on an earlier tower by the 1'1 Lord Fraser prior to his ennobling by Charles I.

The expansion and embellishment of this fine tower into a courtyard residence with outer courts and gardens was diligently charted. Addyman's own contribution reviewed a number of recent surveys and excavations at Scottish towers which reveal hitherto-unsuspected variety. To take two significant examples, the amoun t of medieval fabric within the 19lh -century Brodick Castle is much greater than was suspected, and the confection of Craigevar has proven to have been not a de 1101'0 construction. but the rebuilding of a more prosaic tower house. The potential cross-fertilisation of ideas derived from this conference has been most rewarding, and it is encouraging to note that the organisers hope to repeat thei r success. J ohn Ma lcolm, Historic Scotland John.Malcolm@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
NEWS& VI EWS

undertaken at Lejre up to the year 2006 are published in Niles 2007. John D. Niles jdniles@wisc.edu

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Amulet/rom Lejre, Roskilde AII/sel/",!

Odin (OOinn) fr om Lejre The rOllnd of excavations undertaken at Lejre. Denmark, d uring 2008- 09 has led to the discovery of yet more build ings, including one 60m in length (making it the largest yet known from Southern Scandinavia during the first millennium). The discoveries will provoke renewed interest in this Iron-Age and Viking-Age settlement complex. For the moment. interest has focused on one of the small finds unearthed in 2009: an amulet. made of silver with niello in lay, that appears to represent the god Od in (Old Norse 06inn) en throned on his high scat, backed by a pair of beasts and nanked by a pair of ravens. A report on that object by Tom Christcnsen has appeared in the 2009 issue of ROMU. the annual journal of Roskilde M useum (pp 7- 25). It includes over two dozen images showing the object and some items that help 10 contextualize it. For the convenience of pcrso ns withou t easy access to the journal (or a knowledge of Danish), an English summary, drafted by Carl Edlund Andersen and myself and accompanied by a selection of images, is posted at my personal website: http:// www.english.wisc.eduljdniles Reports and studies relat ing to the excavations

The BlIckrest Beasts of 06inn from Lcjrc The question of the identity of the occupant of the Lejre high chair has been mooted on the world wide web. Among the features that help support an identification of that figure as 06inn are the highly naturalistic birds perched on the armrests. These could well be understood as 60inn's ravens. Huginn and M lIninn. In this context. it has also been speculated that the two beast heads on the back rest of the Lejre high chair could represent wolves. As is well known from the poem Grinmismti/ (verse 19) in the Poetic Edda. 06inn is the master of two wolves named Geri and Freki. Snorri Sturluson likewise included and expanded on this information in the Gy/ftlgillllillg section of the Prose Edda, and the names or both wolves also appear in ska ld ic poetry as lerms (heifi) wit h the generic sense "wolr' (Jcsch 2002,

255).

Amlllet from Lejre, rear l'i'II', RIme KmulelZoomorgraphic

With this in mind, it may be worth recalling other possible Viking Age arlistic representat ions of - if not

definitely 60inn's wolves pairs of wo lves o r wolflike beasts. For cxa mple. Christenscn has observed that the annrcsts of thc silver chair figurine from Hedeby could be lions or perhaps wolves (2009, 10); the laller animal. at lea sl. might have been familiar loca lly to Scandinavians. The Boksta runcsto nc (U855 in Uppland. Swedcn) includes a depiction o f a spea r-wielding man o n ho rsebac k in the compan y of two dog- o r wolflikc beasts and two birds. This was interprcted bX SiJf:n ( 1983. 90) as represen ting 66inn in the company of his wolves Geri and Frek i. as well as hi s ra vens Huginn and Muninn . Of co urse. as is so o ften thc case wi th such pre-Christian Scandina via n artefacts, int erpretation is neither clear-cut no r without controversy. For example. Vierk interpreted the Hedeby chair <IS not 60inn's high -seat but a throne functioning as a pla tform from which a I'o/ra (female witch) pract ices seior (magic<l1 arts). As fo r the Lejre figurine. it is by no means certain that the anima ls represented were intended to be wolves. The beasts wear collars (or neck-rings). suggesting domesticated animals. though perhaps Viking Age Scandina vians might have expected 60inn to equip his wolves wi th co llars o r rings. It might ha ve been no more than a desi re fo r symmetry of form tha t d ictated the placement of two bea st heads o n either side of the back rest of thc Lejre figurine' s chair. Nevertheless. the poss ibi lity tha t the Lejre chair figurine might feature not only two raven s but additionally two wolves would provide further significant reasons to identify its occupant as 60inn . Cllrl Edlund Anderson ca rI. a nderson@unisa bana.edu.co Rderenecs Christensen. T 2009 'Odin fra Lejre. ROMU, 7- 25. Jesch. J 2002 Th e S catutilUlI'iallsfrollllhe Vendet Period 10 Ihe Telllh Celllllry: An Elhnographic Perspeclil'e. Studies in Historical A rchaeoethnology 5, Wood bridge: Boydell. Niles. J 2007 8eo\l"lI/f alld /..ejre. ed. with M. Osborn a nd featuri ng con tribu tions by T. Christensen, Tempe: Arizona

Center fo r Medieval & Renaissa nce Studics. Silcn, L 1983 'Nfigra renektioner angfiende bilderna pfi Balingsta-stenen i Uppland', Forlll'iilmell 78. 88 91. Vierck. H 2002 'Zwei Amulettbilder als Zeugnissc des ausgehenden Heidentums in Haithabu', in BericJlle iiber die AIIsgrabllllgen ill Hailhabll 34: Das archiiologische Fundmaterial VI \. NcumUnster: Wacholtz. 9-67. The S taffords hire Hoa rd; a response to the repo rt by Mark Hall in thc Socie ty's Newsletter, 43: few recent archaeo logical discove ries have given ri se to so many rumo urs as the Stafford shire An gloSaxon hoard but o ne ill-informed item even found its way into your recent ewsletter. Allhough several parish boundaries in the area do follow the Roman Watling Street. which was then still in use, the 'out-stepping pari sh bo undary on wh ich the fie ld si ts'. a location suggested 10 have been of possible ritual significance. is that of the West Midlands count y, actually drawn up only in 1974. This actually ran through the area of the 19 lh --century extra-parochial and later parish. coincidentally passing close to the find-spot. Enough sa id! Della I-lookc. University of Birmin gham Hornb)' Castle Fieldwork: 20 10 Season . Hornby Castle near Beda le North Yorkshire was co nstructed in the late 13lh century o n the si te o f an earlier structure dating back at least into the carly 12lh century. It was substantially expandcd into the co urt yard castle seen today by Sir Jo hn Conyers KG in the mid 15 lh century beforc being further altered by William Lord Conyers at thc turn of the 15 1h/ 16th centuries with the construction o f the famous Ho rn by Po rt a l(now in the Burrell Collection G lasgow). It subsequent ly became the country hOllse ofthc Earls of Holderness in the late 17lb century. and then the Osborne Dukes of Leeds in the late 18th century, when significant refurbishment work took place, before being gutted and partially dcmolished in 1930 to pay the debts o f the then owner the l l'h Du ke of Leed s. T he Architectu ra l and Archaeologica l Society of Durham and No rt humberland