KOTOW NEWSLETTER: VOL 1. NO. SPRING, 2022

Norse mythos includes significant origin stories, such as Voluspa, Vafthruthnismol, Gylfaginning, and  the Ynglinga Saga, which elucidate the emergence of Norse culture from within it’s own cultural context and story-telling traditions. Comparatively, anthropological investigations on the emergence of Norse culture are informed by material, linguistic, biological, and historical evidence of cultural changes, generally in global evolutionary contexts. Cross-comparative analysis of myth and history is subject to many theoretical and methodological downfalls; scholars generally dismiss historical reliability of medieval texts, and passages in Sturluson's mythic narrative, the Ynglinga Saga (circa 1275 CE), which tells about significant formative migrations of the Aesir pantheon in Northern Europe, are especially heavily scrutinized. Nevertheless, some of the details in the Ynglinga saga and other medieval texts bear striking parallels with conventional histories of Europe. This research cross-compares archaeological, iconographic and literary evidence to retrace evolutionary courses of arts traditions that have come to be widely recognized as distinctive of Norse culture. 

What is Norse Culture?

There is no universally accepted definition of culture, let alone Norse culture, among anthropologists. Scholarly definitions of culture commonly identify various attributes of culture, but arguably, the attributes of culture do not define what it is. For instance, cultures are regularly distinguished by languages, geographic locations, social structures,  behaviors, materials,  arts, stories, story-telling traditions, biology, customs, rites, ceremonies, and so forth. Thus, empirical observations of cultural attributes can be applied to investigate various cultures and the mystery of culture itself.  In this manner, Norse culture can be distinguished by language, region,  social structure, technology, fashions, stories, rites, traditions, etc. Its totality, however, eludes definition. 

Contemporary anthropological theories of culture account for cultural evolution in global contexts. Punctuated equilibrium (Gould), which is normally applied to analyses of biological evolution, also applies to the analysis of cultural evolution. Complex ecological and cultural systems can be analyzed by focusing on specific changes and events, such as technological or sociocultural changes. For instance, the Viking-age is punctuated by the famous raid at Lindusfairne in 793 CE, and ending with the death of King Harald Hadrada in 1066 CE. Other models, however, associate the beginning of the Viking age with the development of klinker-ship building technologies. However, the Viking age does not represent the totality of Norse culture; it represents a very narrow period of Norse cultural history. 

Recent studies suggest that some distinctive attributes of Viking-age Norse culture are rooted in circumpolar cultural traditions that existed even before Scandinavia was first occupied, about 12,000 years ago. Waves of migration into Scandinavia from the east and south continued for millennia, giving rise to a mix of hunter-gatherer, agricultural, and sea-faring subsistence behaviors that would eventually form the foundations of later Viking age societies of Scandinavia. 

Rock art featured on the Tanum rock art panels of Sweden are dated to as early as the late neolithic or early-bronze age, and reveal the existence of a distinctive symbolic motif - a figure with horns on his head carrying a spear - that appears to be unique to the local region. Later, this same figure, along with other distinctive symbolic motifs, would be embossed on metal plates used in the manufacture of remarkable helmets, unlike any others in the world, except for one found on the island of Britain. Together, these iconographic and metallurgic arts traditions would become recognizable in modern scholarship as highly distinctive of Norse culture. This begs the question, given their distinctiveness, could the qualities be useful for tracing the origins of what is commonly (and often subjectively) recognizable as Norse culture of the Viking-age? If so, what can the emergence of these arts traditions tell us about Norse cultural history?

The Mystery of the Sutton Hoo Helmet

There are many thought provoking and unanswered questions about the Sutton Hoo Helmet. It is unique in its archaeological context, recovered from a burial mound on the island of Britain and dated to circa 625 CE, approximately 175 years before the beginning of the Viking age.  It compares only with a small number of contemporaneous artifact assemblages recovered from Sweden, namely, the Torslunda plates and the burial assemblages of Vendel and Valsgärde, all dated to the Vendel Period or slightly earlier, circa 500-793 CE. Woolf (2015) writes:

Since its discovery in 1939, the early seventh-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, in the east of England, has been compared with those from the grave fields at Vendel and Valsgärde, in the Swedish province of Uppland. The presence of a ship in the mound, the weaponry, and above all the iconic enclosed helmet, still unique from Britain, all have their parallels in the Swedish sites (pp: 5).

Distinctive iconographic motifs occur on metal plates in each of these assemblages. The Sutton Hoo, Valsgärde 7 and Valsgärde 8 helmet plates feature men with horns on their heads carrying weapons. On one of the four Torslunda plates, the horned character occurs again carrying a spear. Previous reports identify these iconographic characters as weapon-dancers (Arrhenius 2022).
 

