Two equestrian graves from the early Roman Iron Age -one with an associated settlement

Abstract

Two equestrian graves from the early Roman Iron Age -one with an associated settlement

Two chamber- graves from the early Roman Iron Age, period B2, are presented here, situated respectively at Hvesager (1) and Bredal (2), near Vejle (fig. 1); each grave contains an equestrian equipped with full weaponry. From Hvesager there can additionally be presented the settlement associated with the grave, which makes the site all the more interesting. This provides the opportunity to use the finds to throw light on social and political aspects of contemporary society within a confined geographical area, on the basis of the object-material in the two graves.

THE HVESAGER SETTLEMENT

The settlement at Hvesager (fig. 2) consists of two adjoining farmsteads which were in use for a relatively short time (3). The larger of the farms had a fenced area of in all 2120 m2, and had a built area of 400-460 m2. The smaller of the farms had a fenced area of ca. 1012 m2, and a built area of 215-270 m2. These two farms are the only contemporary buildings on the site.

The larger of the Hvesager farms is so far the largest known early Roman Age farm in Denmark, both as regards the fenced area and the built area. The next-largest, a single farm, is situated only 3.5 km from Hvesager, at Haughus (5). Another large farm, which is also one of two adjoining farms, is known at Vorbasse (6). An example of a typical early Roman Age farm of average size in east Jutland is a farm construction at Gårslev, south of Vejle (7). The farm here has an enclosed area of 540 m2 and a built area of in all 174 m2. This farm-type is also found in most contemporary villages (8-9). The examples mentioned are shown in fig. 4.

The find-material from the Hvesager settlement consists mainly of pottery. Examples can be seen in fig. 5. It is a mixture of finer household pottery and coarser bowls and storage pots. Through the pottery the settlement can be linked to the Hvesager equestrian grave which lies only 30 m from it (fig. 6). The grave was found to contain pottery which in shape and decoration corresponds exactly to the pottery from the larger of the farms.

THE HVESAGER GRAVE

The grave was situated in a field, on a slight natural slope in the terrain. In a pit 2.8 X 4.65 m, with vertical sides and a flat bottom, there stood a plank-coffin, 1.75 X 4.05 m and 0.58 m deep (figs. 7 and 8a).

The dead person, a man (on account of the grave-goods), lay in the north-west quarter of the chamber, with his head to the west, on his side and with drawn-up, bent legs and his face to the south. The position of the body could be determined from the positioning of the artefacts. In addition traces of the thigh-bones were discernible. He wore a silver fibula on his chest, on one hand a silver ring, and around his waist he had a belt with a buckle of iron (fig. 15a, b, and c). On his feet he had a pair of spurs (fig. 12c).

In the south-western corner was an arrangement of in all 8 vessels (figs. 9, 10a and 11a). In the middle of the grave, below the feet, lay a shield, 1.25 min diameter (figs. 13 and 14), and beneath it an iron knife (fig. 16). At the edge of the shield there were three small ornamental mounts of silver, plated with sheet-gold (fig. 15c), which may possibly have been used as decoration on a purse, since there were faint traces of organic material around them. On the north side of the chamber stood a lance and a spear, at a slight angle (figs. 12a and 12b); their length, to judge from their positioning in the grave, could have been up to 3 m.

The fibula dates the grave to the period B2 (13); the weapons and spurs are also compatible with that period (11-12).

A close parallel to the Hvesager chamber-grave can be found in Bredal, only 15 km away. The Bredal grave is identical in its construction and object-content, but contains equipment of a much higher standard.

THE BREDAL GRAVE

The grave was situated in a bank forming part of a ridge near Bredal, with a broad view over the countryside and Vejle Fjord. In a pit of 2.4 X 4.85 m lay a plank coffin, 1.5 X 3.9 m and 0.5 m deep. Around it was a frame of head-sized stones in several layers (figs. 17, 18 and 8b). In an earlier looting-hole, the extent of which is shown on fig. 18, lay the remains of 4 pottery vessels. The looting-hole had in several places been very close to the bottom of the grave, e to the bottom of the grave, and it cannot therefore be excluded that some individual pieces of the contents of the grave have been removed.

