A Scandinavian amulet from excavations of the annunciation church at gorodishche near Novgorod

A Scandinavian amulet was found during architectural and archaeologicalinvestigations of the Annunciation Church at Ryurikovo Gorodishche (hillfort) whendisturbed deposits near the south wall of the church built in 1103 were excavated (2016).The amulet is an iron ring with a hammer-shaped pendant (Thor’s hammer) strung ontoto it and a miniature clamp. Similar items have been found at the Birka necropolis and inthe Gnezdovo archaeological complex. The presence of the clamp as a part of the amuletimplies that it was nailed to a casket or a trunk as a kind of an apotropaios or an amulet,which means it was used to protect and boost fortune. The amulet should be dated to theturn of the 9th-10th or the 10th century. It was, probably, brought by Scandinavian settlers ormade locally. On the whole, such finds are used as markers of the function and the spreadof certain cults that were still practiced by the Scandinavian populations forming part of thepolyethnic milieu of the Upper Volkhov region in the second half of the 9th-10th centuries.