Hedmarkens merovingertid i et fugleperspektiv

Abstract

Metal detecting at a cooking pit site at Rømma in Løten, Hedmark (discussed in chapter 7), lead to the discovery of a brooch formed like a bird. The brooch is unusual and has no exact parallels. This paper presents the bird brooch and discusses its chronological dating to the early Norwegian Merovingian Period, ca. 550 AD. Similar and associated iconography within the Hedmark region is considered, and we discuss why and how the brooch ended up at the cooking pit site. The aim of the paper is to consider the bird brooch from Rømma in a wider context and thus to regard it as part of a distinct tradition surrounding bird images in this period that is associated with a supra-regional warrior elite in Hedmark.