En stendyngegrav ved Kvorning - Fund, kontekst og betydning

Resumé

A stone heap grave at Kvorning:
finds, context and significance

Since their archaeological discovery in the mid-20th century, the Middle Neolithic stone heap graves of northwest Jutland have remained somewhat of a puzzle. These graves, which date from the Late Funnel Beaker culture (c. 3100‑2750 BC), only rarely contain preserved organic material – partly because they occur primarily on sandy soils, but in particular because, as their name suggests, they were originally covered with large heaps of stones rather than mounds of earth or turf. This constructional feature allowed relatively easy access to carrion-consuming organisms, greater fluctuations between wet and dry conditions and a generally higher oxygen level in the structures – all factors that contribute to a relatively rapid breakdown of organic material. Organic material is, by and large, only encountered in stone heap graves that were covered by later mounds, while they still had remnants of their original organic content.

This exceptionally limited occurrence of organic material has made it difficult to identify the content of these graves or understand the significance of their characteristic form. There has even been some uncertainty about whether they are actually graves at all. In recent years, however, based on a number of new analyses and finds, a clearer picture has begun to emerge of this monument group – on the face of it a very limited regional phenomenon – showing that it should be perceived within, in geographical terms, a much larger frame of reference (figs. 1‑2). In some respects, stone heap graves constitute a specific northwest Jutish manifestation or interpretation of some more general supra-regional trends in burial practices and ideology around the transition from the 4th to 3rd millennium BC – trends that extended across a large area, including parts of eastern, central and northern Europe. One of the central elements in this interpretational breakthrough is a stone heap grave found in 1995 beneath the remains of a barrow dating from the subsequent Single Grave period near the village of Kvorning, between Viborg and Randers. The stone heap grave had been disturbed and partially destroyed by the construction of a Single Grave mound. However, it did contain relatively well-preserved organic material and has therefore a central role in the understanding of the entire stone heap grave tradition.

The investigations at Kvorning took the form of a minor excavation carried out directly east of a scheduled long barrow over a longer period in 1995 and 1996. The locality, which also goes under the name of Årup, lies on the north side of the Nørreå river valley, where the stream Vejlebæk meets Nørreå. The terrain here slopes gently southwards out into the river valley and rises to the north to form undulating south-facing slopes. It quickly became apparent that there was a grave from the Single Grave culture at the site, surrounded by the presumed last remnants of the original barrow – a barrow that is also marked on the early Original 1 map of the area. Beneath the Single Grave mound, a row of stones and features appeared that were initially interpreted as the disturbed remains of an earlier single grave. When a large amount of stone and all the features from the first investigated grave had been removed, it could, however, be established that these features actually represented a stone heap grave from the Late Funnel Beaker culture, which the barrow overlay (figs. 3‑6).

The stone heap grave showed evidence of having been disturbed by the construction of the Single Grave mound, possibly explaining why no artefacts were found during excavation that could be definitely be linked to it. Another important observation, which should probably be seen in relation to the building of the Single Grave mound, is that only one of the more superficial, narrow ditches – typical of the roughly rectangular features associated with the two large bathtub-shaped pits – was recorded (cf. fig. 2). Two parallel ditches usually occur very consistently in these structures, independent of any other variation in structure type. It must therefore be presumed that there must originally have been a second ditch.

Close to the southeastern end of the elongated pits of the stone heap grave jaw and skull fragments as well as teeth were found that could all be identified as from domestic cattle (Bos taurus). Exactly the same pattern – where similar remains are found at the end of the pits furthest from the associated roughly rectangular structure – has been observed at several other localities. In general, this is where covering by a later prehistoric mound has prompted the rare preservation of the last and least readily degradable organic remains in one or more stone heap graves. It has previously been suggested that the presence in this position of cattle teeth, associated with jaw and skull fragments, in the best preserved stone heap graves could reflect the deposition of cattle heads, or simply skulls with horn cores, at the end of these ditches which, in this context, are interpreted as human graves. The example at Kvorning, and that at Thinghøj near Stoholm, both demonstrate that this clearly was not the case.

