Wooden Shields
Extant Wooden Shields - Summary of Finds
from Late Roman / Iron Age to 11th Century
– Looking for the Evidence By Jennifer Baker ( Jenny Baker )
Research Disclaimer : Please note that This Research was done many years ago now :
so the information contained may now be out of date , photos gone missing or web links broken
My apologises : But It has become an impossible task to try and keep it up to date - Jenny
Summary:
Late Roman / Iron Age – 2 Flat Shields
5th - 7th Century – 39 Flat shields
8th Century – 33 Flat shields
9th Century – 8 Flat shields & 1 Convex shield & 6 shield boss finds
10th Century – 31 Flat shields
11th Century – 2 Flat shields & 1 Kite shield
Late Roman / Iron Age
Date: ?
Diameter: 65-104cm (26-41in) diameter these measurements are based on 7 Roman Iron Age examples
Only the fittings remain
http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/Morcant_Gawr/Nydam%20Thorsberg/P1140669.jpg
Nydham ship, Denmark
Date: 4th century
Diameter:
5th - 7th Century:
The Vendel Graves:
Date: varies - from 550 – 800 AD
The Vendel Graves: Boat graves at Fyrisån River in Vendel parish near Uppsala. The graves are dated to c 550-800 AD and the period has been named Vendel Age after these graves. Of the boats themselves almost nothing remains.
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 1
Date: 600/640 ad
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 2
Date: ?
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 6
Date:
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 9
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 10
Date: 520/600 AD
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 11
Date: 520/600 AD
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 12
Date: 520/600 AD
Vendel, Sweden
Grave 14
Valsgärde boats Grave finds
Valsgärde, Sweden (Graves 1,6,8,11, 12)
Date: varies - from 6th to 11th centuries AD
Diameter : 84-110cm (33-44in)
Peter Beatson’s research indicates 3 examples, Halfgrim’s indicates otherwise:
Valsgärde boats. Totally, 14 boat graves from 6th to 11th centuries AD have been found in this area near Uppsala. Investigated by Greta Arwidsson in the 1940s. One of the boats was 12 m long, from 9th century. The wood was gone but the iron rivets preserved, indicating the hull outline.
Valsgärde, Sweden
Grave 6
Date: 600/680 AD
Valsgärde, Sweden
Grave 8
Date: 560/600 AD
Shield No1.
Valsgärde, Sweden
Grave 8
Date: 560/600 AD
Shield No2.
Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England
Date: 620's AD. / early 7th century AD
From Mound 1, Only the fittings remain
Diameter: 91.5cm (36in)
various early Anglo-Saxon graves - England
Date: various
Diameter: 42-92cm (16.5-36in) these measurements are based on 23 examples
Of the 22 shield remains found in an Anglo-Saxon cemetary at Empingham, 19 showed some trace of leather under the boss, and one had cloth. These are from the pre-Christian period, however, several centuries before Hastings.
Balnakeil Sutherland Scotland
Date: Viking
Diameter:
Shield Boss and wood fragments of a shield
http://her.highland.gov.uk/hbsmrgatewayhighland/DataFiles/LibraryLinkFiles/26801.pdf
http://her.highland.gov.uk/hbsmrgatewayhighland/DataFiles/LibraryLinkFiles/18617.pdf
http://www.durness.org/Balnakeil%20Viking.htm
8th Century :
Gokstad ship burial Shield
Gokstad ship burial, Westfold Norway
Date: 905AD.
Diameter: 94 cm
32 shields, with some painted entirely in yellow, with the others painted in black
http://web.missouri.edu/~rls555/SCA/research/goksh/goksh.htm
Oseberg Ship Burial Shield
Oseberg Ship Burial, Oseberg Norway
Date: 905AD.
Diameter: ?
9th Century:
Tira Bog Shields Shield 1 from hoard deposited in Tira peat bog, Liepaisk region, Latvia. Left - the artefact. Right - a reconstruction. From Yrtan (1961)
Tira, Latvia - Shield No.1 - Intact Flat Shield; Wooden - six spruce or fir planks,
Diameter: 85.5cm (34in), the thickness of the planks is 0.6 cm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/tirskom.html
Tira, Latvia - Shield No.2 - Fragments Convex Shield; Wooden - conifer plank,
Diameter: 73cm (28in) ( NOTE: this is an estimate, the remains were fragmentary of the second shield ) , 1.4 cm thick, the board is curved, possibly for a convex shield
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/tirskom.html
Knock y Doone on the Isle of Man
Date: 9th-10th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
shield boss
http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~cfee/MedievalNorthAtlantic/Knockadoone/Knockadoone%20by%20Utermohlen.pdf
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Balladoole, on the Isle of Man
Date: 9th-10th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
Shield boss and grip
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Ballateare, on the Isle of Man
Date: 9th-10th century AD - Viking
Diameter: 95 cm - suggest that the leather facing of this shield was painted with black and red patterns on a white background
Shield Boss.
