Mats Skare
Position
PhD Candidate, Archaeology
Affiliation
Research
I am an archaeologist whose primary period of interest spans the Roman Iron Age through the Viking Age (c. AD 1–1100). Main topics include animal representations, animal style, cult, craft, iconography, metalwork, myth, religion, ritual, symbolism, and warfare, and are frequently approached through the perspective of materiality.
My PhD project, “Clangorous Beasts – A Survey of Metal-Detected Artefacts and Animal Representations from west and east Norway, c. AD 550–750/800”, is two-fold. On the one hand, it assesses the source value of metal detected finds from this period; these are then surveyed to develop and enhance our current understanding of AD 550–750/800, a timeframe, which until the recent influx of metal-detected diagnostic material, was considered “dark”. On the other, it further scrutinizes the artefacts adorned with animal style and animal representations, linking these to the period’s mentality.
Publications
2025. Hillforts to puzzle – Joining archaeology and citizen science to document and interpret remote drywalls at Tyvenborgåsen, Hvittingfoss, eastern Norway. Primitive Tider 27:39–58. https://doi.org/10.5617/pt.12562
2025. Gripping Boundaries. Animal Style Contingencies in c.AD 600–800 Scandinavia. Danish Journal of Archaeology 14:1–21. https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v14i1.156972
2024. Merovingian or Vendel Period? The Norwegian-Swedish Divide. Frühmittelalterliche Studien 58:77–94. https://doi.org/10.1515/fmst-2024-0002
2023. Kulturminnelovens terskel: Klassifisering av kontekstløse ringformede spenner fra middelalder og nyere tid. Viking 87:9–28. https://doi.org/10.5617/viking.10574