The dead person, a man -judging from the grave goods- lay in the chamber's north­west quarter with his head to the west, on his side with drawn-up, bent legs and his face to the south. He had worn a substantial ring of solid gold (fig. 28) on one hand. Around his waist was a belt with a buckle of iron with silver inlay and strap-ends of iron (figs. 27b and 27e). On the belt there had been a mount with a loop (fig. 27c) with the same decoration as on the belt-buckle. On it had hung an iron knife, decorated with silver inlay (fig. 25a), an awl-like iron object (fig. 26b), and a silver spoon (fig. 26a). Silver rivers and a small buckle of bronze and silver (fig. 29d) indicate that there perhaps was also a leather purse hanging on it. On his feet he had a pair of spur-shoes or sandals of leather, decorated with sheet-gold plated buttons, bronze mounts, and spurs with pricks of iron with inlay, and with gold- and silver-plated bronze bodies (figs. 22, 23 and 24). A pair of rivet-bows of bronze with sheet­gold plating on the upper side lay close to the feet (fig. 27a). Their function cannot be more precisely identified here (43). Directly below the shield lay 22 glass game-pieces, 11 white and 11 black (fig. 29).

Finally there had been in the grave an arrangement of 10 pottery vessels (figs. 19 and

10b). The placings of six of the pots are known -c.f. fig. 18 -but the rest were found in the looting-hole.

The grave can be dated by means of the spurs, which have identical parallels in the Dollerup grave A2 (16), with a dating which is firmly anchored in the later part of period B2, on account of the grave's fibulae and imported Roman bronze and silver vessels (Voss, O. and Ørsnes-Christensen, M., 1948).

The datings and the typical construction of the Hvesager and Bredal graves substantiate the impression that the graves must have been made at the same time, in the first half of the 2nd. century, i.e. in the latter half of period B2.

THE RELATIVE CLASS-RELATIONSHIP OF THE TWO GRAVES: THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS OF THE TWO EQUESTRIANS

The two graves are of the same size and type of construction, and each contains a collection of objects consisting of largely the same elements. There is, however, a marked difference in the quality of the equipment in the two graves, as regards the pottery-arrangements, the weapons, the spurs and the personal trappings. The high standard of the Bredal equipment is particularly highlighted in the fact that the belt-attachments,. the spurs, the shoe-mounts, and the rivet-bows can be linked together into an exclusive set of the highest quality of craftsmanship.

Spurs are found in only a small minority of the total of weapon-graves, and then most often in combination with gold finger-rings and in many cases Roman imports. Spurs are an indication of dignity; there are examples of older men who are buried without weapons but with spurs and otherwise with rich grave-goods (63). Both the Hvesager and the Bredal equestrians had spurs and full weaponry and thus are shown to have been active warriors who must have had leading positions. The marked difference in quality of equipment in the two graves shows, however, that they did not belong to the same social layer; it must relate to two different levels which are both above that of the »ordinary« warrior.

Both graves are situated in an area where it has already been observed that there is a high concentration of richly-equipped warrior-graves (64). A survey of them reveals that there are several levels involved (fig. 31). Three graves, viz. Bredal, Dollerup and Bjergelide (65), form a separate group. They all contain spurs, gold finger-rings and imports. Bredal and Bjergelide in addition have weapons; they thus make up the highest-ranking social class. The Bredal and Dollerup graves are linked by the spurs, which are identical, and show that there must have been contact with the same place of production. In Bredal we are dealing with a warrior, with distinguished spurs and gold finger-ring, supplemented with an imported set of Roman glass game-pieces. In Dollerup we have a man without weapons but with the emblems of dignity -spurs and a gold finger-ring, and several Roman imported goods.

