Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2007, Síða 26

Elín Hreiðarsdóttir
two halves, and each half with three or
four scallops.
The scallop motif has a specific
symbolic meaning in Christianity, being
the emblem of St. James and is particu-
larly connected to St. James’s shrine in
Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It is
said that pilgrims en route often wore
such symbols on their hats or clothes.
(Hunter and Russell 2001, 117-119: also
see Spencer 1998; Blick 2007). Icelandic
beads displaying this motif can on these
grounds be suggested to have originated
in Spain, more precisely in Santiago de
Compostela or the area around it. As
mentioned before, there was a considera-
ble production of jet beads and other jet
objects in the area, and many of these had
scallop decorations (Hunter and Russell
2001:117-119). There is no indication
that St. James was a particularly popular
saint in Iceland; only two churches had
him as a saint in the period before 1400
and in both instances he was only one of
several patrons (Cormack 1991:108).8
However, there are some references about
Icelanders visiting Santiago de Compost-
ela. Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson is for example
said to have gone there on a pilgrimage
towards the end of 12th century and
according to Björn Einarsson Jórsalafari's
will from 1405 he promised to go on a
pilgrimage to Compostela (Cormack
1991:108).
Most if not all the scallop beads
found in Iceland are from contexts dated
after the Reformation. Neither Reykholt
nor Skriðuklaustur were in catholic
times dedicated to St. James and how
beads with his emblem became popular
in protestant Iceland and ended up in
churches is an intriguing question but
one that will not be further explored in
this paper. The least we can say is that
in all likelihood the Icelandic scallop-
beads originate in north-west Spain even
if they may have been traded through
several hands before reaching Iceland. It
is likely that some of the other jet beads
found from medieval and post-medieval
times in Iceland might also come from
the same source although the provenance
of the jet cannot be determined without
compositional analysis.
Stone beads
Beads from various stone types from later
times have been found in Iceland. These
amount to just over 10% of the medieval
and early modern material. More than
half of the stone beads are made of agate,
but jasper beads are also common. Other
stone types are rarer. No attempt will be
made to trace the origin of each type of
the stone beads but the focus will instead
be on the two major categories, agate and
jasper beads. It is very likely that at least
the agate, and possibly also the jasper,
came from Idar-Oberstein in western
Germany, which was the capital of agate
and jasper stone cutting in Europe (and
elsewhere) in late medieval and early
modern times (Dublin 1987).9 The earli-
est references to the mining of agate in
this area are from 15th century but it is
surmised that the mining actually started
much earlier. Agate was the stone that
was collected the most and worked in the
8 Although some later references are available for St. James being a patron in other churches, combined in five churches. Orri
Vésteinsson. pers. comm.
9 Although both are found in various places, for example in the Africa, Asia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, and
USA.
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