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Cronk Moar on the Isle of Man
Date: 9th-10th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
traces of white paint
shield Boss
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Scar, Sanday, Orkney
Date: 9th-10th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
Shield boss
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland
Date: 9th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
Shield boss
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Bride Street, Dublin, Ireland
Date: 9th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
Shield boss
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland
Date: 9th century AD - Viking
Diameter:
Shield boss
http://www.darkcompany.ca/articles/ch_2009.php
10th Century:
Birka, Sweden, Shields - Graves Bj45, Bj369, Bj467, Bj496, Bj514, Bj532, Bj544, Bj547, Bj561, Bj573, Bj581, Bj628, Bj644, Bj731, Bj736, Bj832, Bj842, Bj850, Bj872, Bj886, Bj942, Bj944, Bj955, Bj985, Bj1035, Bj1098, Bj1151, - Flat wooden shields - only fittings remain
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/Birka/shield1.jpg
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/Birka/shieldboss1.jpg
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/Birka/shieldboss2.jpg
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/Birka/shieldboss3.jpg
Birka, Sweden,
grave Bj628
Diameter: 95 cm - surviving metal rim
Birka, Sweden,
grave Bj736
Diameter 80cm (31in) - surviving metal rim
Birka, Sweden,
Grave Bj727
Diameter ?
Birka, Sweden,
grave Bj842
Diameter: 90cm - surviving metal rim
Birka, Sweden,
grave Bj850,
Diameter: ?
Birka, Sweden
grave Bj886
Diameter >70cm - length of intact grip
Birka, Sweden
grave Bj1098
Diameter:
Grimstrup, Denmark - chamber grave - shield blank covered the corpse from head to hip -
Diameter: 95cm
Intact flat shield - The background colour is dark blue, the interlace is grey-green edged with white lines. Some lines of red paint and white dots are also visible -
Shield in the National Museum Denmark
Rends Denmark
Diameter: > 63 cm diameter - length of fragmentary grip -
Hedeby boat grave
Diameter: ?
Telemark, Norway Shield -
Diameter: ?
Trelleborg Shield , Trelleborg, West Zealand Date: late 10th century
Trelleborg, West Zealand
Date: late 10th century
Diameter: 85cm
The 85 cm broad shield is made of seven fir planks, 8mm thick near the centre but thinning to 5mm at the edges. Patches of blue and white staining are visible on the boards and further testing may determine whether they are man-made, or just natural discoloration from the soil. Any leather facing which may have existed does not survive but near the rim is a row of small holes which could have fastened it, or a binding strip around the circumference. The central opening for the hand (the boss is missing) is somewhat oval and is crossed by a short wooden grip, which spans somewhat less than half the shield. The centre section of the grip is incised with basketwork-like interlaced design.
http://www.henrikkarll.dk/recent-finds/rare-viking-age-shield-found-at-trelleborg
11th Century:
Krimylda Latvia - shield decayed remains of wood –
Diameter: 80cm
Lindholm Hoye 1112, Denmark, shield
Diameter: ?
Trondheim byrund - Kite shield
Trondheim byrund - Kite shield - wooden - two layers
The find was made in Trondheim, Norway, in the medieval urban center in an 11th century context.
The Swedes call the type Långsköld (long shield). The shield was found at Trondheim bygrund in 1975 in a context dated to the 11th and 12th centuries. It was found in what was then a backyard in a refusal heap with other discarded objects, it had obviously been thrown away as worn-out and useless. It is made up by two layers of boards, the upper layer skewed 90º against the lower. The boards in each layer are approximately 5 – 6 mm thick. One must keep in mind though that the shield parts were waterlogged by the time of the recovery, it could thereby be estimated that the shield probably had a total thickness of close to/less than 10mm. A series of holes along what is left of the rim implicates that it initially was covered and/or had the rim reinforced, possibly by rawhide that deteriorate quite fast in the ground.
The height is roughly 1 m, and at the widest point it measures approximately 0.5 m. The wood in the shield was never more closely examined; it is therefore not possible to say which kind of wood that was used.
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/kites/Skold1.jpg
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/kites/Skold2.jpg
http://tower.system.yaroslavl.ru/source/winsloww/archives/shields_and_bosses/kites/Skold3.jpg
Reference:
Shields Sizes by Halfgrim
http://web.missouri.edu/~rls555/SCA/research/shields.htm
The 'Viking Shield' from Archaeology by Peter Beatson - NVG Miklagard
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shield/shield.html
1st Published : 20 Oct 2011 Page Updated: 10 Sept 2020 © Looking for the Evidence : Jennifer Baker ( Jenny Baker )