Two mounds near Hjordkær, South Jutland. Peculiar Late Neolithic graves

Abstract

Two mounds near Hjordkær, Southjutland. Peculiar Late Neolithic graves

In 1978-1979 four ploughed-down barrows east of Hjordkær in South Jutland were excavated prior to their inclusion in an industrial development area. Two of the mounds, one large and one small, lying close together, contained peculiar Late Neolithic graves that warrant our attention.

THE LARGE MOUND

The mound, which before excavation was about 30 min diameter and rose about 1 m above the surrounding terrain, contained besides the Late Neolithic grave three Bronze Age barrows.

Youngest Bronze Age barrow. Barrow IV. The last-built barrow had been about 26 m in diameter and surrounded by a circle of large rim-stones. These were, however, preserved only to the west and particularly the north. The side of the barrow just inside the rim-stones had been covered with fist- and head-sized stones. This covering was intact only over a 5 m long and up to 1.2 m wide stretch to the north-west and inside the rim-stones to the west, but could be seen in secondary position all the way round the foot of the barrow (fig. 1-3 and 18). The barrow was constructed of mould-like light-brown sand without recognizable turf structure (fig. 28). The grave belonging to this stage of the barrow must have been removed, presumably before the turn of the century, since the archives of the National Museum contain information that a bronze sword was found in the barrow in 1888. This sword no longer exists.

Next-youngest Bronze Age barrow. Barrow III. Grave D, which belongs to this mound phase, had been placed at the southern foot of the third-youngest barrow. It was concealed under a large, partly disturbed heap of stones that was c. 6.5 m long, 5 m wide and 1.2 m high, and consisted of a stone framework c. 4 m long and 2 m wide placed on the old soil surface and made of rocks measuring 30-55 cm (fig. 2-4). On the cobbled floor inside this frame and up to a height of 30 cm, traces of a coffin were observed as a soft brown substance, probably deriving from a plank coffin. At the east end of the grave recent digging was seen to have taken place. This must be a manifestation of grave-robbing, since no grave goods were found. Barrow III, which was built over and around grave D and the older barrow, was made of turves of grass or heather or both and had been 22 m in diameter, but was presumably not marked off with any special footing.

The oldest Bronze Age barrow. Barrow II. The third-youngest grave, C, was placed in a depression in the top of an older barrow, covered by a large pile of stones 4.2 m long, 2.5 m wide and up to 0.7 m high (fig. 1-2). The now vanished bole coffin, distinct remains of which were found in the form of a soft brown substance, had been placed on an elongated cobbled floor of fist-sized stones and supported by larger stones forming an E-W oriented frame measuring c. ½ by 2 m. No traces of the corpse were found apart from 32 teeth and parts of teeth occurring locally in a limited area of the western part of the grave; these were not all found in primary position, some being recovered from animal burrows. The teeth derive according to the dentists Hans and Aase Huss, Haderslev, from a child aged 8-12 years, both milk and permanent teeth being found. At the foot end to the east was a small broken pot (no 3) with two ears. The grave also contained both in primary position and secondarily in animal burrows fragments of a bronze dagger blade (no. 4), neck-ring (no. 6), arm-ring (no. 7), fibula (no. 9) and sheet-metal band (no. 8), and an amber bead (no. 5) (fig. 5-7). The barrow around this child grave, which was built up of grass- and heather turves or both (fig. 13 and 28), measured 16-17 m in diameter and had been surrounded by large posts. These were manifest as hollows surrounded by iron pan or as soil changes. At the eastern foot of the mound, the posts were placed at intervals of2.5 m, while to the west they were more closely spaced (fig. 2 and 8-11). The burial took place in period II of the Early Bronze Age.

The late Neolithic wheel-grave. Barrow I. The barrow under the child grave was 15 m in diameter and surrounded by a circle of 44 stakes placed at intervals of a good 1 m. The traces of these were discernible partly as soil changes and partly as hollows surrounded by an iron pan from which plaster casts could be taken. The stakes had been about 10 cm in diameter and set ½ m below the old field surface (fig. 12-14). The best-preserved stake impression was 71 cm in depth. The construction of the barrow could be observed best in the profile balks, the surface being manifest in a light bluish-grey layer of sand and humus, above a thin layer of iron pan (fig. 15). Measured in relation to the old soil surface, the wheel-grave barrow was up to 90 cm high. After removal of a part of the mound, an approximately round dome-shaped covering of fist- and head-sized stones was revealed, which was only partly preserved, however (fig. 12-13). The stones lay above a small low mound of earth, which again covered a five-spoked wheel of stones (fig. 16) with a diameter of 9-10m. At the centre of the wheel was a large heap of stones with an irregular outline and a diameter of 4.5-5 m. This heap, which was almost of the nature of a circular ram part and was up to 50 cm high, lay above excavated subsoil sand. This derived from an oval ditch about 40 cm wide and up to 66 cm deep that encompassed a grave floor lined with gravel and measuring 3.4 X 1.3 m. On the floor of the grave were traces of the skeleton of an individual placed head to the west (fig. 17). No grave goods were found. The oval ditch contained traces of a wooden construction made of posts or planks (fig. 24-26). Near the oval ditch to the north-west were traces of bones from an animal, presumably a dog, but also larger long bones, which may be human limb-bones. These must have been placed outside the building but so close to it that later subsidence caused them to fall into the ditch with some of the stones from the heap (fig. 17). South of the grave building, at the edge of the heap, there were traces of a 3.4 m long and up to 60 cm wide bole coffin which had been placed directly on the excavated subsoil sand. In this coffin were the remains of two persons with their heads respectively west and east. Lying on the breast of each was a flint dagger of type IV B (fig. 19 and 21).

THE SMALL, LOW MOUND

Nearly 10 m north-east of the large mound was a smaller, low mound. This had originally been a good 12 m in diameter, about ½ m high, and made of grey-brown, gravelly mould­like soil packed at the top with fist- and head-sized stones. Within the central part of the mound, a large irregular depression made up of several successive holes appeared, measuring about 6.5 X 3.4 m and up to 1.75 m deep. At least four burials had taken place in this large hole (fig. 29-34). Grave C seems to be the oldest. On the paved floor a flint dagger of type V A was found (fig. 33:5). Grave C's east side was disturbed by the grave B, which lay under grave A. Grave A, too, was disturbed, probably when the ramp for the youngest grave (D) was made. It must be considered likely that soil-slip occurred where the ramp was dug into the mould-like loose fill, and this would be precisely at the west side of grave A. This grave contained in disturbed soil the flint dagger of type IV C (fig. 33:4) and three fragments of a bronze dagger blade (fig. 33:1-3). It cannot be ruled out that the bronze dagger blade has lain in a grave above grave A, which was disturbed at the same time as that, but which was not manifest at the time of excavation. Grave D was dug through the southern end of grave C.

The graves in the wheel-grave structure and the small low mound may on the basis of the flint daggers be referred to phase C of the Late Neolithic (Lomborg  1973, p. 69 and 138-157).

Erik Jørgensen