Interesting research results from Greenland

http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2012/2012.11/greenland_norse_gorged_on_seals/

It is interesting to see a change in thinking about people that constituted the majority in the viking age: 

"So the farming identity was actually more a mental self-image, held in place by an over-class that maintained power through agriculture and land ownership, than it was a reality for ordinary people that were hardly picky eaters," 

I think that researchers are getting closer to dismantle the supposed "monolith" of "viking culture". The more "individual" approach is needed, as I think that viewing the Vikings as more or less homogenous is the consequence of the research directed towards investigating the remains of the "over-class". It is nice to see that not always people that were not significant during their life time are treated as not significant in the archaeological record. 

A note not about Vikings, but still about Scandinavia

This is a paper I have to deliver tomorrow for my studies. It is about cities in Scandinavia. I would appreciate some opinions, as I do not know much about the subject.

The composition of the town plots in medieval Scandinavia and the origins of houses with the gable facade and Aristocratic town house

In this article a short description of changing forms of dwelling of city inhabitants will be described. The focus will be placed on a changing position of the “main” living house on the plot, and explanation of changes in ownership of the city plot will be proposed. Other problems, such as affiliation of the building materials to the status of its inhabitants will be also addressed. The problem of the origins of two types of the residence known from the late medieval urban environment will be addressed. The explanation presented will be however very focused and narrow, and some of the most obvious factors like foreign influence for example, will be omitted. The reason for this not very detailed approach is the limited amount of time and space that could have been used in creation of this paper.

At first the subject of research must be defined – we must determine what is a city house. The concept, even though it appears to be quite self explainable, is actually more complicated matter. We should try to move our research beyond the plain analysis of form in the pure technical sense, and try to push ourselves to more modern approach in which the function and symbolic meaning would be included in the research. In Ordering The World: Perceptions Of Architecture, Space And Time C. Richards and M. Pearson (1997, 6) observed that nowadays house has similar meaning to majority of people as home – a place with more familiar and warm connotations. Analysis of houses of past societies must be completely detached from this kind of concepts. We cannot extrapolate our feelings towards our modern living space on members of past societies. We must also remember that this kind of feelings are strongly subjective and cannot be studied by archaeology.

Instead we can analyze architecture as a material representation of the social order (Pearson, Richards 1997, 5), a very convoluted and mysterious symbol, that can never be deciphered completely as we will never be able to understand the past societies sufficiently. In this entangled discourse there is a problem with differentiating between the agent and the structure, as some scholars are convinced that the house is the image of its inhabitants (Thomasson 1997, 699), others are convinced that people living in the house are shaping it, but at the same time are shaped by the space in which they are living (Pearson, Richards 1997, 5). The approach used in this work will be much more simplistic, but closer to the second approach. People generally shape their surroundings according to their needs and the possibilities they have. This change is mostly influenced by the norms taken from their culture which are expressed and transferred to them, among other means by architecture. It is a kind of feedback, in which the agent cannot be differentiated from the structure, however its actions can bring some change in it in the long term perspective.

One of the most important problems seems to be the location of the main living building on a town plot, which will be treated as an arena for display of power between the plot owner and the burgher/craftsman. To simplify the discussion, a town house will be defined as a building with mainly residential functions located on a defined plot in a town.

A crucial part of making this rather broad term is a difficult task of defining the medieval town. Here, the town will be treated as an outcome of process of urbanization which can be defined according to Thomasson as a concentration and materialization of autocratic and allocative resources in the special places. As autocratic resources mentions ideological, legislative, administrative and military functions, as do allocative trade, craft production and other activities than farming (Thomasson 2008, 278). However, urbanisation defined as that kind of process would also produce sites that are not cities in the modern, common understanding of the word, such as Uppåkra. To make the definition more accurate a criteria of regular and well divided buildings and development must be added (Bitsch Christiansen 2004, 15). However this still wont be a definition that fits every site, as concepts of planned architecture may vary in different parts of the world (Smith 2007, 3-4). It is, however, sufficient for the purpose of this paper.

To understand changes that took place on a micro scale on the plot in danish medieval city we must first analyze the development, and changes of status of the towns themselves. They can be divided according to Andrén in three phases, in the first phase form around 1000 to 1200 AD cities can be seen as a base of kings power in the region, a tool to control the local population in the struggle with older pre-christian structure. In the second phase, dating to 1200 to 1350 AD king shared his power over the cities with aristocracy by granting them profits from the town plots and whole towns. During that time the magnates used city based craftsman to convert products obtained on the countryside to more valuable goods. In the third phase, dating to 1350 – 1550 AD, the character of the relation between the overlords and burgher/craftsmen changed. The towns were mostly places in which products of the countryside were traded, and this trade was controlled by burghers. The magnates and higher strata of society made profit out of this relation by placing tariffs and duties on the city dwellers (Thomasson 1997, 701). Other way of perceiving the same process is adapting the ideas of consuming city and commercial city. The transformation of danish towns from places where most of the goods were just consumed to places were intensive trade and production occurred was a process that took place from around 10 to 13 c. (Bitsch Christiansen 2004, 22). The phases in the process can be seen as more or less arbitrary, the most important is the outcome – a new group of people – burghers, that was gaining power as an outcome of change of role of the cities in the middle ages. This process has been however stopped in the Renaissance, when the introduction of mercantilism and absolutism decreased the role of cities in the foreign trade, and strengthened the royal superiority over burghers (Thomasson 1997, 701).