The unique artifact assemblages also feature an iconographic motif of a rider on horseback wielding a spear and charging down a person. A variation of this motif occurs on plates from the Vendel 1 Helmet, showing the rider flanked by two ravens and charging a coiled serpent. Additionally, a highly distinctive raven motif is crested on the brow and nose of helmet masks from Sutton Hoo, Valsgärde and Vendel. 

The Sutton Hoo Helmet is comparable to the artifact assemblages in Sweden, but it is also uniquely constructed. According to the British History Museum, it may have been made about one-hundred years before it was deposited. It shows signs of repair on the back neck guard. Garnets embedded into the raven-crest may have come from as far as southern regions of Central Asia. To put it simply, the wealth of the Sutton Hoo burial is unrivaled in Europe of the age (Bulger 2006). 

The Sutton Hoo, Vendel, Valsgärde and Torslanda archaeological assemblages are extraordinary. Surely, there must be some evidence of earlier metalworking traditions that can account for their remarkable technical, artistic and iconographic qualities. But what evidence is there? 

 Europe is profoundly rich with  metallurgic treasures. According to Grande (2009), "the oldest known gold jewelry in the world is from an archaeological site in Varna Necropolis, in Bulgaria," radiocarbon dated to 4600-4200 BCE (pp: 280). Burial assemblages at the late neolithic site famously yielded an astounding assemblage of gold and copper artifacts. With its great wealth of deposits and extraordinary antiquity, the site is extremely unique in the archaeological record. 

After 4500 BCE, the Bell-Beaker, Battle-Axe and Corded Ware cultures are accredited for spreading metalworking traditions throughout Europe. The Bell-Beaker people are so named for their distinctive copper bell-shaped vessels, identified as beakers. They were also, "armed with a flat, tanged dagger or spearhead of copper... their extensive search for copper (and gold)... greatly accelerated the spread of bronze metallurgy in Europe" (Brittanica, 2022). The Battle-Axe and Corded Ware cultures are similarly associated with the spread of metalworking technology in Europe. According to the Bradshaw Foundation (2022), "In roughly 2800 BC, metal was introduced in Scandinavia in the Corded Ware culture."
 

Dated to the late Bronze Age circa 1000-900 BCE, the Viksø Helmets, discovered on the island of Zealand, Denmark, are extraordinarily unique archaeological treasures. The two bronze helmets are distinguished by their magnificent horns. It is widely speculated that the helmets had ritual, ceremonial or religious significance. Questions about their origins are open. According to the National Museum of Denmark (2022), they may have been made, "in central Europe or northern Germany, however, we cannot completely rule out that they were manufactured in Denmark."  The horned-helmets resemble the headdress of the horned-figure motif that occurs earlier in iconographic form on the Tanum rock-art panels, and later on the Torslunda, Vendel, Valsgärde and Sutton Hoo plates. 

Hallstatt & La Tène Cultures

The end of the Bronze Age is concurrent with the emergence of an extremely rich metalworking tradition represented in the archaeological record of Hallstatt culture, circa 1100-450BCE. Hallstatt culture is typified by the Hallstatt archaeological type-site in modern day Austria, however, the Celtic speaking culture ranged more broadly in Europe. According to Brittanica (2022), "the term Hallstatt now refers generally to late Bronze Age to early Iron Age culture in central and western Europe."  

Excavations of the Hallstadt and other sites throughout the region have yielded an extensive assemblage of metallurgic archeological treasures. A bronze artifact, a plate identified as a belt application (shown above), was recovered from a Hallstatt burial in Slovenia, dated circa 600-400 BCE. The plate, now housed in the Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria, bears distinct technical and iconographic resemblance to the rider motif that occurs  much later in the Sutton Hoo, Vendel and Valsgärde artifact assemblages. It shows a man on horseback, flanked by a bird with a serpent in its mouth. 

Equally impressive metalworking traditions were maintained in the region by Celtic speaking people of the La Tène culture, which persisted from 450 BCE until the turn of the millennium. The terminus of this period is punctuated by expansion of the Roman empire into Celtic and Germanic cultural territories (discussed below). Previous to this, the southern margin of La Tène cultural territory prospered on the northern edge of the Roman empire. The La Tène type site is located in Switzerland. Evidence of La Tène culture as far north as Britain includes the famous Waterloo Helmet, discovered in the early 1960s. According to the British Museum (2020), the helmet is:  

...the only Iron Age helmet to have ever been found in southern England, and it is the only Iron Age helmet with horns ever to have been found anywhere in Europe... [it] was probably a form of ceremonial headdress...[and] is decorated with the style of La Tène art used in Britain between 250 and 50 BC. 

