Tombølgård revisited

Resumé

On the island of Als, southern Jutland,
Denmark, a high-status grave from the beginning
of the 1st Century A D was excavated
by Jens Raben in 1932. Prior to the excavation,
the landowner had found several cremation
graves during ploughing.
The cremation urn contained a number of
grave goods including two Roman copper alloy
vessels. A large washing bowl was used as a
lid for the urn and a saucepan was found inside
the urn. Other important artefacts include
a silver brooch, five glass and amber beads,
mountings for four drinking horns, bridles
for two horses, a knife, and four copper alloy
objects of unknown function. Clearly visible
traces of wear can be seen on these objects and
on two similar finds from Denmark. In order
to understand better the function of these latter
objects, a metal analysis and a wear-trace
analysis have been carried out. The results of
this analysis are presented in this article as
well as some remarks concerning the possible
function of the two copper alloy objects.
In 2016, a group of detecting people began
surveying the field using metal detectors
systematically and several fine artefacts have
been found so far. These artefacts clearly indicate
that also several high status women
were buried here. These graves, however, have
been destroyed by modern ploughing, but the
artefacts date the graves to the last half of
the 1st Century A D and the first half of the
2nd Century A D.
In this article, the circumstances surrounding
the excavation in 1932 will be described
and the new detector finds will be presented.