Kalmring Hedebys Eastern Connection

In late summer of the year 1949 the Schleswiglawyer and enthusiast Otto vonWahl (191484)was surveying along the waterfront of Hedeby(von Wahl 1950). In 1933 Herbert Jankuhn haddirected a first survey of the harbour parallel tohis ongoing settlement excavations. A professio-nal diver fromKiel detected several pile remainsnear the shore, indicating a harbour. At the timehowever Jankuhn concluded that the harbourbasin would be too deeply silted-up to permit anyappropriate underwater investigations (cf. Kalm-ring 2010, p. 63). Sixteen years later and withbare hands, the Schleswig lawyer dug two trialpits among the trampled-down reeds along theshallow underwater terrace right in the centralharbour area (ibid. p. 61, fig. 31).

The pits on the terrace were situated approxi-mately 30meters apart. In a short announcementpublished the following year, vonWahl mentionsnot only antler and bone finds as well as pile re-mains (1950, p. 87). He adds a fairly detailed re-

port alluding to jaws and teeth of pigs, horses,cattle, goats, game and carnivore as well as otherleftovers such as hazelnut shells, wild cherrystones, fish bones, bird bones and a tortoise shell.He lists stone objects including a steatite bowl,schistwhetstones,basaltmillstone fragments,micaschist, flint and echinites besides numerous glassand metal slags in addition to comb parts, antlerpins, an antler wedge and raw deer antler pieces.Among his finds are pale green, blue and darkgreen/blackish glass fragments and beads includ-ing one of a rock crystal and one of amber. Hefoundroughandfinepotsherds includingSlavonicpots, Badorf and Pingsdorf ware plus a green-glazed sherd, metal artefacts including an arrow-head, boat rivets, a lead spindle whorl, a bronzebrooch pin and a worked swan bone the latterinterpretedasatool fordoublingthreads(vonWahl1950, p. 88 f).

Highlighted by a photograph are a penannu-lar bronze brooch, a necklace of c. 120 black beads

Fornvnnen 109 (2014)

A conical bronze boss and HedebysEastern connectionBy SvenKalmring

Kalmring, S., 2014. A conical bronze boss andHedebys Eastern connection. Forn-vnnen 109. Stockholm.

In 1950 a collection of finds from Hedeby harbour were published by an amateurin a regional periodical. Theyhavenot receivedmuch scholarly attention since.Outof the assemblage, only a penannular brooch came as a loan into the collections ofthe museum at Schloss Gottorf and entered the scientific debate.

One of the finds illustrated in the 1950 article is a small conical bronze bosswith an hexagonal basis. The search for comparisons leads into the Rus and toGnzdovo on the Upper Dnepr. The artefact is part of a small but distinct Easternand Oriental find horizon in Hedeby that survived in its HighMedieval successor,the town of Schleswig.

Sven Kalmring, Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), StiftungSchleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schlossinsel, DE24837 Schleswig,[email protected]

Art. Kalmring 1-11:Layout 1 14-02-12 13.26 Sida 1

(made from jet?) and a small pyramidal bronzeobject(cf.Kalmring2010,p.64, fig.33).Thebrooch(Capelle 1968, p. 106 [no. 87], pl. 26:2) has anogival cross-section that identifies it as derivingfrom south-western Finland or the land islands(Mller-Wille 1988, p. 759, fig 4:2). But apartfrom the brooch the objects stayed with theirproud finder and remain in the possession of thefamily vonWahl.

OttovonWahl(1950,p.89)describesthepyram-idal object as a 2.5 cm high hexagonal bronzecone, at its vertex six small feet, inside hollow(compare figure, butnowcleaned), useunknown.It can be added that the bronze cone in its unre-stored condition does not reveal any remains ofdecoration on its six sides. Yet towards the basisof the triangular frames there may be traces of aworn framing line. The tip of the cone seems toonce have ended in a terminal, but now onlyshows a weathered-down fracture (fig. 1).