Thracian Culture

The Letnitsa archaeological treasure was discovered in Bulgaria in 2015 and is dated to circa 450 BCE. The trove includes plates that exhibit iconography of mythic proportions in a series of reliefs of a man on horseback. In five of these plates, the rider is wielding a spear. Another plate shows the rider armed with a bow. Three of these plates show a decapitated human head. The other three show the decapitated head of a horse. An additional plate shows the rider holding a vessel, and either being accompanied or pursued by a hound. 

A comparable Thracian treasure, the Helmet of Agighiol, Romania, is curated by the National Archaeological Museum of Bucharest, in Sofi, and is dated to the same period as the Letnitsa Treasure, circa 450 CE. It similarly shows  a relief of a rider, plated in gold, on horseback and wielding a spear. The artifacts date to the period of the Odrysian Kingdom, a Thracian vassal state of Rome, circa 500-350 BCE, concurrent with late Hallstatt and early La Tène culture. 

Collectively, the archaeological and geographic context of the Thracian and La Tène  treasures suggests some regional continuity in metalworking and iconographic traditions throughout Europe. While the Sutton Hoo helmet is often compared to Roman arts traditions (Bulger, 2006), it is highly plausible that the Vendel Period treasures of Britain and Sweden reflect Celtic and Thracian cultural influence on local Germanic traditions. 

One of Northern Europe's greatest and most mysterious archaeological treasures, the Gundestrup Cauldron, was recovered from a bog in Denmark in 1891. The National Museum of Denmark (2022) reports that it probably dates to 150 BCE-0 CE, adding, "exactly where it was made is still open to question," but it is, "most likely that the cauldron was made where Celtic and Thracian peoples lived close together, probably in southwest Romania or northwest Bulgaria." 
 

The artifact is characterized by silver plates bearing exquisite, complex and enigmatic iconography. The plates were soldered together with tin to form the cauldron. The craftsmanship is one of the very few archaeological treasures of Northern Europe that remotely compares with the masterful cratsmanship of the Sutton Hoo Helmet, but the two treasures are separated by at about half a millennium. Furthermore, the mythic motifs represented in their iconographic suites are almost incomparable, except that both feature icons of men bearing antlers or "horns" on their heads. For purposes of this research, this motif is identified as the horned lord.

The horned characters on the Tanum rock art panels and the later Sutton Hoo, Vendel and Valsgarde helmet plate assemblages are distinct from the horned lord motif on the Gundestrup Cauldron. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, the figure is shown holding a serpent and a ring. The shapes of the shields in the hands of warriors depicted on the artifact lend to the complex iconography being interpreted in relation to Celtic culture and myth, however, the myriad animal depictions, such as distinctive eagle-lion griffins, also occur relatively frequently in earlier Thracian iconography, including on artifacts of the Letnitsa Treasure assemblage. 

Evidence of Cultural Displacement?
 

The deposition of the Gundestrup Cauldron is contemporaneous with the expansion of the Roman empire into Celtic and Germanic cultural territories. Even before the Roman expansion period, the Gallic Wars, 58–50 BCE, under the leadership of Gaius Julius, had already disrupted Celtic societies of western Europe. The Anglo-Saxon chronicles record that as early as 60 BCE, the Roman general:
 

...sought the land of Britain;  and he crushed the Britons in battle, and overcame them; and nevertheless, he was unable to gain any empire there (Trans. Ingram 2020; pp: 8).

Under Augustus Caesar, Roman incursion into Germanic territories east of the Rhine was famously halted in 9 CE after the military defeat of three Roman legions by Germanic forces under the leadership of Arminius at Teutoburg Forest. In skirmishes that followed, some Germanic chiefdoms in the area suffered significant defeats. Roman expansion under Claudius is marked by the Roman occupation of Britain beginning in 47 CE. Significant invasions into Germanic territories resumed under Marcus Aurelius in 161 CE with a series of wars that culminated with Roman annexation of Germanic territories north of the Danube (Brittanica 2022). 
 

Thus, the Gundestrup Cauldron was deposited to the north of its probable parent tradition during a period when Celtic and Germanic people along the northern margins of the Roman empire were undoubtedly experiencing considerable sociocultural reorganization. Theoretically, during this time, Celtic and Germanic populations were displaced and possibly driven further north. Remarkably, Snorri Sturluson's mythical history of the emergence of the Aesir in Northern Europe told in the Ynglinga Saga recounts:
 

In those times, Roman chiefs went wide around in the world, subduing to themselves all people; and on this account many chiefs fled from their domains.  But Odin having foreknowledge, and magic-sight, knew that his posterity would come to settle and dwell in the northern half of the world (Trans. Laing 1844; stanza 5).
 

