En østjysk rytter med Slesvigske forbindelser

In the spring of 2017, an impressive equestrianchamber grave dating to the late VikingAge was excavated in Fregerslev near Skanderborg,Jutland. Equestrian graves of thisquality belong to a very rare category of findsfrom Viking Age Denmark. The few knownfinds appear to form a northern and southerngeographical group; the southern groupis well-represented in the area of Schleswig.The most recent comparable grave was examinedin 1983 (Grimstrup, Esbjerg).The chamber grave contained more than700 gilded and silvered fittings belonging tothe harness and bridle of the rider’s horse.Previously, similar finds have been seenonly among the finds from e.g. Thumby Bienebekand Grimstrup. The potential of therecent finds from Fregerslev for researchinto horse harness fittings of the VikingAge elite milieu is therefore immeasurable.The decoration of the bridle consists ofdifferent gilded copper alloy strap mounts,e. g. cross-shaped fittings and rectilinearfigure-of-eight fittings which have directparallels to grave finds in Langballigau,Quern-Scheersberg, and ThumbyBienebek located in the area of Schleswig.In addition, metal detectorists have foundsimilar cross-shaped strap mounts scatteredaround Denmark.This article presents the preliminary resultsof the excavation and shows the distributionof three different strap mounts.In addition, the question is addressedwhether the horse harness can be seen asa symbol of men with a special militaryrank. There might be a geographical differencein the perception of the harness.