iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 26/10/2026

A perennial favourite for us Ringerike style-geeks !

A Ringerike style-esque sketch on page 230 in Bodleian Library MS. Junius 11, 2026 scan.

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 21/10/2026

Search your camera roll for “boat” and post a photo you like! The zodiac, taking us - 6 at a time - over Sound of Noss to the Isle of Noss, eastern Shetland in late July 2026. A brilliant spot of land in the North Sea.

A small zodiac, taking passengers - 6 at a time - over the Sound of Noss, eastern Shetland.

041 4

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 16/10/2026

Newly found ”Backwards-biting beast” pendant, from Lolland Kommune in Southern Denmark (first from DK as far as I know). Often just simply referred to as Jelling-styled, but it is a tad more complicated than that. The majority of these have been found in the east, in Rus’. 🥳🏺 #FindsFriday

“Backwards-biting beast” pendant, from Lolland Kommune, Denmark.

📸: Palle Kvist

“Backwards-biting beast” pendants from the Nordic countries. Upper row: Silver, the rest in copper alloy.

093 9

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 06/10/2026

Clearing out stuff; found the map I bought while hiking in southern Greenland almost 30 years ago, looking for Norse remains… A great trip which got even better when the last flight back to Iceland for the season got cancelled and I had to stay another week with all costs covered by Iceland Air… 🥳

Map of the area around Narsaq in southern Greenland. Norse settlement marked by x:s.

280 8

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026

Close encounter with the newly found late-medieval bagpiping bear from southern Visby…

2123 12

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 24/09/2026

Incredibly saddened to read about the passing yesterday of Dr Rena Maguire. A great loss to archaeology and humanity in the greatest sense, in a world where every kind and concerned individual counts acutely…

Gotlandic picture stone featuring a mounted rider leading a procession.

1183 18

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 15/09/2026

I hereby declare this to be a #TrenchTuesday - an not in just any average trench, but the one out on the isle of Lilla Karlsö where the tragic but very important remains of a young pregnant Mesolithic woman and her child were found earlier this summer below 5 m of mixed deposits and stones. 🥳🏺

A 5 m deep excavation trench in the cave Suder Vagnhus on the island Lilla Karlsö, just west of Gotland. Medieval deposits on top and Mesolithic in the bottom.

The cave Suder Vagnhus - marked by the arrow - on the island Lilla Karlsö, just west of Gotland.

0185 18

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 05/09/2026

On top of the rampart of Gotland’s largest hillfort, Torsburgen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsbur...

1131 13

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 03/09/2026

Do you consider yourself a Viking pop-culture geek? (like me...) - Here's your chance to buy a stylish (and somewhat corroded) cast iron jardiniere from Voss industries, Fredericia; inspired by Gokstad & co... auksjon.nyborgs.no/Event/LotDet... (-and don't mind me, I've got one already 😘)

A cast iron jardiniere from Voss industries, Fredericia, Denmark; adorned with e.g. animal heads, directly inspired by the Gokstad find.
Late 19th century.

020 2

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 01/09/2026

Wiki Loves Monuments är igång - hjälp till du med, varje bild räknas (flertalet fornlämningar har aldrig fotodokumenterats). commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons... Nedan: 2025 års vinnarbild i WLM Sverige, Bohus fästning, Kungälv snett från ovan. (📸: Kateryna Baiduzha, CC BY) #WikiLovesMonuments

Vinnarbild i WLM Sverige 2025, flygbild över Bohus fästning, Kungälv (Kateryna Baiduzha, CC BY)

031 3

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 28/08/2026

A - very - special find! It entered the collections of the Historical Museum as no. 4906 - a brooch of "hitherto unknown type" - in 1873, after being found in a burial mound at Hurjom, Ångermanland. But a closer examination clearly show that it's rather the hinged top of a dress pin.🏺 #FindsFriday

The hinged and "dragon headed" dress pin from Hurjom, Sweden. From the side.
Photo: Antje Wendt/SHM - CC BY

The hinged and "dragon headed" dress pin from Hurjom, Sweden. From above.
Photo: Antje Wendt/SHM - CC BY

The hinged and "dragon headed" dress pin from Hurjom, Sweden. Rear side with remains of the now missing iron pin.
Photo: Antje Wendt/SHM - CC BY

The lower, smaller animal head of the hinged dress pin from Hurjom, Sweden.
Photo: Antje Wendt/SHM - CC BY

082 8

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 27/08/2026

Some public #RakingLightRunology with Magnus Kjellström. (Featuring runestone G 342, runor.raa.se/inscription?...)

