Vadstena bracteate.

ROLCAM · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:21 am Post subject: Vadstena bracteate.

Vadstena bracteate

The Vadstena bracteate (or rather bracteates since there are two of them) is a gold bracteate found in the earth at Vadstena in 1744. A goldsmith was about to recycle the gold by melting the bracteate but was hindered by a local clergyman, so that it was preserved. It is believed to have been coined at the end of the 6th century. In the middle of the bracteate is a mans head on top of a four-legged animal, and in front of this chimera (creature), a bird separated from the other image by a line. It is mostly famous since it contains a full listing of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. The entire inscription reads: luwatuwa fuþarkgw; hnijepRs; tbemlngo[d]. It ends therefore by a Futhark (where we can see that Othala precedes Dagaz) and where the three aetts are very well marked.

Remarkable is the occurrence of two times b - instead of b and p. luwatuwa is according to Antonsen (1975:72) uninterpretable, and Krause (1971:171) remarks: "magische Doppelformel... Deutung ist nicht möglich" Lundeby & Williams (1992:17). It is generally accepted by scholars that luwa-tuwa is clearly a magical formula where luwa means ‘on earth’ and tuwa ‘to the sky’. (Antonsen does not interpret luwa-tuwa) ‘On earth and to the sky, the Futhark’, or if read as tuwatuwa ‘Twice to the sky, the Futhark The last rune (d) is hidden below the necklace holder piece that has been moulded on top of the bracteate, but is certain since in 1906 a duplicate bracteate was found, also at Vadstena. The first part of the inscription is uninterpreted but is assumed to be associated with magic. Both bracteates are presently stored at Historiska Muséet, the Swedish Museum of History.
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Roland Camilleri

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Sydney , Australia.