Viumgård

A Germanic Iron Age cemetary in Salling

Abstract

Viumgård 

A Germanic Iron Age cemetery in Salling

Cemeteries from the Germanic Iron Age (4th-7th century AD) are a rarity in southern Scandinavia, and those dating from the transitional period between Early and Late Germanic Iron Age are extremely seldom. Nevertheless, a rescue excavation at Viumgård in Hjerk parish in 2008 uncovered a small cemetery containing cremation and inhumation burials from this transitional period, or more precisely the period AD 400-575 (figs. 1-2). Furthermore, four of the inhumation burials were furnished with beads that included several imports of types well known from Anglo-Saxon England and the Continent.

The excavation revealed nine cremation burials (table 1) and eight inhumation burials dating from the Germanic Iron Age, as well as an urn burial that may also be from this period (fig. 3). No funeral pyre site was found, but seven of the burial pits contained cremated bones and pyre debris. In one case, a burial pit had been carefully dug into an older inhumation burial. In two other cases cremated bone had been carefully redeposited in inhumation burials. Small amounts of cremated bone and pyre debris were also found in the fill of two further inhumation burials. The urn contained cremated bone. Most of the cremation pits were circular, but some resembled the inhumation burials in size and shape (fig. 4). Their orientation varied. The cremated bone was predominantly of human origin, representing various ages and both genders, but a few animal bones were also identified (table 3).

Most of the eight inhumation burials were orientated W-E with the head to the west. One inhumation burial was surrounded by an oval ditch. No traces of the inhumated human remains were preserved (figs. 4-6, table 2).

Three female inhumation burials were furnished with beads and brooches (figs. 7 and 10). Two contained traditional brooches (small equal-armed brooches in grave A45 and hybrid beak brooches in grave A2), while grave A3 had a single annular brooch of Anglo-Saxon type. The beads in grave A3 were of local types and hung from the brooch placed at her right shoulder. The beads in grave A45 (including a few foreign types) were on a string at the front of the dress. The bead ornament in grave A2 was composed of four rows and contained several foreign bead types (fig. 9). Fragments of textile from grave A2 were identified as rather coarse woollen twill (fig. 8), while those recovered from grave A45 constituted warp-faced woollen tabby, in which the brooches were fastened, and woollen twill from another garment or blanket (fig. 11-12).

The artefacts from the burials were classified and analysed for their chronological potential (figs. 12-28). The brooches and beads were central in this respect. The brooches comprise cruciform brooches (fig. 13), small equal-armed brooches (fig. 14), a hybrid type of beak brooch (fig. 15) and an annular brooch of Anglo-Saxon type (fig. 16). Apart from the latter, they all form part of a well-known chronological sequence.

Glass beads have not really been taken into consideration in the chronological debate in southern Scandinavia – except in relation to the Late Germanic Iron Age on Bornholm. The beads found at Viumgård are crucial to dating the period around the transition from the Early to the Late Germanic Iron Age. Several of the bead types are well-dated in continental and, especially, Anglo-Saxon contexts, also regarding absolute dates (figs. 18-20, tables 4-5). The beads from grave A3 are typical for burials from the Early Germanic Iron Age, while those from grave A45 represent a combination of well-known types from Early Germanic Iron Age contexts and examples from Brugmann’s Bead Group B1. The bead ornament from grave A2, comprising four rows of beads, shows an entire chronological development in glass beads. The beads of the first (innermost) string closely resemble those from grave A45 and consequently include examples of Bead Group B1 – all in yellowish shades. In the second string, beads belonging to Bead Group B2 are introduced, all in shades of yellow and red. The beads of the third string still belong to Bead Group B2. Their shades are blue and white. The orange beads of the fourth (outermost) string belong to Bead Group B2/C and are in shades of red and orange. Large numbers of red and orange glass beads are characteristic of the early part of the Late Germanic Iron Age (fig. 21).

Together with other burial finds where small equal-armed brooches are associated with glass beads, grave A45 show that this brooch type is always combined with beads usually seen in the Early Germanic Iron Age or, in some cases, with well-dated imported beads (fig. 29). Beak brooches, on the other hand, are mostly found together with red and orange beads, as seen in the outermost string of the bead ornament from grave A2. Existing chronological schemes place the emergence of the small equal-armed brooches and the beak brooches in the same phase (1A). Based on the grave assemblages from Viumgård, new analyses have now shown that there is a phase prior to phase 1A, as previously defined. As a preliminary solution to this situation, phase 1A has now been divided into two sub-phases – the first with the small equal-armed brooch as a leading type, while the second is characterised by the beak brooch, together with the first red/orange bead assemblages. The emergence of the small equal-armed brooch is contemporary with that of Bead Group B1, which has a start date of AD 510/545. Similarly, the introduction of the beak brooch is contemporary with the emergence of Bead Group B2/C, dated to AD 555/585.

Based on the artefacts furnishing the burials, the southeastern part of the cemetery is the oldest, beginning in about AD 400 (fig. 30). Most of the cremation burials are furnished, but with only one or a very few artefacts (fig. 31). Inhumation was introduced much later: Grave A45, with its surrounding ditch and a location northwest of the old cemetery, was probably the first. Most of the inhumation burials are located around grave A45 and are all either contemporary with this or later (fig. 30). The grave furnishing here is different, i.e. more hierarchical (fig. 31). The earlier cemetery was still in use and a few late inhumation burials were found here too. It is uncertain whether this was due to a branch of the family buried in the old cemetery breaking away and moving to the new cemetery, with a new burial tradition, or whether the new cemetery belonged to a new family (with a member of Anglo-Saxon origin) who moved into the area. What is certain is that it happened at a crucial time – coinciding precisely with a significant shift in society, which sees expression in a profound increase in the number of small equal-armed brooches and beak brooches found at specific settlement sites. Perhaps it also reflects that the tradition of wearing brooches was extended to a much wider group of the female population, also as a result of social changes? Both cemeteries went out of use in the second half of the 6th century.

The number of metal-detector finds from Museum Salling’s area has increased significantly in recent years, including at a site quite close to Viumgård (fig. 32, table 6). While only a single cruciform brooch has been found there, numerous small equal-armed brooches and beak brooches have been recovered, and these probably also reflect the social changes that took place. Vium is an old sacral place name. The location of the cemetery and the settlement, and the metal-detector finds from the area to the south of the cemetery, all in close association with one of the peninsula’s main watercourses, may indicate that Vium was a kind of central place. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the Medieval thing was also held not far away from Vium. The metal-detector finds and the developments evident at the cemetery may suggest that establishment of a central place took place in the first half of the 6th century. However, to obtain a more detailed picture of the developments at Vium, and the type of site it represented, further research is needed in the future.

Karen Høilund Nielsen
Beder

Inge Kjær Kristensen
Museum Salling

Kurt Glintborg Overgaard †