The occurrence of the Gundestrup Caldron is often cited as evidence of trade networks in Europe, however, the archaeological and literary evidence suggests it might be more aptly explained in the context of geopolitical and sociocultural reorganization, namely, expansion of the Roman empire and concurrent displacement, relocation and reorganization of Celtic and Germanic societies.  

Bronze Age Rock Art  

There is substantial evidence that a very ancient horned lord tradition existed in Scandinavia long before the Roman expansion period. Rock art in Tanum, Sweden includes numerous depictions of horned figures with spears (in some occurrences, the figure is depicted holding a hammer). The panels also include men on horseback carrying spears. 

Rock art is notoriously difficult to date, but based on their position in relation to an ancient coastline, experts estimate that the Tanum rock are panels date to circa 1700 BCE– 500 BCE (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2022). This would be roughly contemporaneous with the Viksø Helmets, at least one thousand years before the Vendel period, yet the iconographic similarities between the rock art and the later helmet plate assemblages of Sutton, Hoo, Vendel, Valgarde, and Torslanda is striking. Cross-comparative examination of rock art illustrations and archaeological evidence from the surrounding region suggests that local cultural traditions persisted with great depth in time. According to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (2022):  

The continuity of settlement and the ongoing practice of agriculture, as illustrated by the Tanum region’s rock carvings, archaeological vestiges, and modern landscape features, combine to demonstrate a remarkable permanence during eight thousand years of human history.  

Scandinavian culture experienced many significant transitions, but rock art traditions were maintained throughout the entirety of human occupation in the region (Bradshaw Foundation, 2022), which began approximately 11,000-12,000 years ago (Gunther, et al. 2018). The bronze age panels in Tanum are distinguished by illustrations of what appear to be Bronze Age tools, including spears, hammers and ships. Based on these conventional estimates, the rock art illustrations were created about 1,100 years after metal was introduced in Scandinavia circa 2,800 BCE.  
 

The Gallehus Horns 
 

About 400 years after the Gundestrup Cauldron was deposited, the familiar horned lord motif occurs again in the archaeological record of Denmark, preserved in illustrations of the famous archaeological treasures, the Gallehus Horns. According to the National Museum of Denmark (2022), the two horns were probably made circa 400 CE. The mythic significance of the motifs on the horns have never been adequately interpreted. Brittanica (2022) reports only conservatively and vaguely, "the engraved pictures and symbols... probably had religious significance." The horns themselves are apparently unique in the archaeological record. 

The horned figure embossed on the horns is comparable but also distinct from the figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron. It is more similar to horned figures that occur earlier in bronze age Scandinavian rock art and later on plates of the Sutton Hoo, Valsgärde and Torslunda assemblage, especially in the sense the latter are consistently carrying weapons.

Torslunda & Valsgärde Plates  
 

The horned lord motif occurs again much later in Scandinavia during the Vendel Period on metal plates recovered from Sweden. On one of the Torsulnda plates, the horned figure is shown beside a zoomorphic wolf. Both of these characters are armed. The horned figure holds two spears. The zoomorph holds a spear and a sword. On Valsgärde 7 and 8 Helmet plates, the horned figure occurs together with the spear-wielding rider. In both variations, the horned figure is holding the tail end of the rider's spear. On a different Valsgärde 7 plate and on plates from Sutton Hoo, two nearly identical horned figures stand side-by-side holding multiple spears.

Evidence of Gand Sorcery? 

Further evidence of a uniquely Scandinavian horned-lord tradition includes a distinctive cross-shaped symbol associated with the horned figure on the Gallehus Horns. The same symbolic shape occurs later in the hand of a horned figurine from Uppland, Sweden, dated to the late Vendel Period-early Viking Age (Swedish History Museum, 2022). Few reports address the significance of this symbol, perhaps because cross-shaped motifs are very generalizable, however, the symbol is distinguished by ball shapes that occur on the four terminal ends of the cross. The same symbol occurs relatively frequently on later historic-period drums of Sami people (see images below). Drums are highly significant in Sami shamanic arts traditions. Manker (cited in Rydving, 1988) analyzed the symbol as it occurs on several drums dating as early as the late 1600s or possibly earlier, and identified it as a, "gand fly to hurt people" (pp: 48). Gand sorcery is described in Scheffer's Lapponia and other historic sources. Descriptions of gand flies vary, but are consistently characterized as a type of projectile used to cause harm. Scheffer (1677) writes: 

... by these they execute their revenge upon their enemies... Petrus Claudius calls it a Gan, which they send abroad: he likens it to a flie, but saies it is some little devil, of which the Finlanders in Norway that excell most in this art, keep great numbers in a leathern bag, and dispatch daily... But he seems to intimate no more by this word Gan, then that very thing which endangers mens health, and lives. 