ParallelsA similar cone measuring 2.2 cm has been foundin the hall building of Birkas Garrison (cf. Holm-quist Olausson & Kitzler hfeldt 2002). Duringmetal detecting at the royal manor site of Tisson Zealand (cf. Jrgensen 2003) two similar butas yet unpublished cones have been found. The

Birka piece is a cast cylindrical cone with a circu-lar base of two centimeters, a flat top with threeornamental rims and a beadlet-like terminal ontop (fig. 2:1). At right angles at its base are threesemicircular pierced plates, ofwhich two still con-tained fragments of iron rivets when it was found(Holmquist Olausson & Petrovski 2007, p. 233).The hall was built some time in the period AD950 1000, and the finds have a distinct martialcharacter (Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006). The sameappears to be true also for the Birka cone. Thatcone, and two gilded archedmounts with Byzan-tine and Byzantine-inspired ornamentation aparadiase motif seem to belong to one or moreconical helmets of theKievanRus or low-domedByzantine helmets (Holmquist Olausson & Pet-rovski 2007).

A representation of Jaroslav theWise (c. 9781054) on a lead seal found atNovgorod shows theGrand Prince of Kiev with a conical helmet andknobbed top (Janin & Gajdukov 1998, p. 259 pl.1:2a). Such pointed tips on helmets are typical ofthe so-called spheroconical helmets of Kirpich-nikovs type II. Their definition is riveted 4-partdome, no nasal, spike on the top usually hollowto attach the plume [or Sultan] as well as bronzeor copper sheathing on the surface, as well as dis-tinctive embellishments (Kirpichnikov 1971).

2 SvenKalmring


Fig. 1. Hedeby harbour. Hollow bronze boss withhexagonal base and six short feet. A terminal at thetip of the cone has been broken off. Photo: Otto vonWahl Jr.


Fine examples of this type are the 10th centu-ry Gulbishe and ernaya Mogila helmets (fig.2:2), named for twobarrows aternigov innorth-ern Ukraine. The pointed Gnzdovo-2 helmetbelongs to the subgroup IIa and differs some-what in details such as an openwork gildedmetalband and a nasal. It was found in a 10th centurybarrow, burial no. 41 at Gnzdovo on the UpperDnepr near Smolensk.

Byzantine helmets of this era, on the otherhand, are believed to hark back to Romano-Sas-sanid origins, but also show influences from theSteppe and Sarmatian culture (Stephenson 2011,p. 13). According to written sources, the Byzan-tine army used two types of helmet: one hemi-spherical in the Roman tradition and one point-ed and conical (Kolias 1988, p. 76). Helmets ofthe pointed conical type are depicted in the rich-ly illustrated Madrid Skylitzes, a 12th centurycopy of the Synopsis historiarum (vo ),written in the 1070s by the historian IoannesSkylitzes (Berger 2001).One good example is thedepiction of the Varangian guard (fol. 26va) dur-ing the laying-out of Emperor Leo V the Arme-

nian (775820) in the hippodrome of Constan-tinople after his assassination (fig. 2:3). Notethough that the Bulgars (fol. 82ra) and theMula-di Muslims (fol. 38v) are depicted with similarhelmets.

Both the cones from Hedeby and Birka maybelong to helmets. But there are differences be-tween them. The bases have different shapes, themain difference is how they were mounted. TheBirka piece was riveted onto an object. The He-deby piece is designed to be inserted into a basewith its little feet.