The Bredal equestrian's position is emphasized by the exclusive set of spurs and belt­ornaments, which together with the Dollerup spurs provide evidence of these influential men's North European contact-network -over great distances, as can be seen from the map at fig. 30.

The next social layer consists of the warriors with spurs but without gold finger-rings or imports. To this group belong the Hvesager grave and others of the same level, Gammel by near Ringgive (68) and Erritsø near Fredericia (69), as well as a group of graves, often collected together in larger burial sites, which include weapons but not spurs.

In this way one can operate with several social and perhaps political levels which build up a hierarchy to reveal to us something of the units of which the country was composed and of the methods by which it was ruled.

In the eastern Jutland local area which virtually covers the area of present-day Vejle county (amt), we can then look at the area in closer focus and observe three regions, each containing a grave belonging to the highest social and political layer -i.e. Bjergelide, Bredal and Dollerup (fig. 31). It should be noted that all the graves are contemporary (period B2). These regions are naturally divided off from each other by watersheds which traverse the area. There are furthermore local burial customs within the area which are upheld in time-honoured fashion, except where the richly furnished import graves -Bjergelide, Bindeballe and Dollerup- are concerned. These local customs show that the contact between the population north and south of Vejle Fjord cannot have been significant (fig. 32). On the other hand the link between the Bredal and Dollerup graves (the spurs) shows that at the higher level there must have existed a contact-network which went far beyond that of the local region.

How can we then interpret the hierarchy of leadership to which this gives rise? According to Tacitus (70) we had a cavalry and an infantry, and the cavalary had the leadership function. In conjunction with the archaeological sources we can assume that the warriors with spurs were leaders of the army.

It has also been assumed, however, that warriors with spurs made up two levels in the command-hierarchy. Tacitus also says »At the assemblies of the people the chieftains are chosen from among the others; they maintain order round about in the districts (herreder) and villages.« These chieftains must therefore -since they maintained order in several districts- have held a very superior position in relation to the leaders of the army, who commanded the infantry for the individual district. These chieftains may be those we find respectively in Bjergelide, Bredal and Dollerup. This idea is consolidated by a report about conditions in a German village in the 370s (71). The source, it is true, is a few hundred years later, but in great measure reflects the same conditions which prevailed according to Tacitus.

Taking into account the archaeological sources in the east Jutland local area, there is no doubt (72) that a leadership structure existed on a larger scale than that of the village. For example, in the area north of Vejle Fjord and the river valleys connected to it, where the Hvesager and Bredal graves were found, as already shown, these graves each represented their own social and political level, with Bredal higher in the hierarchy and Hvesager below. In precisely this area today we know of a large number of contemporary settlements (73) consisting in some cases of large villages with many farms, and sometimes of smaller settlements or of single farms (fig. 33). It is apparent from this that Hvesager and Bredal each cover an area with several settlements of varying size.

The sources mentioned both describe the population as being divided up into tribes; it is not known how many. The question is whether they had a superior organisation. There are reasons to believe that they may have had something of the kind. For example, as early as the late part of the pre-Roman Iron Age, a post-barrage was constructed in Gudsø bay (74). A construction of such dimensions would require a central authority with power over a rather large area. This enabled the sea-access to be controlled from Vejle Fjord to Kolding Fjord, along the Spang River, through the Elbo Valley and Rands Fjord.

The finds of large weapon-sacrifices from the period which directly followed (75), consisting of the equipment of beaten armies, show that an army must have numbered several hundred warriors. This must mean that weapon-bearing men from a quite large area or perhaps from several tribes must have had to join forces in a combined army to reach the necessary size of force.

Taking as departure-point the two grave-finds from Hvesager and Bredal it has been possible to propound a leadership-hierarchy valid chiefly for the south-east Jutland area. Examples such as the Brokjær grave and the newly-discovered Hedegård site (79) indicate, however, that the conditions in the adjacent areas are similar -that there did exist a firmly­established leadership structure which was developed during the succeeding centuries.

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