Bracteates are found in hoards and as grave goods of higher class Scandinavian citizens of the pre-Viking Age 5th and 6th centuries CE. All were made of gold and were typically crafted to copy Roman style while also including local Scandinavian elements. In this case, the head of a Norse deity on a horse is the focus, surrounded by Roman-style bordering.¹  The presence of bracteates shows that, through trade, the Norse were aware of the Roman Empire and later European successors. Bracteates work against the idea that the Norse of the Viking Age and before were isolated by showing us that they had a long history of interconnectedness with “civilized” European powers. 

Bracteates were worn as jewelry to be attached to necklaces or sewn into clothing. They were expensive to obtain because of materials and level of skill necessary to craft them, and were therefore a display of wealth and sophistication. In other cases, bracteates depicted Norse gods or local kings, serving as markers for religious and ethnic identity as well as badges of wealth. These displays were part of the competition between Scandinavian aristocrats who used their affluence as a political weapon against others.²  This level of sophistication in pre-Viking Age Norse society contradicts much of what later texts say about the Norse. The medieval writers who wrote about the Scandinavian raiders would have never thought it possible that such intrigue took place in the homeland of their pagan intruders.

Aside from their historical context, bracteates are useful in dating hoards they are found in, much like mint coins, as they come from a very specific time period. Different style elements such as bordering and the portrait shown allow us to narrow dating even further.