Scandinavian Iron Age Research Articles

Mounds Against the State? An Anarchist Approach to Mound Construction, Environmental Stress, and Centralization of Power in Viking and Merovingian Age Scandinavia

In this article, the author explores the cooperative aspects of mound construction in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Arguing against the outdated but widely held view that only centralized rule could organize monument construction, he investigates how participation in mound construction affected the people of Sør-Fron in south-eastern Norway. He contends, first, that repeated participation in mound construction helped create a sense of belonging and shared identity, which was maintained through centuries of major environmental and political turmoil. Second, mound construction was part of an active and conscious strategy to limit aggrandizement and prevent centralization and concentration of power. Rejection of Christianity arguably worked in similar ways. The author concludes with considerations of approaches to Iron Age monuments, emphasizing the importance of consensus and community-building and the role of communal opposition to centralized rule.

Narratives of inequality. Towards an archaeology of structural violence in Late Iron Age Scandinavia

Abstract To date, traditional narratives of the Late Iron Age have focused almost exclusively on discussions of the elite. These were the martial rulers and major landholders who occupied the upper strata of Scandinavian society. The lives of lower-status population groups, including enslaved and other ‘unfree’ or dependent peoples such as landless farmers, have long been marginalized in archaeological discourse. We have little knowledge of the ways in which the lifeways of subaltern peoples were shaped by the construction and maintenance of socio-political hierarchies and networks, or of how social inequality permeated and impacted the daily lives of communities. In this article, the authors propose that the concept of structural violence, developed by sociologist Johan Galtung, has the potential to offer an interdisciplinary framework for multi-proxy studies of (bio)archaeological and textual data.

Editorial log book and review comments for Radoslaw Grabowski. Identification and delineation of settlement space functions in south Scandinavian Iron Age

Editorial log book and review comments for Radoslaw Grabowski. Identification and delineation of settlement space functions in south Scandinavian Iron Age

Identification and delineation of settlement space functions in the south Scandinavian Iron Age: theoretical perspectives and practical approaches

This article presents an overview of methods used in south Scandinavian archaeology for identification and delineation of settlement space functions. The overview includes commonly utilised archaeological approaches, such as artefact distribution studies and inferences based on assessment of house and settlement morphologies, as well as archaeobotanical, geochemical and geophysical approaches to functional analysis. The theoretical potential and limitations of each presented functional parameter are outlined and thereafter applied and compared using material from five case study sites in east-central Jutland, Halland and Bohuslän. The presentation of the site of Gedved Vest in east-central Jutland also incorporates a comparison of two common approaches to geochemical sampling: 1) sampling and analysis of soil retrieved from feature fills, and 2) horizontal sampling of soil from the interface between the topsoil (A/ Ap) and the subsoil (C) - horizons along a pre-determined grid.

Killing Cattle –Age Selection of Cattle at Iron Age Central Places in Third–Eleventh Century AD Sweden based on Tooth Wear

ABSTRACT Cattle were the most important livestock in Iron Age Scandinavia and have been utilised in multiple ways. This paper aims to investigate the kill-off patterns of cattle in the first millennium (third–eleventh century) AD at four complex and multifunctional sites in Sweden, namely Helgö, Gamla Uppsala, Uppåkra and Stanstorp. The mortality profiles are derived from data on tooth development and wear, with a focus on the dp4 and M3. The results support the notion of regional differences in the selection of animals between eastern central and southern Sweden. The kill-off patterns at Uppåkra and Stanstorp, with a large proportion of adult animals, resemble the pattern observed in early urban centres, such as Birka and Sigtuna. The mortality profiles both at Helgö and Gamla Uppsala exhibit a kill-off pattern with a large proportion of calves and young adults. The patterns are linked to the climatic and ecological preconditions, as well as to food preferences and ritual activities. There does not seem to be a specific age group selected for ritual depositions. However, a recurring kill-off pattern with a high proportion of either juveniles or adult cattle may be linked to a specific selection for communal consumption and feasting events.

Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography

Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography

First Ladies

From the fifth century to the Viking Age in present-day Norway, certain women belonging to the upper strata of society were buried with high-quality ornamental bow-brooches. Although adjusting to changing styles of decoration, the practical function and basic form of the brooches - rectangular headplate, bow and rhomboidal footplate – remained more or less the same throughout the centuries they were in use. By exploring burials which include these ornamental accessories, I argue that the brooches functioned as an important factor in reproducing and continuously negotiating identity shared by certain women within the Scandinavian Iron Age elite.

Weaving Textiles: Textile Consumption for Travel and Warfare

Textile research has demonstrated that new types of textiles were introduced to Scandinavia in the latter part of the Scandinavian Iron Age (AD 700–900). The archaeology of the period displays an increased number of textile tools, and large concentrations of pit houses dedicated to textile production. This era also saw the introduction of sails to Scandinavia, which is one of the obvious reasons for textiles and textile production becoming such an important part of Viking Age society. However, hitherto the value of the textiles has mostly been ignored, and its impact rarely discussed in research. This article will attempt to remedy this and poses important questions, such as: what was the economic value of the textiles needed for travel and warfare, and what was the value of the textiles used on a journey? In the article, the 10th century Ladby ship from Fyn in Denmark, is used to exemplify the demands and economic value of all textiles of one single ship, on one journey. I will use an interdisciplinary approach, including analyses of archaeological textiles; iconography; and early medieval texts. The aim of this novel method is to highlight the importance of textiles. It will alsoexplore how journeys under sail and warfare contributed to the increased consumption of textiles.

On Studies of Task Bifferentiation between Men and Women in the Scandinavian Iron Age

Reiterated and cursorily criticised generalisations of attributes for male and female in grave goods, have since the first half of the nineteenth century created an oversimplified yet politically intricate image of a specific task differentiation between men and women in prehistory. Ideals of male and female roles and tasks in the interpreter’s contemporary society have been described as universals in terms of binary oppositional pairs, or spheres, such as private/domestic-public. The dichotomies used for analysing and attributing male and female tasks have given preference to stereotypes, and the very formulation of the oppositional concepts for activity areas expresses ideological valuations ofmale and female. This article stresses the need for analysing the origin of concepts, and it seeks new and alternative ways of perceiving task differentiation.

Ritual Slaughter through the Eyes of the Butcher: Perspectives on a Complex Practice

Ritual slaughter has long been recognised as a significant custom in the archaeological record of Iron Age Scandinavia, but the practice itself has often been treated hastily. This paper aims for a more thorough approach by focusing on the butcher as a craftsperson. It draws on evidence from literary sources and implement use, as well as the zooarchaeological record, which shows specific butchery practices in ritual contexts. The results suggest that ritual slaughter needs to be understood as a collective undertaking with multiple stages. The role of the chieftain as potential performer should be toned down. Instead, the process probably incorporated skilled people from various segments of society.

Spenner i en overgangstid. Sene småspenner i den turbulente overgangen mellom eldre og yngre jernalder

To understand the transition between the Early and the Late Scandinavian Iron Age, and the turbulent time around the year 536, we are dependent on our ability to recognize the changes in the artefacts. A chronology with well-defined criteria concerning the latest phase of the Migration Period as well as the beginning of the Merovingian Period is, therefore, required. The small square-headed brooches with spade-shaped feet is one of the types replacing cruciform brooches in the late Migration Period. Our paper discusses their typology and chronology in relation to other late types of brooches and pots as well as early Merovingian types of jewellery, aiming at a more easily accessible synthesis of a complex chronological discussion. Finally, we comment on the definition and relationship of the chronological phases on both sides of the period transition, touching upon the implications for the social changes and the bearers of the brooches.

Animal art and personal names in Iron Age Scandinavia: Different media – corresponding cultural codes?

Animal art and personal names in Iron Age Scandinavia: Different media – corresponding cultural codes?

