Recently I was talking to an acquaintance of mine and he showed me a really neat belt-buckle.
Apparently, this is a replica of an archeological find near Apuolė that dates back to around XII-XIIIth century.
We discussed what that might be. One idea was that this is a "Samogitian" or a "Couronian" type of viking - i.e. the local who was fighting with the Scandinavian Viking invaders. The horns on the helmet are turned down - and for a good reason: the 'typical' viking horns would hang on the branches of trees in the forests that were once abundant in the area - thus making these helmets unpractical. Thus the locals turned the horns down.
Another idea occurred to me just recently. Could this be a pagan deity Velnias? Before Christianity he was a good guy - a defender of oppressed and poor, guardian of the Underworld and usually is associated with an animal.
Be as it may, this 800 year old find is one cool piece of art!
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