Gjermundbu helmet
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Gjermundbu helmet | |
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![]() Gjermundbu Helmet | |
Material | Iron |
Created | c. 900s |
Discovered | 1943 Ringerike, Norway |
Present location | University of Oslo |
Registration | C27317 k |

The Gjermundbu helmet is a Viking Age helmet.[1][2]

The helmet was discovered during field clearing in 1943 at the Gjermundbu farm near Haugsbygd in the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud, Norway. Officials at the University of Oslo were later notified. Conservator Sverre Marstrander and museum assistant Charlotte Blindheim led an investigation which confirmed the existence of a burial chamber of historic value dating from the Viking Age. The Gjermundbu finds included many artifacts, including articles of weaponry.
The helmet
[edit]
The Gjermundbu helmet was restored from nine excavated fragments. The helmet is made of iron and takes the shape of a peaked cap made from four plates. It is now on display at the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo.[3][4]
Together with the Tjele helmet fragment, the Yarm helmet, the Lokrume helmet fragment, and a fragment from Kyiv, it is one of only five known Viking helmets, and one of only two that could be reconstructed.[5]
Discovery
[edit]On March 29, 1943, Gunnar Gjermundbo, planning to build a home for his parents, discovered a rich burial site in Vesleenga.[6]
Gjermundbo already knew that the site contained a large tumulus (a round Iron Age burial mound), but he had no intention of touching it. Just to the west of this burial mound was an elongated rise that he would need to level to build a house and plant a new orchard. It was when he began to dig into this embankment that artifacts began to appear. The next day, the local historian Jon Guldal informed the Oldsaksamling University in Oslo about the find by telephone. The local newspaper Ringerikes Blad published the news about the find and an interview with Gjermundbo's father Lars on March 31.[6]
The university's Antiquities Collection was notified, and conservator Sverre Marstrander and museum assistant Charlotte Blindheim were sent to investigate the matter. They carried out a post-excavation analysis of the discovery site without any further artifacts coming to light. Marstrander was able to ascertain that it was an exceptionally rich human burial from the Viking Age, and took the artifacts back to Oslo.
In May 1943, Gjermundbo discovered another grave in the same mound. Marstrander was again sent out and was able to ascertain that this was a separate grave from the same period as the first. The two burial are designated Gjermundbu I and II.
Site description
[edit]The embankment was originally believed to be a single, approximately 25 metres (80 ft) long, 8 metres (26 ft) wide (at its widest) and up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) high, burial mound. It was later determined to be two different human graves (cremations) from the Viking Age. The dimensions given for the ship-shaped mound have since been adjusted to 29 metres (95 ft) long and up to 9 metres (30 ft) wide.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Frans-Arne Stylegar. "Gjermundbu-funnet". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Gjermundbu". nvg.org.au. September 22, 2005. Archived from the original on February 15, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Gjermbu. Norderhov herad. Buskerud". Matrikkelutkastet av 1950. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ Frans-Arne Stylegar. "Sverre Marstrander". Store norske leksikon. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ Ian Harvey (December 22, 2016). "The only surviving example of a complete Viking helmet in existence". thevintagenews.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ a b c Stylegar, Frans-Arne H.; Børsheim, Ragnar Løken (2021-12-13). "Gjermundbufunnet – en småkonges grav med østlig tilsnitt på Ringerike". Viking. 85 (1). doi:10.5617/viking.9089. ISSN 2535-2660. S2CID 245155476.
Bibliography
[edit]- Addyman, Peter V.; Pearson, Nicholas & Tweddle, Dominic (November 1982). "The Coppergate helmet". Antiquity. LVI (218): 189–194. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00054673. S2CID 54050677.
- Bruce-Mitford, Rupert (1978). The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, Volume 2: Arms, Armour and Regalia. London: British Museum Publications. ISBN 978-0-7141-1331-9.
- Grieg, Sigurd (1947). Gjermundbufunnet: En høvdingegrav fra 900-årene fra Ringerike. Norske Oldfunn (in Norwegian). Vol. VIII. Oslo: Bergen.
- Munksgaard, Elisabeth (1984). "A Viking Age Smith, his Tools and his Stock-in-trade". Offa. 41: 85–89. ISSN 0078-3714.
- "Museum - et program om norsk historie" [Museum - a program about Norwegian history]. NRK (in Norwegian). 1 March 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- Steuer, Heiko (1987). "Helm und Ringschwert: Prunkbewaffnung und Rangabzeichen germanischer Krieger" [Helmet and Ring-Sword: Ornamental Weapons and Insignia of Germanic Warriors]. In Häßler, Hans-Jürgen (ed.). Studien zur Sachsenforschung [Studies in Saxon Research] (in German). Vol. 6. Hildesheim: Lax. pp. 189–236. ISBN 3-7848-1617-7.
- Stylegar, Frans-Arne H. (9 December 2021). "Nytt lys på Gjermundbu-funnet: Var vikingen på Ringerike en ledende kriger i Kiev?". forskersonen (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- Stylegar, Frans-Arne H. & Børsheim, Ragnar Løken (November 1982). "Gjermundbufunnet – en småkonges grav med østlig tilsnitt på Ringerike" [The Gjermundbu find – a petty king’s grave in Ringerike showing influences from the East]. Viking (in Norwegian). LXXXV (1): 89–122. doi:10.5617/viking.9089. ISSN 0332-608X. S2CID 245155476.
- Tweddle, Dominic (1983). "The Coppergate Helmet" (PDF). Fornvännen. 78: 105–112. ISSN 0015-7813. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-12-17. Retrieved 2017-08-17.
- Tweddle, Dominic (1992). The Anglian Helmet from 16–22 Coppergate. The Archaeology of York. Vol. 17/8. London: Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 1-872414-19-2. Archived from the original on 21 March 2024.
- Vike, Vegard [@VegardVike] (15 January 2018). "Today I started #conservation work on the Gjermundbu helmet - sometimes referred to as the only #Viking Helmet. The process will entail disassembly, micro-sandblasting, detailed photos of all parts, X-ray, 3D-scan and a new mounting. Photo: Jessica Leigh McGraw @Kulturhistorisk" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via Twitter.
- Vike, Vegard (11 September 2020). "The Viking helmet from Yarm". Museum of Cultural History. University of Oslo. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- Vlasatý, Tomáš (2 October 2016). "The helmet from Gjermundbu". Project Forlǫg. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.