The Gold "Oath Rings" of Boeslunde

Danish amateur archaeologists made a spectacular find near the village of Boeslunde: four gold arm rings of the type known as "oath rings." Many such rings have been found all across the Viking world, including 65 from a cult site at Lilla Ullevi in Sweden and several others around Boeslunde. Since nobody would have lost so many of these in one place, they must have been offerings to the gods.

The name comes from the well-attested Viking practice of swearing oaths on rings. For example, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 876 an invading Viking army promised King Alfred that they would leave Britain, "and they swore him oaths on the sacred ring, which earlier they would not do to any nation." The Elder Edda mentions a "ring oath" sworn by Odin himself. One Icelandic saga, describing an idealized noble hall of the Viking era, says

On the altar must be a great ring, made of silver, which the temple priest should have on his hand at every meeting of men, and on it all men should swear oaths at any witness giving.

This does not mean, though, that every gold arm ring was an "oath ring;" maybe some were just jewelry. Or maybe any metal ring could be used if an oath seemed called for.

One of the interesting things about the Boeslunde rings is that all have a hollow compartment sealed by cups on the ends of the gold rod that forms the bracelet. What was the compartment for? Nineteenth-century antiquarians imagined it was used to store blood from a sacrifice, or some other holy/magical substance. Sadly, no identifiable residues have been found on any of the rings. So we just don't know.