The Ynglinga Saga attests to different arts traditions, commonly identified as sorcery, including various types of magic for causing harm to enemies:  

Odin could make his enemies in battle blind, or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons so blunt that they could no more but than a willow wand; on the other hand, his men rushed forwards without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon themselves (stanza 4, Trans. Laing, 1844). 

Drum heads do not preserve well. Sami drums do not occur in archaeological and historic records until hundreds of years after the Viking Age. However, scholars, including Tolley (2007) and Price (2004) agree with Hultkrantz (1988) that Sami shamanic traditions have great depth in time, possibly originating before the Bronze Age:

...it is reasonable to postulate a continuous shamanic drum complex from Lappland to Siberia in ancient times ...evidence of such widespread diffusion makes it obvious that we cannot be satisfied with the dates for the age of the shamanic drum rashly proposed in the past — 500 B C , or the Bronze Age, etc. Furthermore, we seem to face the fact that the drum was part of the original heritage of shamanism (pp: 14, 23).

Antiquity of the cross-shaped symbol in circumpolar traditions might be indicated in the archaeological record by an "enigmatic" cross-shaped artifact recovered from a late Bronze Age Tagar burial in southern Siberia; Rich (2022) reports:

Its purpose is exceptionally enigmatic, but the archaeologists suspect it was an amulet. The upper part was an X comprised of threaded tubular bronze and cap beads interspersed with carnelian beads. The lower part was also made of bronze tubular beads, with white argillite beads. A boar fang hung from this lower part. 

The occurrence of the symbol on the Gallehus horns adds to evidence of ancient circumpolar traditional symbolism in Norse arts traditions (potential influence of widespread circumpolar cultural traditions on viking-age Scandinavia is discussed at length in the article, The Ancestral Bear, in this newsletter). Earlier expressions may exist, however, the cross-shaped symbol can not be identified in rock art panels nor on any of the aforementioned artifacts before the Gallehus Horns circa 400 CE. 

Persistence of the weaponized horned-lord tradition after the Vendel Period is indicated in the archaeological record of Scandinavia by occurrences of horned figurines, like the one found in Uppland, and another found in Uppåkra, Sweden, dated to the 8th-9th century (Helmbrecht, 2013). 

The Path of the Serpent

King Gylfi’s journey from his holdings in Sweden to the mythical city of Asgard is a key event in Norse mythology. When he arrived in Asgard, disguised as the old wanderer, Gangleri, he was asked by which way he had come. Gangleri answered, he had come by, “the path of the serpent” (Trans. Laing, 1844), alternately translated as, the "trackless path” (Trans. Byock, 2005).  But what was the path of the serpent? What was the trackless path? Can the question be answered?   
 

There is no master arcanum for unlocking the literary secrets of Norse mythos. The ancient tales are normally interpreted in many ways.  Yet, the question inspires childlike wonder. The path of the serpent - the trackless path - what could that mean? Certainly this must be a metaphor, but for what? Could it be a path of water? Perhaps a river? Could it be something more transcendental? Perhaps a trance? There are rarely clear answers for such questions, however, an open-minded endeavor to retrace Gangleri’s journey to Asgard, somewhere in the Black Sea region, leads to re-discovery of history itself.
 

Geography of Mythical History of the Aesir

Sturluson’s mythic pseudo-history, the Ynglinga Saga explicitly describes geographical context of the location of Asaland, not as a cosmic realm high in the branches of Yggdrasil, but as a physical place on earth. He writes, “The country east of the Tanaquisl [Don River] in Asia was called Asaland, or Asaheim, and the chief city in that land was called Asgaard. In that city was a chief called Odin…” (stanza 2, Trans. Laing, 1844). Geographically, the Don River enters into the Black Sea from the north-northeast. The narrative describes Odin as: “a great and very far-travelled warrior, who conquered many kingdoms, and so successful was he that in every battle the victory was on his side” (stanza 2, Trans. Laing, 1844). It specifies that Odin had vast holdings throughout the region, including Turkic lands. It tells of the famed mythical war between Odin and the Vanir. Sturluson writes:
 

“Odin went out with a great army against the Vanaland people; but they were well prepared, and defended their land; so that victory was changeable, and they ravaged the lands of each other, and did great damage” (stanza 4, Trans. Laing, 1844). 

