Arkæologi i Slesvig-Archäologie in Schleswig

Korn og arkitektur.

Simone Nørgaard Mehlsen, Silja Arnfridardottir Christensen — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

During the spring and summer of 2020,
traces of a settlement dating to the
Neolithic
Period and Bronze Age were
archaeologically
excavated just north of
present-day Vejen in the central part of
Southern Jutland. The site was inhabited
at a time of major societal changes at the
end of the Neolithic Period. During the
excavation traces from several
houses
were found, dating primarily
between
the Late Neolithic and the Late Bronze
Age, with the majority of the houses
around 2000 BC. The site contained
both two- and three-aisled longhouses
as well as a so-called »hybrid house«,
which combines these two types of construction.
It is far from the first time
a hybrid house has been excavated in
Jutland, but only few have so far been
published. These houses can contribute
to new information regarding the
introduction of three-aisled houses in
Southern Scandinavia. Furthermore,
several pits containing large amounts of
charred grains were excavated. An archaeobotanical
analysis of these grains
has provided information about what
the inhabitants chose to cultivate and
consume, as well as information about
how crops etc. were stored. The results
showed that the main crop at Revsinggård
II was naked barley with a supplement
of emmer/spelt wheat. These analyses
have also given information about
the activities within the wider area surrounding
the houses and demonstrated
how important a good sampling strategy
is for further archeological research.

Ein eisenzeitlicher Hofplatz mit erhaltener nutzungszeitlicher Laufoberfläche in einem Dünental auf der Insel Amrum (Nebel LA 431)

Christoph Unglaub, Stefanie Klooss, Ruth Blankenfeldt — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The western part of the North Frisian island
of Amrum is characterized by a wide
area of sand dunes. Beneath the dunes
the old geest landscape with prehistoric
settlement sites and burial grounds
is preserved. At the wind exposed site
Nebel LA 431 near the duck decoy Meeram
uncovered structures were documented
and small exploratory excavations
were carried out between 2020 and 2022.
Using modern methods, a farmstead of
the late pre-Roman Iron Age / early Roman
Imperial Period is being investigated
here. Several settlement sites had already
been documented by Hans Hingst in the
1960s and 1970s in the nearby surroundings.
The former occupation layer of the
settlement is characterized by extensive
stone pavements. These are partly covered
by a massive cultural layer containing
burnt clay, marine clay, charcoal, and
numerous pottery sherds. In addition
to a courtyard pavement preserved over
an area of about 25 m², in which a large
pit and a fireplace are embedded, it was
possible to document at least two socalled
manure gutters, carefully set out
of stones and representing the longitudinal
central passage in the livestock barn
section of the longhouse. Several oval
hearths, paved and partly covered with a
clay mantle, indicate the living part of the
house. Intensive traces of fire in the living
quarters suggest that this part of the
house had to be renewed at least once and
that several settlement phases presumably
overlap here. Furthermore, an old soil
with Neolithic flint artifacts beneath the
Iron Age settlement layer indicates older
settlement phases.

Versunkene Landschaften im Nordfriesischen Watt – Das aktuelle RUNGHOLT-Projekt zur Erforschung von Kulturspuren

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The North Frisian Wadden Sea is regarded
as an important natural area and is
now protected as a national park and a
UNESCO
World Heritage Site. At the
same time, it is a relic of a submerged cultural
landscape. Environmental influences,
extreme weather conditions but also
dyke construction and artificial land reclamation
have constantly changed the region
over the past millennia. While some
areas could be regained after a devastating
flood, other parts sank into the sea for
ever. Remains of the lost terps and their
agricultural land are preserved under the
present-day surface of the Wadden Sea.
An interdisciplinary, partly DFG-funded
research project is addressing the systematic
investigation of selected areas
in the North Frisian Wadden Sea. Largescale
non-invasive methods of geophysics
together with analyses of aerial photographs
and drone photography are combined
with targeted geoarchaeological and
archaeological investigations.
A defined working area is located near
the present-day Hallig Südfall, where the
trading centre of Rungholt, which sank on
16 January 1362, is assumed to have been
located. Here, for the first time, the path
of a medieval dyke, terps, and drainage
ditches could be reconstructed, and various
locations of tide gates identified.
Hallig Hooge and the surrounding tidal
flats form another area of investigation.
A large number of submerged settlement
60
areas as well as new insights into the extent
and organisation of medieval salt peat
quarrying are the focus of the current investigations
here.

