Erika Rosengren

In recent years two new finds of miniature weapons and tools have been made on the Iron Age site of Uppåkra. Because of this it is my intention to present an alternative interpretation that might perhaps supplement earlier studies of these objects. The idea came to me while reading about the Iron Age woman being adopted into her husband 's family in connection with the wedding and the rituals linked with this practice. For example, there is an account of how the man gives his future wife a set of weapons as well as a fully equipped warhorse in some Gerrnanic tribes in the first century AD. It is my conviction that the custom was rationalized over time and the costly full-size weapons, of no practical use for the woman, were replaced with the miniatures. This would explain why they are exclusively found in women's graves, since they would constitute status symbols associated with the female significance as a wife.