A runestone on display, using raking light to bring out all features.

Originally found in a secondary position, used as a step in a spiral staircase in the ruins of the medieval ruin church of S:t Johannes (Hans), Visby.

0163 16

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 16/08/2026

A couple of weeks ago I finally got to visit the broch of Mousa, something I have had on my acute must-do list for +25 years. 🥳🏺 It was fantastic; heavy winds, (heavier) rain and guano stench just added to the experience! #ShetlandSunday

Looking north, from the top of the stairs.

26313 63

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 15/08/2026

…and here it is - or rather was already - in a photo from 1925.

A black and white picture of Norderhamn - the northern harbour - of Stora Karlsö. Captured in 1925 before the island saw extensive reforestation.

070 7

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 14/08/2026

…took a night out on Stora Karlsö (…in the fishing booth down to the left …) Have a good evening - I will!

0112 11

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026

Last week, while hiking along the outer coastline of western Mainland, Shetland, we came upon these ramparts by the base of the Lambigart headland; the innermost being the easiest to spot. Turned out to be registered as a possible promontory fort. www.trove.scot/place/245637 #HillfortsWednesday 🏺

The position of the two ramparts, the innermost close to 2 m high, over the Lambigart headland, Shetland

The two ramparts, the innermost close to 2 m high, over the Lambigart headland, Shetland. Photo taken from southwest standing by the southern end of the outer rampart.

The innermost peat and stone rampart, close to 2 m high, over the Lambigart headland, Shetland

The two ramparts over the Lambigart headland, Shetland. Photo taken from northwest.

0355 35

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 03/08/2026

Oops… - they still had books in Scotland too… - and sale in the National Museum’s bookstore…

Archaeological bookhaul from a week in Shetland and 2 days in Edinburgh.

392 9

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 01/08/2026

After visiting the actual findsite, the chapel ruins on St. Ninian’s Isle in Shetland, I had to pop in to have a new look at the actual treasure in Edinburgh… 🏺 (I definitely did prefer the number of people in Shetland to that of central Edinburgh though…🫣)

A part of the treasure from St. Ninian’s Isle in Shetland, on display in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

St Ninian's Isle and the tombolo connecting it with southwestern Mainland, Shetland.

“St. Ninian's church”, where the St Ninian's Isle Treasure was found (by the small standing stone inside the ruin) in 1958.

2203 20

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 29/07/2026

A must for any Viking specialist travelling in Shetland: Viking shield biscuits!

Biscuits in the shape of (Viking) round shields. Baked on the island of Unst, Shetland

0343 34

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 26/07/2026

A good day out on Bressey and Noos, messing around in boats, brochs and a fabulous landscape… #Shetland

Noos eroded coast with sandstone bedrock featuring distinct layers of large igneous pebbles

090 9

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 25/07/2026

This one’s for you @helenaullmark.bsky.social - captured at Jarlshof, Shetland, this morning…

A Shetland pony at Jarlshof with Sumburgh Head in the background.

1120 12

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026

…alas, not very compatible with travelling to Shetland… but still!

Me and LEGO-Endurance at Copenhagen airport.

040 4

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 13/07/2026

Standing some 25 m above sea level on Hoburgen, the last cliff of Gotland, would normally mean that the horizon would be some ~18 Km away - but at 4:50 am this Saturday the Karlsöarna isles, 42 Km to the north where clearly visible… #Mirage

The Karlsöarna isles - Greater Karlsö to the left and Lesser Karlsö to the right - as mirages on the horizon as seen from the Hoburgen cliff on southernmost Gotland. The actual distance between the two points is c. 42 Km.

150 5

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 03/07/2026

Got to handle the scabbard chape from Sör-Amsberg, Dalecarlia, this morning… - God it’s ugly! A copy of a copy. 🤣 #FindsFriday

A Viking-period sword scabbard chape in Borre-style.

