A Passage Grave at Fjersted, SW Jutland

Abstract

A Passage Grave at Fjersted, SW Jutland

The passage grave is situated ca. 10 km E of Gram on the west Schleswig moraine island. The subsoil is yellow sand and there are flooded depressions around the site.

The excavation took place in 1955-59. It was found that the western part of the chamber was destroyed, but the lowest 15-20 cm were intact and the extraction holes of the uprights could be determined. The surviving undisturbed chamber fill was of homogeneous yellow, nearly whiteish sand passing gradually downwards into natural subsoil sand. Its exact base could not be distinguished. The only finds were a few poorly preserved human bones, a double-axe shaped amber bead (MN Ia-V), a spool-shaped amber bead (MN IA-V), most of a shouldered bowl from MN II, a barrel­shaped pot from MN V, and a decorated open bowl perhaps from the same period. The passage grave must thus have been used for burials at least twice -in MN II and in MN V. Probably it was used more often -perhaps also in MN Ib.

The exact floor level could not be determined in the passage either, but the bottom probably sloped down towards the chamber. The fill was similar to the chambers's. The outer end of the passage was closed by a pile of head­sized stones. This blocking dated probably from MN V, while the original doorstone had been in line with the kerb and now lay flat on the pile.

Outside the entrance was a layer of stones covering an abundant layer of pottery offerings. Stones and sherds were densest W and SW of the entrance. Two amber beads and a transverse arrowhead were also found in this layer.

The burial chamber lay in the southern part of a mound of sand standing on the original ground surface, originally with a stone kerb. The floor of the chamber had been sunk 0.6- 0.8 m into the natural subsoil.

The plan of the chamber was oval with E­W orientation, length ca. 3.8 m, breadth 1.8 m, and height 1.1-1.3 m. There were 11 uprights, of which 8 survived in place. Dry walling was preserved at same place, and both the chamber and passage were surrounded by a packing of stones and clay mixed with shattered flint. There had originally been three transversely placed capstones. The passage was 3 m long and 0.6 m wide, and joined the middle of the southern side of the chamber. Three up­rights survived in place of its western and 4 of its eastern side. There may have been a sill­stone at its inner end.

The offered pottery at the entrance of the tomb derived from at least 51 different vessels. These were 15 pedestal bowls (one with remarkably low pedestal), 5 Troldebjerg bowls, 10 funnel beakers, 1 richly decorated lugged beaker, 4 funnel bowls, 3 pottery spoons (one made probably by the same potter as the pedestal bowls), 3 shouldered vessels, 2 beakers with concave neck, 1 repaired beaker with cylindrical neck, 1 spherical bowl, 5 clay discs, and 1 indeterminate pot.

The pottery is datable to MN 1b-II, and the Troldebjerg (or Gingst) style is not represented. Half the material (25 pots) can be dated to MN Ib, while 6 pots (1 funnel beaker, 2 funnel bowls, 1 shouldered bowl, 1 Troldebjerg bowl, and 1 indeterminate form) can be dated to MN II. Three of these are decorated in the early Ferslev style. The sherds of the different pots lay mixed, but usually those of any one vessel had a limited range. It could therefore be established where many of the pots had been placed. Most of the pottery was found SW and W of the entrance, but at least 12 pots had been placed E of the entrance, same in front of, others on top of or behind the kerbstones. There was a tendency for the pedestal bowls to be near the entrance. Otherwise there was no systematic pattern of placing. Sherds of the late pottery were found throughout the offering layer. The late pots had been placed in front of the entrance and on both its sides on top of and in front of the kerbstones. The case was the same with the pots decorated in Klintebakke style.

The number of funnel beakers, especially those the size of drinking beakers, was remarkably low. The number of pedestal bowls on the other band was very high (34% -the highest ratio in the whole of northern Europe). Pedestal bowls and clay spoons are generally regarded as ritual pottery connected especially with burial cult. It is clear that repeated depositions of one or more pots had taken place in the vicinity of the tomb entrance. Many of these vessels were without practical function and were probably made for this ritual only.

The Fjersted passage grave lies geographically somewhat isolated, as do most megalithic tombs in western Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein. The distance in any direction to the next megalithic tomb is 4-10 km. This is one of the few passage graves and few offering layers known from SW Jutland and western Schleswig. The nearest other passage grave is "Røverstuen" in Lindet wood. Further passage graves or offering layers are known from Veldbæk, Borre, and Grimstrup Krat. Around Esbjerg there are Mejls near Varde, Nyby near Læborg, Steneng at Bredebro, Bov, and Møgeltønder. East of Husum near the town of Schleswig six destroyed megaliths have been recorded. Most were passage graves or great dolmens with offering layer. Three passage graves been recorded on Föhr, and on Sylt there are no less than twelve passage graves or offering layers. Ca. 40% of the passage graves in SW Jutland and western Schleswig lie in a small geographical area on this island's hummocky moraine. The distance from Fjersted to this remarkable concentration, whose importance has not earlier been noted in Danish archaeology, is 40 km as the crow flies.

The number of recorded passage grave appears to be proportional to the number originally existing, and the same can be said of their geographical distribution. The presence of passage graves and offering layers can therefore be seen as a reflection of settlement and population density at around 3200 B.C. (MN Ib).

In SW Jutland and western Schleswig there were considerably greater distances between the small cultivated areas where the inhabitants lived than there was further east in the Baltic area. There may nevertheless have been places with many passage graves and probably many people.

The basic settlement pattern was thus uniform throughout southern Scandinavia and northern Germany. The same may be said of the offering rituals at passage graves and great dolmens. Clear shared features in pottery style can be seen joining eastern and western Jutland together. Hence it may be concluded that society had the same form of organization in SW Jutland and western Schleswig as in the rest of Denmark. The Fjersted passage grave and its offering layer is the first evidence of social differentiation in Denmark. Like the other passage graves it was built as a place of burial and ritual for the Stone Age chieftains and their families.

Klaus Ebbesen