A somewhat closer parallel to theHedebypieceis a similarly sizeddecorativeboss fromGnzdovo,recently imaged in the catalogue of a Viking exhi-bition in Leoben, Austria. There it is erroneouslydescribed as a pyramidal belt fitting (Minasian2008, p. 113). It was found in the major barrowno. 24 of the Olanskaja mound group at Gnz-dovo, excavated by I.S. Abramov in 1905 (Spicyn1906, 191f., fig. 17; cf. Bulkin 1975, fig. p. 141).This mound group was related to a settlementcomplex consisting of the Olanskoe gorodieand the adjacent Ola settlement, located two

3A conical bronze boss andHedebys Eastern connection


Fig. 2. Pointed helmets with top cones. 1) Birkas Garrison. Cylindrical bronze cone, height 2.2 cm. HolmquistOlausson & Petrovski 2007, fig. 3c. 2) ernigov. Spheroconical helmet from theernayaMogila barrow.Williams 2013, fig. 44. 3) TheMadrid Skylitzes. Varangian guard with pointed helmets. Detail fol. 26va.


kilometres downstream from the core settlementof Centralnoe gorodie at present-day Gnzdo-vo (cf. Duczko 2004, p. 155 ff; Pushkina et al.2012). Barrow no. 24 measured c. 35.5 meters indiameter and 6.5 meters in height and containedan extensive cremation layer. In it was found abronze cauldron and three pots holding burntbones. Additional unburnt animal bones pointto a funeral feast subsequent to the cremation.No less than1070 iron rivets and50 ironnails fromthe cremation layer reveals the burial as a boatgrave (Stalsberg 2001). Among the grave goodswere a horse harness, a chain mail hauberk, re-mains of gold-thread decorated textiles, a penan-nular brooch, a ring pendant plus carnelian andglass beads. Furthermore there were gaming pie-ces, a comb, a key, a whetstone, a knife and thedecorative boss itself, described as a solid spheri-cal bronzebuttonwithScandinavianpattern (Shi-rinskii 1999, p. 123f.; Duczko 2004, p. 170).

The solid bronze boss from barrow no. 24

(fig. 3:1) is 2.8 cmhigh and has a square basewithfour bent mandrels of which one today is brokenapart. The four-sided cone narrows pyramidallytowards the top and is terminated by a trapezoidknob crowned by a small disk. The decorativepanels show a poorly understood bird-of-preymotif (Spicyn 1906, fig. 17) with striking paral-lels in the decoration of a couple of bronzed keysfrom Birkas Garrison which depict superimpos-ed falcons (fig. 3:2; Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006,p. 12 ff). The schematic falcon motif also oftenoccuring in altered variants on Scandinavian-Varangian sword chapes (Mller-Wille & Klein-grtner 2011, fig. 8) has been termed the Birkafalcon, apparently representing a leading familyor Birkas entire warrior elite. Such stylised fal-cons also can be linked to the Rurikid falcon, theheraldic symbol of the princes of the Rus occur-ring on early Russian coinage (Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006; Ambrosiani 2001; Lindeberger2001).

4 SvenKalmring


Fig. 3. Decorative central bosses from baroque brooches. 1) Gnzdovo. Solid bronze boss from barrow no. 24,height 2.8 cm. Spicyn 1906, fig. 17. 2) Birkas Garrison. Key with stylised falcons superimposed on handle.Hedenstierna-Jonsson 2006, fig. 8. 3a) Gnzdovo. Baroque silver brooch 994/93 of the 1868 hoard. Guin1936, pl. II:12. 3b) Gnzdovo. Central boss of baroque brooch 994/93. Drawing by Ingmar Jansson.


Bird-of-prey ornaments are not entirely aliento Hedeby and its hinterland either. One birdchape with interlace decoration (Jankuhn 1934,p. 114, pl. 45:4; Paulsen 1953, 17 f [no. 12], fig. 7)belongs to the Scandinavian type or rather fol-lowing Mrta Strmberg (1951, p. 99) theValleberga type of Peter Paulsens Germanic birdmotif group.There are also twopoorly preservedfalcon chapes of the Scandinavian-Varangian type(Paulsen 1953, 28 ff [nos 2728]). Only one ofthem (no. 28) has been discussed in any detail(fig. 4:1): Jankuhn describes it as a heavily dam-agedbronze chapeof 5.4 cmremainingheight thatis too poorly preserved to allow typological clas-sification (1943, p. 122, pl. 2:g). Strmberg (1951,p. 237, fig. 6) however points to its resemblanceto a mould from Birka (Srlings catalogue, SHM5208:2497).