The perspective outlined above, focusing on emancipation of burghers as a driving force of changes in the domestic architecture of cities is a main reasoning behind this paper, however it is also a flawed perspective. Burgherdom is presented here as a strata in feudal system (Thomassen 1997, 701). This doesn’t correspond with the reality of life in the medieval city, in which different social groups existed. There were more wealthy burghers, that were active participants of the city council but also a large number of poor people lived in the cities.  (Bitsch Christiansen 2004, 35). Information about how different was the income of burghers can be found in tax list form Lübeck in Germany from around 1460 AD. It is believed that around 22000 – 24000 people inhabited the town that point living in around 5500 households. Around 60% of total income form tax was payed by around 850 wealthiest citizens. In the same document around 3000 to 3500 people had been described as living in the back buildings or basements and shads, and not paying any tax at all. This poorest class of people was around 14% of the city residents (Selch Jensen 2004, 309). This large group of people is completely excluded from archaeological record and investigation. Their houses, build form perishable materials, probably in the parts of the cities that were later rebuilt or treated as an area for new development, are gone. However there are some ways in which building archaeologists are trying to investigate social differences among the burghers.

The most of the houses in the cities, especially in the earlier phases of their development were made of wood. This is well confirmed for different cites, as for example Lund (Carelli 2001, 660), Uppsala (Anund 2001, 635), Oslo (Molaug 2001, 769), Bergen (Reimers 2001, 783). Wood was a material that could have been obtained locally, and also was a main building resource during the viking age, however it had some disadvantages, it was flammable and not as durable as bricks and stone. The homogeneous town substance of pre 13th c. cities is a basis for assumption that until that age people living in the cities were more or less unified group, and that the first stone houses are the sign of emancipation of some of their representatives and growing inequality among the classes (Thomasson 1997, 722). For example it is known that in Stockholm, the now called gammla stan was mostly inhabited by wealthy merchants and goldsmiths – in this area there were many stone houses built. However the eastern area of the town did not produced any remains of stone houses, and from historical account it is known that it was mainly inhabited by dockers and fisherman (Söderlund 2001, 703). Generally the stone buildings are perceived by archaeologists as monumental and connected to the elite, as first buildings in which these kinds of material was used were churches and castles. Notwithstanding I would argue that the lack of the stone buildings does not mean that the elite and aristocracy wasn’t present in the cities during the earliest phases of their existence.

One ofthe most crucial points of the discussion is the question – who owned the city, and how it was created? Generally in Scandinavian archaeology there are two main theories – an evolutionist theory and a genitive theory. In light of the recent studies, it seems that cities must have been started by some sort of authority, most often the king, proving the genitive theory more accurate. However, for the action of establishing a city the monarch needed some support. The act of founding city by a king is known from two Icelandic king sagas. In Saga of Olav Trygvasson there is a fragment that describes the beginnings of Trondheim, in which is written that king gave the plots to the people. In the saga about the other King - st. Olav, it is written that after the Trondheim had been burned down he had it rebuilt  but again, the king is responsible for the division of the land and he gives it to owners (Tesch 2001, 734-735). To assure cooperation with local nobleman he needed to share his Kongelev [1], to which the cities in the first phase of urbanization belonged, with them. Noblemen, for example in Bergen (Hansen 2008, 15- 39) or Lund were given plots in the established city area to ensure the development of the town. The plots were pieces of land, roughly rectangular in shape, that were sometimes marked by ditch or fences to ensure that the boundary is clear, they were located by a right angle to the street. The understanding of function of buildings on those plots is a crucial subject to comprehend the emergence of the town house located just by the street.

Joakim Thomasson in article entitled Private life made public. One Aspect of the emergence of the Burghers in the medieval Denmark describes the functional division of houses on the early medieval town plot. In his idea the building located just by the street was used as an workshop or a shop, then followed a house used as a main dwelling for the family, and then the rest of the plot was empty. He describes the early living house as consisting of a one room that had at the same time the function of kitchen, a living room and a bedroom for the whole household. Following British researchers he interprets this kind of disposition as an expression of collectiveness and some sort of equality of the master and the servants. He sees the later clearer indication of dwelling houses right by the street as an result of merging of the living quarters from the back of the plot with the workshop (Thomasson 1997, 705). A very similar interpretation of the town yards in Lund is put forward by Careli – he claims that the house in front of the plot was used for trade and handicraft activities, and the house of the back was used for living (2001, 664). Those interpretations can be challenged on the ground of the research done in Trondheim, Sigtuna and Oslo.

In Sigtuna similar plot arrangement was discovered at the site of Trädgårdsmästaren in its two phases, one form 11 c., and a second form the early 12 c. to beginning of 13 c. In the zone I, adjacent to the street, workshops and shops are located, in the zone II right behind the first one small multipurpose buildings for storage have been found. Then in the zone III, the main dwelling building has been located, that consisted of one room serving the functions of living room kitchen and bedroom, with a small corner fire place and with small wooden benches along the walls. In the zone IV other dwelling building probably of the serving functions of the hall used for festive occasions has been located (Tesch 2001, 731). On a basis of the interpretation of the building in the zone IV as a festive hall it is argued that it is a trace of ownership of the plot by the ruling elite settled in the country side, that just delivered goods for the craftsman that were working on “theirs” plot (Tesch 2001, 732). However a place where would they live during their visits in the town is not indicated by the researchers.

