Die Siedlungsstruktur auf Als in der älteren Eisenzeit

Resumé

Looking on a map, the island of Als has
a very interesting location – close to the
mainland, while still being surrounded
by the sea. Due to its location close to the
mainland of Sønderjylland, its political
affiliation changed repeatedly in historical
times, which is also being discussed
for prehistoric times. Bearing this in
mind, the development of the settlement
structure on Als during the Early Iron
Age (c. 500 BC – AD 350) was investigated
as part of a Master’s thesis, especially regarding
characteristic types of longhouses.
The results are presented here. For the
first time an attempt has been made to collect
and analyse all the material available
from Museum Sønderjylland – Arkæologi’s
finding reports. It is demonstrated
that the overall picture of the settlement
structure on Als and its development during
the Early Iron Age is quite consistent,
even though there are few regional
and chronological differing tendencies.
Furthermore each period from the Early
Pre-Roman Iron Age to the Late Roman
Iron Age seems to be dominated by one
specific longhouse type. The connection
to mainland building traditions cannot be
overlooked, but still the settlements on Als
developed their own regional traits.