A relative chronology of gold bracteates was developed by the Danish archaeologist Morten Axboe. He analysed the images of all A, B and C bracteates (as of 1989) and defined specific detailed criteria of the designs that the large heads display. With the help of well-dated bracteates, especially those from coin-dated hoards, it was possible to trace the stylistic changes from the beginning to the end of bracteate production, and their development. Thus, it became possible to create a seriation of bracteate images, which – albeit with some uncertainty – correspond to a chronological sequence (Axboe 2004, 31 f.). This resulted in four superordinate groups of heads.
Here, the number of the overall seriation is given before the head group, separated by a colon. For example: IK 1 Ågedal is seriated as 54:H2 (= overall seriation no. 54, head group 2), IK 30 Bolbro as 268:H3 (= overall seriation no. 268, head group 3).
This relative sequence can be roughly dated on the basis of find combinations with coins as follows: H1, and thus the entire bracteate production, began around or after the middle of the 5th century (together with Animal Style I); H2 began in the decade following 475. Groups H3 and H4 appear in the first third of the 6th century, and even later in continental graves (though in such cases as items that had been worn for a long time).
- Axboe, Morten: The chronology of the Scandinavian gold bracteates. In: The Pace of Change. Studies in Early-Medieval Chronology, Eds: J. Hines, K. Høilund Nielsen, F. Siegmund. Cardiff Studies in Archaeology. Oxford 1999, 126–147;
- Axboe, Morten: Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit – Herstellungsprobleme und Chronologie. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 38. Berlin/New York 2004.