Almost completely the same functional division of areas in the town plot is proposed for plots known from medieval Oslo. It is argued that for fully developed town yard during the 13th c. three functional areas can be distinguished.  Area one was a place near the street where one or two stalls or workshops were built. In the area further in the back part of the yard a dwelling house called stue was located – the houses of this type had usually two rooms, in one of them there was a fire place in the corner. In the third area it is unclear what exactly was located in Oslo, but probably it could be another dwelling house or a storage room (Molaug 2001, 778-779). The general concept of later development of the houses put forward by the researchers is similar to Thomassen’s, that the later form of dwelling house that was placed by the street was achieved by combing the functions of zones I and II (Molaug 2001, 778).

To find an alternative explanation for the development of the dwelling houses located by the street we must re-interpret the finds form Oslo and Sigtuna, using the functional interpretations of the building on the plot put forward by Axel Christophersen. By comparing the access diagrams made for longhouse buildings built in the later part of the viking age and the stue buildings found in Oslo and Trondheim, he arrived to conclusion that they express the same attitude towards space and function – they represent the same social practice. The multifunctional room that was a bedroom, a kitchen and a living room is present in both type of buildings. Moreover Christophersen argues that the placing of the building in the middle of the plot, with the side entrance is significant for stressing the independence of the commercial activities that have taken place on the front part of the plot.  He is convinced that this kind of buildings belonged to social elite with another main dwelling in the country side (Christophersen 2001, 55-61). The attribution of the building from the zone II (or III in case of Sigtuna) to the plot owners rises however a new problem. Where did the craftsmen and the merchants that inhabited the city live? The solution to this problem is quite simple, but hard to prove on archaeological basis. Christophersen is convinced that the houses build in the front of the plot might had had a second floor and on this storey the craftsmen could have lived (Christophersen 2001, 58-61). The residentail functions of that kind of building would be hard to prove, as the fireplace would be located at the upper floor. There is however one historical source that might speak in favor of this interpretation. In one of the Icelandic sagas, describing an attack on Bergen, that took place in 1155, mentions people defending themselves by trowing rocks from their fireplaces from the galleries attached to their at least two floored buildings (Reimers 2001, 790). In light of this interpretation, the development of the house with its gable at a right angle to the street, in the front part of the plot could be seen as an emanation of rising wealth of city craftsman and traders, who could afford to build more complex houses, as their economical and political situation has changed during the second phase of development of cities in the northern Europe.

This kind of evidence can be perceived upon as speculative, however there is more evidence that can tie the position in front of the plot with the new class of burghers. Thomasson, in his article describes also buildings interpreted as Aristocratic town houses. As a characteristic feature of this buildings he mentions their position - “a little way back from the street”. The oldest examples of this kind of buildings can be dated to the 14 c. As an example of this kind of residence a house discovered at von Conow quarter in Malmo could be listed (Thomasson 1997, 710). There, at the site on which in previous phases from the 13 th c. houses simply built with oak planks and with gable facing the street were located, in the layers dated to the 14 c. an interesting arrangement of houses was discovered. It consisted of two houses of timber frame construction, built to face the street, around 13 m long, and 6 m width and a brick house, measuring around 12 x 6 m located deeper in the plot. One of the timber framed houses was interpreted as consisting of two living rooms and a store room, and a second as a kitchen building with a workshop for glass-working. The brick house is interpreted as a main living quarter, an it is reconstructed as a two storeys high building with a small entrance hall, external staircase and a vaulted storage room/basement (Reisnert 2001, 678-681). On the example of the von Conow site it can be seen that there were internal division of status on the same plot, that might have been occupied at the same time by its formal owners living in the brick house in its middle part, and the craftsmen dependent form them, living in the front part of the area near the street in a wooden gable facade houses.

As an example of similar high status building located in the city, another building should be mentioned - the located at Lund Krognoshuset. During the middle ages it was probably a main building on a plot that was owned by Krognos family, one of the wealthiest noble families in Denmark (Pedersen 1998, 5). The house, which, despite many renovations and alterations [2] is still standing today, was probably a main living quarter on the property at least to the 14 c. when another, bigger brick house was built on the plot. The area belonging to the town manor generally meets Thomasson’s criteria of Aristocratic town house. As a distinctive features he mentions a square shape of the plot, the presence of surrounding of the building, and the location of the main house in the middle of the yard (Thomasson 1997, 710). Only this last trait is missing, as the Krognoshuset is located in a small distance from the place in which the course of the medieval street is presently reconstructed. However It must be stressed, that it is not located right by it [3]. Also, there is a possiblity that this street was not fully functional during the erection of the building, and was rather a pathway to it (Johannson et al 2001, 49).

To sum up Thomason’s idea about the development of a house with a gable facing the street with a right angel, he is convinced that it was caused by merging of function of the building from the zone I and II, as he believes that the plot was built up from many single function constructions. It seems however that he makes a mistake, and treat the household as an almost familiar unit, similar to the nuclear family. A single living house is an indicator of some sort of equality among the people living on one plot. A traces of only one fireplace and dwelling house indicate that a single “family” occupied the plot. These are all concepts connected to understanding the early house buildings in the “home” category.

We should dismiss this kind of thinking as an 19 c. relict and start to think about the household as an economic unit not necessary bounded by familiar ties. In this case there is a very probable eventuality that two dwellings were located on one plot. One for the owners, and another for the craftsman family actually living in the city. In this light we should see development of the burgher house as more evolutionary expansion of the multifunctional building (dwelling functions and trade/craft production) in the front part of the plot. Coincidentally the gable faced houses, located in the font part of the plot, and the houses described as aristocratic houses with the house located further from the street both appear for the first time in Denmark in the 14 c (Thomasson 1997, 707-710).

