{"title":"Four churches and a lighthouse—preservation, ‘creative dismantling’ or destruction","authors":"J. Wienberg","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2013.910366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2013.910366","url":null,"abstract":"A presentation and discussion of the heritage dilemmas, which appear, when the medieval churches of Mårup, Rubjerg, Lyngby and Furreby and the modern lighthouse of Rubjerg Knude in Northern Jutland, Denmark, all are threatened by dunes, drifting sands and the North Sea. The churches of Rubjerg and Lyngby were taken down and rebuilt further inland in, respectively, 1904 and 1913–1914, while the church of Furreby is still functioning. The lighthouse is standing as a ruin waiting to be taken down around 2020. The church of Mårup was made redundant, when a new church was built further inland in Lønstrup in 1926–1928. A great dispute emerged on the future of Mårup, when it became threatened by increasing sea erosion in the 1980s. The church was investigated and partly taken down 2008 and 2011. The dispute on Mårup has been seen as a conflict between nature and culture, periphery and centre, experience and knowledge – preservation and destruction. First, to understand the debate the author introduces the concept ‘creative dismantling’; a concept in between preservation and destruction. Second, the author argues that the unspoken core of the dispute has been the assumed irrelevance of the church to the national canon of art and history by all disputants. The creative dismantling lifted the church into the canon thereby creating a new, but also problematic consensus.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"105 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128939949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the mystery cloud of AD 536, a crisis in dispute and epidemic ergotism: a linking hypothesis","authors":"L. Bondeson, Tobias Bondesson","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2014.941176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2014.941176","url":null,"abstract":"In AD 536, some kind of natural catastrophe(s) darkened the sun by what has been called a mystery cloud or a dust veil. The darkening of the sun lasted for over a year and initiated dramatic changes of the climate in the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in a series of cold ‘years without summer’. This climatic disaster has been linked to the so-called Migration Period crisis in Scandinavia, a time of population decline and reforestation of agricultural land. The extent of these changes and the relative importance of possible factors involved are matters in dispute; failed harvests and famine, plague, war and social changes have been discussed so far. The present comment puts forward the hypothesis that epidemic ergotism due to widespread contamination of food and fodder by poisonous ergot (Claviceps purpurea) also may have been a contributing factor. The main reason being the extreme weather conditions, which became exceptionally favourable for growth and spread of this highly toxic fungus in crops and pastures for several years in a row after the AD 536 event. It is pointed out how the ecological and toxicological characteristics of ergot are consistent with an irregularly distributed depopulation, a need of several generations for recovery, an extensive reforestation of agricultural land and migration of settlements from lowlands to higher grounds. It is also argued for the possibility that the wording in two verses of the Old Norse poem Völuspá actually was inspired by long-time memories of illness due to ergotism.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114665879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Karg, U. Hansen, Anne Margrethe Walldén, J. Glastrup, Henrik Ærenlund Pedersen, Finn Ole Sonne Nielsen
{"title":"Vegetal grave goods in a female burial on Bornholm (Denmark) from the Late Roman Iron Age period interpreted in a comparative European perspective","authors":"S. Karg, U. Hansen, Anne Margrethe Walldén, J. Glastrup, Henrik Ærenlund Pedersen, Finn Ole Sonne Nielsen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2014.994280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2014.994280","url":null,"abstract":"Knowledge about the healing properties of plant substances is probably as old as humankind, and this can be demonstrated by botanical finds in archaeological contexts. Southern Scandinavia has a long tradition of supplying deceased persons with vegetal material for use in their afterlife, as shown by single seeds or processed plants in the form of foods, drinks or medicines. A well-known example is the small container made of birch bark most probably filled with a kind of mead produced from honey, in the Egtved girl’s coffin a find which has been dated to the Early Bronze Age. Another fascinating plant discovery derives from the grave of the Fyrkat woman dated to the Viking Age: a handful seeds of the poisonous plant henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) was found in a small pocket fixed to the woman’s belt. Plant materials enclosed in small amulet boxes are quite common and are frequently attached to necklaces that the deceased had certainly worn during their lives. In this article, we discuss the organic finds from a newly excavated amulet box which was discovered in a woman’s grave at the Late Roman Iron Age site of Vellensby, on the island of Bornholm. The box contained two ‘chewing gum-like objects’ with dental impressions and three vegetal objects. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis was applied to one of the ‘chewing gums’ and the results show that it consists of a mixture of birch tar and plant oil. Based on their morphological characteristics, the three uncharred plant parts could be identified as cloves from a wild species of Allium, probably A. scorodoprasum (sand leek). The traditional medicinal application of sand leek is presented and the symbolic and possible principal meaning of amulet boxes is discussed within a comparative study of related discoveries from female burials throughout Europe.