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Why was a 9th century Viking woman buried with a ring that says ‘for Allah’ on it?
Washington Post ^ | March 18, 2015 | Adam Taylor

Posted on 02/05/2016 12:57:25 PM PST by beaversmom


(Statens historiska museum / Christer Ahlin)

In the modern-era, Scandinavian countries have become known for their sometimes awkward embrace of migrants from the Arab and Muslim world. But the history behind that relationship goes back far further than you might expect.

Consider the case of a ring discovered in a Viking grave in Birka, a historic trading center in what is now Sweden. The woman in the grave died in the 9th century and was discovered around a thousand years later by the famous Swedish archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe, who spent years excavating the grave sites around Birka.

The ring is unique. Made of silver alloy, it contained a stone with an inscription written in the Kufic Arabic script widely used between the 8th and 10th centuries. "For/to Allah," the inscription read. It was the only known Viking Age ring with an Arabic inscription to be found in the entire of Scandinavia. Exactly how the woman got the ring wasn't clear – she was found wearing typical Scandinavian dress, so presumably the ring arrived through trade.

Now, new research from biophysicist Sebastian Warmlander of Stockholm University and his colleagues has confirmed exactly how unique the ring was. In the journal Scanning, the researchers recount how they used a scanning electron microscope to investigate the origins of the ring. Notably, they discovered that the stone in the ring is actually colored glass – at the time an exotic material for the Vikings, though it had been made for thousands of years in the Middle East and North Africa.

Even more notably, the ring displayed a remarkable lack of wear, leading the authors to speculate that it had few – if any – owners in-between its creator and its Viking owner. Instead, Warmlander and his colleagues suggest, it appears to show direct contact between Viking society and the Abbasid Caliphate that dominated much of the Middle East and North Africa. The authors write, "it is not impossible that the woman herself, or someone close to her, might have visited — or even originate from — the Caliphate or its surrounding regions."

While physical evidence of it is unusual, there have been plenty of accounts of Scandinavians from this period crossing paths with the early Muslim world. By the 11th century Vikings had become known for their lengthy sea voyages, journeying as far west as the Americas and likely reaching Constantinople and even Baghdad when they traveled the other way. And while contemporary accounts of Vikings from Western Europe suggests terrifying invaders, most accounts suggest the Vikings, likely fearful of the more sophisticated warriors in the region, instead looked for trade when they went east.

"The Vikings were very interested in silver, not so much in gold," Farhat Hussain, a historian, told the National newspaper of Abu Dhabi in 2008. "It was a status symbol for Viking men and women, they even wanted to be buried with silver."

Still, the Scandinavians did raise some eyebrows on their journeys. In an otherwise complimentary description of people now believed to be Vikings, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an emissary of the Abbasid Caliph, wasn't so sure about their hygiene. "They are the filthiest of all Allah’s creatures," the Arab writer wrote in the 10th century. "They do not purify themselves after excreting or urinating or wash themselves when in a state of ritual impurity after coitus and do not even wash their hands after food."

Exactly how the woman in Birka and the ring fit into this relationship isn't known. It may never be known.

"I don't know if it was bought or looted and of course I wish I could know how it all came about that this woman got it – friendly or otherwise. If she went far from home or if someone brought it back for her?" Linda Wahlander, a teacher at the Statens historiska museum who worked on the project, explained in an e-mail. "I am an archaeologist but I sometimes wish I was a timetraveller."



TOPICS: Education; History; Religion
KEYWORDS: adamtaylor; ancientautopsies; ancientnavigation; birka; districtofcolumbia; epigraphyandlanguage; forallah; godsgravesglyphs; middleages; navigation; scandinavia; sweden; thevikings; vikings; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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1 posted on 02/05/2016 12:57:25 PM PST by beaversmom
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To: SunkenCiv

History ping. Not sure if this was posted back in 2015 or not. I searched Google and didn’t pull up anything on FR.


2 posted on 02/05/2016 12:58:08 PM PST by beaversmom
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To: beaversmom

Probably an Antonio Banderas fan.


3 posted on 02/05/2016 12:59:36 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: beaversmom

Most women have had a first or Secret Love they don’t talk to their present spouses about.


4 posted on 02/05/2016 12:59:39 PM PST by lee martell
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To: beaversmom

Vikings kicked some Muslim butt and kept the spoils. They did not speak Arabic. Wife liked the ring so he gave it to her. They had no idea what it said.


5 posted on 02/05/2016 1:01:30 PM PST by Resolute Conservative
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To: beaversmom
Wow not often you find a real ring engraved with the dark speech of Mordor.
6 posted on 02/05/2016 1:01:33 PM PST by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
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To: beaversmom
Loot
7 posted on 02/05/2016 1:01:42 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: beaversmom

bought as a slave by the Vikings perhaps? Although that doesn’t explain how she maintained her Islamic “religion.”


8 posted on 02/05/2016 1:01:43 PM PST by txnativegop (Tired of liberals, even a few in my own family.)
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To: beaversmom

Hopefully her husband took it from a dead Muslim.


9 posted on 02/05/2016 1:02:06 PM PST by forgotten man
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To: lee martell

likely picked up during a viking raid and the guy didn’t know what it said except that it was silver and that’s what his wife wanted.


10 posted on 02/05/2016 1:02:20 PM PST by CJ Wolf ( !)
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To: txnativegop

sorry, my eyes were crossed, misread the article.

spoils of raiding, oh those pesky Vikings!


11 posted on 02/05/2016 1:03:04 PM PST by txnativegop (Tired of liberals, even a few in my own family.)
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To: beaversmom

Must be where the Vikings got their rape and pillage rep.


12 posted on 02/05/2016 1:03:54 PM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat Lead.)
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To: Idaho_Cowboy

“I do not ask for pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West.”


13 posted on 02/05/2016 1:05:33 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Resolute Conservative
Vikings kicked some Muslim butt and kept the spoils. They did not speak Arabic. Wife liked the ring so he gave it to her. They had no idea what it said.

That's what I think happened.

14 posted on 02/05/2016 1:06:02 PM PST by GreenHornet
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To: Idaho_Cowboy

Nine rings for mortal men doomed to die.


15 posted on 02/05/2016 1:06:38 PM PST by MUDDOG
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To: CJ Wolf

That’s an even better explanation. Many people have little War Tokens from far away lands that no one else knows about.
Silver is silver, wherever it’s found.


16 posted on 02/05/2016 1:07:45 PM PST by lee martell
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To: beaversmom

Vikings met up in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean after traveling their from both the Atlantic and the Volga River.

Where is the surprise that a Viking brought home a souvenier?


17 posted on 02/05/2016 1:09:38 PM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: beaversmom

Vikings made it all the way down to Islamic countries to plunder, that’s why.


18 posted on 02/05/2016 1:09:56 PM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
First thing I thought of as well.


19 posted on 02/05/2016 1:10:48 PM PST by Malone LaVeigh
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To: beaversmom

The Vikings were well known slave traders. Often taking Irish women to trade to the hsrems of Cordoba. The returns may well have included jewelry such as this.


20 posted on 02/05/2016 1:13:18 PM PST by xkaydet65
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