This paper presents an interpretation of an archaeological problem where Viking age treasure hoards on Gotland are discussed in relation to the provision of the morning gift in the medieval Guta law. There are around 700 treasure hoards found on Gotland and many of them contains what can be interpreted as female coded jewelry. In this essay Gender theory and the theory of performativity is used as a method to analyze treasure hoards with female coded jewelry and its purpose is to investigate jewelry in relation to gender. This study will take a closer look on eleven treasure hoards which have been selected based on jewelry identified as typically female. This might indicate that women were the ones who deposited their jewelry in the ground. The Guta law narrates women's political and social situation in the medieval society and it is possible that it can tell us about some social practices in the Viking society. This law is a great source to recount women’s rights and obligations when it comes to marriage and heritage. The law contains a provision about hogsl oc iþ which is interpreted to be the morning gift. The morning gift intended that a husband was to give his new wife a gift in relation to their marriage. The law stated that a woman had the right to her morning gift which could suggest that women could control this property and have ownership over it. This study investigates what the mentioned medieval law dictated in regard to what a morning gift should constitute of and if this have any connection to what can be found in Viking age treasure hoards. This study is performed by analyzing treasure hoards with jewelry identified as typically female, as well as analyzing the Guta Law which allow one interpretation of why there are so many deposited treasures on Gotland. The interpretation which is presented in this study is that women had ownership of their morning gift and they could have deposited it in the ground to protect themselves and their property.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-415064 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Andersson, Isabelle |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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