Gold goil figures : A study on the gestures and manipulations of gold foil figures

The size of the gold foil figures is about the size of half a postal stamp and consists of millimeter-thin gold plates with depicted motifs. They may be the smallest artefact that we have left from the Late Iron Age, more specifically 6th and 7th Century CE. Despite this, it has not stopped the craftsman from creating such detailed motifs that are almost impossible to see to the naked eye. In previous research, the gold foil figures have been treated as representative images, however, this present work shows that these small gold plates have been considered as more than just images. An investigation is conducted of phenomenological aspects that can be observed in the picture, and of different conditions in which the find arises. By studying and discussing the collection of gold foil figures from four locations in southern Sweden and comparing various aspects that arise in the material, interesting patterns and details are noted which did not receive much attention previously