{"title":"A short comment on the early development of Odense","authors":"O. Gundersen, J. Larsen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1520427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1520427","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In a recent overview of the material from eighth to twelfth century Odense, Runge and Henriksen propose to move the date of the town’s foundation by a hundred years, to the early tenth century. In this brief comment we challenge their interpretation of the earliest Odense, and point to some problems with their definition of what constitutes towns and proto-towns, as well as the analysis of the material they present.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133253865","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":"Neolithic transverse arrowheads – a great misunderstanding","authors":"Andreas Valentin Wadskjær","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1523526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1523526","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT One of the most debated subjects in archaeology is the transition between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic period. A missing piece in this debate has been the transverse arrowhead, which is a relic from the hunting and gathering society but still has its place in the new agrarian societies. What we think we know about transverse arrowheads from Southern Scandinavia is based on a more than 75 years old theory, which hypothesises that Neolithic arrowheads were manufactured from irregular or polished flakes. This article offers a critical review of research so far into transverse arrowheads in Southern Scandinavia. It does so by proposing a new typo-chronology of Neolithic arrowheads from this region, which demonstrates how the transverse arrowhead developed from the Late Mesolithic to the Middle Neolithic, and it is actually the first study with the main focus on this subject. The study is concluded with a discussion that argues the empirical basis for the typological restructuring and highlights the implications of the study for the broader debate on Neolithisation.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134490511","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":"Reconstructing Maglemose bone fishhooks – a craftsmanship from Zealand","authors":"Solveig Chaudesaigues-Clausen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1551982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1551982","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The first fishhooks that have been found on the Danish territory date back to the Maglemose period (c. 9600/9500–6700 B.C.), and they are made of bone and antler. Most of them were excavated at the start of the twentieth century in settlements next to inland bogs and lakes and have since then only been studied in a very few cases. The aim of this paper is to analyse the assemblage of at least 30 fishhooks and 23 manufacturing products from that period and produce new knowledge about the Maglemose culture through fishhook typology, technology and comparison with the North European bone production.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125213371","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":"Domestic cats (Felis catus) in Denmark have increased significantly in size since the Viking Age","authors":"Julie Bitz-Thorsen, A. B. Gotfredsen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1546420","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1546420","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The earliest finds of domestic cat in Denmark date back to the Roman Iron Age (c. 1–375 AD). Initially, cats occurred sparsely and only from the Viking Age (c. 850–1050 AD) did they become more frequent in numbers, though primarily in urban contexts and in connection with fur production. In medieval times, cats became beasts of pest control in rural settlements, manorial estates as well as in the expanding towns, where large and numerous refuse heaps attracted various rodents. To investigate size trends over time of the domestic cat (Felis catus) in Denmark, bone measurements and statistical analyses were performed on archaeological and modern material. Domestic cats were found to increase significantly in size over time since the Viking Age. Limb bones and mandibles exhibited the most significant change in increase (up to 16%), as compared to modern female cats, and tooth size the least (c. 5.5%). The most plausible explanations for such a size increase were improved living conditions caused by increased food availability and a possible shift in human usage of the cats, from a rat and mice captor to a well-fed and well-cared pet. Despite the observed increase in size, domestic cats have kept many osteological features indistinguishable from their wild progenitor.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"283 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122304994","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":"Hjarnø Sund – all year, all inclusive. A submerged Late Mesolithic coastal site with organic remains","authors":"Claus Skriver, P. Astrup, Per Borup","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1513975","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1513975","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Between 2009 and 2016, a series of investigations were undertaken at a submerged settlement of the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord, Denmark. The work was prompted by the discovery in 2008 that heavy erosion of a gyttja deposit containing archaeological remains had resulted in artefacts of bone, antler and, not least, wood becoming exposed on the seabed. The investigations revealed that occupation of the site, with a few exceptions, dates to the first half of the Ertebølle culture (5400–4700 BC). In addition to numerous well-preserved artefacts made of organic materials, several areas were found to contain intact shell layers from submerged kitchen middens. Deposits of this kind have not previously been demonstrated in Denmark.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128915495","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":"Hybrid beasts of the Nordic Bronze Age","authors":"L. Ahlqvist, Helle Vandkilde","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1507704","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1507704","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT During the Nordic Bronze Age (NBA), hybrid beasts contributed to cosmological and mythical narratives on the main media of metal and rock. These hybrids are composed of body parts from particular animals – including bull, bird, snake, horse and human – which entangle with particular objects or images. On metalwork, they appear especially on bronze razors but also on shields, bowls, combs, helmets and in the shape of figurines. Their main occurrence clusters in the later part of the NBA that is characterised by social change. Especially cremation as the total metamorphosis of the human body aligns with a nexus of analogues firmly linking interspecies composites with ideas of bodily fluidity and transformation. Overall, this may be understood as a way of perceiving, and potentially controlling, the world. NBA hybridising art does not indicate that the religion of the era is reducible to mere animism throughout, but society certainly retained and put to use properties of an animistic tradition. Supported by contextual data, the article proposes that the hybrids related to shared NBA myths and religious practices while also legitimising the privilege and leadership of the upper echelons of NBA societies.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129869480","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}
