Viking body-making: new evidence for intra-action with iconic Viking anthropomorphic ‘art’

In Viking archaeology, the study of miniature figurines cast in silver and bronze provides a platform for debates on ritual and mythology, yet much of this discourse focuses on their appearance. Here, the authors use microwear and Reflective Transformation Imaging to survey the physical evidence of complex relational dynamics between 10 anthropomorphic artefacts from Viking Age Sweden and the human bodies they connected with. Through such analyses, and the abandonment of a priori assumptions regarding their purpose and symbolism, these figures can be seen as more than just components of an imposed category, and their varied, transmutable engagements with the world can be explored more freely.