References to the god Freyr, the third of the gods mentioned by Adam, as the god of
fertility, may also be found in the artefact assemblages. Pendants in the form of strike-a-
light have been interpreted as signifying the life-giving and purifying fire and by that
connected to the fertility cult and Freyr. There are miniature fire-steels as both pendants
and rings with an unmistakable fire-steel shape. On such rings, other pendants are
sometimes attached, sickles, scythes and spades, all with an obvious association to
agriculture. Another important attribute of Freyr is his ship, Skíðblaðnir, and whether
the boat-grave custom could have its ideological root in this has also been discussed.
Many other kinds of supposed amulets are known from the Viking Age (Gräslund
2005 ), for example miniature chairs, interpreted as thrones and by some scholars
attributed to Þórr, by others to Óðinn, shield-shaped pendants decorated with a whorl
pattern, interpreted as a sun symbol and by that associated to the fertility cult. The
shield as protective symbol should also be pointed out. There may be a connection to
some brooches, found for example in Tissø in Sjælland, depicting a mounted woman
with a spear and in front of the horse another woman with a shield. Maybe they could be
interpreted as valkyries and, by that, that the woman wearing the brooch stood under
the protection of the valkyries and – behind them – Óðinn. Pendants in the shape of a
coiled snake are known from the Scandinavian countries and from England. No other
species has played a more important role universally in religion, mythology and folklore
than the snakes. Their way of living underground, their venomousness and their way of
sloughing their skin have fascinated people in all periods and cultures. They have been
regarded as symbols for rebirth and life.
Looking at the Birka graves, it is striking that some of the women buried there have
got several amuletic pendants. In two cases the women in question have been identified
as vo ̨lur (Price 2002 ), and it is possible that also some other women with more than one
amulet pendant had a function in the cult.
Regarding the Viking burial customs, I would like to add a remark on possible
remains of the rites de passage, from the living to the dead. Having studied the
occurrence of dog bones in Scandinavian graves from the second half of the first millen-
nium, I am convinced that the dogs in the graves should not be interpreted only as
faithful and loyal companions, or as expressions of social status (Gräslund 2004 ). Dogs
are very frequent in the graves, almost every grave where the bones have been analysed
contains a dog, and combined with the evidence of the Eddic poems and with archaeo-
logical and literary evidence from other European cultures from the first millennium ad,
I find it conclusive that the dogs had an important function as media in the trans-
formation from living to dead, guarding the entrance of Hel, the realm of Death, and
bringing the souls to the afterlife.
ICONOGRAPHYIconographical evidence has already been mentioned, such as the guldgubbar, probably
depicting the holy marriage between Freyr and Gerðr, the picture foils of the Vendel-
period helmets, in some cases maybe depicting Óðinn, and the bodies hanging in a tree
on the Oseberg wall hanging. (For two other wall hangings from Överhogdal and from
Skog, with both pagan and Christian motifs see Gräslund, ch. 46. 1 , below.)
Evidence of Old Norse cult practice can probably be found on the picture stones of
Gotland (Lindqvist 1941 – 2 ), for example a possible human sacrifice and a body hanging
–– chapter 18: The material culture of Old Norse religion––