Turtle brooches

We all know the image of the "pop culture" Vikings : dirty, barbaric, and dark. But this is not accurate at all when you look at how the Vikings actually looked. They were known for their cleanliness and well-groomed appearance. Additionally, they wore a lot of colour and jewelry.

Viking jewelry was of high quality and very detailed. One of the most well-known pieces of jewelry from the Viking Age is the turtle brooch, also known as the oval brooch. This type of brooch is rarely found outside the Viking areas and is considered a piece of jewelry unique to Viking culture.

If we were to briefly describe the turtle brooch: it is an oval-shaped brooch worn by Viking women in pairs to close their overdresses (hangerocs). But of course, there's more to it than that.

The turtle brooches were a new type of brooch that emerged just before the beginning of the Viking Age. These oval fibula's were worn in pairs on the upper chest.

As early as the Iron Age Fibula's were worn as a fixed feature by Germanic women. In graves from this period, two identical fibula's are usually found, one on each side of the collar. Such fibula's held together the tops of the 'peplos-like' dress. Sometimes an extra fibula was worn lower on the chest, probably for a separate garment. Under the 'peplos', women wore a long undertunic.

Fibula's from the Iron Age varied greatly in shape and style, and archaeologists have categorized them into different groups, including the 'bow fibula'. This had a curved shape and was designed to hold loose clothing in place. During the Migration Period, the bow fibula became less common and was replaced by the 'disc brooch'.

With the introduction of the turtle brooch in the Viking Age, the typical position of fibula's changed. Unlike the earlier Germanic fibula's, which were worn on the shoulders, the turtle brooches were worn on the upper chest. This indicates a different style of clothing, with long straps running over the shoulders and fastened at the back. Fragments of such straps are often found, still attached to the pins of the fibula's. This garment is known as the hangerok.

The new position of these fibula's resembles that of secondary fibula's in older graves, such as in Juellinge, Denmark. It is possible that the hangerok is a continuation of earlier clothing styles, which may not have differed much from Roman Chiton or Greek peplos.

There is still much uncertainty about the relationship between turtle brooches and social status, but there are various theories based on archaeological findings and their context. Turtle brooches have been found relatively often, especially in graves. By examining the other objects found in these graves, a connection with status may be established.

Due to the large number of turtle brooches found, it is likely that these pieces of jewelry do not indicate high status on their own. However, there are also graves of women where no turtle brooches were found. These graves contained few or no riches, suggesting they belonged to women of low status, such as slaves and people from the lowest classes of Viking society.

In a small portion of the graves, tortoise brooches were found along with a third brooch. These graves generally contained more wealth than medium that were given to the deceased. Therefore, it is suspected that women who wore both a pair of tortoise brooches and a single, separate brooch belonged to the higher strata of society.

In the majority of the graves, one or two tortoise brooches were found, but no third, single brooch. These graves could therefore belong to the middle class. Think of the average Viking housewife with legal personality, who kept the household running in her husband's absence.

It is likely that most Viking women wore tortoise brooches, and thus they were not necessarily a status symbol. The status was more likely embedded in the other jewelry the women wore, whether or not attached to or combined with the brooches. The quality and finish of the tortoise brooches also played a role in the social position of the wearer. We will elaborate on this later.

There is also a theory that tortoise brooches were worn by married women, but not by children or young, unmarried women. A connection has been noted between the length of the graves and the presence of tortoise brooches. They are usually not found in shorter graves, while they often appear in longer graves. Presumably, the length of the grave was adjusted to the length of the deceased. Shorter graves would therefore be intended for children and young women. The absence of tortoise brooches in these shorter graves suggests that these pieces of jewelry were not common for children and young, unmarried women.

You may have noticed that there are very few different designs of tortoise brooches available as reproductions on the market. This is because not much variation has been found in archaeological discoveries, even though approximately 3,500 examples of these brooches were already known by 1985.

The small number of different designs is related to the way they were manufactured: it was a form of mass production. Instead of forging and engraving each brooch by hand, they were cast in molds. A jeweler designed a limited number of models, made molds from them, and produced large quantities, which were then traded even outside his own region.

Most tortoise brooches were manufactured in major trading posts such as Birka, Ribe, and Hedeby. Remnants of forges have been found there, including the molds used. What is particularly striking about the discovery of these molds is that each smith or city had its own style and designs. It was therefore not common for a smith from Birka to adopt a design from a smith from Hedeby, even though it would have been quite simple to do so.