As can be seen from the plan shown in figure 7, a quantity of bones and bone fragments was found in the two elongated pits (A and B). The bones were partially degraded and very fragile, but a piece taken up in situ in a block from the southeastern half of the western pit proved, like the teeth and the jaw and skull fragments at the end of the pit, to be from domestic cattle. More precisely, there was a humerus and the adjoining end of a radius, i.e. parts of the animal’s forelegs. The location of part of the animal’s forelegs in the southeastern half of the pit fits well anatomically with the position of the teeth at the southeastern ends of the pits. The significant quantity of bones could also indicate the presence of a large part of the ox, or indeed the entire animal. Unfortunately, only the aforementioned part of the bones from the actual body were taken up in this way and thereby sufficiently stabilised for subsequent identification to species.

Even rarer than the remains of bones found in the elongated pits at Kvorning was the discovery of an almost completely degraded bone mass that was taken up in a block from the remaining ditch in the stone heap grave’s partially destroyed rectangular structure (figs. 7C and 8). Similar remains have only been found preserved in rectangular structures on two previous occasions, during investigations at Nørre Onsild and Torsted Præstegård that took place in the late 1950s and early 1970s, respectively. In 2013, the block from Kvorning was subjected to CT-scanning. Unfortunately, this showed that there are probably no clear, solid bone structures present that would enable morphological identification. This block is now being investigated for traces of aDNA, for example from a person buried in the structure. As the presence of human remains has not as yet been directly demonstrated in the rectangular structures, which several factors indicate represent the graves of single human individuals, these analyses could prove to be of considerable importance in relation to our understanding of the contents and role of these structures.

The – in some respects – exceptionally well-preserved stone heap grave at Kvorning makes a marked contribution to our understanding of the stone heap grave tradition. Skeletal remains in the elongated pits provide convincing evidence that these originally contained a pair of oxen, placed with their heads elevated (on the edge or in a superficial annexe) at the end of the respective pits, while the animals’ bodies were stabilised or, so to say, held in place in features that were ideally dimensioned for the purpose. The animals were, in other words, staged like a living team of oxen, ready to haul the contents of the rectangular structure located to their rear. Examples of the deposition of a team of oxen, with or without (clear) links to human graves, contemporary with stone heap graves, are seen in several regions across central and northern continental Europe, where they can be linked to the Baden culture, the Globular Amphora culture and several other minor related cultural phenomena. Some of the central European parallels give good grounds to test the hypothesis that the deceased individuals – who we have good reason to believe were placed in the rectangular structures in the stone heap graves – lay on an either fully functional or more symbolic cart or wagon. During an excavation at Vestrup Syd in Vesthimmerland in 2013, an interesting observation was made in this respect. In several of the rectangular structures at this burial ground there was a more or less clear outline of about 1.2 m in width, indicating that an object of about this width had stood in the structure. These traces do not as such say anything definite about the nature of this object – but relative to an interpretation of these features as cart or wagon graves it is thought-provoking that the wheel spacing of contemporary vehicles was around 1.1‑1.2 m. Like the structures at Vestrup, the Kvorning grave provides a far from clear answer to this question, but the presence of bone remains in the rectangular structure of the latter is, at least so far, consistent with this interpretation.

There is a great deal to suggest that the stone heap graves reflect the idea that death, at least for some members of society at that time, involves a journey that is accomplished with the aid of a particular means of transport – a journey to the land of the dead, in which the deceased was transported on the ox-drawn vehicle and transformed from one world and state to another. As already mentioned, the position and orientation of the stone heap graves in the landscape also tend to point in this thematic direction. The familiar characteristic linearity in the lay-out of the larger stone heap grave sites should very probably be linked to the travel routes that were used at the time for transport over land, not least when this travel took place in heavy carts or wagons that made greater demands on the terrain than travelling by foot. The Kvorning grave is also interesting in this latter respect. The grave is located by and approximately alongside later road routes and is oriented relative to the lower-lying part of the river valley and Nørreå itself. Later prehistoric finds, in conjunction with the geological conditions, indicate that the area directly to the south of the stone heap grave probably constituted a central location, if the river and adjacent wetland areas were to be traversed in this part of the valley (cf. figs. 3 and 5). In other words, the Kvorning grave lay alongside a route that in Late Funnel Beaker times – as in later periods – led out to a suitable crossing place. So the people who constructed the stone heap grave not only provided the deceased with a particular transport tech‌nology as a means of accomplishing the journey from this world, they apparently also made it possible for them to begin their journey along a route that was familiar to both bereaved and deceased.

Niels Nørkjær Johannsen
Afdeling for Arkæologi
Institut for Kultur og Samfund
Aarhus Universitet

Mikkel Kieldsen
Viborg Museum