Abstract
The Late Nordic Iron Age (AD 550–1050) was characterised by significant change in political, military, judicial and religious structures across Scandinavia, most clearly manifested in the appearance of high-status ‘central places’ in the landscape. Recent ground-penetrating radar surveys at Gjellestad in Norway have revealed a site comprising several large burial mounds—one of which contains a ship burial—in addition to a possible cult house and a feasting hall. This combination of features suggests that Gjellestad was part of a hitherto unknown central place on the eastern shores of the Oslofjord. If correct, the authors’ interpretations demonstrate that the layouts of these sites were formulaic, and that central places may be more common than previously thought.
Highlights
The Jell Mound at Gjellestad in Østfold, Norway, ranks as one of the largest Iron Age funerary monuments in Scandinavia
Its spatial and temporal organisation is paralleled by contemporaneous high-status settlements elsewhere in Southern Scandinavia, and we argue that Gjellestad represents an Iron Age ‘central place’
We suggest that the site has its origins in an ordinary mound cemetery, which was later transformed into a high-status cemetery represented by monumental burial mounds, hall buildings and a ship burial
Summary
The Jell Mound at Gjellestad in Østfold, Norway, ranks as one of the largest Iron Age funerary monuments in Scandinavia. The GPR surveys have revealed anomalies in the form of postholes, wall-ditches and hearths belonging to at least four house structures, as well as numerous ring ditches associated with burial mounds, one of which encircles a large, elliptical anomaly that we interpret as a ship grave (Figure 4). To the east of H2 is house H3, which comprises 12 clearly defined postholes paired in trestles These form a 38m-long three-aisled house, with an estimated width of around 7m. House H4 is located in the south-western part of the survey area, seemingly separated from the cemetery and buildings to the north It comprises several features, of which at least eight are identified as roof-bearing postholes. It is possible to estimate that the building measured 27m in length and up to 10m in width
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