This brooch, dating to the late 6th century, is one of the earliest finds of the type of animal motifs that would become prominent in Viking art several centuries later.¹ The bird of prey depicted on this brooch has been commonly identified as an eagle, and is believed to represent Odin, the god of war in Nordic mythology.² An interesting artistic element to this brass brooch is the combination of the profile view of the eagle’s head and leg and the frontal view of its body and tail, the latter decorated with crayfish. The eagle, made with copper alloy and silver overlay, is thought to be sleeping based on the resting of its head on its right leg.³

While this bird of prey brooch form is not particularly common, brooches and other jewelry-like accessories with subject matter such as this have been discovered throughout Scandinavia, as well as the UK, France, Germany, and even Hungary. These finds are believed to have been produced by local craftsman, as well as imported. Many of these Scandinavian designs and motifs have appeared in modified versions of Anglo-Saxon brooches as well.

Brooches are thought to have been an additional element to the developing cultural identities and associations instituted by female dress. The practice of wearing brooches migrated along with the Norse to the British Isles, and it is believed that specific dress codes and brooch designs may have been tied to individual Scandinavian homelands.⁴ Many historians agree that by bearing these broaches, it was the women who reminded their own communities of their ethnic, social, and cultural identity amongst the different customs and traditions of their new society.

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