Niederdollendorf stone
The Niederdollendorf stone or gravestone is a carved Frankish stele from the 7th century CE, named for the town Niederdollendorf, where it was found in 1901 in a Frankish graveyard. The stone is a notable both as an exemplary work of Frankish sculpture and as a possible early example of Germanic Christian material culture.[1]
Discovery and location
A Frankish graveyard was discovered about 400m north of the boundary of Niederdollendorf in 1901 during construction work. No proper excavation took place other than the sporadic uncovering during this work. The graveyard (in use between the latter half of the 6th century and the 7th century) consisted of burials with oriented slabs and, in some cases, with grave goods buried within. The specific grave the Niederdollendorf stone belonged to had no grave goods and was dated to among the later of the grave's burials.[2]: 63–64
The stone is currently on display at Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn.[3]
Appearance and interpretation
The stone measures 42.5 cm by 22‒25 cm by 16‒19 cm and was carved from Lorraine limestone. It was made in the 7th century and reused later as a gravestone. The original purpose is unknown, so the common reference to it as a "gravestone" is slightly misleading.[4]: 45 [2]: 64–65
On one broad side, a spear-wielding man is shown standing on an interlace pattern. Rays extend from his head and he has a circle on his torso. Incised lines extend out from the chest and feet.[4]: 53 [1] German archeologist Kurt Böhner was the first to conjecture that this image is a depiction of Christ, an interpretation that since has been widely adopted.[4]: 47 Such conjecture reads the interlace under-foot as a serpent, representing evil trampled on by Christ. The rays, resembling hair, are read as a halo. No consensus has been found for an interpretation of the circle, which has been read as a Christian bulla, a torc, and as some kind of necklace. Böhner read the incised lines as a stylised aureole, an interpretation which has not been sustained by later scholarship.[4]: 52–53 The spear is usually read as representative of a Germanic syncretisation of Christ, reconceptualising the triumphant Christ within a Germanic warrior culture.[4]: 62
One critic of this interpretation is Michael Friedrich, who instead reads the figure as a (perhaps deliberately) religiously ambiguous appropriation of Roman imperial symbols of power, complaining of the absence of "any distinct symbol or signifier that might enable us to clearly identify Christ or even presume a Christian frame of reference."[4]: 64 Another critic J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, who favours an identification of the figure with Odin, said of the stone that if it is Christian, it is "a parody of Christianity by and for men still essentially pagan".[5]: 20, 29
The other broad side depicts a man with a sword or scramasax and what is perhaps a comb. A circular object near his legs is perhaps a canteen. Three serpent heads menace him from both sides. The comb and the serpents, respectively common pagan grave goods and grave symbols, have caused this side to be interpreted as a depiction of a pagan Frankish warrior in his grave.[4]: 45 [1] Böhner saw the figure in this light. However, in more recent scholarship, Sebastian Ristow has contested this interpretation, alleging that it is based on a faulty understanding of Christian Germanic culture.[4]: 47 [2]: 67
The narrow sides and top are decorated with a serpent and various geometric figures.[4]: 45
Gallery
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A narrow side of the stone, depicting a serpent. -
The side of the stone conjectured to depict a dead warrior. -
A reproduction of the stone in Friedenstraße (in front of the Protestant church), Niederdollendorf, erected in 2016.
References
- ^ a b c James, Edward (2018). "Niederdollendorf stone". Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
- ^ a b c Böhner, Kurt (1944–50). "Der fränkische Grabstein von Niederdollendorf am Rhein". Germania. 28: 63–75. doi:10.11588/ger.1944.45947.
- ^ "Der fränkische Grabstein von Niederdollendorf" (PDF). Kreis de Heimatfreunde Niederdollendorf. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Friedrich, Matthias (2023). "The Enduring Power of Images". Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West. Cambridge University Press. pp. 37–104. ISBN 9781009207768.
- ^ Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. (1983). The Frankish Church. Oxford University Press.
Further reading
- Böhner, K. "Der fränkische Grabstein von Niederdollendorf am Rhein", Germania 28 (1944–50), 63–75.
- Böhner, K. s.v. "Niederdollendorf." in Hoops, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 21:153–62.
- Brast, W. "Der Bildstein von Niederdollendorf" Festschrift zum Hundertjährigen Bestehen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 1869-1969. Zweiter Teil: Fachwissenschaftliche Beiträge (1970).
- Redlich, C. "Der Bildstein von Niederdollendorf" Die Kunde N.F. 25 (1974), 157–163.
- Ristow, S. "Persönliche Glaubenshaltungen in der Archäologie: Problemfälle aus Spätantike und Frühmittelalter," in Persünliche Frömmigkeit: Funktion und Bedeutung individueller Gotteskontakte im interdisziplinären Dialog, ed. W. Friese and I. Nielsen. Münster: Lit (2011).
- Zehnder, G. (ed.) 100 Bilder und Objekte. Archäologie und Kunst im Rheinischen Landesmuseum. Bonn (1999).
External links
- Niederdollendorfer Bilderstein on The Megalithic Portal
- 3D models of the entire funerary stele or of the decorated upper part.