In theory, it was not difficult to make a mold from an existing brooch and reproduce it. Yet this did not happen in the largest production centers. The exception to this are the tortoise brooches of the Berdal type. These brooches are considered a transitional design between the Vendel period and the Viking Age. Because these are older, during that period the blacksmiths possibly placed less emphasis on the artistic value of the designs.

It is likely that outside the major trade posts, reproductions of tortoise brooches were indeed manufactured. Brooches have been found with the same design but of lower quality and with less sharp elaborate details. For women who did not live near a trade post, this was a simpler and cheaper way to still acquire their tortoise brooches. These simpler variants have therefore not been found in wealthier graves.

Brooches of lower quality probably belonged to women from the lower social classes. Additionally, these specimens more frequently show signs of wear and repairs. It was indeed more economical to have them repaired and passed down from mother to daughter than to constantly purchase new brooches.

Although not many different designs were manufactured simultaneously, archaeological findings do show that changes occurred in the style of the designs in different periods and regionss. Fashion in the Viking Age did not change as often as in our modern times, but innovations certainly took place from time to time.

To get a good understanding of the changes in tortoise brooches, they are divided into different types. The most well-known classification system for this is Petersen's from 1928. Some types occur more frequently than others, allowing us to have more context about those variants. The two most commonly found types are the P37, with the so-called “Gripping Beast” motif, and the P51, also known as the late Oseberg style.

In Birka, most of the brooches found are of the P37 type. In Norway, three out of five finds are in this style, and in the eastern Viking areas about half. This type dates from the 9th century.

Although in Birka the majority of finds are P37 brooches, and many molds of this type have been found, there is another type whose molds have also primarily been found in Birka: the P27A type, also known as the “Lattice type.” This type is considered the precursor to P37 and is regarded by some archaeologists, like the Berdal type, as a transitional design.

The P51 type is the most found type tortoise brooch. The finds of this type date from the 10th century. These two popular types, P37 and P51, thus come from different periods of the Viking Age.

The previously mentioned Berdal type, which marks the transition from the Vendel period to the Viking Age, is mainly associated with Ribe. There, the largest number of molds of this type have been found, so much so that archaeologists have been able to establish a chronological progression of the designs. Outside of Ribe, molds of this type have also been found in Hedeby and Kaupang.

An interesting fact is that there is one region in the Viking areas where the oval tortoise brooches faced serious competition: Gotland.

In Gotland, a type of brooch has been found that occurs exclusively there. These brooches, like the tortoise brooches, were often worn in pairs and pinned in the same place on the body. It is therefore likely that they served the same function as the tortoise brooches. These brooches are called "Animal Head" brooches. Due to their triangular shape, they resemble a stylized animal head.

In some graves, these Animal Head brooches have been found not in pairs but in sets of three, suggesting that one was also worn on the neck of the underdress. Additionally, Gotland has another type of brooch that occurs only there: the so-called box brooch. This box brooch was presumably worn on the neck of the underdress as an alternative to a third Animal Head-brooch.

The tortoise brooch essentially served to close the overdress but was also used to hang other jewelry and important everyday items. Between the two brooches, metal chains or strings with beads were often worn.

Moreover, items such as nail and ear cleaners, combs, sewing equipment, and even a small knife were attached to the tortoise brooches with a chain. This way, Viking women always had these items at hand.

There is little concrete information about the relationship between these accessories and social status, but it seems likely that there is a connection. The quantity and materials of the chains and other accessories probably depended on the wearer's status. The more chains and the more luxurious the materials, the higher her status would have been. We see this pattern reflected in the quantity and quality of jewelry a woman wore, so it stands to reason that this also applied to the items attached to the tortoise brooches.

Viking women valued decorated ear spoons and nail cleaning sets, while men took pride in their ornate combs. Christian sources spoke with amazement about the hygiene of Vikings, who washed and kept themselves clean regularly. This had a religious basic: in paganism, unlike Christianity, one is not pursued by God. People turned to the gods at conscious moments. For ritual communication with the gods, cleansing and beauty were required, including a well-groomed appearance. In religion, beauty symbolized cosmic order, while dirt represented chaos. This contrast was also reflected in the myth of Ragnarök, the total chaos. During Ragnarök, the ship Naglfar arrives, made from the nails of the deceased. Long, dirty nails were seen as contributing to this impending chaos. In Iceland, it was even forbidden to look at a shrine before you had ritually washed yourself. 

https://www.celticwebmerchant.com/nl/vendel-fibula.html