At the cemetery of Thumby-Bienebek on thesouthern shore of theMiddle Schlei fjord famousfor its richly equipped chamber graves with wag-onbodies a drinkinghornwas found among thegrave gifts of chamber grave 7. Its rim is decorat-ed with sheet silver with an openwork step pat-tern and two falcon fittings mounted below (fig.4:2a-b;Mller-Wille 1976, p. 41 f, pl. 30:8e, 8i, pl.32:5, pl. 33:1). In 1976 Michael Mller-Wille(ibid. p. 42) related the falcons on this drinkinghorn to the bird depictions on openwork 10thcentury sword chapesmainly distributed in East-ern Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile,two types of bird-shaped pendant in the famousHedeby die set seem to represent an eagle as anheraldic symbol of power that also has religiousconnotations to resurrection and ascension, beingpart of the Christian so-calledHiddensee art (Klein-grtner 2007, p. 87 f, p. 164 ff, pl. 28:1ab).

Baroque broochesThe aformentioned decorative boss from barrowno. 24 in Gnzdovos Olanskaja mound groupis not from a helmet. It is from a circular broochwith sculptural elements one of the so-calledbaroque brooches as seen in the famous Gnz-dovo hoard from 9501000. It was found in 1867at Centralnoe gorodie (fig. 3:3a). According tothe first report on the hoard by D.I. Prozorovskii(1869), it contained 106 silver andbronze objectsand about twelve coins, most of them converted

into pendants, of which the latest was struck in953/954 (Pushkina 1998; 2004; Eniosova 2012,tab. 1). The hoard is an assortment of Scandina-vian, Slavonic andOriental artefacts (Guin 1936,p. 53 ff, fig. 1115, pl. IIV; Davidan & Jansson1992; Duczko 2004, p. 180 ff).

Thehoards twobaroquebroocheshaverecent-ly been studied byMichaelNei (Nei et al. 2013,p. 5 ff). Nei demonstrates that the brooches con-sist of separate pieces: a circular brooch as baseplate, a medial boss and four or six surroundingproximal bosses in the form of quadruped ani-mals.Thesepieces are of different age,where somehave beenused and reworkeduntil theywere final-ly merged into this characteristic kind of patch-work jewellery. There are also abundant traces ofrepairs. While both the circular base brooch andthe quadruped animals can be regarded as spoils,themedial bosses seem tohave beenmadepartic-ularly for application onto baroque brooches.Nei concludes that in the Scandinavian diaspo-ra, these pieces of jewellery constituted valuableheirlooms andwere important symbols of a Scan-dinavian identity in an otherwise alien environ-ment.

As to the central bosses of the two brooches,they are quite different (Duczko 2004, p. 184 f).The boss of brooch 994/92 is a cylindrical open-work structure decorated with four snake-likecreatures and a round knob terminal. The bossfrom brooch 994/93 is more similar to the bossfrom barrow no. 24, and thus also to the piecefrom Hedeby under discussion here (fig. 3:3b).The central boss of brooch 994/93 is 2.5 cm highand has a round base. The cone is divided intofour fields by framed, niello-filled ribbons withdotted dcor. The fields each show a triquetramotif of which the arms pointing upwards havebeen elongated in order to reach up to the sculpt-ed top of the boss. The top itself terminates in aconvex central knob decorated with a circle filledwith a cross and dots. According to observationsby Ingmar Jansson at the Eremitage in St. Peters-burg, the boss is fastened to the centre of the cir-cular brooch by four attached rivets: a larger riv-et at the centre and three at the edges. One of thelatter has broken off and the remaining hole hasclearly been sealed with filler metal in moderntimes.




