Spiral decorations in the hall!

During the excavations in the early 1990s were a couple of complete and fragmentary iron spirals and other decoration fragments found. They were made of flat, bended pieces and resembled in some degree for example the iron decorations found on medieval church doors. There was however some debate whether the pieces belonged to the magnificent building or if they were considerably later in date. During the spring work we washed of tens of kilos of bunt clay from the post holes of the previous excavations. A couple of small, flat iron fragments turned up among. Thus we strongly suspected that the house indeed was decorated with some very unusual metal ornaments.

On friday was the question finally answered. The major parts of a spiral was found in a wall trench, and shortly thereafter  a secondwas found. This hall has not only been very striking due to its size and position on a artificial plateau. It has also been decorated with some elaborate details in metal. We now ask us where these spirals have been placed. Have they been placed in the stern and aft as similar but considerably smaller spirals on the Valsgärde 7 and Ultuna boats, or is there some other explanations. We also have other iron decorations in the shape of a spear head and other forms. Those will be dealt with on another occasion as they were found in the 19th c. plough layer.

P.S. We have also found the first bead in the hall. It seems to be a 8th c. variant which fits rather nice with the dating of the house.

The spiral

/John