Movement of agricultural products in the Scandinavian Iron Age during the first millennium AD: 87Sr/86Sr values of archaeological crops and animals in southern Sweden

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine the exchange of crops and livestock through the application of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope analysis on cereal grains and faunal tooth enamel from the regional center of Uppåkra and three nearby settlements in Scania, southern Sweden, dating to the first millennium AD. Around a third of the fauna have non-local 87Sr/86Sr values, indicating the import of livestock from several different regions. After cleaning, almost all of the cereal grains have non-local 87Sr/86Sr values, which is surprising given the nearby abundance of fertile agricultural soils. We therefore suggest considering non-locally grown crops to be those whose 87Sr/86Sr values fall outside the normal distribution; if this approach is used, around 20% of the analyzed crop samples are interpreted as having grown non-locally. This study demonstrates the potential of combining strontium isotopic data of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological material for gaining insights into the movement of agricultural products in prehistory.

The Materiality of Myth

The vivid presence of material objects in Scandinavian cosmology, as preserved in the Old Norse myths, carries underexplored traces of belief systems and the material experience of Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1000 CE). This paper proposes an archaeological reading of Norse mythology to help explain how ancient Scandinavians understood the presence and role of deities, magic, and the supernatural in everyday life. The Norse myths retain records of material objects that reinforced Scandinavian oral traditions and gave their stories power, memory, and influence. From Thor’s hammer and Freyja’s feathered cloak to Sigyn’s bowl and Ran’s net, such materials and the stories they colour are informed by everyday objects of Iron Age life – spun with the magic, belief, and narrative traditions that made them icons. The mythic objects promoted a belief system that expected and embraced the imperfections of objects, much like deities. These imperfections in the divine Norse objects and the ways in which the gods interact with their materials are part and parcel of the Scandinavian religious mentality and collective social reality. This work ultimately questions the relationship between materiality and myth, and seeks to nuance our current understandings of the ancient Scandinavian worldview based on the available textual evidence.

Manuring practices in the first millennium AD in southern Sweden inferred from isotopic analysis of crop remains.

This study uses crop stable nitrogen isotope analysis of charred grain to explore manuring practices in arable production at the affluent regional center Uppåkra and a set of smaller surrounding sites, dating to the first millennium AD in southern Sweden. The isotopic analysis focuses on hulled barley, the principle crop in the Scandinavian Iron Age, and the minor crops: bread wheat, emmer wheat, rye and oat, are included to compare manuring practices in cultivation of other crop species during this period. A field experiment was first conducted to establish relationships between manuring and δ15N values in modern grain from known growing conditions. The data formed an interpretive framework to reconstruct past agricultural practices and manuring intensity in the archaeological study area. Our results from the ancient grains have demonstrated that barley from the early phase in the study area (AD 0–200) varies widely in its δ15N values, reflecting mixed manuring regimes. In the following periods (AD 200–1000), isotopic values are relatively high overall, indicating systematic input of manure. In this paper, we explore whether the isotopic data that indicates sustained and high manuring levels could reflect the wealth of Uppåkra and its surrounding areas by showing prosperity also in its agricultural production, since intensive manuring would have required more resource and labor investments. The new crop nitrogen isotopic data shed light on the agricultural practices of a long-lived Iron Age center and its surrounding areas.

Polynesians of the Atlantic? Precedents, potentials, and pitfalls in Oceanic analogies of the Vikings

Comparisons between Viking-Age Scandinavia and the cultures of Oceania have long antecedents, stretching back at least to the late nineteenth century, with a significant milestone in the first-ever synthesis of Polynesian archaeology – Peter Buck’s Vikings of the Sunrise published in 1938. This brief contribution offers some critical commentary on a recent example, Mads Ravn’s paper in the 2018 volume of this journal, setting it in disciplinary context and also against Hawaiian work on this topic that has been undertaken by the authors since 2013. We consider the very real potential in this kind of comparative research, with some discussion of possible ways forward, and a note on pitfalls that must be avoided. Long sequences of continuous historical data, with a focus on internal social processes in addition to external influences, are at the centre of our approach. Above all, we stress the need for an emphasis on emic perspectives, not only in relation to native Hawaiians and other Pasifika, but also – as far as possible – in the study of the Scandinavian Iron Age.