Halvvejgård og Kongeengen – to nyundersøgte lokaliteter med hustomter fra senneolitikum og ældre bronzealder ved Vejen i Sydjylland.

Martin Egelund Poulsen — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In the central part of southern Jutland, two
settlements with houses from the Late Neolithic
and Early Bronze Age have recently
been excavated in Vejen. At Halvvejgård
and Kongeengen, respectively excavated
in 2020 and 2022, seven two-aisled houses
from the Late Neolithic and the earliest
Bronze Age (c. 2300 – 1500 BC) were
found along with ten three-aisled longhouses
from the middle of the Early Bronze
Age (c. 1500 – 1200 BC). Four of the twoaisled
houses had sunken-floors, while two
houses had wall trenches and represent a
rarely excavated two-aisled house-type that
sometimes features three-aisled elements.
Nine three-aisled houses from the younger
settlement had bole-walls, and three of
these were of monumental size, measuring
39 – 45 × 8 m. Observations in some of the
postholes clearly support the interpretation
as bole-walls. Two of these houses have remarkably
early radiocarbon dates, which is
relevant in the discussion of the transition
between the two- and three-aisled building
tradition. The settlements at Halvvejgård
and Kongeengen represent new important
additions to earlier excavated Late Neolithic
and Early Bronze Age settlements in the
local area and the region of southern Jutland
as well.

Der Fundplatz von Mang de Bargen – Ein bronzezeitliches Gräberfeld in Schleswig-Holstein

Stefanie Schaefer-Di Maida — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The Mang de Bargen site near Bornhöved
(district of Segeberg), once the target of gravel
works, developed into one of the best-dated
Bronze Age sites in Schleswig-Holstein. The
burial ground was used from the Late Neolithic
to the Pre-Roman Iron Age for burying
the dead. For this long period of use, several
cultural changes, including burial rites, furnishings
and further activities can be traced.
The consistent dating of almost all the graves
allows in particular concretising the change
from inhumation to cremation and the transition
from burial mounds with tree coffins to
the beginning of the use of urns in northern
Germany. Anthropological analyses of the
cremations from Mang de Bargen and other
sites in the area also reveal the age-related
placement and furnishings, which motivate
new discussions. The aim of this contribution
is to present and discuss the latest results
from the site and the surrounding area.

Auswirkungen der »Verursacherarchäologie« auf den Kenntnisstand zu eisenzeitlichen Siedlungen in Schleswig-Holstein

Ingo Lütjens — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The first developer funded excavations
were carried out in Schleswig-Holstein in
2004. Since 2012, the so-called »Verursacherprinzip
« has been included in the
law (»Denkmalschutzgesetz«). These investigations
showed that previously unknown
Iron Age settlements were relatively often
recorded. This led to a considerable gain of
knowledge, especially for the eastern and
central parts of the country. Prior to 2012,
Iron Age settlements were rarely uncovered
on a large scale but were mainly excavated
as research projects in the West Coast regions.
This article presents the changed level
of knowledge and the resulting potential.

Die Siedlungsstruktur auf Als in der älteren Eisenzeit

Solveig Ketelsen — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

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.

