Qualla: Mammen

Mammen: Introduction

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bococo, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1868 a farmer near the village of Mammen started digging into a mound called Bjerringhøj, probably for the soil. What he opened was a wooden burial chamber that had been sealed since the winter of 970-71, holding a man laid out on a down cushion in clothing trimmed with silk and fur, with two axes at his feet. Around the same time a hoard turned up in a gravel pit close by. Between them, these two finds gave their name to an entire phase of Viking art — and the village, which now makes cheese, is the reason art historians have a term called the Mammen style at all.

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Image: Bococo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mammen: What Was in the Chamber

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bococo, CC BY-SA 3.0. The burial was not a warrior thrown into the ground with his gear. It was a staging. The dead man lay in a timber chamber on a bed of down, dressed in costly clothing decorated with purple and red silk and embroidered in red and blue — textiles so fine that they are among the bes...

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Image: Bococo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mammen: The Axe

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bococo, CC BY-SA 3.0. One of the two axes is the reason the rest matters. Its iron head is inlaid with silver in patterns of extraordinary density and confidence, work far too fine for anything meant to split a shield. It is a parade weapon, made to be seen and probably carried on ceremonial occasions...

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Image: Bococo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mammen: How a Village Names a Style

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bococo, CC BY-SA 3.0. Archaeologists needed a label for the ornament on these objects, and the axe from Mammen became the type specimen — so the whole phase, dated to around 970, is now called the Mammen style. Its signature is a large bird with a pelleted body, a crest and a round eye, its hip marked...

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Image: Bococo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mammen: Where the Grave Goods Went

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nationalmuseet - The National Museum of Denmark from Denmark, CC BY-SA 2.0. The contents of the chamber and the hoard both went to Copenhagen, and the objects are now held by the National Museum of Denmark, where the textiles in particular have been reconstructed and displayed to show what the man actually looked like. Almost nothing of the find stayed i...

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Image: Nationalmuseet - The National Museum of Denmark from Denmark | CC BY-SA 2.0

Mammen: The Village That Makes Cheese

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bococo, CC BY-SA 3.0. Modern Mammen sits about 7 kilometres north of Bjerringbro in Viborg Municipality, and if the name is familiar to Danes it is usually not because of Viking metalwork. Mammen is where Mammen cheese is made, a well-known Danish brand, and the dairy is the village's working identity...

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Image: Bococo | CC BY-SA 3.0