Staff

Iron staff with copper and bronze details. The Swedish History Museum collection contains handful of similar staffs. The onde from Klinta is the most elaborate of all. In the upper part of the staff four iron rods create a 'cage' around the main pole. The cage is held in place by eight small predators biting into the rods at the top and the bottom of the cage. Below the cage there is a polyhedral bronze knob. The top of the staff is crowned by a small house on a rectangular plate - one of few contemporary, three-dimensional depictions of a Viking Age house. Around the house were originally four other animals - today there is only one left - looking at the roof of the house. On the platform under the house are the remains of some fastenings. It is unclear whether something was hung from them or if it was a fragmented needle case, which would mean that the platform with the house was originally a brooch which was later attached to the top of the staff. In the state in which it was found the staff is 82 centimeters long. But the lower part is broken off. Originally it was longer. It has also been bent in a couple of places. This may have been done intentionally to take away the power from it before it was driven diagonally down into the grave. Grave find, Klinta, Köping Parish, Öland.

Image rights 1: Jens Mohr, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0)
Image rights 2—3: Ola Myrin, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0)

Object number: 107776_HST

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