Aarupgaard tuegravplads gennem 75 år

Anna Egelund Poulsen, Helene Agerskov Rose — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Aarupgaard urnfield is situated in Southern
Jutland, between Gram and Ribe, and visitors
can still today catch a glimpse of the largest
barrows in the tall grass. The urnfield was
discovered in the late 19th century and although
minor excavations were carried out
over the years, it was excavated almost in
its entirety by Erik Jørgensen from Museum
Sønderjylland in 1970 – 1972. The excavations
revealed c. 1300 well-preserved urnfield
graves, making
Aarupgaard the largest
known urnfield in Denmark.
Aarupgaard urnfield has the potential to
become a cornerstone in our understanding
of Early Iron Age societies, but although many
years have passed since its excavation and the
material has been included in more projects
over the years, the site has never been fully
published. A working group was therefore established
in 2018, with the aim of preparing
Aarupgaard urnfield for publication. Digital
registration of the archival material alone is a
considerable task, but this is hopefully not the
last we hear of Aarupgaard urnfield.

Geheimnisvolle Gräben am Nübeler Noor

Almut Fichte — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In 2018, a trial trench near an offshoot of
the Flensburg Fjord revealed a row of three
partly parallel linear ditches. Adjoining
one of those ditches was a much thinner
palisade ditch, another few smaller ditches,
as well as a settlement.
The buildings of the settlement had the
same direction as the parallel ditches and
date mainly to the late Roman Iron Age,
around the same time as the large depositions
of weaponry in the nearby situated
Nydam bog.
The construction of the parallel ditches
seems to date to the middle of the Bronze
Age, around the same time as an extensive
cultural shift happened throughout most
of Europe. However, they also seem to
have layers from the pre-Roman Iron Age
and a top layer, and thus closure, which is
contemporary with the settlement traces
of the late Roman Iron Age. Until now, no
other similar Bronze Age structures are
known from the Danish area. There are no
contemporary settlements nearby and the
original function of the ditches is still unclear.
Very similar structures are known
from Germany and in great number from
the United Kingdom. Here they are often
accompanied by pit rows, which may be
the case in Nübel too.
The parallel ditches, however, are not the
only fascinating aspect of this site. Some of
the nearby situated smaller ditches, as well
as a large depositional layer, seem to date to
the mid Neolithic, just as a nearby circular
structure may date to the Neolithic Period.
A fortified manor and a church show that
the site was also settled during the Medieval
Period, though presumably unaware of
the much older ditches.

Kurzbericht über die Ausgrabung des kaiser- bis völkerwanderungszeitlichen und wikingerzeitlichen Siedlungsplatzes Hörup LA 28, Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg

Ringo Klooss — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In Hörup a settlement of the late Imperial
to Migration Period could be documented
with houses and fence-parallel structures.
Numerous slag pits as remains of bloomery
furnaces probably also belong to this epoch.
During the Migration Period there
is a break-off of the settlement. The next
building activities do not begin again until
the late 8th and 9th centuries. A settlement
continuity from the Migration Period to
the Viking Age cannot be proven in Hörup.

Nye fund af »La Tène«-sværd i Sydvestjylland

Tobias Torfing — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

During the last few years, several new
swords of the La Tène-type have been
found in Southwestern Jutland. They are,
like most of the earlier finds, found in
urn graves or firepit graves from the first
century BC. This article presents three
new finds from two locations, Erisvænget
and Tjæreborg Nord, and puts them into
their military and social contexts.
The new finds expand our numbers
of La Tène-swords in the region. Furthermore,
the new finds are part of large
excavations, and thus it is possible to relate
the finds to the cultural landscape
around them.
The production, distribution, and use
of the swords will be discussed. Analyses
of one of the swords, from Tjæreborg
Nord, and the metal analysis hint at a
possible local production of La Tèneswords,
though using foreign resources.
Further, the article discusses why
La Tène-type swords spread to the Germanic
area at the very end of the period
when the La Tène-swords were used. It
seems that the swords do not signify a
certain social class, but rather a new military
development which is incorporated
into a social network of relationships between
people.