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134340531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Typology and function of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cremation graves – a micro-regional case study","authors":"L. Harvig, M. Runge, Michael Borre Lundø","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2014.942980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2014.942980","url":null,"abstract":"In Denmark, there has been little focus on characteristic differences between grave types from the transition period between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age with limited elaboration on the nature of the differences and on chronological variation. In nearby Scania, Sweden, a grave type classic for Southern Scandinavia, the ‘cremation pit’, has been interpreted as in situ remains of the actual cremation pyre, that is, a form of bustum. Here, we further explore this interpretation through both osteological and archaeological analyses of recently excavated graves from the Fraugde region on northern Funen, Denmark. In the Fraugde region, pyre debris in cremation graves clearly gain significance during the transition period from the Bronze Age towards the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The exclusive presence of cremation pits on the Pre-Roman Iron Age grave sites in contrast to the varied grave types present on the Bronze Age sites implies a change in cremation practice and technology during the transition period. Although clearly commemorated and left undisturbed for centuries, the cremation pits on the pre-Roman Iron Age sites must be interpreted as intentional, secondary deposits of the debris from the cremation pyre, but not as in situ pyre sites.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130824747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conservation of historic buildings along the eroding coastline of Northern Jutland","authors":"N. Karydis","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2014.994910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2014.994910","url":null,"abstract":"The erosion of the western coast of Northern Jutland, in Denmark, has generated an extremely challenging environment for the preservation of architectural heritage. This phenomenon causes the loss of approximately 2–4 m of shore per year, and tends to become more and more severe, leading to the loss of as much as 11 m of shore in a single year. This constitutes a major threat to important historic buildings close to the coast. Jes Wienberg’s article describes how the early thirteenth-century church of Mårup, in Lønstrup Klint, recently had to be ‘dismantled under supervision’, in anticipation of the erosion of the ground below the church and the historic cemetery surrounding it. This astonishing decision was preceded by a fierce debate, an account of which has been provided by Casper Bruun Jensen and Randi Markussen (2001, pp. 795–819). Although this decision was controversial, it was not unique in the history of the region. As Wienberg reminds us, in the early twentieth century, similar natural phenomena led to the dismantling and rebuilding of other monuments in the same area, such as the late medieval church of Rubjerg and the church of Lyngby. But, as the above article points out, erosion is not the only threat to the coastal heritage of north-western Jutland. Sand drift has led to the accumulation of sand around historic buildings hindering access to them, and, sometimes, covering part of their fabric. The intensity of this phenomenon is reflected in the gradual redundancy of the 1900s lighthouse of Rubjerg Knude, which started only half a century after its construction. Counteracting coastal erosion and sand drift has proven to be more complex than it may seem at first sight. This is not only because of the elevated cost of coast protection, but, mainly, because coastal decomposition and sand dune formation also enjoy legislative protection as the generators of a uniquely significant coastal landscape. The decision that these natural phenomena should continue unhindered sealed the destiny of Mårup church. This implies that the protection of nature was given hierarchical priority over the protection of the church. Wienberg has analysed the decisions affecting the dismantling of the churches. His article has investigated the influence of the debate concerning Mårup church on the evaluation of its significance, and interpreted the divergence of perceptions of the building by local societies (such as ‘the Friends of Mårup Church’), archaeologists and the central government. This interesting study raises questions about the future of architectural heritage along this coastal region. The cases of Mårup, Rubjerg and Lyngby show that the dominant approach to the problem of preservation in this region involves the dismantling of buildings that had stood in their site for centuries while the sandy landscape they are built upon is claimed by the sea. One might ask whether this approach constitutes the best compromise between the preservation of archit","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116834412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A biomolecular archaeological approach to ‘Nordic grog’","authors":"P. McGovern, Gretchen R. Hall, A. Mirzoian","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2013.867101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2013.867101","url":null,"abstract":"The combined archaeological, biomolecular, and archaeobotanical evidence from four sites in Denmark (Nandrup, Kostræde, and Juellinge) and Sweden (Havor on the island of Gotland) provide key reference points for reconstructing ‘Nordic grog’ from ca. 1500 BC to the first century AD. In general, Nordic peoples preferred a hybrid beverage or ‘grog,’ in which many ingredients were fermented together, including locally available honey, local fruit (e.g., bog cranberry, and lingonberry) and cereals (wheat, rye, and/or barley), and sometimes grape wine imported from farther south in Europe. Local herbs/spices, such as bog myrtle, yarrow and juniper, and birch tree resin rounded out the concoction and provide the earliest chemical attestations for their use in Nordic fermented beverages. The aggregate ingredients probably served medicinal purposes, as well as contributing special flavors and aromas. They continued to be important ingredients for many kinds of beverages throughout medieval times and up to the present. The importation of grape wine from southern or central Europe as early as ca. 1100 BC, again chemically attested here for the first time, is of considerable cultural significance. It demonstrates the social and ceremonial prestige attached to wine, especially when it was served up as ‘Nordic grog’ in special wine-sets imported from the south. It also points to an active trading network across Europe as early as the Bronze Age in which amber might have been the principle good exchanged for wine. The presence of pine resin in the beverages likely derives from the imported wine, added as a preservative for its long journey northward.