Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1999, Page 185

HAMARINN FRA FOSSI
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the result of many settlers origins in Norse-Celtic and Norse-Celtic-Anglo-Saxon Britain,
Ireland and the Islands. This refinement to Kristján Eldjárn's view is in contrast to the still
generally accepted belief that the Foss object “looks as if it were a compound of a hammer
and a cross, even the work of a man of mixed religion.”
In short, I suggest the Foss “hammer” is not pagan at all but rather a Christian Norse
amulet. For instance, the “fine animals head” of the Foss object is strikingly similar to
depictions oflions in the Christian traditions of Ireland and Britain during and previous to
the Viking Age. Examples of the stylistic similarity of the Foss animal’s head to the Insular
Celtic lion is clear from a survey of stonework and manuscript illuminations. Two
particularly good comparisons can be found in Franfoise Henry’s Irish Art during the
Viking Invasions.There, in figures 26a and 26b, she presents sketches taken from two carved
stones, the Arboe cross and the Clones cross, both representations of Daniel in the Lion’s
den.The lions' heads of these sketches are stylistically consistent with the Foss animal head.
If we accept the Foss anirnal head as that of a lion, then, it is worth noting the lion head
not only serves as a decorative element, but - in Britain and Ireland especially - was a well-
used symbol within the Christian tradition. Specifically drawn from Ezekiel (I, 5-21) and
Revelation (IV, 6-9), the lion came first to signify the evangelist St Mark but also, fronr at
least the ninth century, the Resurrection of Christ.
Therefore, if the Foss object does indeed date to the Viking-Norse period, its stylistic
similarity to contemporary Insular Celtic Christian works makes it most appropriately seen
as a cross with special dedication to the evangelist St Mark and/or the Resurrection of
Christ.This interpretation is of course strengthened by the observation that the object does
not look like a hammer but is quite clearly a cross with animal head.
Should the association of an animal head with the Christian cross give us pause, we
need only look to the famed centerpiece of the Norse-influenced Irish Urnes style, the
Cross of Cong. Dated to c. 1125 AD, this elaborate bronze processional cross includes “a
ferocious beast....With the main member of the cross uplifted in its fanged jaws”.Though
the Cong beast is looking towards rather than away from the cross itself, this example
nonetheless legitimizes the association of a lion/dragon’s head with the Latin cross in the
Insular Celtic Christian tradition.
Thus, perhaps we should finally cast aside the view of the Foss object as Þór’s hammer
Mjölnir and instead see it as a Celtic-influenced Christian Norse cross with specific
reference or dedication to St Mark or the Resurrection.This interpretation need not make
us disregard the importance of the little piece. Rather, I would suggest it makes the Foss
cross all the more interesting for understanding Norse Christianity in early Iceland.