091 9

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 29/06/2026

- Vacation ✅ - Dalecarlia ✅ - House by Lake Gimmen ✅ - Off (the general) grid ✅

View through the privy door, with Lake Gimmen in central Dalecarlia/Dalarna in the background.

140 4

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 05/06/2026

In 1877, Hjalmar Stolpe test-pitted the area we now know as Birka's Garrison. He never understood its importance - but he documented his findings. Earlier this week I realised what a C-shaped feature on his drawings represented: This bronze bracelet. Thank you (yet again) Hjalmar! #FindsFriday

An undecorated bronze bracelet, found in 1877 during Hj Stolpe's test excavations in the Garrison-area. Now part of the collections of the Swedish History Museum, inventory nr 34000:Bj 596:41.

Hj Stolpe's test pit A from above. The bracelet marked as "j". Note the line A. indicating a section drawing.

Section A with the bracelet included. Depth (1, 2, 3 etc) in feet.

The 1877 test pits (red) and 1934 trenches (blue) on top of a principal drawing of the "Hall of the Warriors" at Birka's Garrison, fully excavated between 1998 and 2001.

081 8

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 30/05/2026

Have you visited the shorter but larger house foundation in Etelhem? (825 m2 vs 737 m2 at Stavgard) app.raa.se/open/fornsok...

110 1

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 29/05/2026

On 2 June, 13:00-15:00, Moa Råhlander will defend her Doctoral dissertation "The attributes of beads: what beads can tell as archaeological objects". 🏺 Opponent: Birgit Maixner Zoom-link: stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/69840463764 The thesis can be downloaded here: urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=...

The cover of Moa Råhlander's PhD-thesis, featuring a drawing of the upper part of a skeleton with women-attributed jewellery.

071 7

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 21/05/2026

For those who understand Swedish: An interview with Per Widerström, Gotland Museum, on the fact that the 12th C silver (mostly) hoard from Mörkö have been bought by the State for 4 million SEK. Short version: www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/mynt... Longer: www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/2792...

The hoard, or at least parts of it during the “excavation” by the finders. Coins photographed by a hole in the ground.

A glaring example of how NOT to act when you encounter artefacts. All information about the hoard’s internal structure was lost for ever.

054 5

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 19/04/2026

New publication by Birgit Maixner: ”Three Miniatures on Raw Material Exploitation and Long-Distance Trade in Central Norway During the Early Viking Age: A Regional Study of the Viking Economy Based on Archaeological Evidence” (Gunneria 84) 🏺🥳🇳🇴 Free here 👇 www.ntnu.no/documents/10...

0135 13

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 18/04/2026

And here’s a message from one of our sponsors: - Scratch a bit more twolegs, no not there - to the left!

Two Gute sheep ewes, a breed typical to Gotland. Both rams and ewes have horns.

080 8

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 18/04/2026

…just some light Saturday messing-about with native Gotlandic wool…

Combing and sorting some lightly washed Gute sheep wool. Rather dark for that breed.

Gute sheep wool spread out to dry. Spinning’s up next, but I’ll leave that to those better qualified (aka my wife).

170 7

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 17/04/2026

Better pictures of the recently reported golden (runic) bracteate and clasp button from Sjonhem, Gotland - along with parallells. #FindsFriday 🏺

Golden (runic) bracteate (type C) and clasp button (John Hines' group B1 VI) from Sjonhem, Gotland. Found in a garden in the 1970's and kept by the family until last year.

Photo: Gotland Museum

Clasp with buttons from Havor in Hablingbo, southwestern Gotland (SHM 8064).

37221 72

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 14/04/2026

Interested in the rules on public metal-detecting in Iceland? Here's a fairly recent set of guidelines (in Icelandic, náttúrlega...): Málmleitartæki, Minjastofnun Íslands Leiðbeiningar 9 (Stefánsdóttir 2026) 🏺 www.minjastofnun.is/static/files...

Probably the most un-Icelandic vision of metal-detecting you will ever see... - barefoot in the sun...

