Dräktnålar och dräktskick i östra Mälardalen : Kontinuitet och förändring under folkvandringstid och vendeltid : [continuity and change in the Migration and Vendel periods]

This thesis comprises a study of the two types of dress-pins - the protuberant pin andthe polyhedral pin - that were cast in moulds on Helgo. The compilation of materialwas restricted to Helgo's immediate surroundings, that is, Sodermanland and Uppland.The pins are divided into subgroups and variants. Protuberant pins, which belong tothe Migration period's stylistic tradition, had prior to 1960 not been found in the Malarregion Polyhedral pins, which occur in the Vendel period find associations, havepreviously been studied in the 1950s and 1960s. Early and new finds of pins are sethere in chronological relation to one another and to dating evidence from Helgo, theplace of manufacture. The chronological tools presented by Petre 1984 as well as theresults of Bennett-Lagerlof's study 1987 are applied here. Relevant 14C-values are inthis context given a collective calibration, presented by Herschend 1994.The dating of both types of pins shows that they were in use partly at the same time.In all probability the protuberant pins were used in the later part of the fifth centuryand in the sixth century, whereas the polyhedral pins began to be used ca. fifty yearslater in time. A few older 14C-values obtained may even indicate an earlier date forthe protuberant pins, though this may be due to the nature of the charcoal samples. Inconnection with an analysis of the find associations, views are given on the functionof the dresspins and osteological analyses are presented.The two types of pins belong to different cultural spheres, as evidenced by the internalburial method and by the combinations of jewellery. The new style of dress withpolyhedral pins and a pair of brooches can testify to the origin of the Viking Age dresswith shoulder straps.