The explanation put forward by Thomasson for the appearance of the aristocratic buildings is that the nobility moved to towns as there were more money to be made from trade and fishing than from farming (1997, 710-711).

I would argue that nobility did not have to move to the towns, they were already there from the beginning, as towns had not only economical but also central functions connected to power and law. The increasing importance of towns meant more money for the traders and craftsmen, but also more money for their overlords. They were able to have each plot for themselves, on which they built their houses, according to different social norms and orders. The nobleman house was concentrated on privacy, located on a bigger plot[4], and far from the busy and noisy street of medieval town. The street which however was an important point for a trader or a craftsman, who located his house in the area where it has always been, right by it, but in new monumental form, that showed his growing rights and importance.

References:

Andrén, Anders (1987). Medeltida tegelhus i Lund - en kort översikt. Hikuin 13. s 278-282

Anund, Johan (2001). The Curses and Possibilities of Wooden Architecture: Domestic buildings in Medieval Uppsala. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 635-658

Bitsch Christiansen, Søren (2004). De danske middelalderbyers fremkomst, udvikling og udforskning - et bud på nogle hovedlinjer. Middelalderbyen. s 13-61

Carelli, Peter (2001). Building practices and housing culture in Medieval Lund: A Brief Survey. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 659-676

Christophersen, Axel (2001). Bóndi, bæjarmađr, burghere. Om folk, hus og fremveksten av urban identitet i norske byer ca 1000-1700. Från Stad Till Land. En medeltidsarkeologiska resa Tillägnad Hans Andersson. s. 51-62

Hansen, Gitte (2008), Kongen i byfolk i det eldeste Bergen - byoppkomst i et aktørperspektive. De første 200 årene : nytt blikk på 27 skandinaviske middelalderbyer. s 15-39

Johansson, Conny, Goksör, Sebastian, Larsson, Stefan & Lundberg, Anders (2001). Mårtenstorget i Lund: arkeologisk undersökning 1997 : en kulturhistorisk redogörelse. Lund: Kulturen i Lund, enheten för kulturhistoria och kulturmiljö

Molaug, Petter (2001). Medieval house building in Oslo. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 765-782

Parker Pearson, Michael & Richards, Colin (1997). Ordering The World: Perceptions Of Architecture, Space And Time. Architecture and Order. s 1-33

Pedersen, Birthe (1998). Krognoshuset - en familjesaga utifrån ett murverk? C-uppsats i medeltidsarkeologi. Arkeologiska institutionen. Lunds Universitet.

Reimers, Egil (2001). Medieval Domestic Architecture in Bergen: A Sample of the Archaeological Material. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 783-810

Reisnert, Anders (2001). Houses and Yards in Malmö During the Medieval Period and Renaissance. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 677-702

Selch Jensen, Carsten (2004). Byerne og de fattige - den internationale baggrund for den danske udvikling. Middelalderbyen. s 295-316

Smith, Michael (2007). Form and Meaning in the earliest cities: a New approach to ancient urban planing. Jurnal of planning history vol. 6 No. 1. s 3-47

Söderlund, Kerstin (2001). Domestic Architecture in Stockholm. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 703-721

Tesch, Sten (2001). Houses, Town Yards and Town Planning in Late Viking age and Medieval Sigtuna. Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchäologie im Hanseraum III. s 723-742

Thomasson, Joakim (2008). S'Villanorvm de Malmøghae: landskap, urbanitet, aktörer och Malmö. De første 200 årene : nytt blikk på 27 skandinaviske middelalderbyer. s. 277-302

Thomasson, Joakim (1997). Private life made public. One Aspect of the emergence of the Burghers in the medieval Danmark. Visions of the past. Trends and Traditions in Swedish medieval archaeology. s 697-728

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[1] This is valid for both understandings of Kongelev (Bitsch Christiansen 2004, 23), it could either be land, or right to incomes form rent for plots in the cities or taxes.
[2] The great number of events left a lot of marks on the outer surface of the building, as I had a chance to see by myself by participation in the pre-investigations of its northern facade.
[3] Andrén, however, interprets the location of the brick buildings in Lund in the places near the street intersections as an display of power by the local elite - mostly landlords with sources of income located also outside the cities limits (1987, 280-282)
[4] Thomasson mentions square plots as indicators of a dwelling of elite (1997, 710). As plots were generally rectangular it must be an effect of buying two or more and combining them.

Intresting news from Denmark

http://sciencenordic.com/legendary-viking-town-unearthed

Very exiting find discovered by archaeologists from Aarhus university. I just wonder why they decided that it is Silbersthorp, as few years ago I read It was an other name for Hedeby. However, it is completely irrelevant what was the town's name, that's just cool that it's there :). Maybe they will find remains of the merchants form Reric (as some people claim - Gross Strömkendorf in Germany) , transferred there brutally by Godfred.
By the way it is very interesting why archaeologists have this urge to tie the site to a place with a name known from historical sources, and what are the evidence for doing so. Is just publicity the reason, or is it faith that they are right? Why just don't use site names in viking age archaeology? Pinning down a settlement like that have to be almost always a longshot.

Problems to be adressed in the near future

I have devoted the months that passed from the last note on the blog to reflection on what is actually lacking in Viking age archaeology, and I came to some very disturbing conclusion.