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125763942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cereal cultivation in east-central Jutland during the Iron Age, 500 BC–AD 1100","authors":"R. Grabowski","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2014.920127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2014.920127","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims at presenting a cereal cultivation history for the Iron Age (500 BC–AD 1100) in east-central Jutland (Vejle and Århus County). The developments in cereal cultivation are presented based on recent investigations of material from the Iron Age sites of Gedved Vest and Kristinebjerg Øst, as well as a compilation of 10 previously analysed sites. The combined data show that barley (Hordeum vulgare) was the dominant cereal throughout the period, with a seemingly rapid shift from naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var nudum) to hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare var vulgare) around the year 1 BC/AD. Rye (Secale cereale) is present in archaeobotanical assemblages throughout the period, but secure evidence of its cultivation exist only from the end of the second century AD onward. From the fourth century AD onward, the record indicates that rye may have been utilised as a dominant crop alongside barley. The cultivation of subdominant cereals, hulled wheats (Triticum dicoccum/spelta/monococcum), naked bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) and oat (Avena sativa), is also discussed. A reappearance of naked barley during the fourth to sixth century AD is also elaborated upon. Agricultural strategies are assessed based on the material and an interpretation is put forward that cultivation from the fifth century BC to at least the third century AD took place on manured, spring sown fields, which were slowly rotated between cultivation and fallow. The shift toward crop-rotation of barley and rye is also investigated; tenuous evidence of which are dated to the late second century AD and secure evidence occurring from the ninth century onward. The article also addresses issues of archaeobotanical interpretation, and a way of increasing the resolution of archaeobotanical investigations is illustrated by examples from Gedved Vest where plant macrofossil analysis was combined with geochemical (phosphate analysis and analysis of soil organic matter) and geophysical (magnetic susceptibility) methods.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"290 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121080925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The introduction of ceramics in the Ertebølle Culture","authors":"K. Povlsen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2013.904127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2013.904127","url":null,"abstract":"Pottery production has long been viewed as an integrated part of the Neolithic package. Instances of ceramic production in hunter-gatherer contexts have been explained by influences from early farmers. This has also been the case for the ceramics of the Ertebølle Culture. Recently, however, the discussion has become more nuanced and alternative explanations have emerged. This article argues that a focus on the life cycle of the early ceramics as well as an understanding of technology transfer as a process of cultural transmission can potentially broaden the perspective on the uptake of ceramics technology by the hunter-gatherers of northern Europe. The chaîne opératoire of the Ertebølle ceramics is analysed and a model of how a technology moves from one social setting to another is presented. In the light of this work, different approaches to the introduction of ceramics in the western Baltic are discussed. It is argued that important elements of the Ertebølle pottery tradition came from the east via Baltic exchange networks. However, the tradition was not directly transferred, and important elements appear along the way. Whether some of these elements can be ascribed to agro-pastoralist groups in the south is still uncertain.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114464196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New chronological research of the late Bronze Age in Scandinavia","authors":"J. Kneisel","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2013.904129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2013.904129","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of time dominating in archaeological science differs widely from that of prehistoric cultures. Still, ‘time’ is one of the most important criteria for the reception of cultural and historical processes. Compartmentalising time creates artificial breaches, used as methodical means of breaking down the continuum. This article analyses the currently valid chronological concept for the late Nordic Bronze Age created by Evert Baudou with the objective of finding possible toeholds for further subdivisions. Baudou’s generous conception of the time periods IV–V makes the realisation of chronological adjustments very difficult. Using Baudou’s catalogue of Danish grave finds, the author tries to further subdivide these time-horizons with the help of a correspondence analysis. By making use of several intermediate steps, it is possible to discern two more temporal subdivisions within the devolution of periods IV–V. The existence of these four phases is supported by 14C-dates.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127737642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New light on the early urbanisation of Copenhagen: with the Metro Cityring excavation at Rådhuspladsen (Town Hall square) as a point of departure","authors":"Hanna Dahlström","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2013.878071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2013.878071","url":null,"abstract":"Copenhagen’s origin and early development have long been subject to study, and has since the nineteenth century resulted in numerous and sometimes conflicting theories. The dearth of large excavations in the old parts of the city in modern times has resulted in fragmentary archaeological evidence and a concomitant lack of synthesis of a more modern nature. In connection with the current, large-scale, excavations connected to the Metro Cityring project (2009–), the Museum of Copenhagen has had the opportunity to conduct major excavations pertinent to the development of the medieval town. The site at Rådhuspladsen (the Town Hall Square) lies on the borders of the high and late medieval town, but in an area traditionally seen as located outside the earliest settlement. The preliminary results from this excavation, together with indications from excavations and watching briefs in recent years, enable us to update our hitherto knowledge and beliefs about the origins of Copenhagen. The discovery of a previously unknown cemetery at Rådhuspladsen, together with a large number of pits and wells backfilled with household refuse and waste from iron working, yields new information on the activities in the early town, and perhaps also clues to the organisation and power structure of the town’s early phase. This article sketches in broad outline the early medieval findings from Rådhuspladsen as well as some of the recent years’ archaeological observations from around the city centre. Together, these form the background for a discussion on the organisation and character of Copenhagen in the early medieval period, and some preliminary hypotheses concerning the urbanisation process of the city.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126998766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}