Remarkably, it also describes how the Aesir migrated into Scandinavia from somewhere in the Black Sea region. To recount:

In those times the Roman chiefs went wide around in the world, subduing to themselves all people; and on this account many chiefs fled from their domains. But Odin having foreknowledge, and magic-sight, knew that his posterity would come to settle and dwell in the northern half of the world. He therefore set his brothers Ve and Vilje over Asgaard; and he himself, with all the gods and a great many other people, wandered out, first westward to Gardarike, and then south to Saxland.  He had many sons; and after having subdued an extensive kingdom in Saxland, he set his sons to rule the country. He himself went northwards to the sea, and took up his abode in an island which is called Odins in Fyen. Then he sent Gefion across the sound to the north to discover new countries (stanza 5, Trans. Laing, 1844).
 

Modern historians regularly dismiss Snorri’s mythic pseudo-history altogether. There are many common critiques of his work: it conflates myth with history; he often contradicts himself; he had political and religious motivations; his chronological and geographical details are extremely vague; fundamentally, his historical methods do not conform to historical standards of the present age. Yet, to critique these critiques, they evaluate the quality of the narrative based on current hegemonic standards of history as a contemporary discipline. Snorri’s works are mythic creation stories that tell of migrations within its own cultural tradition. Archaeologists detect the movement of cultures, not gods. They detect behaviors, not ideas. Interpreting mythic narratives as history is always at peril of succumbing to a number of theoretical and methodological downfalls. Nevertheless, Snorri's pseudo-history may not be wholly inaccurate in its telling of a migration formative to Norse culture originating from somewhere in the Black Sea region into Germanic areas of Europe and Scandinavia. Though historically unreliable, it is a profoundly significant mythic narrative of Norse cultural origins. Still, questions remain: could there be some basis - some evidence  - of such a migration in history? The evidence presented above suggests 

To attempt to frame an interpretation of the narrative in a relatively acceptable cross-comparative context, the Aesir pantheon may represent an actual regionally dominant culture or society that existed historically in the vast area of the Black Sea region. Similarly, the Vanir pantheon may represent a different powerful culture in the region that was in conflict and became conflated with the culture represented by the Aesir. Though this interpretation is excessively vague, in a very broad sense, archeological, linguistic and literary evidence suggests that there is some underlying historical reality behind the narrative. 

The Sutton Hoo Helmet is dated to 625 CE, about 150 years after the beginning of the Migration Period in Europe, 476-797 CE. The beginning of the Migration Period corresponds to widespread withdrawal of the Roman empire from Germanic areas of Europe, and is aptly named for migrations and sociocultural changes that occurred thereafter. According to Brittanica Encyclopedia (2022), "The name of the period refers to the movement of so-called barbarian peoples—including the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Bulgars, Alani, Suebi, and Franks—into what had been the Western Roman Empire" (2022).  
 

About one hundred years before the migration period, an incursion of steppe-riders from the east into Europe resulted in substantial sociocultural changes, including displacement, resettlement and reorganization of Germanic people, along with shifting of territorial boundaries.  

The origin of the Huns is poorly understood, but the fact that they crossed the Vogal River in circa 370 CE is relatively well established. The Huns overran the Alani culture between the Vogal and Don (Tanaquisl) rivers. Within a decade, they dominated  the lands of the Ostrogoths between the Don and Dniester (Hypanis) rivers. They continued west, overrunning the Visigoths, roughly between the Dniester (Tyras) and Danube rivers by circa 397 CE (Brittanica, 2022).

The Hun encroachment caused a cultural domino effect. People displaced by the Huns were pressed into neighboring cultural territories, including Germanic, Celtic & Roman lands. Less than one-hundred years after the Huns initially pressed into Europe, Angles, Saxons and Jutes of Germanic territories pressed into Britain. The Saxon Chronicles record: 

AD449...Then came the men from three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes...Their leaders were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa; who were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From this Woden arose all our royal kindred...  (Trans. Ingram, 2020).

The text suggests that an historical Woden may have existed four generations before the time of Hengest and Horsa in 449 CE. Given a standard estimate of twenty years per generation, this would place the historical figure eighty years earlier, in circa 369 CE, contemporaneous with widespread sociocultural changes that characterize the Roman and Migration periods, and concurrent with the beginning of the Hun invasion (commonly dated to circa 370 CE). About one hundred years later, according to the chronicles, Woden's descendants would come to rule in Britain. By the time of the Sutton Hoo helmet, 175 years later, Anglo-Saxon royal lineages were well established on the island.

Thrax and Tyr: What Happened  in Thrace?