1.    Problems of gender archaeology are almost completly excluded form research. There are very few books that challenge essentialistic and heteronormative thinking of modern scholars. Even in The Viking world published in 2008 the chapter on gender is written from patriarchal perspective dealing only with role of women in politics of men. The books that describe the life of women in the Vikinge age are concerned mostly with the division of labour, presenting it as very clear categories that fit to the seldomly chalanged infield/outfield paradigm, which seems to be an outdated concept. In fact only in three books I've encountered a different approach to the topic of gender archaeology, one is Seid, written by Brit Soil, in which she exploits the idea of third shamanic gender. The two other books are I.M Beck Danielson's Masking moments and Lotte Hedagers's Iron age myth and materiality. In both books question of construction of the gender identity is risen. However, as I wrote in the begining, that kind of topics are completly excluded from popular publications, in which a simplified view on ancient societies is presented.

2.    A topic corresponding with gender archaeology is related to the neglected aspect of stratification of viking societies. Of course all authors acknowledge that a hierarchy existed, always writing about the slaves, the free land owners and the jarls and kings but in the meantime they are not really interested in researching all the mentioned groups. Most attention is of course devoted to elites, as their members produced probably  most evidence that survived to our time, concerning both the material, archaeological evidence and later writings, produced on demand of later medieval elite of Iceland. As it is reasonable on one level, on the other the alternative histories, concerned with the majority of viking society would be highly desired.

3.    The elitaristic focus of research is also the cause of the neglect of some other subjects that seem to be less exciting than travel, riding, plundering, warfare, building of kingdoms, pagan cults and recently - long distance trade. Important aspect of daily lifes like agriculture, subsistence, pottery production and craftsmanship involved in production of simple tools are almost totally excluded from popular books on the subject of vikings (from my own experience: when I was buying Vikinger i vest, I was told that it is about boring farming Vikings, and other books are more exiting :). I must agree that it is true, but still it is the only book I've found that describes a viking age water mill, and even though it might not be as exiting as another book on viking rides it is much more useful).

4.    The other problem that derives from the concentration of attention of scholars on the elites of viking society is the illusion of it's homogenity and shared culture. This view however begins to be recently challenged in publications like Decolonizing the viking age II. Death rituals in south east Scandinavia AD 800-1000 by F. Svanberg, or in S. Sindbaeks article The lands of Denemearce: cultural difference and social networks in South Scandinavia. Still the ideas developed in more specialized literature are not mentioned in books developed for broader public.

It seems that viking age archaeology and even to greater extent viking studies are seldomly a subject of reflection that reveals that it still uses in many ways outdated approach to matters concerning past societies. The archaeology itself sometimes appears as a past time activity invented by bored english gentelmen to study past life of other gentelmen that surely lived in ancient times. The man focused elitaristic approach, connected to emphasis on nationality and nation building and shared Panscandinavian culture in many ways resembles the victorian era colonial archaeology.

A short note on recent boat burial discovery at Ardnamurchan, Scotland.

British archaeologists have discovered an undisturbed boat burial:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15333852

Some comments must be made:

1. Interpreting this burial as a one of a warriors seem to be an oversimplification rooted in eurocentric views of modern scholars. This attribution has been made on a basis of excavated items, but weapons in grave are not necessarily a mark of occupation but rather of social position. We must really consider the question of boundaries between being a farmer or a viking or a trader – people probably undertook different roles in their life without a firm distinctions. It would be awesome if journalists and people responsible for presenting finds to the broad public would also try to rise the general awareness about questions and developments made in mortuary archaeology.
2. The second thing worth mentioning are surprising similarities of the find to the boat graves known as Westness, Orkney, excavated between 1963 and 1984. Two graves that were inhumation in boats of similar sizes (5,5 m and 4,5 m long) has been found. Both of them contained remains of men, and both boats had their prow and stern filled with stones to create a form of a chamber. If we can trust the drawing reconstruction from the BBC article, the Ardnamurchan burial is in its pure form almost an exact copy of the two graves found on Orkney. The items found in Westness graves are also similar to the finds from the newly discovered burial. The men were buried with swords, shields and arrows. Also in one of the graves an axe head and a spear have been found. The difference is, that the example burials from Orkney also contained tools – a fishing weight, a sickle and a ploughshare – clearly following the pattern of equipping burials known from Norway. The analysis of skeletons has proved that one of the buried persons was shot by four arrows, and the shield boss of the second had slash marks on it (Graham-Campbell, Batey 1998, 137). The only difference noticeable  without more information about the newer discovery is that in Ardnamurchan burial the shield was placed on the chest of the deceased while in Orkney it was placed behind the head of the deceased. It seems that there was a regional tradition of boat graves with stone made chambers in Scotland, as in a famous burial found in Scar – containing remains of three people in one big boat – construction of this kind was also present.

Literature:

Graham-Campbell J., Batey C.

1998 Vikings in Scotland

Burials in sledges.

Archaeologist dealing with Viking Age burial customs is well aware about the fact that different sorts of vehicles were used in graves as a containers or coffins or for the ritualistic purpose. The two most well known types of “vehicle” graves are boat graves and waggon case graves. The subject of today note are less known burials in sledges. They present however some interpretative issues, mostly due to the state of preservation – in most cases only iron rivets remain. Some examples, in spite of difficulties were identified.

