Editing Valkyrie (section)

==Archaeological record==

===Female figures, cups, and horn-bearers===
[[File:Valkyrie on horse and giving valkyrie.jpg|thumb|Viking Age jewellery thought to depict valkyries. On the left of the photograph is a female figure mounted on horseback with a 'winged' cavalry spear clamped under her leg and a sword in her hand. The mounted female is being greeted by another female figure who is carrying a shield. On the right of the photograph is one of numerous female silver figures usually described in museums and books as valkyries (right)]]

[[Viking Age]] stylized silver amulets depicting women wearing long gowns, their hair pulled back and knotted into a ponytail, sometimes bearing [[drinking horn]]s, have been discovered throughout Scandinavia. These figures are commonly considered to represent valkyries or dísir.<ref name="SILVERFIGURES">Orchard (1997:172) and Lindow (2001:96).</ref> According to Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees, the amulets appear in Viking Age graves, and were presumably placed there because "they were thought to have protective powers".<ref name="MACLEOD37"/>

The [[Tjängvide image stone]] from the Baltic island of [[Gotland]], Sweden features a rider on an eight-legged horse, which may be Odin's eight-legged horse [[Sleipnir]], being greeted by a female figure, which may be a valkyrie at Valhalla.<ref name="LINDOW276">Lindow (2001:276).</ref> The 11th century [[runestone]] [[Sigurd stones#U 1163|U 1163]] features a carving of a female figure bearing a horn that has been interpreted as the valkyrie Sigrdrífa handing the hero Sigurd (also depicted on the stone) a drinking horn.<ref name="WESSEN621">Wessén & Jansson (1953–58:621).</ref>

In 2013, a small figure dated at around 800 AD was discovered in [[Hårby]], [[Denmark]] by three amateur archaeologists. The figurine portrays a woman with long hair knotted into a ponytail who is wearing a long dress which is sleeveless and vest like at the top. Over the top of her dress she is wearing an embroidered apron. Her clothing keeps the woman's arms unobstructed so she can fight with the sword and shield she is holding. Commenting on the figure, archaeologist Mogens Bo Henriksen said that "there can hardly be any doubt that the figure depicts one of Odin's valkyries as we know them from the sagas as well as from Swedish picture stones from the time around AD700".<ref name="KENNEDY-2013">Kennedy (2013).</ref>

<gallery widths="175px" heights="180px" perrow="4">
File:Valkyrie.jpg|A silver figure of a woman holding a drinking horn found in [[Birka]], [[Björkö, Ekerö|Björkö]], [[Uppland]], [[Sweden]].
File:Silver figure with hair and silver figure with horse.jpg|Both silver, a female figure touches her hair while facing forward (left) and a figure with a 'winged' spear clamped under her leg and sword in her hand sits atop a horse, facing another female figure who is carrying a shield (right).
File:Arrival at Valhalla.jpg|A female figure bears a horn to a rider on an eight-legged horse on the [[Tjängvide image stone]] in Sweden.
File:U 1163, Drävle (Sigrdrífa).JPG|A female figure bearing a horn on runestone [[Sigurd stones#U 1163|U 1163]].
</gallery>

===Runic inscriptions===
[[File:Rökstenen.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Rök runestone]]]]
Specific valkyries are mentioned on two [[runestones]]; the early 9th century [[Rök runestone]] in [[Östergötland]], [[Sweden]], and the 10th-century [[Karlevi Runestone]] on the island of [[Öland]], [[Sweden]], which mentions the valkyrie [[Þrúðr]].<ref name="MACLEOD37"/> On the Rök runestone, a [[kenning]] is employed that involves a valkyrie riding a wolf as her steed:
{{poemquote|That we tell the twelfth, where the horse of the Valkyrie [literally "the horse of [[Gunnr]]"] sees food on the battlefield, where twenty kings are lying.<ref name="ANDRÉN11">Andrén (2006:11).</ref>}}

Among the [[Bryggen inscriptions]] found in [[Bergen]], [[Norway]], is the "valkyrie stick" from the late 14th century. The stick features a [[Runic alphabet|runic inscription]] intended as a charm. The inscription says that "I cut cure-runes", and also "help-runes", once against [[elf|elves]], twice against [[trolls]], thrice against [[jötunn|thurs]] and then a mention of a valkyrie occurs:
{{poemquote|Against the harmful ''skag''-valkyrie,
so that she never shall, though she never would –
evil woman! – injure (?) your life.<ref name="MACLEOD34-35">MacLeod (2006:34–35).</ref>}}

This is followed by "I send you, I look at you, wolfish perversion, and unbearable desire, may distress descend on you and ''jöluns'' wrath. Never shall you sit, never shall you sleep ... (that you) love me as yourself." According to Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees, the inscription "seems to begin as a benevolent formulation before abruptly switching to the infliction of distress and misery, presumably upon the recipient of the charm rather than the baleful valkyrie", and they posit the final line appears "to constitute a rather spiteful kind of charm aimed at securing the love of a woman".<ref name="MACLEOD34-37">MacLeod (2006:34–37).</ref>

MacLeod and Mees state that the opening lines of the charm correspond to the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''Sigrdrífumál'', where the valkyrie Sigrdrífa provides runic advice, and that the meaning of the term ''skag'' is unclear, but a cognate exists in ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' where Sinfjötli accuses Guðmundr of having once been a "''skass''-valkyrie". MacLeod and Mees believe the word means something like "supernatural sending", and that this points to a connection to the Ragnhild Tregagás charm, where a valkyrie is also "sent forth".<ref name=MACLEOD34-37/>