Archaeological evidence suggests that the historically named Tyras River (presently the Dniester River), which enters into the Black Sea from the northwest, was a significant territorial boundary that distinguished the northeastern extent of Thracian cultural territory. Historical events at the ancient fortified settlement of Tyras, located near the mouth of the river, affirm the significance of the river as a marginal zone between two cultural worlds, marked by steppe-rider cultures of the east and Greek, Thracian, Roman and Germanic cultures to the west, respectively. Kleinman (2001) identified defensive structures in the archaeological record of the ancient city and established a chronology of ancient occupations and building episodes. The settlement's cultural and geographic significance is highlighted by its fall to the Getae (a Thracian chiefdom), circa 50 BCE, and later to the Goth’s, circa 250-300 CE. According to Struk (1993):

It was established in the 6th century BC by colonists from Miletus. By the 4th century BC it was a prosperous trading center… Tyras was sacked in the mid-1st century BC by the Getae, but it revived. It was rebuilt by the Romans and by the early 2nd century AD it was an important outpost on the frontier of the Roman Empire. In the late 3rd century it was destroyed by the Goths.    

Saveliev (2021) reviewed evidence of cultural changes that occurred in Tyras during the first three centuries CE. Evidence indicates,”like in previous period, the city maintained close economic ties with the centres of Asia Minor," but there occurred, "the appearance… of things that looked barbaric associated with direct cultural contacts " (pp: 201). Saveliev also discussed evidence that occupation continued into the 4th century:  

Determination of chronology of the finds from the [Post Gothic House] complex... helped… researchers reconsider the previous viewpoint on the time of... final cessation in the city and to extend it to the 4th Century AD. Thus, this information made it possible to continue the study of the late antique period of Tyras (pp: 202).

Linguistically, it is evident that the name Tyras is almost certainly a latinized word for Thrace itself. This hypothesis is derived partly from Greek literary sources. In his translation of the Greek play, Alcestis, by Euripides, dated 448 BCE,  Lenard (1884) notes, "one of the names of Ares was Thrax, he being the Patron of Thrace" (pp: 95).  When Hercules asks a man of where is he from, the man responds, "Of Ares [Thrax], the lord of the gold-rich shield of Thrace!" (line 58, Trans. Aldington, 1930). From this, it is evident that Thrax is epitomizes Thracian culture itself, inexorable from its patron god of war. The historically named Tyras river, along with the nearby settlement of Tyras, marks a dynamic northeastern margin of Thracian cultural territory. Moreover, the place names are linguistically similar to both, the Greek name for the Thracian god of war, Thrax, and to Germanic names for the  Norse god of war, Tyr. From this, it is evident that the gods Thrax and Tyr are conflated. Like Thrax in Greek, the word Tyras may have epitomized Thracia itself. 
 

In linguistic analyses, the name Tyr is often compared to many Indo-European deities, including Zeus, Dyeus, and Mars Thingus, but these comparisons rarely produce more than identification of vague similarities. Contrastingly, linguistic analysis of Tyr, Thrax and Thrace in the context of formative migrations into northern Europe holds promise of significantly informing research on the formation and emergence of the Aesir pantheon in Scandinavian mythic tradition. Intriguingly, the Gothic invasion of Tyras occurred within about one-hundred years of the estimated time of Woden of the Saxon Chronicles.
 

Incidentally, these observations could inform contemporary discussions pertaining to peculiar aspects of Tyr's mythical relationship with the Aesir pantheon. For instance, there are open questions about contradictions in literary sources, wherein Tyr is identified as a son of Odin in Skaldskaparmal (stanza 9), and also as a son of the jotun,  "Hymir the Wise," in Hymisktvitha (stanza 5, Trans. Crawford, 2015). 

Runic languages  are highly significant in history and in Norse mythology and are among the most distinctive and  widely recognizable aspects of Norse culture. They are inexorable from Norse story-telling tradition and are recognized by anthropologists as materially and linguistically distinctive. 

Numerous lines of evidence seem to connect temporally and spatially to ed unexpectedly back to the   Adding to intrigue, after the 4th century, frequency of elder futhark runic inscriptions in the archaeological record increased in Germanic areas of Europe. In the following centuries, the alphabetic characters evolved and spread widely throughout Northern Europe. 
 

The emergence of elder futhark runic characters is debated. There are few undisputed archaeological samples of elder futhark inscriptions dating to the first two centuries CE.  The Vimose Comb, found in Denmark and dated to circa 160 CE, is frequently cited as the earliest datable runic inscription. There is some consensus that the alphabet took shape during the first three to four centuries. Scholars identify many possible precursors to the runes in a wide range of ancient alphabets. Brittanica (2022) offers, "a likely theory," that it was, "developed by the Goths, a Germanic people, from the Etruscan alphabet of northern Italy and was perhaps also influenced by the Latin alphabet in the 1st or 2nd century BC."
 

