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Detail from Stora Hammars I, Sweden shows a figure lying on his belly with another man using a weapon on his back. Note the triangular valknut symbol above, which is theorized to represent an ecstatic state. The blood eagle was a method of ritual execution as detailed in late skaldic poetry. According to the two instances mentioned in the Christian sagas, the victims (in both cases members of royal families) were placed in a prone position, their ribs severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". There has been continuing debate about whether the rite was a literary invention of the original texts, a mistranslation of the texts themselves, or an authentic historical practice.
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