A few of them is known from a burial site at Sala in Sweden. It was excavated in 1901, and O. Almgren probably encountered two graves in which deceased were buried in sledges. First, the grave number 3 was a burial of a woman. There is no information about whether it was covered with any sort of mound. Almgren found in it two long, interesting wooden parts, still in their original position in the grave. Even-though they were only partly preserved, He assumed that they originally were around two meters long. Both fragment were lying parallel to each other and probably were connected by other wooden elements (Almgren 1901, 9). Almgren’s workers insisted that it is a grave in which a woman was buried in a coffin, with a lid, but without a bottom. However, other interpretation, in the light of the next find is more possible, as it was more carefully excavated. Only the skull of the buried woman remained, however crushed to bits. Her teeth indicated that she was middle aged or older. She was equipped with two oval brooches type JP33/37 and one equal armed brooch ornamented in geometrical style (SK type I). Also four beads made from different materials and two round tin pendants were present in grave. In the place where probably the feet of the dead were a skeleton of a dog was found (Almgren 1901, 7-8). The combination of ornaments dates the burial to the period form around 800 to 860 (Skibsted Klæsøe 1997, 124 fig. 29).

The second grave at Sala, that was interpreted as a one containing a person buried in sledges, is grave number 4. It probably was a burial of a man, buried lying on his back, as it was visible from remaining skeletal material (the plan of the grave: Almgren 1901, 12 fig 16). The remains were placed in a interesting wooden structure, from which only fragments were preserved in their original position. The largest is around 1,8 m long and around 20 cm wide. It consists of a wooden plank, to which on one end a bended wooden element is attached, also some elements are inserted near it, probably to connect it with other similar element, that unfortunately have not been found, probably because it was earlier destroyed. Almgren describes the bended fragment as similar to a handle (Almgren 1901, 13 fig. 17). The dead man was equipped with an iron knife with rests of a wooden handle, two arrows, possibly in a quiver, a bone comb, a small cask, and a wooden bucket (Almgren 1901, 14-16).

Almgren putted forward the idea that both woman buried in grave 3 and a man buried in grave 4 were buried in sledges, however he restrained from stating it definitely, because both burial were damaged (Almgren 1901, 14).

Fortunately four years latter an other burial ground in Sweden was excavated, located in Ås in Rösta Parish, Jämtland. There an other grave, interpreted as containing an individual buried in sledges, was found. 

It was marked as Mansgraf IV and was located in western part of the site. The outer form of the grave was visible as a small, 75 cm h. mound, with diameter of 7 m, covered with small trees and bushes (Kjellmark 1906, 364). Under the mound, more or less in it’s central part a big block of limestone was found. It covered traces of a pit, in which parts of a man’s, dog's and horse skeletons were found. The human remains were buried with head pointing north, and horse was buried with head pointing south, on right side of the dead person (Kjellmark 1906, 365 fig. 18). On the right side of the buried individual also remains of a bucket wit iron handle were found. Other grave goods consisted of a part of a woman's ornament, a part of an Arabic silver coin dating to 943/944 (Zacharissson 2006,  20)  and a bronze scale with a weight in a wooden box, that probably was placed in a leather bag, a iron shield boss, a 33 cm long whetstone, an iron sword Petersen’s type X, with grip ornamented with a bone plate. Also a traces of wooden scabbard were found on the sword together with bronze ferrule, ornamented in Jelling style. Other weapons consisted of eight iron arrowheads, from which one was chisel formed, and one was blunt ended and made of bone. Laying on the skeleton a bone comb was found and a large number of ornamented bronze mounds, also pieces of textiles were found together with two bear claws and three small flint pieces. They were laying in a vicinity of bronze mounds  that are now identified as ornaments belonging to a leather bag (Zacharisson 2006, 19).  Near the remains of the horse a bit was found, an iron axe head of probably Petersen’s type G or F, and what is most important an ring being a piece of a hook for towing, three iron mounds and thirty seven nails were excavated (Kjellmark 1906, 365-370).

Very similar implements, suggesting a vehicle that had to be towed, were found in Mansgraf III. located in older mound in the southeastern part of cemetery. In it’s northern part a man’s skeleton lying on its back, aligned northwest-southeast, with head pointing north was discovered. The man was equipped with bronze scales, probably also kept in some sort of container, because pieces of textiles and fur were found close to it, with a small bone plate that probably formed it’s bottom (Kjellmark 1906, 360). Probably kept together with the scales were fragments of silver coins and ornaments. The coins were identified as minted by Olof Skötkonugr (994-1022), Ethelred (978-1016) and Kunt(1016-1035) (Kjellmark 1906. 360). Also five spherical weights made of bronze and iron were found, and one cubic made of iron. But the buried man was equipped with more than just tools for trading. He probably was laid to the grave with an axe with a broad edge and a iron knife. A very interesting thing found in the grave were three small bells made of iron. They might have been a part of same horse harness, as bit made of iron, and mounds made of iron covered with silver. Also a bronze ornamented part of a yoke was present in the grave. Probably also contacted with horses were two crampons, made to facilitate moving on ice and snow. The item that might suggest that the sledges were present in also this grave is a hook for towing, very similar to the known form Mansgraf IV (Kjellmark 1906, 363).

S.A Gräslund, in her book about burial customs at Birka, discus  a peculiar grave Bj.  1131. She mentions a Saami tradition of burring people in single runner sledges called akja. Sledges like this would be very hard to distinguish in archaeological record, because they are built in almost same manor as viking age boats, and in some cases, burials in them might look as made in a half of a boat (Gräslund 1980, 25). 

Among number of such cases she mentions grave VII from Tuna in Alsike (Gräslund 1980, 25). It was excavated by H.Stolpe in 1896 (Arne 1934, 11-12). It was described by Arne as damaged boat grave, aliened east-west (Arne 1934, 34). In it a spherical iron weight was found, a small iron plate with a piece of bronze attached to it, interpreted as a part of a box, some iron rivets and pieces of iron. Skeletal remains of a dog and human were found (Arne 1934, 34). There are some clues that allow to interpret this burial as one made in akja sledges - according to it’s plan drawing, the boat, would have had been extremely narrow.