6 SvenKalmring



Eastern connectionsIt is currently not possible to determine if theHedeby boss is from a helmet or a brooch. Eitherway, it indicates a connection with Eastern Eu-rope.

Hedebys Eastern connections are in no waycomparable in their extent to those of Birka afterits distinct Eastward re-alignment about 850(Ambrosiani 2002, p. 342). But the boss discussedhere joins a small but distinct find horizon of arte-facts from Rus and of Oriental proven-ance (fig.4; Jansson 1988;Mller-Wille 1988, p. 774 ff).

Oriental textiles and garments include silk,tablet woven bands and passementerie (Hgg1991). InNjls saga (chapter 31) KingHarald Blue-tooth gives a gerzkan hattr a hat fromGararkior a Russian hat to Gunnar of Hlarendiwhen the latter leavesHedeby (Falk 1919, p. 92f.;Toplak 2011, p. 66). Such hats are known fromgrave Bj. 581 and Bj. 644 at Birka (Arbman 1940,pl. 94; 1943, p. 188 ff, 221 ff; Geijer 1938, p. 146 f,fig. 42) and from Shestovytsya in Chernihivskaoblast, Ukraine (Androshchuk&Zotsenko 2012p. 335 fig. 18). From Hedebys harbour comecrpes-like fabrics that once belonged to bico-loured baggy breeches or harem pants which ifnot Arabic may have a Varangian south-eastEuropean background (Hgg 1984, p. 34 ff, fig.1721, p. 164 ff, note 48). (A derivation for thesebreeches fromCeltic bracae via Scythian trousers

or Parthian riding-breeches used in the Romanarmymay also be conceivable; Hgg 1984, p. 166ff.).

TheOriental textiles and garments are accom-panied by three buttons belonging to caftans orpendant belt pouches (Jansson 1988, p. 606; Ans-pach 2010, p. 58 ff), a belt pouch fitting (Anspach2010, p. 61) and a fewOriental belt fittings (Jans-son1986,p. 83; 1988,p. 612;Maixner2010,p. 148,fig. 170). Hedeby has also yielded a Kievan resur-rection pottery egg (Mller-Wille 1988, fig. 6:3)and anOldBulgarian orKhazar runic inscriptiononan Irish triangular bronzebowl (Harmatt 1984;Laur 1993). Four spindle whorls made of redOvru pyrophyllite schist point to the area north-west of Kiev (Gabriel 1988, p. 199 ff, note 363;Maixner 2010, fig. 162),while a red-orange sherdwith engraved horizontal lines comes from aByzantine amphora (Kelm 1997, fig. 1). A Byzan-tine lead seal of the patrikios Theodosius, head ofthe imperial vestiarion the public wardrobe attests to diplomatic contacts with Byzantium,while a donative dirham of Caliph al-Mutamidreveals official contacts with Abbasid Baghdad(Hilberg 2009, p. 92). If nothing else the carne-lian beads may also point to the eastern parts oftheCaliphate in theCaucasus orGujarat inWest-ern India (Hepp 2007) whereas both mercuryand two thick-walled mercury flask fragmentspoint to Central Asia (Janssen 1987, pl. 28:67;Schietzel 2002; Steuer et al. 2002, p. 159 ff). Addi-



Fig. 4. Assortment of Eastern artefacts fromHedeby and its hinterland.1) Hedeby. Scandinavian-Varangian falcon sword chape, bronze. Hb 1938; S=65.8; E=186.7; depth 1.2.