Schiffswracks im schleswig-holsteinischen Wattenmeer: Zum Stand der aktuellen Forschung

Daniel Zwick — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Between 2016 and 2020, four new
shipwrecks
were discovered in Schleswig-
Holstein‘s Wadden Sea as a result of
coastal erosion. In 2022, two additional
shipwrecks were exposed by hurricanes.
All wrecksites are located in the intertidal
zone, i. e. on Hörnum Odde (island
of Sylt), as well as the outer shoals of Japsand
and Süderoogsand, which form part
of the North Frisian barrier islands and
have been navigation hazards since time
immemorial. The investigated wrecks date
between the 17th and 20th centuries AD.
Some remarkable constructional features
could be observed, which allow inferences
on the wrecks‘ origins and shipbuilding
traditions. Two of the wrecks feature double-
planking carried out in the characteristic
Dutch-style shell-first technique that
was – until recently – regarded as a fleeting
phenomenon of the late 16th and early
17th centuries, but based on these new
discoveries, this peculiar construction can
now be traced to the mid-18th century. In
general, the North Frisian Wadden Sea was
a heavily Dutch-influenced area, which
finds not only expression in the majority
of shipwrecks, but also the maritime culture
of the islands. Another aspect worth
noting in the context of archaeological
research in the intertidal zone is the involvement
of local citizens, who facilitate
the work of the archaeologists in these
remote areas with vital logistical support
and knowledge of the local environment.
This highlights the public responsibility of
208
archaeologists to involve and share their
knowledge with the local community. This
paper will provide an overview of the investigated
shipwrecks and an update on
interim research results.

Illuminiertes Bornhöved – eine außergewöhnliche Hügelkonstruktion der Bronzezeit

Jutta Kneisel — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

North of Bornhöved, district of Segeberg,
remains of an unusual burial mound with
a ditch and a post henge were found in
summer 2018 in a new development area.
The barrow belongs to a group of 5 mounds
dating to the Older Bronze Age. In cooperation
with the Archäologisches Landesamt
Schleswig-Holstein and the municipality of
Bornhöved, the tumulus was investigated
over a large area in 2018 by the project D 3
within the CRC 1266, University of Kiel.
The tumulus stands out due to its unusual
construction. The central grave was
surrounded by a repeatedly excavated
ditch, stone circle, stone packing and post
henge. Extensive botanical and geological
investigations point to a mound that was
repeatedly reshaped, enlarged and modified
with new features. The highlight of
the site was certainly a fire that enclosed
the mound in a circle of flames. The burial
mound was also later used as a burial place.
Seven urn graves partly preserved under
a colluvium (Younger Bronze Age) and
three stratigraphically younger oval stone
pavements bear witness to this. Settlement
traces were found in the south-west of the
mound with a waste pit below a cultural
layer and postholes dating to the Bronze
or Iron Age. The article will highlight the
complex phases of use of the barrow over
the centuries from the Late Neolithic to
the Bronze Age and beyond. This type of
complex burial construction is typical of
the Late Neolithic / Older Bronze Age, but
rarely attested in Schleswig-Holstein and
Denmark. Rather, the unusual construction
points to parallels in the West, the
Netherlands and Belgium.

Detektorafsøgning ved Petersborg

Anders Hartvig — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The use of metal detectors and the developer
funded archaeological excavations have
long been separated – only rarely was the
use of metal detectors incorporated as a tool
on typical developer funded excavations.
One example of this are the excavations at
Petersborg during the period 2014 –2021
where Museum Sønderjylland used metal
detectors systematically. The excavations
revealed settlement evidence from the Neolithic
period and Late Bronze Age, as well as
a village in two phases dating to the Early
and High Middle Ages. Amateur archaeologists
organised rallies there in advance of
the excavation campaigns, and systematic
searches were carried out during the excavations.
The many small finds were registered
using a hand-held GPS device, and
the data was subsequently plotted in MapInfo.
By comparing the metal finds with
other types of evidence, knowledge about
the local rubbish policy as well as information
about which types of metal objects the
people of the village used during the Early
and High Middle Ages can be gained. The
incorporation of metal detectors on excavations
will not only add other types of objects
to the excavation results, but also improve
our understanding of sites which have been
identified but not yet excavated.

