The Nordic Scimitar: External relations and the creation of elite ideology

The Nordic Bronze Age provides rich and well-preserved material, including large amounts of Central European bronze. It was the northern extention of the European Bronze Age cultures, and was included in this sphere rather late. But when it happened, Nordic societies got fully engaged in large-scale bronze metallurgy and adopted many elements of foreign symbolism. This book focusses on the earliest Nordic Bronze Age, at the outset of large-scale bronze import and metallurgy - when new forms of hierarchies and leadership were in the making. A specific category of objects, the bronze scimitars of Southeastern Scandinavia, provides the opportunity to explore the issues of scale, distance and context.