挪威挖掘的三座維京墳墓中藏有來自遙遠土地的硬幣和一塊雕刻得像女性生殖器的奇怪象徵性石頭

金屬探測器在挪威西海岸發現了這些墳墓，似乎都屬於女性。

Three Viking graves discovered on the west coast of Norway have yielded coins from distant lands and an oddly symbolic stone carved to look like female genitalia.

在挪威西海岸發現的三個維京墳墓中出土了來自遙遠國家的硬幣和一塊雕刻得像女性生殖器的奇怪象徵性石頭。

The graves, all of which seemed to belong to women, were found by metal detectorists and date back to the early 800s A.D., during the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066), head archaeologist Søren Diinhoff of the University Museum of Bergen told sciencenorway.no.

卑爾根大學博物館首席考古學家Søren Diinhoff 告訴《科學挪威》，這些墳墓似乎都屬於女性，由金屬探測器發現，其歷史可以追溯到公元800 年代初的維京時代（公元793 年至1066 年）。

"From a research perspective, this is a small treasure trove," Diinhoff said.

「從研究的角度來看，這是一個小寶庫，」迪因霍夫說。

A metal detector survey suggests that the graves are just three of perhaps 20 at the site, which is at a place called Skumsnes in the municipality of Fitjar. Though the bones of the inhabitants have long since disintegrated, their grave goods — broaches, glass beads, coins, and stones arranged in the shape of a boat — remain. Some of the jewelry and coins originated as far away as Ireland, England and the Frankish Empire, which covered much of Western Europe at the time. Most striking was a rare coin from southern Denmark stamped with a Viking boat on one side and a stag on the other.

金屬探測器調查顯示，該地點大約有 20 個墳墓，其中只有 3 個，該地點位於菲賈爾市一個名為 Skumsnes 的地方。儘管居民的骨頭早已分解，但他們的陪葬品——胸針、玻璃珠、硬幣和排列成船形的石頭——仍然存在。一些珠寶和硬幣起源於遙遠的愛爾蘭、英格蘭和法蘭克帝國，這些帝國涵蓋了當時西歐的大部分地區。最引人注目的是一枚來自丹麥南部的罕見硬幣，一側印有維京船，另一側則印有雄鹿。

The find reveals the long-distance trade and migration occurring in Viking societies at the time. The women in the graves had some connection to continental Europe, Diinhoff said.

這項發現揭示了當時維京社會中發生的長途貿易和移民。迪因霍夫說，墳墓中的婦女與歐洲大陸有某種關聯。

"It's probably no coincidence," he said. "Perhaps they came from abroad and married into the local community."

「這可能不是巧合，」他說。 “也許他們來自國外，並融入了當地社區。”

Skumsnes was a farm at the time, which probably belonged to a local king, according to the researchers. It wasn't far from the coast and may have been a waypoint for travelers. One of the women was buried with rocks in the shape of a 13-foot-long (4 meter) boat to accompany her to the afterlife. At the spot where the mast would be, archaeologists found a stone shaped like a vulva, which may have been used to symbolize the woman buried in the grave. It's possible, Diinhoff said, that the woman wasn't buried there at all, but that the grave was a cenotaph, or a memorial without a body. It's difficult to say, Diinhoff said, because the soil in western Norway does not preserve organic materials very well.

研究人員稱，斯庫姆斯內斯當時是一個農場，可能屬於當地國王。它距離海岸不遠，可能是旅行者的一個中轉站。其中一名婦女被埋葬在一艘 13 英尺長（4 公尺）船形狀的岩石中，以陪伴她到來世。在桅杆所在的地方，考古學家發現了一塊形狀像外陰的石頭，這可能是用來象徵埋在墳墓裡的女人的。迪因霍夫說，這名婦女可能根本沒有埋在那裡，但這座墳墓是一個紀念碑，或者是一個沒有屍體的紀念碑。迪因霍夫說，這很難說，因為挪威西部的土壤不能很好地保存有機物質。

The boat grave also included wool shears, a hetchel (a comb to prepare fibers for spinning and weaving), a spindle whorl and a weaving sword, all items used to make textiles, as well as a bronze key. This suggests that the woman this grave was dedicated to was of high-status: Textile-making was prestigious, and the key indicates she was head of a household.

船墓還包括羊毛剪、一把梳子（一種為紡紗和編織準備纖維的梳子）、一個紡錘螺紋和一把織劍，所有用於製造紡織品的物品，以及一把青銅鑰匙。這顯示這座墳墓所供奉的女性地位很高：紡織業享有盛譽，鑰匙顯示她是一家之主。

Unn Pedersen, an archaeologist from the University of Oslo, told sciencenorway that textile-making was a path to wealth and security for Viking-era women.

奧斯陸大學考古學家翁佩德森 (Unn Pedersen) 告訴《科學挪威》，紡織業是維京時代女性獲得財富和安全的途徑。

"If not members of the elite, these women were certainly high up in the social and economic hierarchy," she said.

「如果不是精英成員，這些女性肯定在社會和經濟階層中處於較高的地位，」她說。