We learn from excavations that jewelry was an important item for the people during the Viking Age. Jewelry was worn by people from all social backgrounds, rich and poor, man and women, often as a religious symbol or as a token for something important in their lives. It was probably more important to wear something that gave you extra strength, physical as well as spiritual, rather than as decoration. Some jewelry pieces that are found in excavations show a figure that if you look from it on the person wearing it, it is up side down, whereas when you are wearing it yourself and look down on it, it is facing you the right direction.
Many findings are in gold or silver and there are a lot of findings in bronze.
These pieces are in most cases made in Scandinavia but many of the findings originate from other countries, some as far away as Asia. The trade during the Viking Age was extensive and the Jewelry findings are a proof of that. Items as coins glass and ceramics are found and traced back to countries far away. The jewelry findings show us that there were unique Scandinavian styles of making and designing jewelry during the Viking Age. These styles are divided in the a few different categories.