DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52552#0103
SOURCES
87
nine T-shaped figures are engraved; they cannot be simple
ornaments, but may with more reason be regarded as symbols
of the “Thor’s hammer,” placed there as tokens of good omen:
WORSAAE, Danish Arts, p. 198, fig. 239. On a similar bracelet
from the silver find of Vela, Norway (see below), we find a less
careful representation of four hammers joined crosswise: Aars-
beretning fra Foren. til norske Fortidsmindesm. Bevaring, 1885,
pl. 3, fig. 18 a. On the isle of Amrum a miniature hammer of
iron, probably a charm used for the same purpose as those
mentioned above, has been found in an urn-grave: MESTORF,
Vorgesch. Alterthiimer aus Schleswig-Holstein, fig. 735. A
“Thor’s hammer” of tin or bronze, the greater part of which
immediately crumbled to pieces, is said to have been found in
a grave near Immenstedt, Holstein: MESTORF, loc. cit., fig. 736;
Mittheil. des anthropol. Vereins in Schleswig-Holstein, I. p. 12, fig. 5.
From Norway we know of three finds of small “Thor’s hammers”:
one in the silver find from Braatveit, district of Stavanger: RYGH,
Norske Oldsager, No. 679; a ring with two hammers in the silver
find of Vela (Ryfylke): Aarsberetn. fra Foren. tilnorske Fortidsm.
Bevaring, 1885, p. 76, pl. 3, fig. 17; and a ring with nine “Thor’s
hammers” of iron in the find from Hilde, district of Nordre
Bergenhus: Bergens Museums Aarbog, 1903, No. 3, p. 28, fig. 7 ;
Gustafson, Norges Oldtid, fig. 525; Schetelig, Vestlandets
celdste Kulturhistorie, 1909, p. 79, fig. 109. For the corre-
sponding objects from Sweden, some richly ornamented and of
much finer workmanship than the Danish or Norwegian objects,
see MONTELIUS, Les temps prehistoriques en Suede, p. 297, and
Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, p. 313; Vitterhets-, historic- och anti-
qvitets akademiens manadsblad, 1882, p. 103, fig. 39; 1895, p. 102,
fig. 82; Fornvannen, 1908, p. 269, fig. 141 (ring with about
twenty Thor’s hammers of iron) ; Bidrag till Sodermanlands
aldre Kulturhistoria, XIV. (1909), p. 46, fig. 84, and other places.
81-85. Sweden.
81. Name and nature of the thunderstone.
HYLTEN-CAVALLIUS, Warend och Wirdarne, II. p. 222 : the
lightning is a “wedge of stone, thrown by Thor or Gofar, and is
still often found in the places where the thunder has struck ”;
87
nine T-shaped figures are engraved; they cannot be simple
ornaments, but may with more reason be regarded as symbols
of the “Thor’s hammer,” placed there as tokens of good omen:
WORSAAE, Danish Arts, p. 198, fig. 239. On a similar bracelet
from the silver find of Vela, Norway (see below), we find a less
careful representation of four hammers joined crosswise: Aars-
beretning fra Foren. til norske Fortidsmindesm. Bevaring, 1885,
pl. 3, fig. 18 a. On the isle of Amrum a miniature hammer of
iron, probably a charm used for the same purpose as those
mentioned above, has been found in an urn-grave: MESTORF,
Vorgesch. Alterthiimer aus Schleswig-Holstein, fig. 735. A
“Thor’s hammer” of tin or bronze, the greater part of which
immediately crumbled to pieces, is said to have been found in
a grave near Immenstedt, Holstein: MESTORF, loc. cit., fig. 736;
Mittheil. des anthropol. Vereins in Schleswig-Holstein, I. p. 12, fig. 5.
From Norway we know of three finds of small “Thor’s hammers”:
one in the silver find from Braatveit, district of Stavanger: RYGH,
Norske Oldsager, No. 679; a ring with two hammers in the silver
find of Vela (Ryfylke): Aarsberetn. fra Foren. tilnorske Fortidsm.
Bevaring, 1885, p. 76, pl. 3, fig. 17; and a ring with nine “Thor’s
hammers” of iron in the find from Hilde, district of Nordre
Bergenhus: Bergens Museums Aarbog, 1903, No. 3, p. 28, fig. 7 ;
Gustafson, Norges Oldtid, fig. 525; Schetelig, Vestlandets
celdste Kulturhistorie, 1909, p. 79, fig. 109. For the corre-
sponding objects from Sweden, some richly ornamented and of
much finer workmanship than the Danish or Norwegian objects,
see MONTELIUS, Les temps prehistoriques en Suede, p. 297, and
Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, p. 313; Vitterhets-, historic- och anti-
qvitets akademiens manadsblad, 1882, p. 103, fig. 39; 1895, p. 102,
fig. 82; Fornvannen, 1908, p. 269, fig. 141 (ring with about
twenty Thor’s hammers of iron) ; Bidrag till Sodermanlands
aldre Kulturhistoria, XIV. (1909), p. 46, fig. 84, and other places.
81-85. Sweden.
81. Name and nature of the thunderstone.
HYLTEN-CAVALLIUS, Warend och Wirdarne, II. p. 222 : the
lightning is a “wedge of stone, thrown by Thor or Gofar, and is
still often found in the places where the thunder has struck ”;