Jankuhn 1943, pl. 2:g.2a-b) Thumby-Bienebek. Chamber grave 7. Drinking-horn fittings with decorative falcons, silver. KS D

630.B8i (left) and 630.B8e (right). Mller-Wille 1976, pl. 30:8e; 30:8i.3a) Hedeby. Oriental strap end, bronze. Hb 1913; KS 13710. Capelle 1968, pl. 24:1.3b) Hedeby. Oriental belt fitting, silver. Collection U. Malenke. Maixner 2010, fig. 170.3c) Hedeby. Oriental belt pouch fitting, lead. Hb 1937; KS D 602.062. Anspach 2010, pl. 9:70.4a) Hedeby. Button, bronze. River bed II, layer 6. Jankuhn 1943, fig. 44.4b) Hedeby. Button, lead. Hb 1980; KS D 602.063. Anspach 2010, pl. 9:72.4c) Hedeby. Button, lead. KS D 602.065. Anspach 2010, pl. 9:72.5a) Hedeby. Byzantine lead seal of Theodosius. Hb 1966; KS D 602.130. Laurent 1978, fig. 1.5b) Hedeby. Donative dirham of Caliph al-Mutamid. Detector find 2003/4191. Hilberg 2009, fig. 9.6a) Hedeby Sdgrberfeld, chamber grave 1. Triangular bronze bowl with triquetra and runic inscription. Hb

1963-65; KS D 610.003. Arents & Eisenschmidt 2010, pl. 107:3.6b) Hedeby Sdgrberfeld, chamber grave 1. Old Bulgarian/Khazar inscription on triangular bronze bowl.

Steuer 1972, pl. 2.


tional relevant but as yet unpublished finds havebeen made during comprehensive metal detect-ing surveys from 2003 onwards (von Carnap-Bornheim&Hilberg 2007, p. 210 ff).

Finally aKG4Hedeby coin (c. 825) is an aliencomponent in the otherwise pure dirham hoardfromKislaiawest ofGnzdovo. It illustrates a veryearly connection from the Eastern viewpoint(Suchodolski 1989, p. 425ff.). Based on the Bava-rian Geographers table of nations, H.-W. Haus-sig (1987, p. 530 f) assumes an almost equally oldtrade route leading from Hedeby to Kiev. Withthe land of the Danes as a point of departure, themid-9th century document Descriptio civitatum etregionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii liststribes and strongholds east of the Frankish Realm(cf. Lbke 2004, p. 22). Following the southernand eastern coast of the Baltic Sea towards theVolga it traces a course down to the Caspian Seaand the foothills of the Caucasus, including theSteppe north of the Black Sea and on to theDanubes delta. Thence the compilation followsthe eastern border of the Frankish Realm alongRiversSaaleandElbeandbackto itspointofdepar-ture (ibid. p. 24; cf. Herrmann 1986, fig. 1). Haus-sig suggests a trade route from Hedeby and theWest Slavonic tribes of theObotrites andVeleti toBohemia and Moravia and via the Dukla pass tothe tribes of the Khazar-controlled Polanes, Rad-michiansandViatychians (Haussig1987,note16).

ContinuedHighMedieval contactsHedeby's Eastern connections survived themoveof the town from theHaddebyerNoor toMedie-val Schleswig at the northern shore of the Schleifjord(Hilbergetal2012).FromSchleswig therearefor instance shoes embroidered with silver thread(Schnack 1992, p. 77), a miniature axe amulet, awooden saddle frame, another Kievan resurrec-tion egg and spindle whorls of Ovru schist, allpointing towards the Rus (Vogel 2002, p. 369 ff).A pagan anthropomorphic household god fromthe latest excavation at Schleswig-Hafenstrasse11 has close parallels from Medieval Novgorod(Radtke 2010). And again, amphora sherds testi-fy to prevailing contacts with Byzantium (Vogel2002, p. 373), as do fragments from luxury vesselsof blue glass with golden dcor (Steppuhn 2002,p. 27 ff, fig. 9:46, colour pl. 1:13).

