The Tinghøje on Borre Heath. A century of personalities and research on an Iron Age field system

Abstract

The Tinghøje on Borre Heath. A century of personalities and research on an Early Iron Age field system.

In Easter, 1932, a small ceremony took place on Borre Heath west of Varde. The occasion was the promulgation of a preservation order for a group of barrows called "Tinghøje" ('Thing barrows'). The scheduling of this group of tumuli had been previously attempted, but not until 1931 did the National Museum succeed in obtaining a voluntary pledge. The ceremony drew in addition to the persons involved a number of local people. Keeper Hans Kjær (1873-1932) of the National Museum conducted the proceedings and among other things made a speech on the ancient agriculture of the region, to which the remains of the field boundaries thereabouts testified (1-6, fig. 1-2).

There are many stories and traditions linked to the Tinghøje, which were long regarded as the ancient thingstead of Vester district. Around 1860, the topographer and local historian Oluf Nielsen (1838-1896) visited the site, and -unusual for him- made a description coloured by a deep emotional outburst on the historical atmosphere of the place. Oluf Nielsen also noticed the low field boundaries that Kjær more than 70 years later would speak of, but he had no explanation of the phenomenon, and called in his 1869 publication for information on similar occurrences (7-8, fig. 3).

The next visit to the site occurred in 1889, when Captain A. P. Madsen (1822-1911) from the National Museum arrived to excavate barrows on the heath. In addition to the excavation of a considerable number of these, Madsen also made observations on the field boundaries, making some sections and surveys.

Nevertheless he concluded that he could neither explain nor date the phenomenon. His survey is the next oldest known in Denmark, but has been overlooked until today. Characteristically, it was not Madsen's observations which occasioned the next visit, but the aforementioned Oluf Nielsen's publication from 1869 (9-12, fig.4,8 and 9).

At the beginning of May 1930, the culture-geographer and archaeologist Gudmund Hatt (1884-1960) travelled from Copenhagen to south-western Jutland in order -as part of a ten­year programme- to register and perhaps survey occurrences of ancient fields in that part of the country. In the course of the previous few decades -and in particular on account of Hatt's work- it had become increasingly possible to recognize the nature and significance of the low banks of earth as ancient field boundaries. In inverse proportion to this recognition, however, was the state of preservation of the field systems, which -like the barrows- were left to the destruction caused by heath reclamation and afforestation. Hatt's knowledge of the field systems of the area was due first and foremost to H. K. Kristensen (1895- 1981), headmaster at Lunde north-west of Varde. On 3rd May, Hatt had his first meeting with Kristensen, who helped him with information and visits to the still preserved field systems of the area. On 6th May, Hatt visited Borre Heath. He described the remaining traces of boundary banks in his notebook, from which it is apparent that the traces were now so slight that a survey seemed pointless. There were other occurrences which were threatened and which had to be accorded greater priority from the purely scientific point of view. The last remains of the field boundaries on Borre Heath were now entirely relinquished to the destructive effect of tractor and plough and thus abandoned as an object of research and cultural monument. Kjær's speech at the place two years later was apparently the last attention paid to this ancient monument (13-18, fig. 5).

In May, 1954, however, a new reconnaissance of Borre Heath was carried out -this time from an aeroplane at an altitude of about 3,000 m as part of a country-wide aerial photographic survey. Interpretation of the information held in the photograph covering the Borre-Tinghøje area forms the basis of the commentaries and supplementary information on the three foregoing "historical" reconnaissances (fig. 6).

The field complex comprises c. 44 ha and is seen framed in fig. 7, which is a section of the 1:20,000 survey map Æ6 Billum of 1870. Here the field complex and the position of two neighbouring complexes in relation to the neighbouring wet areas are observed. The boundary banks have been drawn in on the map M 3202 Janderup of 1951 (fig. 8), providing a plan of that part of the field complex that was visible under the circumstances obtaining at the time of the reconnaissance in May, 1954. It is shown hereby that A. P. Madsen's observations and survey may with small adjustments be identified on the aerial photograph. The field boundary plan fig. 9 is drawn from his map, and the banks drawn with unbroken line are easily found in fig. 8 and probably less clearly in fig. 6. Both Madsen's and Hatt's observations may be verified on the photograph.

Although the field boundaries have for more than a century been the object of wearing­down in connection with tillage, further attrition may paradoxically enough raise the possibility that they come to appear even lighter and clearer in relation to their surroundings, since the "plinth" of prehistoric surface that was sealed when the banks were raised will be exposed thereby.

The lay-out of the field complex shows a well thought out and efficiently effected parcelling out, which to a certain extent differs from the two neighbouring complexes (fig. 7). This difference may suggest that the Tinghøje complex was laid out later than the two others and perhaps in a marginal area, since the traces do not overlap those of another type of land division.

From the very regular course of the boundary banks, an attempt has been made to reproduce the ideal "blueprint" for the laying out, by straightening marks which do not run exactly parallel, do not cut exactly at right-angles and do not meet the sighting points (the barrows) centrally (fig. 10). From this working plan it is even more clear than in fig. 8 that the fields have apparently been laid out according to two divergent plans. The authors have no explanation for this phenomenon, which to an even more marked degree is seen in other field complexes (19). Furthermore it may be observed that the boundary between Ål and Billum parishes runs parallel to the boundary banks in the eastern part of the complex, which could suggest that the existence of the boundary banks has not been entirely without influence on the placement of the parish boundaries.

The history of the field complex at Borre Heath is also the history of the study of the Early Iron Age field systems in Denmark. This history may be divided into three phases:

1. Topographical and local-historical regional descriptions with incipient historical interest in a scientific explanation of the phenomenon (e.g. Oluf Nielsen).
2. The first measurements and registration at a time when the significance of the phenomenon was still not clear (e.g. A. P. Madsen).
3. Purposeful investigations with the object of finding a scientific explanation of the phenomenon and using it in the formation of historical theory (Hatt). This phase comprises systematic surveying and registration of the fossil traces in the terrain.

It is the view of the authors that there is in the third phase still important information to be gathered through lesser excavations affording the possibility of pedological and palynological observations, which among other things will permit the elucidation of the problems pertaining to the development of the boundary banks.

Lf the study of the Early Iron Age field systems (and their relation to settlement) is to be taken further, however, it is our opinion that the most important perspectives today lie in a fourth phase -aerial photography. The chronological, typological and historical aspects connected with the ancient fields must first and foremost be elucidated by means of a closer study of various aerial photographs. There is in Danish archaeology today a need for a comprehensive study (comprising several scientific disciplines) around this group of monuments -in order to gather the threads that lead from Hatt's committed work and from the beginning interest in the information sources of aerial photography (19).