Between Bones and Beliefs
Human-Bird Relations in Central and Northern Europe in the First Millennium AD
Edited by Klaudia Karpińska
This book explores the entanglements of birds within daily life, rituals and mythology of Iron Age people across Central and Northern Europe in the 1st millennium AD, explored through archaeology, iconography, historic literature, artefact analysis, and ethnography.
Human-avian relationships developed in many ways throughout the Iron Age, particularly in the first millennium AD in Central and Northern Europe. These airborne animals foraged and scavenged close to settlements, inviting interactions — wild birds were hunted, and domesticated poultry were bred for meat, feathers, and eggs; other birds were kept for entertainment or sport, with raptors trained for falconry, and the importance of birds is noted in texts ranging from Pliny the Elder to Old Norse poetry. This volume offers new insights into the extraordinary role played by birds in the past, from their roles in the pre-Christian beliefs and rituals of Iron Age societies to their appearance in early Christian iconographies, and from the discovery of their remains in everyday and ritual contexts to the styles employed by artists on jewellery and weapons. The result is a unique insight into the important relationship between birds and humans in the cultures of Central and Northern Europe in the first millennium AD.
- Edited by Klaudia Karpińska
Other Titles in this Series
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
Harvesting the Margins of the Viking World
Decentralizing Economies in Late Iron Age Fennoscandia
Volume 6
Bathing at the Edge of the Roman Empire
Baths and Bathing Habits in the North-Western Corner of Continental Europe
Volume 2
Bear and Human
Facets of a Multi-Layered Relationship from Past to Recent Times, with Emphasis on Northern Europe
Volume 3
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