T. Price, K. Ritchie, K. J. Gron, A. Gebauer, J. N. Nielsen
{"title":"Asnæs Havnemark: a late Mesolithic Ertebølle coastal site in western Sjælland, Denmark","authors":"T. Price, K. Ritchie, K. J. Gron, A. Gebauer, J. N. Nielsen","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1551979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1551979","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Archaeological material was initially discovered in 1993, eroding from a small cliff on the north side of the peninsula of Asnæs near the town of Kalundborg in western Sjælland, Denmark. Ertebølle Excavations in 2007 exposed the Ertebøllwe cultural layer and obtained materials to describe the site and its contents before it was destroyed by the sea. The 22 m2 of careful excavations exposed a terrestrial midden deposit and the late Mesolithic cultural layer which had been partially preserved under a raised beach ridge. The flint tools consist primarily of projectile points, flake axes, some distally concave truncated blade knives, and a very few scrapers. There were large numbers of well-preserved faunal remains including bone fishhooks and preforms, seal bones, large bird bones, and an extraordinary amount of fish bone. A quantity of pottery was recovered in the excavations as well, including both pointed-bottom vessels and oval lamps in different sizes from the late Mesolithic and several examples of what are probably Early Neolithic ceramics. The rich occupation layer with its diverse artifactual content, including a fragment of a human jaw, documents a sizable residential settlement on the north coast of the Asnæs peninsula.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130284493","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":"Failing arguments for the presence of iron in Denmark during the Bronze Age Period IV. Regarding the razors from Kjeldbymagle and Arnitlund and a knife from Grødby","authors":"Henriette Lyngstrøm, Arne Jouttijärvi","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1479952","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1479952","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The dark squiggly lines of the razors from Kjeldbymagle and Arnitlund are often mentioned, along with the knife from Grødby, as the earliest examples of iron in Denmark. The razors can be dated to the early Late Bronze Age (Period IV) – around 1000 BC – due to their form and ornamentation, while the iron knife from Grødby is reported to have been found in a slightly earlier urn burial. Recent metallurgical analyses have, however, shown that the squiggly lines are not in fact iron, but rather copper covered by a layer of iron-bearing corrosion, and that the knife’s context with the other grave objects must be considered uncertain. This means that there is no evidence for the presence of iron in Denmark until the very end of the Bronze Age – around 700–500 BC.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115059745","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":"Species identification using ZooMS, with reference to the exploitation of animal resources in the medieval town of Odense","authors":"L. Ø. Brandt, K. Haase, M. Collins","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1468154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1468154","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) is increasingly being used as a method for species identification of archaeological and historical remains. The method identifies species from the peptide mass fingerprint of extracted collagen – the principal protein of bone, ivory, dentine, leather, and parchment. ZooMS has the advantages that it is a fast and simple method, that requires only small sample sizes or even non-destructive sampling. The taxonomic resolution of the method varies, but ZooMS is diagnostic for most domesticated animals and for the relatively depauperate Scandinavian fauna, although some groups (seals, martens) cannot be resolved, and it cannot discriminate some domesticates (dog, cattle) from their wild counterparts. In this article, we overview the method and demonstrate the value of ZooMS and illustrate our points via a case study of 20 samples from 12th to 14th century layers in the Danish medieval town of Odense. Four artefacts were tested by a non-destructive eraser technique because of their uniqueness, but only one could be identified. The remaining 16 were identified following destructive analysis of the sample, one sample could not be identified. Through the identification of a gaming piece as walrus tusk the analysis demonstrated the long distance trade networks of Odense and the pursuit of some inhabitants for luxury products and high living standards. Conversely, the species identification of combs showed that the medieval comb maker would use the resources immediately available to him to create an affordable everyday object rather than rely on imported antler.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131732195","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":"Roads to complexity: Hawaiians and Vikings compared","authors":"M. Ravn","doi":"10.1080/21662282.2018.1468147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21662282.2018.1468147","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyse roads to complexity and societal development. By comparing the processes leading to complexity in Late Iron Age and early Viking society in South Scandinavia with the pre-contact Hawaiian state, I set the framework for a comparative archaeology and suggest that society in the Viking Age was not a state. I reach this conclusion within a comparative framework, by looking at comparable but also different processes in both places over time between the subject and source, in Scandinavia and Hawaii. I estimate how important geographic, cultural, technological, ideological, and ecological factors were for the development and change in both places in general and for the advent of the complexity in particular. I suggest that the analogical approach gives us a less biased perspective in both places, because we avoid partial metanarratives, such as for example teleological, nationalist narratives. Using this approach, we will discover new aspects that cannot be identified in isolation.","PeriodicalId":191998,"journal":{"name":"Danish Journal of Archaeology","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115859042","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}