The enigma of the necklaces. : A study of women and religion in the Viking age city Birka.

This study concerns three necklaces, found in three women’s graves in the Viking age city Birka, placed on the island Björkö in the lake Mälaren. The necklaces are well ornate with pearls of carnelian, rock crystal, glass and amber, as well as silver pendants in the shape of for example animals, chairs and crosses. The aim is to examine what purpose the necklaces and their pendants had in its contemporary time, as well as to examine the purpose and possible religious role of the women who owned the necklaces. In order to examine this the graves with the necklaces will also be compared with so called “völvegraves”, which are graves meant for völvor, vǫlur, women who were fortune-tellers. The graves are compared since a hypothesis have been formed, and through a hypothethico-deduction method I hope to see if the aim of this study can be answered. Delimitations are that not all pendants from the necklaces will be used, only categories that will bring forth an analysis as well a discussion. Only two of three völvegraves will take part in the study, since one of them needs more interpretation and analysis. The study showed similarities between the graves with the necklaces and the völvegraves, which supports a positive outcome of the method. The major differences between the graves were the objects interpreted as ritual, the staff and the necklaces. However, since a hypothethico-deduction theory can be limited, the discussion also focused on the pendants of the necklaces, and what they can say about function and worth. Since the pendants show a connection to the god Oden, I concluded that the necklaces were used as religious objects, and that the women possibly could have had the role of a gydja, but that they had Oden as their main God. I also concluded that the women were connected to vǫlur through the connection to Oden as well as chair pendants, but that the women with the necklaces probably were not vǫlur