{"id":"SHM2026-001","label":"Birka chevron-cut bone blade","people_or_site":"Birka, Svarta jorden (Black Earth), Björkö","country_current":"Sweden","historic_region":"Björkö, Lake Mälaren / Uppland","macroregion":"Europe / Northern Europe","local_name":"vinare","source_term":"möjligen en vinare","source_language":"Swedish","object_description":"Small flat bone plaque with roughly bevelled edges, bands of incised chevrons and transverse strokes across one face, and a single hole near one short end.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"archaeological_find","source_key":"shm_419259_hst_birka_vinare","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://samlingar.shm.se/object/87CDF4AA-87FD-4827-9C8A-9D8888A7C808","page_or_plate":"SHM 419259_HST; acquisition 7982:1","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"candidate_only","coordinate_basis":"Birka town area on Björkö (Svarta jorden lies between the hillfort and the town rampart); site-area anchor, not a findspot. Birka site coordinate 59.3361, 17.5453 (Wikipedia) nudged to the Black Earth side.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"For two centuries the people of Birka, the Viking-age trading town on Björkö in Lake Mälaren, threw their ash, charcoal, kitchen bones and even their dung onto the ground around their houses, until the soil itself turned black. That midden became a preservative. The Black Earth is unusually alkaline, and bone and antler that would rot away in ordinary Swedish ground survive in it. This small bone blade came out of it with its rough bevelled edges intact, a single hole near one end, and rows of chevrons still cut sharp across its face.","pull_quote":"Benplatta med grovt avfasade kanter och enklare ornamentik samt ett hål i ena kortsidan - möjligen en vinare.","pull_quote_translation":"Bone plaque with roughly bevelled edges and simple ornament, and a hole in one short side — possibly a vinare.","pull_quote_cite":"Historiska museet, Stockholm, object 419259_HST","term_gloss":"vinare = Swedish, “whiner”: the museum term for a whirled sound-maker of bone or wood.","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":true,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"f_archaeology":true,"archaeology_kind":"object","date_display":"AD 800–1100","date_qualification":"Museum Viking-age dating; object not directly dated.","date_basis":"museum_field","date_confidence":"medium","date_citation":"shm_419259_hst_birka_vinare, SHM 419259_HST","sources":[{"citation":"Historiska museet, Stockholm, object 419259_HST (acquisition 7982:1), 'Vinare', Birka, Svarta jorden, Viking Age","url":"https://samlingar.shm.se/object/87CDF4AA-87FD-4827-9C8A-9D8888A7C808"},{"citation":"Historiska museet, Birkaportalen, 'Svarta jorden'","url":"https://birkaportalen.historiska.se/platsen/svarta-jorden/"}],"source_citations":"Historiska museet, Stockholm, object 419259_HST (acquisition 7982:1), 'Vinare', Birka, Svarta jorden, Viking Age; Historiska museet, Birkaportalen, 'Svarta jorden'","source_display":"Historiska museet, Stockholm, object 419259_HST (acquisition 7982:1), 'Vinare', Birka, Svarta jorden, Viking Age; Historiska museet, Birkaportalen, 'Svarta jorden'","date_citation_display":"SHM 419259_HST","object_display":"Small flat bone plaque with roughly bevelled edges, bands of incised chevrons and transverse strokes across one face, and a single hole near one short end.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"archaeological find","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"birka","display_name":"Birka chevron-cut bone blade","image":{"full":"assets/objects/SHM2026-001_shm_419259_birka.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/SHM2026-001_shm_419259_birka_thumb.jpg","alt":"A small grey bone blade, tapering slightly, with a round hole near its left end and bands of incised chevrons, above a 10 cm colour scale.","credit":"Ny Björn Gustafsson, Historiska museet/SHM (419259_HST)","source_page":"https://samlingar.shm.se/object/87CDF4AA-87FD-4827-9C8A-9D8888A7C808","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"The Birka bone blade: bevelled edges, a single hole at one end and bands of incised chevrons."},"slug":"shm2026-001-birka-svarta-jorden-black-earth-bjorko"}