Tiny Berserker

In 1831 at Uig on the island of Lewis, a farmer tending his cows beside the sandy bay, noticed a container with some tiny carved figures inside.  They appeared to be chess pieces and have become known at the Lewis Chess Pieces.  11 are now displayed at The National Museum in Edinburgh with the British Museum having the remaining 82.   They seem to be parts of four chess sets and were made at Trondheim in Norway in the twelfth century but it is unknown why they are there.  At the time there were strong links with Norway and the west of Scotland so they might have been part of a merchant's wares.  Kings, queens, bishops, knights and foot soldiers are intricately carved from walrus ivory.
The tiny figure in the centre interested me.   It is a Rook or soldier holding a shield and sword and four of the rooks found are shown as wild eyed Norse Berserker warriors biting their shields in uncontrollable fury and were alleged to have impossible superhuman strength which would terrify anyone.   They wore bear or wolf skins when they fought giving them the name Berserker meaning ‘bear coat’ in Old Norse.
 
From them comes the word ‘berserk’ which is used to describe someone who acts in an agitated, irrational and uncontrollable manner.