SCANNING VOL.

9999, 17 (2015)
Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Analysis and Interpretation of a Unique Arabic Finger Ring from the

Viking Age Town of Birka, Sweden
SEBASTIAN K.T.S. WARMLANDER,1,2 LINDA WAHLANDER,3 RAGNAR SAAGE,4 KHODADAD REZAKHANI,5
SAIED A. HAMID HASSAN,6 AND MICHAEL NEI7
1

Division of Biophysics, Arrhenius Laboratories, Stockholm University, Sweden

UCLA/Getty Conservation Programme, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
3
Swedish History Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
4
Department of Archaeology, University of Tartu, Estonia
5
Institute of Iranian Studies, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany
6
Supreme Council of Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt
7
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden
2

Summary: In this work we used non-destructive SEM

imaging and EDS analysis to characterize the material
composition of an Arabic finger ring, which was found
in a 9th c. womans grave at the Viking Age (A.D. 793
1066) trading center of Birka, Sweden. The ring is set
with a violet stone inscribed with Arabic Kufic writing,
here interpreted as reading il-la-lah, i.e. For/to
Allah. The stone was previously thought to be an
amethyst, but the current results show it to be coloured
glass. The ring has been cast in a high-grade silver alloy
(94.5/5.5 Ag/Cu) and retains the post-casting marks
from the filing done to remove flash and mold lines.
Thus, the ring has rarely been worn, and likely passed
from the silversmith to the woman buried at Birka with
few owners in between. The ring may therefore
constitute material evidence for direct interactions
between Viking Age Scandinavia and the Islamic
world. Being the only ring with an Arabic inscription
found at a Scandinavian archaeological site, it is a
unique object among Swedish Viking Age material. The
technical analysis presented here provides a better
understanding of the properties and background of this
intriguing piece of jewelry. SCANNING 9999:XXXX,
2015. 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Contract grant sponsor: Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation.

Contract grant sponsor: Berit Wallenberg Foundation.

Address for reprints: Sebastian K.T.S. Warmlander, Division of
Biophysics, Arrhenius Laboratories, Stockholm University, 106 91
Stockholm, Sweden.
Email: seb@dbb.su.se
Received 18 September 2014; Accepted with revision 29 December
2014
DOI: 10.1002/sca.21189
Published online XX Month Year in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

Key words: scanning electron microscopy (SEM),

archaeology, Allah, Kufic Arabic, Islamic jewelry

Introduction
Birka, often considered Swedens first town, had a
strategic location on the island Bjorko, 25 km west of
modern-day Stockholm (Ambrosiani, 2012). Archaeological excavations of Birka have unearthed numerous
objects from distant places, testifying to Birkas
importance as a trading center during the Viking Age
(A.D. 7931066) (cf. Hagg, 83; Jansson, 85a, 88;
Duczko, 97; Ambrosiani and Gustin, 2003; Sindbk
2012; Ambrosiani, 2013). One of the most significant
finds is an Arabic-style finger ring (Fig. 1), found by
archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe during the 18721895
excavations of the Birka grave fields. This ring is now
housed at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm,
where the inventory catalogue describes it as being of
gilded silver, set with a violet amethyst inscribed with
the word Allah in Arabic Kufic writing. Even though a
few rings of similar design have been encountered at
Birka and other archaeological sites (Jansson, 88), this
is the only Viking Age ring with an Arabic inscription
found in Scandinavia, which affords it a unique status.
However, a proper technical analysis of the ring has so
far not been carried out, and its material composition has
been questioned. It was recently decided that a replica of
the ring should be made, and this provided us with an
opportunity to examine the ring using non-destructive
methods. Here, we present the results of this investigation, which mainly is based on SEMEDS imaging
and elemental analysis.

SCANNING VOL. 9999, 9999 (2015)

Fig 1. Photographs of the studied ring, by Ragnar Saage and by Christer Ahlin at the Swedish History Museum. Black line is 1 cm.

