Morten Axboe (born 1946) is a Danish archaeologist and till 30.4.2019 a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, notable for his study of
bracteate
A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...
s. Axboe is also known for theorizing a connection between finds of 6th century Scandinavian gold hoards and the
extreme weather events of 535–536
The volcanic winter of 536 was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by an eruption, with several possible locations proposed in various contin ...
, as a reaction to the 'dying' sun and the
fimbulwinter
In Norse mythology, (commonly rendered in English as Fimbulwinter), is the immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök. It means 'great winter'.
Summary
is the harsh winter that precedes the end of the world and puts an end to all life on E ...
-like climate of those years. Gold may have been buried, he suggested, as sacrifices intended to appease the gods.
Axboe has also published on the manufacture of the
Torslunda plates
The Torslunda plates are four cast bronze dies found in the Torslunda parish on the Swedish island Öland. They display figures in relief, representing what are presumed to be traditional scenes from Germanic mythology. The plates are moulds des ...
and the making of Migration Period chip-carving ornament.
In 2007 he obtained his
DPhil
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
with his dissertation ''Brakteatstudier'' (Studies in Gold Bracteates). Like many of his papers, this book is accessible on Academia.edu.
Publications
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Band 1:1(1985), .
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Band 1:2(1985), .
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Band 1:3(1985), .
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Band 2:1(1986), .
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Band 2:2(1989), .
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Band 3:1(1989), .
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Band 3:2(1989), .
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* Axboe, Morten, "Odin og den romerske kejser" (kronik i ''Skalk'' 1990 nr. 4; pp. 18–27)
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* Axboe, Morten, ''Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit: Herstellungsprobleme und Chronologie'', Walter de Gruyter (2004), .
* Axboe, Morten, ''Brakteatstudier'', København 2007 (Disputats),
* Axboe, Morten
"Syv kobberstukne Tavler...'. C.J. Thomsen og guldbrakteaterne. Nationalmuseets første forskningsprojekt"(''Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie'' 2006; ; København 2009; pp. 53–89)
* Axboe, Morten, "Året 536" (''Skalk'' 2001 nr. 4, pp. 28–32);
* Axboe, Morten, "Brakteatstudier" (''Nordiske Fortidsminder Serie B, Bind 25''); København 2007;
* Axboe, Morten & Nielsen, Bjarne Henning
"Ofret til guderne - fundet af bønder. De store guldofferfund fra ældre germansk jernalder i Vesthimmerland."(i: Vesthimmerlands Museum: ''Årbog 2011''; pp. 31–50)
* Axboe, Morten
" Late Roman and Migration Period sites in southern Scandinavia with archaeological evidence of the activity of gold and silver smiths" in Alexandra Pesch and Ruth Blankenfeldt (eds.): ''Goldsmith Mysteries Archaeological, pictorial and documentary evidence from the 1st millennium AD in northern Europe''; Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2012; ; pp. 123–142)
External links
Profileon
Academia.edu
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with listing of papers.
References
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1946 births
20th-century archaeologists
21st-century archaeologists
Danish archaeologists
Living people
{{archaeologist-stub