Critical assessment of the evidence for selective female infanticide as a cause of the Viking Age

There currently exists in the study of Viking archaeology a strong support for the theory, popularised by Barrett (2015), that selective female infanticide in the Late Scandinavian Iron Age to Early Viking Age resulted in the sudden expansion of Scandinavian influence, through raiding, invading, and trading, across Europe that categorises the Viking age. This paper aims to critique the evidence for selective female infanticide as a cause of the Viking age and suggests that it may have been only a partial factor in causing the Viking Age. This paper will review the current literature on the subject and consider the evidence currently available, Archaeological and literary, in order to critique this currently dominant theory.

Don’t all mothers love their children? Deposited infants as animate objects in the Scandinavian Iron Age

ABSTRACTUnderstanding ‘counter archaeologies’ as taking a counterpoint and challenging normative perspectives, this paper considers infancy in Iron-Age Scandinavia through an examination of children deposited in settlements and wetlands. The paper reports on a data set of child deposition from Scandinavia in the first millennium CE, and compares the practices with cases from other Germanic areas. While a complex phenomenon where cause of death is mostly unknown, textual sources indicate that neither limited emotional responses to child loss nor infanticide was uncommon in the first millennium CE. Infanticide is widespread cross-culturally, yet is foreign to many researchers because it counters deep-held contemporary, Western perceptions of universal maternal instinct. The paper questions whether infant loss within Scandinavian and Germanic societies prompted emotional responses akin to Western, contemporary reactions. Were infants more closely related to animate objects than human beings? And did this ontological logic provoke the use of infant remains in ritual deposition?

Commemorating Dwelling: The Death and Burial of Houses in Iron and Viking Age Scandinavia

Current debates on the ontology of objects and matter have reinvigorated archaeological theoretical discourse and opened a multitude of perspectives on understanding the past, perspectives which have only just begun to be explored in scholarship on Late Iron Age Scandinavia. This article is a critical discussion of the sporadic tradition of covering longhouses and halls with burial mounds in the Iron and Viking ages. After having stood as social markers in the landscape for decades or even centuries, some dwellings were transformed into mortuary monuments — material and mnemonic spaces of the dead. Yet, was it the house or a deceased individual that was being interred and memorialized? Through an exploration of buildings that have been overlain by burial mounds, and by drawing on theoretical debates about social biographies and the material turn, this article illuminates mortuary citations between houses and bodies in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Ultimately, I question the assumed anthropocentricity of the practice of burying houses. Rather, I suggest that the house was interwoven with the essence of the household and that the transformation of the building was a mortuary citation not necessarily of an individual, but of the entire, entangled social meshwork of the house.

The Bear in the Grave: Exploitation of Top Predator and Herbivore Resources in First Millennium Sweden—First Trends from a Long-Term Research Project

This paper focusses on animal remains associated with archaeological contexts dated to the middle and later phases of the Scandinavian Iron Age, which corresponds to the first millennium AD. The main question to be addressed is whether this record can be used for identifying human impact on certain animal populations for modelling faunal exploitation and interregional trade. In the first part of the paper, we undertake a detailed inventory of animal finds recorded in published excavation reports, research catalogues, and in existing databases maintained primarily by the Historical Museum in Stockholm. We compare the chronological pattern identified in the burial assemblages with a chronological sequence retrieved from pitfall hunting systems located in the Scandinavian inland region. The chronologies of the animal finds from burials and the pitfall systems are then compared with dated pollen-analytical sequences retrieved in the inland region and additional archaeological assemblages, such as graves and hoards of Roman coins. In our discussion, we outline an interregional model of faunal exploitation between AD 300 and 1200, including the possible location of hunting grounds and end-distribution areas for animal products. The paper provides deeper insights into the burial record of the middle Iron Age, arguing for the need for broader interregional approaches, and focussed archaeological research in the inland regions of Scandinavia.