Materials

The ring was found in grave 515 (Swedish History

Museum; SHM 34000, Bj 515; FID 106842), located in
grave field 2 A north of Borg on the Bjorko Island. The
grave contained a rectangular wooden coffin, and
although the skeleton was completely decomposed,
the clothes, jewelry, an equal-armed brooch, and two
characteristic oval brooches of type P 27b (Jansson,
85b) show it to be a female burial dating to circa AD
850. The ring was encountered where the womans chest
would have been, slightly below the right oval brooch
and next to a pair of scissors (Arbman, 55). From the
left oval brooch a needle case was hanging in a chain,
and it seems possible that also the ring and the scissors
had been attached to the (right) oval brooch, i.e. with a
now-lost string. Yet, as the burial position of the woman
is unknown, it is also possible that she was laid to rest
with her hands on her chest, and with the ring on one of
her fingers. Between the two brooches was a row of
beads made from glass, rock crystal, and carnelian
(Fig. S1). The last two materials could originate from
India or Caucasus, although also Yemen was known for
its carnelian (Danielsson, 73; Arrhenius, 78; Jansson
85b, cat. no 15). In addition, some of the glass beads
have a foreign appearance, and were likely imported.
The womans brooches and clothing are however typical
Scandinavian. The clothing included an undergarment
of flax and a garment of blue wool, likely dyed with
woad (Geijer, 38; Hagg, 74; Jansson, 85b).
The ring is a normal-size finger ring, measuring
19 mm in outer shank diameter and 26 mm from the
bottom of the shank to the top of the stone. It is made of
white metal, set with a pink/violet stone with an Arabic
inscription (Fig. 1 and S2). The overall design, with four
low prongs holding the oval cabochon-cut stone, is also
Arabic (Arne, 14; Jansson, 88). Three other rings of
this design have been found at Birka: one as a stray find
in the Black Earth, and the other two in graves Bj 526
and 791 (Figs. S35). The ring in the latter grave
displays flower ornamentation typical for the Seljuk

culture in Asia Minor. At Birka, it was not used as a

finger-ring, but had been made into a decorative amulet
together with an added silver bead (Fig. S5). Other Birka
finds include a similar ring missing a stone, and a stone
of carnelian thought to belong to a ring (Fig. S6). Rings
of this Arabic type have furthermore been encountered
in trading posts in Eastern Europe, such as Polom,
Poltava, and Verchnee Saltovo (Arne, 14, Figs. 326
328), and in what appears to be a male grave in the
Tankeevka cemetery in Tatarstan (Androshchuk, 2013
Fig. 81:4). These other rings do however not carry
inscriptions. During the Viking Age rings with Arabic
writing are rather uncommon in Europe, and only a
handful have so far been encountered (Roman Kovalev,
personal communication). The Birka ring is the only one
found in Scandinavia, and because of its engraving, it
has often been interpreted as a signet ring (Arne, 14;
Arbman, 40; 55; Aiken and Arwidsson, 86).

Methods
The ring was examined with a standard optical
stereomicroscope (E. Leitz GmbH) as well as with a
table-top Hitachi TM-3000 scanning electron microscope (SEM), operating at 15 kV and equipped for
elemental analysis (SEMEDS). The SEM investigation
was done without coating the object, using high vacuum
(10 5 Torr) for the metal surface analysis, and low
vacuum (10 3 Torr) for the analysis of the stone (to
avoid charge build-up). SEM-EDS data was recorded
for five minutes at each measured point. Multiple
photographs of the ring, taken from different angles with
a digital SLR camera (Canon EOS 600D), were stitched
together into a 3D model using the Agisoft PhotoScan
software (Agisoft LLC, Russia).

Results
Photographs of the ring are shown in Fig. 1, and a 3D
model of the ring is shown in Fig. S8. Digital 3D models

Warmlander et al.: Analysis of an Arabic finger ring from Viking Age Birka, Sweden

have previously proven useful for visualizing intricate

details (Nei et al., 2014) and for accurate metric
measurements (Sholts et al., 2011) of archaeological
material. The current 3D model is included to give the
reader a better visual understanding of the ring. SEM
images of details of the ring are shown in Fig. 2.
Remnants of organic material are present in the crevices
under the stone (Fig. 2), which is not uncommon in
archaeologically excavated objects. The ring shank is
broken in three places, and the parts have been clumsily
glued together. SEM-EDS analysis showed the joins to
contain only organic material no traces of soldering
material were observed. It is not clear whether the ring
was broken when it was unearthed in the late 1800s, but
it might have been. The appearance of the glue is not
consistent with 1,000-year old animal glue, which
anyway would be too weak to hold small metal parts.
Most likely it is a modern polymer adhesive, although no
documentation regarding such repairs has been found.
The alloy was found to consist of 94.5% Ag and 5.5% Cu
(Fig. 3 and Table 1). Also Cl and S were detected,
indicating the presence of the common silver corrosion
products AgCl and AgS. This is consistent with the
blackened metal surface. No gold was detected on the
metal surface. In many places natural interdendritic
surface corrosion in the eutectic reveals the microstructure of the material (Fig. 2), alleviating the need for

surface-etching or destructive cross-section sampling.