Written sources seem to confirm this connec-tion, in particular with the town of Novgorod.Adam of Bremen, in his Gesta HammaburgensisEcclesiae Pontificumwritten around the year 1076,describes a sea route leading from Sliaswig [Schles-wig]orelseAldinburg[Oldenburg]viaJumne[Wolin]toOstrogardRuzzie [theRus]with its capitalChive[Kiev] (Adam II:22). In his description of theNordic islands Adam informs us that from theharbour of Sliaswig which is also calledHeidiba[Hedeby] ships are being sent to Sclavania [theSlavonic coast], Suedia [Sweden], Semlant [theSambian peninsula] andGraecia [Russia] (AdamIV:1). These Ostrogard journeys, probably start-ing out from Schleswig, took about one monthgiven fortunate winds (Adam IV:11).

The importanceofSchleswigs economic inter-ests in the Novgorod area during the 11th and12th centuries are clearly illustrated by the doublewedding around 1120 of theDanish princeCanuteLavard, Duke of Schleswig, and his half-brotherEric II the Memorable, later a Danish king, withIngeborg and Malmfrid, daughters of the Nov-gorod Duke Mstislav I Vladimirovich the Great(Radtke 2002, p. 395).

AcknowledgementsFor their interest and kind support with both informa-tion and photographs I would like to thank the broth-ers Otto von Wahl Jr. of Lausnitz and Henning vonWahl of Neubrandenburg. Thanks also to Ingmar Jans-son of Uppsala for valuable advice, kindly given.

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A conical bronze boss andHedebys Eastern connection

Summary

In 1949 the Schleswig lawyer Otto vonWahl dugsome trial pits along the shoreline ofHedebyhar-bour, finding not only pile remains but also quitea substantial assemblage of artefacts. In an articlepublished the following year he reports on theoutcomeof hisworkquite thoroughly.Whilemostof the findswere only described, three exception-al ones were pictured, too. The figure shows apenannular bronze brooch, a bead necklace and asmall conical bronze boss. Only the brooch cameinto the collections of a museum and entered thescientific debate. The bronze boss has not previ-ously been discussed.

A somewhat smaller bronze cone has beenfound at Birkas Garrison and convincingly inter-preted as the top spike of a conical helmet. Point-ed tips on helmets are a characteristic feature ofthe so-called spheroconical helmets asknownfromernigov andGnzdovo, but are also depicted inByzantine contexts. However, there are also dif-ferences between theHedeby and theBirka cones,not least concerning how they were attached.

The Hedeby piece has another parallel in adecorative bronze boss fromGnzdovo, found inthe large barrow no. 24 of the Olanskaja moundgroup excavated in 1905. On its sides the Gnz-dovo boss is decorated with stylised falcons. Asthe Birka falcon this motif is well known and hasbeen connected to leading family or warrior eliteof Birka. But it can also be linked to the Rurikid

dynasty of the Rus. On a sword chape of theScandinavian-Varangian type and drinking-hornfittings, this Eastern falcon iconography occursat Hedeby and its hinterland.

Bothbronzebossesbelongtobaroquebroochessimilar to two specimens from the famousGnz-dovo hoard of the period 9501000. These roundbrooches with sculptural elements in shape ofquadruped animals surrounding a medial bossare patchwork-like jewellery that merges parts ofdifferent age and origin.While the boss of brooch994/92 is of a different type, the one on brooch994/93 shows closer similarities to the bronzeobjects from barrow no. 24 and Hedeby. The sil-ver cone has a round base that is divided into fourfields with a triquetra motif.

Though Hedebys Eastern connections arenot comparable in extent to those of Birka, theconical bronze boss from the harbour seems tobelong to a small but distinct find horizon ofEastern artefacts. The finds from the Rus and ofOriental provenance presented and a mid-9thcentury trading route from Hedeby to Kiev dis-cussed. The trade connections survived themoveto High Medieval Schleswig, where apart fromEastern artefacts found there political mar-riages with the Rurikid dynasty also clearly illus-trate the importance of the Novgorod area forSchleswig during the 11th and 12th centuries.


Documents

Kalmring Hedebys Eastern Connection