It seems that tradition of burring people in sledges was not only restricted to area of present day Sweden. F.A Stylegar points, after Gräslund, two examples of burials in something that perviously was interpreted as parts of a boat. He numbers them Ka. 313 and Ka. 314 (Stylegar 2007, 89), but before in Blindheim publication they were numbered K/XVI and K/XVIII (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larssen 1995, 41-42). The burial Ka.313 was partly covered with stone packing, in its southern part (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larssen 1995, 41). It contained little rivets and nails, and the stem was missing, even-tough burial was described as being made in a stem part of a boat (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42; Stylegar 2007, 42). Parts of human skeleton were found in the structure, but it is impossible to sex the burial. It contained very few items: a sickle and a part of a key (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42). In grave Ka. 314 also very few goods and rivets were present, and it was also interpreted as a burial in a stem part of a boat. Only fragments of iron knife ware recovered form the burial, together with wooden pieces of it’s handle (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42). F.A Stylegar, insist, analyzing the form of structures found in graves, that the different type of sledges than akja was used in those burials (Stylegar 2007, 88). It is hard to argue with this evaluation, due to the poor quality of plan drawings published in Blindheim’s book.

There is also a burial identified as one containing sledges in present day Russia. It was located in an oval mound located around 300 m. south from the Plakun cemetery near Staraja Ladoga. At least four burial ceremonies were conducted on the spot, because four graves are known from the mound. The three younger graves are cremation burials, dating from 8th to 10th century, there are no evidence of usage of sledges in any of them, however interesting stretchers, made maybe from wood used previously in boat building, probably used to carry the deceased to the grave, were found (Duczko 2005, 81). The burial of interest, regarding the question of rites involving possible sledge graves is the forth burial - an inhumation, probably was created in the 10th century. The buried person was male, and together with him two horses were placed in grave. He was richly equipped in grave goods - fourteen iron arrowheads, a belt with metal mounds, a yellow glass bead, an animal head carved out of bone and some unidentifiable fragments of iron implements. There is a possibility, that the list is not complete, because part of the grave was destroyed prior to excavations (Duczko 2005, 81). Duczko claims that the man was buried on a platform made out of ship planks (Duczko 2005, 81), however a different interpretation is possible. S. Sindbæk puts forward an idea, that sledges were used in this burial. He describes the metal fragments found in the grave – there were three clinker nails, some normal nails, an iron ring with a loop (probably made to attach it to something), and three iron plates with a spike (Sindbæk 2006, 186).He bases his reasoning on comparison between iron nails used to fasten planks in waggons to those used in boats. He deduces that waggons are similar to sledges, on a basics of well preserved examples from Oseberg and Gokstad. Then he compares the length of iron rivets used in burial form mound near Plakun to those known form a burial in waggon case from grave Fyrkat 20 in Denmark. They are similar in number and form, measuring mostly around 3,5 cm, what makes burial in a structure made out of boat parts less possible (Sindbæk 2006, 186). However, it does not prove that the person was buried in sledges, because in makes burial in a waggon case equally probable. There are still some smaller clues that can support the idea that this is indeed a sledge grave. Near the skeletons of horses iron hooks, made to facilitate movement of animals on ice, were found (Sindbæk 2006, 186), what can be taken as an evidence of a winter burial, in which sledges could have been preferred over waggons that might had been hard to move in a deep snow. Also the form of burial in a waggon case seems to be restricted to the area of southern Scandinavia, mainly Denmark, moreover all sexed burials in this form probably contains women.

All burial described to this point of the blog note were inhumation burials, however, with a method of measuring nails and rivets also the cremation burials in sledges probably can be distinguished. It is an idea also followed in Sindbæk’s work, as he discus the burial mounds from Plakun cemetery. It was establish that they contain rivets from cremation burials in boats or on pyres constructed from boat parts, what proves that people buried were Scandinavians (Duczko 2005, 82; Sindbæk 2006, 185). However, this interpretation seems not to fit If the length and number of nails and rivets found is considered. If the dead were indeed buried in boats, it must had been done in small, hardly seaworthy vessels (Sindbæk 2006, 185).

There is one other example of cremation burial, in which presence of sledges is highly probable. It is located in Östergötland, in Aska, Sweden. The site was a cluster of burial mounds. Under one numbered 1 a richly furnished grave of a woman was found. Unfortunately the discovery was made accidentally by a farmer in march in 1920. The mound was around 1 m high and had a diameter of 6,4 m. Underneath it a cremation burial in a layer, located more or less under the central part of the mound, was found. The grave goods included, among others: a large number of silver pendants, some in a style that suggests their Eastern European origin, and also some very unique, as for example one shaped in form of a mans head or one depicting a woman, two oval brooches type JP 52, one of a similar type JP51, a silver trefoil brooch type SK 3, four ornamented yoke mounds made of bronze, an oriental bronze jug, parts of late Celtic hanging bowl, fragments of a comb made of bone, parts of iron cauldron, a roosting grate, an item that can be either staff for sorcery or roosting spit, and parts of harnesses for four horses, also a comb for the horses was found. However, for new interpretation of the grave the least interesting finds are important. A large number of iron mounds, rivets and nails was found. Some of them probably were elements of a wooden box, because elements that formed it’s lock were present in the grave. The most interesting find are iron hooks, that might have formed a mean of attachment of sledges to harnesses of the horses. Similar hooks are known form a very rich burial (or burials) found in the area in 1885, that, judging from items ascribed to it, contained at least one man. Also, the small number, and size of rivets speak against popular interpretation that claims it was a cremation in a boat. Arne suggest sledges, or a large box, but in light of the finds of sledging hooks the first interpretation is the most probable (Arne 1936, 67-112). The grave under the mound 1 can be dated, using the combination of ornaments to the first half of 10th century (Skibsted Klæsøe 1997. fig.29).

