Ornaments found in Eketorp-II

Abstract

Ornaments found in Eketorp-II

Of the rich artefact material found at the excavation of the ring-fort of Eketorp on Öland, Sweden (3), two hoards (figs. 1 and 2-4) are published here and their contents discussed in relation to some new publications on Montelius' period VII (c. 550-800 A. D.) (2,7). The open-work pendant (fig. 3) shows connections with similar pendants from Alemannic areas in South Germany (8), but it is suggested that it is of Nordic manufacture. Pendants of obviously Nordic type are not infrequent in The Baltic area (10, 11). The coiled bracelet Ørsnes type Q1 (= Ø:Q1) (fig. 4) is of a type with sparse distribution in South Scandinavia (13, 14) and can by find combinations be dated to Ørsnes phase 2 (c. 650-725) and Nerman's periods VII:2 and 3 (c. 600-650, 650-700) (15, 16 ). Glass beads can be used in dating according to the proportion of different beads in necklaces with many beads, and the two necklaces (figs. 1 and 2) can by the presence of many red and orange opaque glass beads, Ø:R1, be assigned to Ørsnes' phases 1b-2a and Nerman's period VI:2 (19, 22, 23, 24 ). A special variant of this bead has a bronze tube through the string-hole and bronze mountings (fig. 2). It occurs in few finds from early period VII. Wooden beads with iron- or bronze-tubed string-holes are a similar type, Ø:R4, previously known only from Bornholm (25) and Småland (26 ), datable to Ørsnes' phases 1 b-2a,b. The two beads of this type from Eketorp II (fig. 1) are well preserved and earlier observations can now be better explained. The Eketorp wooden beads have triangular and square cross-sections and sides plated with animal tooth enamel. The amethyst bead (Ø: R3) (fig. 1) is another type characteristic of this period (30, 31, 32). The absence of amethysts on Bornholm and Gotland is, in view of these islands' richly furnished inhumation graves, striking. The disc-shaped shell beads are a neglected bead type, but probably typical of and not so uncommon in period VII (33, 34, 35, 36, 37). The known finds date this bead to Ørsnes' phase 2.

The parallels to the beads, the pendant and the bracelet date the two Eketorp hoards to Ørsnes' phases 1b-2a,b (c. 600 (575)-700) and to Nerman's periods VII:2-3 (c. 600-700).

The brooches recovered from Eketorp II are presented as a foundation for dating the occupation and for placing the two hoards in the Eketorp chronology. The oldest occupation layers are dated by solid cross-bow brooches (fig. 6) and a sheet brooch (fig. 7) to period VI (c. 400-550) (41,42). Both types are colmmon on Öland (38,39) and the material from the ring-fort in this respect reflects Ölandic material, but the effect of chance in archaeological material is demonstrated by the lack in Eketorp II of a very common Ölandic brooch with plates at head and foot (40).

A typical solid cross-bow brooch found in layers belonging to the earlier ring­fort Eketorp I indicates that Eketorp II was constructed shortly after 400 A. D.

The development of Eketorp II is stratigraphically and planographically continuous from period VI to period VII (43), but among the brooches transition forms cannot be found. The dominating brooch in early period VII is the small equal­armed brooch, Ø:F: 4 examples are found in Eketorp II (fig. 8) and 11 on Öland ( 44 ). Find combinations show that this brooch marks the transition from period VI to VII (45, 46). The animal-head brooch from Eketorp II (fig. 9) is common on Gotland in precisely this form, VzG 23. Three combinations date it to Nerman's period Vll:1. Five early animal-head brooches are known from Öland (47). Beaked brooches, Ø:G, are represented by one brooch in Eketorp (fig. 7) and four on Öland (48). In South Scandinavia they can by association with inter alia coiled bracelets of types Ø:Q1/Q3 be dated to Ørsnes' phases 2a-b. According to Nerman, they appear on Gotland in period VII:2 and disappear again after period VII:3. The display brooch of the period, the disc-on-bow garnet brooch, Ø:E, is found in nine early examples on Öland (49). In Eketorp II only an empty disc was found (fig. 11). Another fragment comes from a so-called looped serpent brooch, Ø:L2 (fig. 12). Only one such brooch was previously known from Öland (51).

It seems probable that the phase 1 equal-armed brooch in Ørsnes' phase 2 is followed in Eketorp II by the so-called »quatrefoil« brooch, 3 examples of which were found (fig. 13). This is not known on Öland outside the ring-fort and not in the South Scandinavian area treated by Ørsnes. It is distributed over Småland, Gotland, Mälarsweden, Finland and Norway, and the dating combinations span Ørsnes' phases 1b-2a and Nerman's periods VII:2-3 (52, 53, 54, 55). Only one example of early style II is found in Eketorp II, namely an equiform pendant (fig. 14). Similar pendants, Ø: L4, are known from Öland and datable to c. 700 A.D. (56). Three contemporary brooch types with good representation on Öland but not found in Eketorp II ought to be mentioned: small oval brooches (Ø:N), 5 examples; round brooches (Ø:1), 7 examples; and bird-shaped brooches (Ø:D), 10 examples (57, 58, 59). As there are no indications that Eketorp II held an exceptional cultural position on the island, this phenomenon reveals the dangers when small fortuitous archaeological materials are interpreted, especially from areas without investigations of rich cemeteries or settlements.

The stray finds from Eketorp II can be connected to a varied find milieu of ornaments, weapons, tools, pottery etc. Ölandic connections with the other local cultures can thus be more easily studied.

Ørsnes points out some types of probable local Ölandic manufacture (60), but Öland has not so well defined a local culture as Ørsnes' South Scandinavia or Gotland. Objects with different distributions overlap on Öland (61) and this fact shows the good communications of the island in period VII (62, 63).

In period VI the brooches on Öland are closely related to the material from Gotland and Bornholm, but the connections with Scania, the Danish Isles and Jutland are less obvious (64) and the relation to the Malar valley seems unimportant (65 ), Contacts towards the east and south-east coasts of the Baltic area are characteristic of this period; the solidicoin found on the three islands show the importance of the Vistula route (66). In period VII these contacts decrease markedly (67). The open­work pendant and the amethyst beads from Eketorp II are good exponents for the now dominant western influences in Scandinavian art and society (68). It is obvious that these simple glass beads were manufactured in Scandinavia during period VII and the know-how was probably imported from the West (69).

The relatively meagre find material from Öland in periods VI and VII compared to finds from the previous period has by Aberg been explained as the result of new burial customs (70) and by Stenberger as the results of severe pillage of the island c. 500 A. D. (71). The rich finds from Eketorp II show that there is no reason to maintain the view of a cultural depression in late period VI and period VII. The ring-forts are massive evidence of hostilities, but it is suggested that a failure of agriculture to feed the population is the main reason for the changes in the Ölandic settlement pattern from the Early to the Late Iron Age. The artefacts found in Eketorp II probably mirror a socially and economically elevated class of landowners, in whose interest the new regulations of the land in the Late Iron Age were performed (73).

Mette Iversen