Loki Amulet, Bitterstad, Silver

This is a reproduction of the sensational silver pendant found in the boat burial grave A7817 in Bitterstad, Norway in 2013. Just like the original it is made from solid silver with garnets placed in the eyes and mouth. The final archaeological report was finished in 2016 and in it it was concluded that the two nearly identical pendants that were found most likely depicted Loki.

Mainly two facts speak for the pendants depicting Loki, and these are detailed in the Bitterstad archaeological report from 2016. First of all, the garnets are one important detail, since they have historically been related to fire. Loki is often associated with fire, and it is even argued that his name means fire, even though this hasn’t been proven etymologically. The other interesting detail is the hearth stone from Snaptun in Jutland, depicting Loke after he got his mouth stitched by the dwarf Brokk. The hearth stone was used during smith work, which again proves that fire and Loke are closely linked. The connection between blacksmiths and their connection to magic and death has been brought up in a lot of literature of late (example: Jørgensen 2015; Østigård 2007), and it does seem that Loki could have been a much more worshipped god than generally believed – a god of the blacksmiths, of magic, fire and death. Last, but not least, the image on the stone is very similar to the jewelry of Bitterstad. Both characters have a mighty moustache, round eyes, sharply marked nose and stylized hair.

Link to the Bitterstad archaeological report (in Swedish): Bitterstad Rapport