r/AncientGermanic

This is an ongoing attempt at mapping out all known instances of depictions of figures with what appear to be horned helmets with bird terminals from Anglo-Saxon England. This list is by no means complete and I will add more as time allows. You can help grow this list by contributing additional instances in the comments.

This motif seems to enter the record in the 500s and, like a lot of motifs and things like runes, seem to exclusively be associated with Germanic-speakers.

Exterior to Anglo-Saxon England, many examples are known from Scandinavia and among continental Germanic-speakers, which I will cover in future posts. In the meantime, for comparative purposes, here are a few notable examples from Sweden:

https://samlingar.shm.se/object/BFA9D7DE-2931-44E2-8CFC-C656C38D3D21

https://samlingar.shm.se/object/200B22FE-CCFE-4546-958F-539BDF89146C

https://samlingar.shm.se/object/60245538-9CAA-4B14-B6E3-1AE2FD963684

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Bronze-figurine-the-so-called-Odin-from-Uppakra-found-in-Viking-Age-cultural-layer_fig5_339352816

Note that there are quite a lot of these depictions known now and more seem to be found quite regularly. It seems that up until the Viking Age and from the late Migration Period these horn helmeted figures were just all over the place. Like many motifs, they disappear from the record with Christianization.

The bird-horn helmeted figure motif is connected to the wolf-head figure motif known from Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia, and Germanic-speaking Continental Europe, while the valknut symbol is currently only known from Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia.

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KNOWN EXAMPLES

BERK-DB4E15

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/888099

LEIC-40DB05

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/191137

YORYM-FAE4AF

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/778907

YORYM-024D31

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/230788

SF-F9D919