Sense and Sensibility : Masking Practices in Late Iron Age Boat-Graves.

• Swedish boat-graves, especially those from Valsgärde and Vendel, have been the subject of many investigations and extensive research since their discoveries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (e.g. Stolpe & Arne 1912; Arwidsson 1942, 1954, 1977; Lindqvist 1950; Herschend 1997, 2003; Seiler 2001, Schönbäck 2002; Norr (ed.) 2008). The helmets retrieved from these burials are the focus of this paper, and these have been analysed with particular consideration for their role in sensory engagement – both for the person wearing the helmet and for those experiencing it from the outside. The paper starts off with a short presentation of the boat-graves and the helmets therein, after which follows an equally short introduction of masking practices and the significance of masking practices during the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia. A more detailed discussion of the helmets of the boat-graves and their connection with sensual activities, the main theme of the paper, follows. Finally, a broader interpretation of the boat-graves themselves is offered and, lastly, conclusions are presented.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

senses

boat grave

iron age

masks

scandinavia

Archaeology, North European

Arkeologi, nordeuropeisk

arkeologi

Archaeology

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