Head brooch.
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