The dendritic patterns of this microstructure (Berthelon,
2007) allow us to conclude that the ring was cast without
further manipulation (as expected). The metal surface
furthermore exhibits ubiquitous parallel striations
(Fig. 2). These striations arguably originate from filing
carried out to remove flash and mold lines after the
casting, and the presence of file marks on the prong tops
(Fig. 2) indicates that the filing took place before the
stone was set (otherwise the stone would have been
damaged). Together with the absence of gold on the
metal surface (i.e., the SEM-EDS results), the file marks
clearly show that the previous description of the ring as
gilded was mistaken: if the surface had been gilt and the
gold layer had worn away, also the file markings would
be gone. But the metal surface displays no wear, and as
the original file marks are still in place, this ring has
never been much used.
For the stone, SEMEDS analysis identified the
elements O (70.4%), Si (20.6%), Na (3.7%), Mg (2.5%),
Ca (0.8%), K (0.7%), and Al (0.7%) (Fig. S7). This is a
composition typical for soda-lime glass, even though the
amount of oxygen is at the high end (this might relate to
the calibration of the table-top SEM). Examination
under a light microscope revealed numerous spherical
air bubbles inside the stone. Such bubbles are typical for
manufactured glass, but unheard of in natural crystalline

Fig 2. SEM images of details of the ring (recorded by S.W.). Upper left: Shank surface covered with file marks. Upper right: Close-up of
dendritic microstructure revealed by interdendritic corrosion, showing that the alloy was not manipulated after casting. Lower left: File
marks are present also on the prongs, indicating that the filing was done before the stone was set. Lower right: Organic material is present in
the crevices under the stone, which is typical for archaeological objects.

SCANNING VOL. 9999, 9999 (2015)

Fig 3. SEM-EDS spectrum for the ring surface. Data was recorded without sample-coating for five minutes at 15 kV, using a table-top
Hitachi TM-3000 SEM. The resulting elemental composition is shown in Table 1.

materials (they might be found in e.g. amorphous

volcanic rock). We conclude that the stone is not an
amethyst, as previously thought, but consists of
coloured glass. The colouring agent(s) is unknown, as
the elements responsible for the violet hue appear to be
below the detection limit of the employed SEM
instrument. Further elucidation of the colouring agents
would likely require destructive analysis. In difference
from the metal, the stone displays moderate use-wear in
the form of scratches and dents. This could be interpreted as the stone being older than the mounting
perhaps the stone was reused from an older piece of
jewelry? On the other hand, the stone is the most
exposed part of a ring, and here it is made from a
relatively soft material, i.e. glass with a typical Mohs

hardness of 5.56.5. It is therefore not surprising that the

stone displays more wear than the silver mounting.
When jewelry was inscribed in ancient times, the gemcutters usually preferred slightly harder quartz-based
materials such as agate, amethyst, and onyx (King,
2003; Schumann, 2011), all of which have a Mohs
hardness around 7. Considering that the inscription is
located on top of the stone, it is actually quite well
preserved, which is in line with the ring body displaying
minimal use-wear.
The inscription is written in a lapidary form of Arabic
Kufic script (Figs. 1, 4, and S2). This angular script was
developed in the 7th c., dominated Arabic writing in the
8th10th c., and waned in popularity during the 12th c.
when it was replaced by the cursive Naskh style. In our

TABLE 1 Elemental composition of the ring surface, analyzed with SEM-EDS (cf. Fig. 3). The results are interpreted as a 94.5/5.5 Ag/Cu
alloy displaying AgS and AgCl2 corrosion. Al, Na, P, Si, and Mg are typical earth elements, and are commonly found on the surface of
archaeologically excavated objects.
Element

AN

Series

Net unn. [wt.%]

