Dazzle, Dangle, and Jangle: Sensory Effects of Scandinavian Gold Bracteates
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Nancy L. Wicker
Abstract
Small pendant discs known as Scandinavian gold bracteates are visually impressive indicators of status and identity during the early medieval Migration Period (c. 450–550 CE). Much of the emphasis in bracteate studies has been on typological classification and iconographic interpretation of the pictures, along with decipherment of the inscriptions, yet the sensory impression made by bracteates has been neglected. For decades, archaeologists considered it futile to speculate on the experiential; however, recent research has begun to contend with the materiality of senses and emotions in the past. In this paper, I focus on the both sensory effect of experiencing the pendants and the emotional impact of the objects on those who wore and handled them. Since bracteates are often discovered in women’s graves and show evidence of wear on their suspension loops, it is assumed that these objects were actually used in life. A spotlight on agency turns the study of bracteates from an emphasis on typology, iconography, and runology to trace instead the agency and multisensory effects of these objects on people and the effects of people’s actions on these items. This allows an examination of how bracteates were entangled with the senses and emotions of those who made, wore, and gazed upon these small but important objects. I consider what it may have felt like to make, receive, wear, lose, or bequeath a bracteate – or to deposit it into a bog or a grave.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Getting the Sense(s) of Small Things/Sinn und Sinnlichkeit kleiner Dinge
- Vorwort der Herausgeberin der Zeitschrift
- Multisensorial Musings on Miniature Matters
- Mobil, taktil und nah am Körper – Über den Gebrauch von Beuteln
- Transzendenz berühren. Die (halbe) Kerze als Schnittstelle zwischen Transzendenz und Immanenz im Marienmirakel ‚Erscheinung am Lichtmesstage‘ des ‚Passionals‘
- Domesticating the Body of the Exotic Other: The Multisensory Use of a Sixteenth-century Brass Candlestick
- The Word of God in One’s Hand: Touching and Holding Pendant Koran Manuscripts
- Dazzle, Dangle, and Jangle: Sensory Effects of Scandinavian Gold Bracteates
- Leidendes Leder und klagende Münze: Die Sinne der kleinen Dinge in Hans Sachs’ ‚Die ellend klagent roßhaut‘ (1557) und ‚Von dem verlornen redenten gülden‘ (1553)
- Small Pipe-Clay Devotional Figures: Touch, Play and Animation
- Rezensionen
- Rezensionen
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Getting the Sense(s) of Small Things/Sinn und Sinnlichkeit kleiner Dinge
- Vorwort der Herausgeberin der Zeitschrift
- Multisensorial Musings on Miniature Matters
- Mobil, taktil und nah am Körper – Über den Gebrauch von Beuteln
- Transzendenz berühren. Die (halbe) Kerze als Schnittstelle zwischen Transzendenz und Immanenz im Marienmirakel ‚Erscheinung am Lichtmesstage‘ des ‚Passionals‘
- Domesticating the Body of the Exotic Other: The Multisensory Use of a Sixteenth-century Brass Candlestick
- The Word of God in One’s Hand: Touching and Holding Pendant Koran Manuscripts
- Dazzle, Dangle, and Jangle: Sensory Effects of Scandinavian Gold Bracteates
- Leidendes Leder und klagende Münze: Die Sinne der kleinen Dinge in Hans Sachs’ ‚Die ellend klagent roßhaut‘ (1557) und ‚Von dem verlornen redenten gülden‘ (1553)
- Small Pipe-Clay Devotional Figures: Touch, Play and Animation
- Rezensionen
- Rezensionen
