Cremation graves from the late Iron Age on Als

Abstract

Cremation graves from the late Iron Age on Als

The article concerns three cremation burial-sites from the late Iron Age, all on Als, which were investigated by the National Museum, the Prehistoric Museum in Århus and the Museum at Sønderborg Castle during the period 1938-1960.

Havrekobbel (Parish of Egen, Sønderborg district): (figs. 1-15) The burial-site is situated in the Havrekobbel part of Als Nørreskov (the Northern Als Woods), stretching directly up to the coast of Lillebælt, 5-8 m above sea-level. The burial-site consists of 38 low mounds, but it cannot be excluded that a few mounds, over the course of time, have been destroyed by coast-erosion. There is also a monolith (no. 40) (fig. 15) on the site, and a construction built of large stones, of indeterminate character (no. 38). Of the total of 40 structures 18 have been excavated.

Nygård (Parish of Egen, Sønderborg district): (figs. 16-22)

The burial-site, which consists of approximately 20 small mounds, is situated in the northern part of Als Nørreskov, about 400 m from Lillebælt and 25-30 m above sea-level. In all 7 of the mounds have been excavated.

Stolbro Næs (Parish of Egen, Sønderborg district). (figs. 23-26) The burial-site, which is on a low-lying salt-marsh at the entrance to Augustenborg Fjord on the east side of Als, consists of 3 low mounds and 3-4 ship settings. In 1960 excavations were carried out on one of the ship settings and on one of the mounds.

Those three burial-sites, Havrekobbel, Nygård and Stolbro Næs, together contain at least 60 constructions, of which 25 have been excavated. Stone was used in most of the constructions, but in other respects the range of their differences is considerable; they can nevertheless be systematized in the following groups:

A: Mounds of stones with circles of rim-Stones -mounds with stone circles around them and a massive central stone structure. (Havrekobbel mounds 1, 8, 33, 35. Nygård mound 6. Stolbro Næs mound 54b).

B: Earth mounds with circles of rim-stones. -As A, but with no stones, or very few, in the mound itself (Havrekobbel mounds 3, 9, 17. Nygård mounds 1, 2, 3, 9, 12).

C: Mounds of stones without circles of rim-stones. -As A, but without encircling Stones. (Havrekobbel mound 4, 7(?), 30, 31).

D: Earth mounds without circles of rim-stones. -As B, but without encircling stones. (Havrekobbel mounds 14, 15, 28, 32 (interment grave with stone paving)).

E: Ship settings. (Stolbro Næs structures a, b, c and also possibly Stolbro Næs structure d and Havrekobbel mound 11).

F: Other forms of grave: (Havrekobbel mounds 2 and 15).

As can be seen, the overwhelming majority of the structures are small earth or stone mounds, mostly with a diameter of 4-6 m and a height of around ½ m; a few are up to 9-10 m in diameter with a height of over 1 m. In several of the mounds large stones were found on the top; probably these originally stood upright as a kind of monolith.

In all cases -apart from one (Havrekobbel mound 32)- we are here dealing with cremation graves. Wherever it has been possible to establish, the layer of cremated matter lay directly on the original surface. The accompanying objects, of which many were marked by fire, lay either spread out in or else close to the cremated layer, mixed with charcoal and bones.

The bone fragments, invariably all but destroyed, can supply evidence as to sex or age in only a few cases (Havrekobbel mounds 4, 28, 30, 31 and 32), but both sexes seem to be represented, and both older and younger bodies can be identified. In one grave (Havrekob-bel mound 30) there has also been found a pig's tooth and the jaw-bone of a smaller carnivorous animal (a dog?).

The artefacts found, which consist for the most part of iron and pottery, are extremely sparse and in poor condition. In the cases where iron objects have been identified, they most often turn out to be different versions of tacks and nails, including rivets. Otherwise the iron objects include three hinges, which together with other parts of mounts and some fragments of rivets were found in Havrekobbel mound 3. (Fig. 28). The size of the mounts and the presence of rivets indicates that they come from a small casket.

The preserved potsherds all come from coarse, badly-fired pottery. The material is dominated by indeterminate potsherds along with occasional rim-sherds or base-sherds (fig. 27). The one clearly identifiable type of pottery vessel which can be distinguished is the semi-spherical vessel (Stolbro Næs mound 546). It is also clear that flat-bottomed pots must be represented in the material.

The dating of the three burial-sites on Als is based on two C-14 datings and also on assessment of the artefacts and burial customs. The two C-14 da tings are from Stolbro Næs, mound 54b, and were carried out on charcoal from the cremation layer. Calibrated following Stuiver and Pearson 1986, the samples can be dated respectively to 770-950 and 680-885 AD. The infrequent artefacts and their generally poor state of preservation offer few fixed points for a more specific dating of individual graves. But as a whole the artefacts seem indicative of the late Germanic Iron Age and the Viking Age, if one excludes the evidently secondary admixture of Neolithic flint. This is valid for the frequent occurrence of nails, casket-mountings and the coarse and badly-fired pottery.