C norm. [wt.%]

C Atom. [at.%]

C Error [%]

Silver
Chlorine
Copper
Sulfur
Aluminium
Sodium
Phosphorus
Silicon
Magnesium
Total:

47 L-series
17 K-series
29 K-series
16 K-series
13 K-series
11 K-series
15 K-series
14 K-series
12 K-series

222622
28205
2187
11877
4283
1718
4183
1816
983

81.42
5.96
2.79
2.41
1.22
0.94
0.92
0.43
0.36
96.46

84.42
6.18
2.89
2.49
1.27
0.97
0.95
0.45
0.37
100.00

63.54
14.15
3.70
6.32
3.81
3.44
2.50
1.30
1.25
100.00

2.6
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0

Warmlander et al.: Analysis of an Arabic finger ring from Viking Age Birka, Sweden

Fig 4. The Arabic inscription in the stone, engraved with early

Kufic characters. From right to left it appears to read AL__LLH,
which we interpret as il-la-lah, i.e. For/to Allah. Compare
Figs. 1 and S2.

case, the angular style and the absence of a shidda sign

indicates an early version of Kufic, which is consistent
with the grave at Birka dating to around AD 850. From
right to left, the characters appear to read AL__LL[H?]. Considering the normal stylistic writing of the
word Allah (Arabic for God) as ALLH, the last part of
the inscription seems to invoke the Islamic high deity.
That said, the elongated middle section and the extra
stroke representing a third L are problematic.
Presently, we interpret the inscription as ILLLH, to be
read il-la-lah, i.e. For/to (the approval) of the God.
Several regional variations of Arabic spelling and
writing are however known to exist, and it is furthermore
possible that the inscription was written or copied by
someone with an incomplete understanding of Arabic
writing. Consequently, alternative interpretations of the
engraving are possible. For example, if a missing line is
assumed, the letters could be read as INsLLH, i.e.
Inshallah (god-willing). The missing dots for N and
s would then be explained by the normal conventions of
lapidary Kufic. Most likely, we will never know the
exact meaning behind the inscription, or where and why
it was done. For the present investigation, it is enough to
note that its Arabic/Islamic nature clearly links the ring
and the stone to the cultural sphere of the Caliphate.
Discussion and Conclusions

Our analysis shows that the studied ring consists of a

high-quality (94.5%) non-gilded silver alloy, set with a
stone of coloured soda-lime glass with an Arabic
inscription reading some version of the word Allah.
Thus, the previous description of this item as a signet
ring consisting of gilded silver set with an amethyst was
not entirely correct. This raises the question whether the
absence of expensive materials in the ring (from a
modern point of view) demotes its historic importance
or value? The simple answer is: not at all. The
significance of this ring has never been based on its
purported material composition, but on its connection to
the Islamic world. This connection is now not only
confirmed, but actually strengthened due to the mint
condition of the rings metal body, as will be discussed
below.

For the stone, we must remember that even though

coloured glass might today be perceived as a fake
material of lower value, this was not necessarily so in the
past. Even though glass production began around 5,000
years ago in the Levant (Nicholson and Shaw, 2000;
Glover et al., 2003), it was still an exotic material in
Viking Age Scandinavia. Judging by archaeological
finds from pre-historic Scandinavian workshops, it
appears that the craftsmen had learned the basics of
glass-working, but did not yet master glass-production
(Callmer, 77; Glover et al., 2003; Warmlander et al.,
2010). Glass was consequently a prestigious material
that had to be imported, either as ready-made objects
such as bottles and beakers, or as rods or shattered
fragments that the local artisans could work into highly
valued colourful beads. Even if the woman in grave 515
knew that the stone in her ring was made from glass, she
would not have considered it fake.
For the ring body, the presence of original filing
marks is in stark contrast to most objects in the Birka
graves, where the standard copper-alloy jewelry almost
always displays some degree of wear. Grave goods in
expensive silver were relatively uncommon during the
Viking Age, and a proper use-wear study of the existing
silver jewelry still needs to be carried out. The most
common silver objects in the Birka grave fields are
coins, all of which were imported: the first indigenous
Swedish coins were minted in A.D. 995 in the city of
Sigtuna, i.e. just after Birka had been abandoned
(Malmer, 2002; 2010). Many of the coins at Birka
came from the Caliphate, and had high proportions of
silver, mainly provided by the rich silver mines in
Panjshir, Afghanistan (Negmatov, 99). Such silver
coins were frequently used as raw material by
Scandinavian silver smiths (Kovalev, 2002; Eniosova
and Mitoyan, 2011; Boytrup et al, 2013). Given its
Arabic style, the high silver content in the studied ring is
therefore not unexpected. In difference from the ring,
though, the Arabic silver coins that found their way to
Viking Age Scandinavia were usually worn and torn
(Gullbekk, 2012; Hoven, 85) from passing many hands
along the established trade routes (Noonan, 89; 90;
Rezakhani 2010).
When items retaining fresh production marks are
encountered in excavated graves, it can be speculated
that they were purpose-manufactured as grave offerings
by local craftsmen (cf. Trotzig, 69). In our case though,
we know that the ring was produced far outside
Scandinavia, and being buried in the Birka grave fields
was hardly the main rationale behind its production. We
can only guess what purpose the ring originally was
meant to serve, although it was likely not intended for
everyday use. The previously suggested idea that it was
a signet ring (Arne, 14; Arbman, 40; 55; Aiken and
Arwidsson, 86) should probably be discarded: even
though engraved rings were often used for such purposes
in societies where most people could not read or write