The phenomenon of burial in sledges seems to be well spread in Scandinavia, although most of it examples seems to be from Sweden, or areas traditionally thought to be under Swedish influence in present day Russia. However this might be a false impression, because S.A Gräslund mentions burial that might have been made in akja sledges from Danmark – from Esjeberg (Gräslund 1980, 25). I was however unable to obtain necessary articles to discuss it. The same applies to burials from Fosie in Sweden and Kvarnabacken on Åland Islands. 

It seems difficult to pin point chronology of this phenomena. A burial from Sala has been dated on basis of artifacts to 9th century, and in Mansgraf III from Ås fragments of coins minted in the 11th century were found. Most of the burial however has been dated to the 10th century.

As always, the most fun question for archaeologist is the one that can’t be answered – Who were the people buried in this strange fashion? There are some evidence that can connect this practice to the Saami, as they had buried they dead this way for centuries (Gräslund 1980, 25; DuBois 1998, 71). Also some Saami artifacts were found in Mansgraf IV - the bag with bronze mounds is identified as a form used by these people even today in traditional male dress (Zacharisson 2006, 19-28). Also a sword found in the same grave, even-though western European in form has his grip adorned with an pattern known from wooden sides of south Saami shamanic drums (Zacharison 1997, 210). Also other part of weaponry found in this grave points towards interpreting it as a Saami burial – one of the arrowheads is chisel formed, what also is a diagnostic form, and other arrowhead is especially peculiar, because it is made out of bone, and it is blunt ended. It is a specially made to hunt small animals with out damaging their precious pelts, and is also an artifact known form Saami context (Zacharisson 1997, 214). There are other evidence, that also speaks in favour for Saami interpretation of sledge graves. Recently isotopic and DNA analyses of graves form Tuna i Alsike had been conducted, that shown probable Saami ancestry of individuals buried there (Price 2008, 265). Zacharisson analysis of burial customs at Ås has proved that this cemetery was used by the Saami population (Zacharisson 2006, 24).

However Saami interpretation doesn’t go well with the reinterpretation of graves found near Staraja Ladoga. This area probably was quite far from the Saami influence. Sindbæks theory about rivets found in the mounds also makes their attribution as Norse burials questionable, because the idea that ship and boat graves are Scandinavian was the only assumption that lead to this conclusion (Duczko 2005, 82). Also burials from Aska and grave 3 from Sala are full with artifacts, for example oval brooches, traditionally linked  to Norse population. Stylegar also claims that two graves from Kaupang are not necessarily Saami, as other people could also use boat shaped sledges (Stylegar 2007, 89). It couldn’t be considered as a real argument, because it isn’t important who uses sledges on a daily basics. The important problem is who used them for burials. His claim, however rises problems combined with graves form Plakun and Aska. 

It seems that the problem of sledge graves need still a lot of research. New graves must be identified among the large number of cremations containing rivets, that usually were thought to be boat graves. Birka burials, in which items, that probably are sledge hooks, were found must be reinterpreted (Zacharisson 2006, 23). Probably on a basic of material obtained this way, work towards division in different types of sledges must be made, as it is clearly seen, even on so few examples, that there probably was a difference of social status between people buried in described graves. There might be connection between type of sledges used in burial and social position, or equipment found in the grave. It seems that the matter of sledge graves, and sledges as a mean transport is a problem highly neglected in Viking studies. Probably it is so, because they lack the appeal of boat and boat graves, that are the symbol of the Viking age.

Literature:

Almgren O.

1901 Vikingatidsgrafar i Sagån ved Sala, Fornvännen (1907) (it is possible to download the article at fornvannen.se)

Kjellmark K.

1906 Ett graffält från den yngre järnåldern i Ås i Jämtland, Ymer Tidskrift utgifven af Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi, Häft 4

Gräslund S.A

1980 Birka IV. The burial customs

Arne T.J

1934 Das bootgräberfelt von Tuna in Alsike, Uppland

1932 Ein Bemerkenswert fund in Östergötland, Acta archaeologica 3, 67-172

Stylegar F.A

2007 The Kaupang Cementeries Revisited, in: Kaupang in Skiringssal ed: D.Skre

Blindheim Ch., Heyerdahl-Larsen

1995 Kaupang-funnene bind II. Gravplassene i Bikjholbergene/Lamøya. Undersøkelsene 1950-1957

Sindbæk S.M

2003 Varægiske vinterruter, Fornvännen 98 (2006) (it is possible to download the article at fornvannen.se)

Duczko W.

2005 Ruś wikingów (Viking rus. Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe).

DuBois T.

1998 Nordic religions in the Viking age

Zacharisson I.

1997 Varför Samiskt? w: Möten i gränsland. Samer och germaner i Mellanskandinavien ed: Zacharisson I. et all.

2006 Väskan från Röstahammaren i Ås och gravfältets etniska tillhörighet,  Fornvännen 101 (2006) (it is possible     to download the article at fornvännen.se)

Skibsted Klæsø

1997 Vikingetidens kronologi - en nybearbejdning af det arkæologiske materiale,  Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og historie 1997, s 89-142