Despite disputed theories of their origins, ancient elder futhark runic inscriptions are linguistically and materially distinctive of Germanic language speakers and serve as a unique type of archaeological indicator. Migrations of Germanic speakers can be approximated by analyzing the distribution of archaeological samples of runes over time and space. Studies of this type are exemplified by Machacek's (et al.,  2021) analysis of the earliest known elder futhark inscription in Slavic cultural territory, dated with relative precision to circa 600 CE. Machacek identifies the artifact as, "...the first direct archaeological find in support of a contact..." between Germanic and Slavic speakers; the study  determined, "...the find is the first older fuþark inscription found in any non-Germanic context and suggests that the presumed ancestors of modern Slavic speakers encountered writing much earlier than previously thought” (pp: 1).
 

Though seemingly isolated events, increasing frequency of runes in Germanic areas of Europe during the first few centuries CE follows significant cultural changes at Tyras and later migration of the Huns beginning circa 370 CE. The Huns are known to have displaced peoples of eastern Europe. It is highly probable that this displacement contributed to the overall distribution of runes after the late fourth century CE. What makes this especially remarkable is that this timeline is temporally consistent with the time of Woden in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. Even more profound is that the Old Norse poem, Havamal, recorded much later, famously credits Odin for 'taking up the runes' and impressing their significance:

139. I ween that I hung | on the windy tree, 

Hung there for nights full nine; 

With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was 

To Othin, myself to myself, 

On the tree that none | may ever know 

What root beneath it runs.  

140. None made me happy | with loaf or horn, 

And there below I looked; 

I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them, 

And forthwith back I fell.  

(Trans. Bellows, 1936).

The poem continues in such a manner that may have inspired Germanic speaking people to take them up as well:

145. Knowest how one shall write, | knowest how one shall rede?

(Trans. Bellows, 1936).

 Increased frequency of elder futhark inscriptions after 400 CE suggests that literacy increased among Germanic speakers. The later occurrence of the runic artifact circa 600 CE in Slovenia adds to evidence that some form of social reorganization or migration of Germanic speaking people occurred before or during the two centuries leading up to the deposition of the Torslunda, Vendal, Valsgärde, and Sutton Hoo assemblages. 

In retracing the path of the serpent, like Gangleri, whose name means wanderer, one will also find themselves on a mysterious serpentine path, wandering throughout the ancient world, spanning vast areas of Europe and Asia. Evidence of the origins of distinctively Norse iconographic and metalworking traditions of the Vendel period leads back thousands of years, from the first Paleolithic cultures of the northern world, to Bronze Age rock art of Scandinavia, to the copper tools of fast spreading bronze age cultures, to the Viksø Helmets of Scandinavia, to the brilliant metalwork of Celtic and Thracian cultures, to  the frontiers of the Roman Empire, to the ancient settlement of Tyras and the far reaches of the Asian steppes, till finally back the Vendel Period assemblages of Sweden and Sutton Hoo Helmet of Britain. 

The mythic history told in the Ynglinga Saga is commonly dismissed by historians, however, in its own cultural tradition, it articulates migrations of Germanic people into northern Europe in the context of Roman expansion, which, as vague as it may be, is consistent with archaeological and literary evidence. Geopolitical changes associated with the expansion of the Roman empire beginning at least as early as the time of Gaius Julius resulted in significant and widespread reorganization of Celtic and Germanic societies in northern Europe. Specifics pertaining to a cultural migrations represented by the Aesir remain elusive - the narrative may be variously interpreted. Nevertheless, place-names associated with Thracian culture and the Greco-Thracian god of war, Thrax, suggest that significant historical events occurred in or near Thrace during the time of Roman expansion that lead to the inclusion of Tyr in the Aesir pantheon. Cross comparison of archaeological evidence of Germanic culture associated with Tyras and with runes strongly suggests formative events occurred between circa 250-370 CE, during the estimated lifetime of Woden in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Although the events themselves remain elusive, it is apparent that cultural changes, evident in the archaeological record of the Black Sea region, contributed significantly to the development of runes and Scandinavian mythology.  

Finally, the Ynglinga Saga tells:  

Odin died in his bed in Swithiod; and when he was near his death he made himself be marked with the point of a spear, and said he was going to Godheim, and would give a welcome there to all his friends, and all brave warriors should be dedicated to him; and the Swedes believed that he was gone to the ancient Asgaard, and would live there eternally.  Then began the belief in Odin, and the calling upon him (Trans. Laing, 1844)
 

Norse culture can not be distinguished by a particular art or tradition when viewed in a global context. This research analyzes the emergence of Vendel Period arts traditions in Britain and Scandinavia in the context of global events and migrations. Roots of these traditions span millennia and continents. Nevertheless, distinctive arts traditions emerged in Scandinavia, represented in stories, languages, metalworking, and iconography of what is now recognized as  distinctively Norse.