SCANNING VOL. 9999, 9999 (2015)

and where written signatures had no legal status, it

would be unusual to employ a gods name as your seal.
Although harder than wax (as used in seals), glass is
furthermore not an ideal material for a signet ring,
although in this case such use would be compatible with
the stone displaying much more wear than the metal
body. The lack of wear on the silver surface suggests that
the ring passed from the Arabic silversmith who made it
to the woman in grave 515 with few, if any, owners in
between. Even though the decomposed state of the
bones in the grave precludes any biochemical analysis,
which otherwise could have shed light on the geographic
or ethnic origin of the buried woman, it is not impossible
that the woman herself, or someone close to her, might
have visited - or even originate from - the Caliphate or its
surrounding regions.
Such long-distance travelling during the Viking Age
is of course mentioned both on Swedish rune stones and
in Mediaeval written texts (Birkeland, 54; Androshchuk, 2012; Mikkelsen 2012; Montgomery, 2012;
Shepard, 2012; Jonsson Hraundal, 2013;). In addition
to Scandinavian expeditions to distant places, it appears
also northernmost Europe was visited by foreigners.
For example, the Hiberno-Arabic traveler Yacoub
al-Tartushi has provided a lively description of the
Viking Age town of Hedeby, which makes it likely that
he visited at least southern Scandinavia (i.e. Jutland)
(Birkeland, 54 with references; Mikkelsen, 2012).
However, the ancient texts also mention encounters with
giants and dragons (as in the Icelandic Saga of Ingvar the
Far-Travelled (Palsson and Edwards, 89). Thus, it is not
always easy to tell fact from fiction, especially as the old
texts usually were written down based on hearsay. When
backed up by physical evidence, on the other hand,
peoples stories become much more credible. By that
standard, the importance of the studied Birka ring is that
it most eloquently corroborates ancient tales about direct
contacts between Viking Age Scandinavia and the
Islamic world. Such contacts must have facilitated
exchange of goods, culture, ideas, and news much more
efficiently than indirect trade involving several merchants in-between. The material analysis conducted
here therefore not only improves our understanding of
the finger ring itself, but also helps to advance our
knowledge of the historic period from which it came
to us.

Acknowledgments
We thank Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Gunnar
Andersson, and Kent Andersson at the Swedish History
Museum in Stockholm for helping us to access the
museum collections. Kjell Jansson at Stockholm
University helped with the SEM analysis, while Roman
Kovalev, Sabrina B. Sholts, and an anonymous reviewer
provided helpful comments on the manuscript. Court

jeweller Christian Bolin at W.A. Bolin, Stockholm,

helped with the examination of the ring and the stone.
The study was financed by grants from Helge Ax:son
Johnson Foundation and Berit Wallenberg Foundation
to S.W., while R.S received support from the European
Union through the European Regional Development
Fund (Center of Excellence CECT) and from the
European Social Funds Doctoral Studies and Internationalisation Programme DoRa, which is carried out
by Foundation Archimedes.

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