Eine Siedlungskammer der späten Römischen Kaiser- und Völkerwanderungszeit von Flintbek, Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde

Eric Müller — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The area around Flintbek in the Rendsburg-
Eckernförde district was previously
known primarily for the numerous grave fi
nds from the Stone and Bronze Ages. Settlements
were hardly detectable. Archaeological
sites from the late Roman and Migration
Periods have so far been completely
absent. During 2020 and 2021, three excavations
took place as part of the development
of new building areas in the periphery of
Flintbek. The sites are settlements from the
late Roman Iron Age and Migration Period
with numerous structures and homesteads.
These sites are special, not just because they
are the first evidence of sites of this date in
the Flintbek area, but above all because of
the very well-preserved settlement structures.
Noteworthy are the types of houses
that are rare and unusual for the area. Socalled
corridor houses appear at the Flintbek
sites LA 186 and LA 192, which were previously
only known from two other sites in
Schleswig-Holstein. Outstanding, however,
are the strong influences in house construction
from the north or the area of northern
Schleswig-Holstein and southern Jutland
that can be observed on all three settlement
areas, which were previously rarely seen in
this form for the Holstein area. The Jutlandic
influence manifests itself more clearly in the
form of ship-shaped house plans and houses
that have their best parallels on Danish sites such as Vorbasse. There are also mixed forms
that point to both northern and eastern traditions.
Paved paths and squares also point
to connections to the north, which until now
were virtually unknown to settlements of this
time on the Schleswig-Holstein mainland.

Højhave – ein reich ausgestattetes Frauengrab der jüngeren Wikingerzeit bei Hadersleben

Silke Eisenschmidt — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In August 2020, a metal detectorist found
fragments from a copper-alloy basin and
a wooden lid above a ploughed over burial
mound, about 7 km south of Haderslev. A
trial excavation carried out a few days later
could demonstrate that the artifacts came
from a 2.0 m wide and minimum 2.6 m long
chamber grave aligned southwest-northeast.
Only 5 – 10 cm of the fill was preserved.
During this trial excavation more fragments
of the copper-alloy basin were found,
two tongue-shaped Jellinge style brooches,
dating to c. 900 – 970 AD, iron fragments of
a wooden bucket and other iron fragments.
Without doubt, the burial was severely endangered
by further ploughing.
During the rescue excavation in autumn
2021, it was possible to excavate the
grave, financed by The Agency of Culture
and Palaces and Museum Sønderjylland.
Although the base of the grave was only
few centimetres below the topsoil, skeletal
remains were preserved, and the artifacts
were still in situ. The deceased woman lay
in the middle of the 5.4 m² large wooden
chamber. In addition to the objects already
mentioned, the grave also contained
a wooden casket, a key, a game board, a
knife, a pair of shears, glass beads, silver
fragments, and a third brooch.
The chamber grave from Højhave is one
of the most well-equipped women’s graves
from Viking age Denmark.

Untersuchungen zum ländlichen Raum der Wikingerzeit.