The burial customs also suggest a dating in the late Iron Age. Cremation graves are known throughout the whole period, although clearly declining in the late Viking Age. the majority of the cremation graves, like those on Als, are simple cremation patches, but at Hedeby, along the North Sea coast from Ho Bugt to the south and on the tidal flats, many urn-burials are to be found, and these are generally associated with the Frisian cultural influence. The combination of cremation grave/small mound occurs frequently, but was probably distinctly more common than the find-picture suggests today. A distinct feature of the Als small mounds is the appearance of the rim-circles and the solid mounds of stones. Parallels to these are found at several other cremation burial-sites, mainly in northern Jutland, but also on the nearby site of Langballigau on Flensborg Fjord.

The ship settings at Stolbro Næs cannot be directly dated, but seen in relation to the nearby mound 54b there can be no doubt that they should also be placed in the late Iron Age. A feature at the Stolbro Næs burial-site which also suggests the late Iron Age is the situation close to the water. The placing of the burial-site directly adjacent to the beach or on low salt-marshes is characteristic of precisely that period. (10).

Seen as a whole the dating of the three burial-sites discussed here thus clearly lies in the late Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age. Carbon-14 dating of Stolbro Næs mound 54b indicates the 8th and 9th centuries, and this fits well with the cremation burial habits which seem to have prevailed in exactly those two centuries. The nearby burial-site at Langballigau shows, however, that the custom of cremation graves in small mounds continued well into the 10th century.

The extremely complex picture of burial customs which emerges from the last centuries of prehistory, with a wealth of widely different grave-forms, has naturally provided the material for a long series of analyses and theories. In particular attempts have been made to distinguish different social and ethnic groups in the find-material. On the face of it, it is tempting to view the three burial fields with the obvious lack of grave-goods as burial-sites for people of humble means. If one draws comparisons with the often well-equipped interment graves from the Viking Age on Als, the impression made by the cremation graves becomes still more strongly one of impoverishment. The majority of the wealthy interment graves, however, are probably later than the cremation graves, and moreover it is not possible to conclude directly from the poverty of equipment of a grave that the buried person was correspondingly poor. While a wealthy grave always betokens that the dead person or his family/friends were prosperous, an interpretation of a grave without grave­goods, or with only few of them, cannot be undertaken without more detailed analyses. What were the local burial habits at the time in question? Can the graves possibly be linked to a particular group of people who demanded this precise type of burial? a particular age­group, sex, a religious or perhaps ethnic community? Another factor of uncertainty is that the cremation itself normally was carried out in a place other than the site where the mound was erected. We thus have no guarantee that the few remnants of artefacts that have been found are representative of the original total of grave-goods.

It is spontaneously more tempting to look in closer detail at whether any deductions can be made about the ethnic background of the graves. In an article from 1984, H. Steuer alleges that among the many graves to be found in and around Hedeby, it is possible to de­monstrate that certain -a small number- are Slavonic (Steuer 1984). This applies to the burial-field at Hochburg and to some individual graves in the large burial-field south of the semi-circular rampart. We know from written sources that there were Slavonic merchants who lived in Hedeby, and also, during excavation of the town, quantities of pottery and other features linked to the Slavonic area were found. The features which Steuer uses to draw parallels with the Slavonic burial customs are e.g. the occurrence of burnt patches directly on the sub-soil and covered by small mounds, shallow trenches running round the bases of the mounds, possibly in a square formation, the size of the mounds and of the burial-fields, and the often insignificant finds in the graves.

The graves in Als Nørreskov in many respects resemble the mounds at Hochburg and thus also the corresponding Slavonic small mounds with cremation graves: here too there are cremation patches directly on the sub-soil, the grave-goods are extremely sparse, as has been said, and the construction and size of the mounds has many points of similarity. Only there are no trenches round the Als mounds, or at any rate none have been noticed. There is nothing, however, in the other finds from the period either from Als or from the adjacent areas on the mainland that would indicate contacts with the Slavonic area, in spite of the fact that by the sea-route it was not far to the nearest settlements east of Kiel. No metal objects such as those known in eastern Denmark, and no Slavonic, or Slav-inspired pottery. It seems that contact with the Slavonic area did not come until the Wendie expeditions of the early Middle Ages (Kock 1979, p. 218) (11). The problem is, however, whether the features which Steuer highlights as specifically Slavonic are not in fact so general that they cannot support such a far-reaching interpretation. Cremation burial-fields with small mounds of the character and size of those found on Als are found in many places, particularly north of the Limfjord and in south Jutland and Slesvig, and the surrounding trenches are also found inside Denmark (Andersen 1987, p. 184) (12). There is therefore no basis for suggesting special foreign influence in connection with the Als cremation burial-fields discussed here. In spite of similarities with graves in the Slavonic area the burial customs found here have to be said to fall within the normal spectrum -admittedly a broad one- of those practised in the Nordic Viking Age.

Steen Wulff Andersen

Haderslev Museum