020 2

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 13/04/2026

New article in the Journal of the North Atlantic: "Norse Seafaring in Western Scotland: Sea Routes and Navigation Marks" by Shane McLeod & Alex Sanmark of @insuhi.bsky.social Open access ⤵️ 🥳🏺 bioone.org/journals/jou...

0101 10

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 10/04/2026

A new VERY interesting find from Telemark fylke, Norway. 🥳 🇳🇴 A Viking-period trefoil brooch with what appears to be a bird of prey-ornament. I have personally never seen anything like it… 🏺 📸: Frank Brødsjømoen Måbø #FindsFriday

The centre and one “leaf” of a trefoil brooch with what appears to be a bird of prey-ornament

0144 14

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 01/04/2026

@fornvannen.bsky.social just published a (short) paper I wrote on a quite atypical Viking-period sword scabbard chape from the Paviken harbour site, Gotland. 🏺 Read it - open access - here: publicera.kb.se/fornvannen/a...

1173 17

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 21/03/2026

A really good collection of papers on personhood, possessions and the concept(s) of ownership - “Own and be owned” (2015). 🏺 As alway, best read in the traditional way - but you can also find it on-line, for free, here: www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/di...

The cover of the volume “Own and be owned : Archaeological approaches to the concept of possession” edited by Klevnäs & Hedenstierna-Jonson. The front face is dominated by a stylised photograph of a key handle from the Viking Period.

041 4

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 20/03/2026

In 2013, the Swedish version of ”Antiques Roadshow” visited Visby. A man brought this large, unprovenanced pseudo-penannular brooch from the Viking Period for evaluation and after a bit of a debacle it was bought by the state and is now kept by Gotland Museum. #FindsFriday 🏺

1298 29

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 18/03/2026

It is an old find, from Busarve in Othem parish on northeastern Gotland, and alas that is all we now about it. Based on the parallels from e.g. Björkö there are reasons to assume that it is early, and for human wrists. Accession nr GFC9779 (📸: Kajsa Pontén Röcklinger, CC BY)

The shackle and chain from Busarve, NE Gotland.

001 1

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 18/03/2026

Got to do a bit of hands-on lecturing last night, refreshingly analogous in the storages of Gotland Museum. The theme was “The basics of Viking-period economics”… 🏺 (📸: Lisa Berg)

Holding a Gotland-found iron shackle, possibly a reminder of the not so much discussed “slaves for silver”-business model.

0101 10

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 16/03/2026

Another "That belongs in a museum"... Sold 2018 for 103 € - without context of course, but seemingly from the Netherlands. auction.catawiki.com/kavels/19373... It's a rather close relative to a chape found 1931 in a Viking-period cremation grave in Hamrånge, Sweden (SHM 19777, grave 16).

061 6

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 25/02/2026

New on Old Uppsala by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Johan Callmer, John Ljungkvist, Per Frölund and others, presenting some of the results from the last 20 years of excavations and research. "Från hallar till fynd i Gamla Uppsala"

053 5

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 23/02/2026

A bleak morning by the medieval gallows above Visby.

041 4

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 22/02/2026

Proceedings of the 40th Interdisciplinary Viking Symposium - 3 May 2023 in Odense: ”Travelling Viking Age” museumodense.dk/wp-content/u...

12312 23

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 21/02/2026

The Norse Borre style has its name from an ornamented bridle found in Borre, Norway. But it's by no means restricted to western Scandinavia - parts of such bridles have been found in graves from Norse-influenced areas of present day Russia. Like these, found in 1872 at Bezhetsk in Tver Oblast:

Borre-styled bridle fittings with interlaced animal ornaments (n:o 1,2,3, 5/7 and 6) from a burial mound excavated in 1872 "close to the cemetery of Bezhetsk" by Finnish scholar Daniel Europeus. Parts of a similar bridle have also been found in Gnezdovo by modern Smolensk.
Picture from "Об угорском народе, обитавшем в средней и северной России, в Финляндии и в северной части Скандинавии до прибытия туда нынешних их жителей"(1874).

072 7

Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 18/02/2026

Gitte Ingvardson on the Viking-period hoards from the Danish island Bornholm: "The Hoarding Vikings" (2025) Open access 🔓 🥳🏺 www.routledge.com/The-Hoarding...

0101 10