Valerie Palmowski, Tobias Schade, Moritz Mennenga — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Metal detector surveys by a member of
the ›Detektorgruppe Schleswig-Holstein‹
have recently revealed a new archaeological
site (LA 89) near Bohnert, in the
municipality of Kosel, district of Rendsburg-
Eckernförde. Due to the detector
finds, which among other objects yielded
an equal-armed brooch, dirhams, and
oblate spheroid weights, early medieval
activities became evident but cannot be
specified further. The topographical situation
of the site, at a hilltop and close
to the shore of the Schlei inlet, as well as
the proximity to other prominent Viking
Age sites near Kosel, made an investigation
promising. Subsequently, geoarchaeological
prospection surveys on
the farmlands revealed a prominent geological
structure and a concentration of
presumably anthropogenic structures,
which in combination with the metal
detector finds and the topographical as
well as archaeological context clearly
suggest Viking Age occupation activities.
Even if an exact interpretation of
the site must remain open for the time
being, the identification of a new site of
the Early Middle Ages can provide new
impulses for the archaeology of the Viking
Age Schlei.

Fæstedskatten – oprindelsen

Lars Grundvad — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The Viking Age gold hoard from Fæsted
was discovered by amateur archaeologists
and excavated by Sønderskov
Museum in 2016 and has since grown
by several additional artefacts. The hoard
has been studied in several articles,
some with more scholarly value than
others. Three articles should be highlighted,
which shed light on the hoard in
different ways; an initial in-depth presentation
of the find (Grundvad/Poulsen
2020), a typological analysis of the
Jelling style‘s relationship to Gorm the
Old and the Jelling dynasty‘s use of the
Nordic styles, where the hoard and the
artifacts are used as a case (Grundvad/
Knudsen 2017) and then an attempt to
interpret the hoard as a religious deposition
(Grundvad 2022; Grundvad in
press).
This article is the fourth in a planned
series of analyses, each of which aims to
illuminate the Fæsted hoard from different
perspectives. Thus, the goal here
is to ascertain the origin of the jewellry
and artifacts from the treasure. It is clear
though, that this is far from feasible to
do with all objects. For some artifacts,
unambiguous relationships are clear
to see. For some of the other objects, a
slightly bold interpretation of origin will
be presented, where both distinctions
are made to the Roman imperial jewellery
seen in the iconographic sources
and to the loot which the Vikings are
known to have brought home from raids.
Finally, the aim is to present what
the different origins reveal and how the
hoard of gold artifacts seems intentionally
put together.

Udgravningen i Perlegade og Sønderborgs historie i middelalderen

Christina Berg — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In 2020, two houses burned down on Perlegade
21 in Sønderborg, Denmark. They
were soon thereafter demolished. One of
the houses was timber build and from the
late 16th century, while the other house was
from around 1800. In advance of a new
construction project on the address Museum
Sønderjylland – Arkæologi excavated
a 236 m² area at the site in 2021. The excavation
resulted in the findings of five older
phases of buildings: the oldest phase from
the 14th century and the last phase from the
16th century. The oldest building was built
with earth fast posts. From around 1400 it
changed to a timber-framed construction
on a stone foundation wall. The different
phases had approximately the same placement,
and orientation throughout the period.
Moreover, some of the internal organisation
in each house could be identified.
Perlegade has been the main thoroughfare
throughout Sønderborg’s history from
around 1300 to modern time. The results
not only contributed to the knowledge of
the oldest house types in Sønderborg, but
it also provided evidence that Perlegade
and therefore also Sønderborg city extended
north all the way to Perlegade 21 in the
14th century. This paper is a preliminary
presentation of the results of the excavation.

Den sidste urnegrav fra Tombølgård – en jernaldergrav med træskrin og en bronzealder celt

Mads Leen Jensen — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This article presents the last of the graves
excavated in 2018 at the Tombølgård cemetery
site on Als. The cemetery site dates
to the Early Roman Iron Age, B 1 and B 2.
The site is known from a small excavation
of a single urn in 1932, and from metal
detector finds found between 2016 and
2018, and finally from the excavation in
2018. The grave goods from this last cremation
grave from 2018 include a silver
hair pin, shears, knives, and the remains
of a lock for a wooden box. The box had
probably contained some odd and old objects,
which were found in the urn. These
objects suggest that the deceased may
have had a significant role in the society
at the time.