Nybro. A wooden track from the age of King Godfred

Abstract

Nybro - A wooden track from the age of King Godfred

In 1998, a wooden track which measured 57 by 3m was excavated in an area called Nybro north of present Varde in South-West Jutland. Nybro was once a wetland area, which was drained and connected to the "Filsø" lake in the West by the stream "Søvig Bæk". According to geologists, Nybro may be the only relatively dry area east of the West Coast of Jutland in the early Viking Age. This fact is confirmed by old maps from the Royal Danish Academy ("Videnskabernes Selskab") from around AD 1800 (fig 1). Geological survey suggests that the area was a wetland area with no possibility for ships to enter. At the present it is 5.11 m above Danish Normal Nil (DNN).

The old records, the "sognebeskrivelser," mention a number of wooden posts, which lie close to a row of ancient grave monuments (fig 2). This is the reason why the Varde Museum chose to open a 4 X 30-m. trial trench in order to locate the posts and pull some of them up for dating. The result from the dendro-laboratory:  "Nationalmuseets Naturvidenskabelige Undersøgelser" (NNU) was surprising, as they came up with the date AD 791. This places the site in the very early Viking Age. We therefore decided to excavate the site, partly because it was threatened by the construction of a gas pipeline, partly because such a large number of well-preserved posts are a rare phenomenon, as only few prehistoric tracks have been located and recorded.

One of the aims of the excavation was to reach an understanding of the construction and layout of the track by identifying possible phases, as it soon became clear that the site was a palimpsest of a number of different phases. The question was then: for how long was the track in use? The early dendrodates have sparked a number of possible interpretations. Other large constructions from approximately the same time are the Kanhave Canal dating to AD 726 and the Danevirke earthworks - which were traditionally dated to AD 737, but may be as old as the 7th century. Just as the formation of early Ribe, these large structures have been linked to the formation of the early Danish Kingdoms.

One way of reaching an understanding of the track was to record the site in detail and dig up a number of posts representative of the entire track. After the excavation, the plans were digitised into MAP-info® 4.5 Desktop Mapping Program to enable queries about the dendrodates and their position (fig 3). This would enable us to understand the use of the track by working with two variables - date and space. Fortunately, the high water table suggests that it will be possible to return to the place in the future in order to test the conclusions. The dates of the wood samples, which made up a total of c. 100, ranged between AD 741 and AD 834.This is interpreted as the time of use. However, a closer look at the traces left by the carpenter's tools on each post suggests that the answer is not quite this simple (figs 4; 9; 10).

The track has an almost north-south direction and is constructed by three rows of posts. Some posts have a broken point, which suggests that they were hammered into the ground. Most posts are made from radially split trunks. The growth rings of the wood suggest that the wood came from the same area, though perhaps not from the same forest.

Apart from the wood there were very few finds. The use of a metal detector ensured that we probably found most of the items that had been lost by people crossing the area. One of the most prominent finds was an Arabic coin. Gert Risling from Stockholm has determined it to be a Dirhem made in the year 771/772 in madinat al-Salam under the Califf al-Mansur (fig 6 and fig 7). This piece is a rare occurrence in Western Scandinavia and the find suggests that it was worn as an amulet. It was found about 3.5 m west of the track. Another find was a badly preserved axe found in a wet depression next to the track. It had possibly been lost during the construction of the track (fig 6, & 8), as indicated by the broken handle found next to it. The axe measures c. 16 cm lengthwise. The edge is c. 6.5-cm wide. The find context suggests that it was a working axe contemporary with the track. A brooch was also found, possibly part of a horse 's gear. The dating is uncertain, but experts suggest the surprisingly late date of c.AD 1000 (fig 5).

The posts, which were very well preserved, had clear cutting marks and at times even traces of the edge of the axe (fig 9 & 10). The oldest posts date from AD 741. They were interpreted as wood from a house or a fence. Although their exact use has not been identified, these post types are obviously secondary and do not reflect the construction phase as such (fig 4). This is, however, the case with the next group of posts, namely those from AD 761 (fig. 12). For specific dates of each post, I refer to the report in Daly 1999. The distribution of the posts indicate a major reconstruction of the track over a six-year period from AD 785 to AD 791 (fig. 3 & 14). Only in the southern part of the track the AD 785-phase can be distinguished from that of AD 791 (fig 13 & 14). In this phase, the crack seems to continue further south than the older phase from AD 761.

From AD 805, we have another group of posts that does not seem to represent an independent phase, but rather a maintenance stage during which only certain parts of the track were repaired. The same applies for the next phases, namely those of AD 812/813, 825, and 834. The function of the posts dating from AD 825 is uncertain. They probably replaced older posts, although some are outside the basic post alignment. One post dating from AD 749 does not fit into the general picture. Perhaps it came from a building and was reused for mending in the 770ies (fig 14). The track seems to have been maintained every 10 to 15 years, a phenomenon known from 16th-century account books and other information on more recent cracks.

An analysis of cutting marks on each of the dated post was undertaken. The average value (fig 15, 16 & 17) shows that most marks measure c. 4-6 cm. This suggests the same technique being implemented by the workers when the track was constructed. The size of the marks suggests that posts from all periods were subjected to the same treatment (fig 16).

It is worth noticing that the supposed secondary wood has a different position in the scattergram. The pattern suggests a major difference of technique on this type of wood and the quickly worked wood made for the majority of posts while constructing the track. At the secondary wood, we have cutting marks of up to 11 cm. It was also possible to identify traces after the twisting of the axe, suggesting that we might be able to segregate individual carpenters (fig 19). For example, the posts from AD 791 had twists on up to 35% of the cutting marks.

As mentioned above, this track is the first one to be uncovered in its entirety and subjected to a meticulous analysis. However, earlier constructions of a similar kind have been revealed. For a list of tracks in Scandinavia I refer to Jørgensen 1988 and 1997b. A similar construction dating from c. AD 1000 is known from Risby. Also Sjellebro, dating from AD 752, looks very much like the track from Nybro, as does tracks excavated at Fyrkat and Trelleborg, both dating from the end of the 10th century. We also have parallels in Novgorod, Hedeby, Stellerburg and Wollin, as well as in Bergen and ancient Oslo.

The tracks from Fyrkat and Trelleborg, as well as other tracks, enable a reconstruction of the Nybro track as it may have looked originally (fig 12, 13 & 18). Long sills were placed in a north-south direction and held in place by posts along the sides. Then planks were placed across the sills. They looked like x24 (fig 16), although they were possibly longer. The planks were fixed to the posts by means of a small u-shaped hole at the end, possibly of the type we see in x26 (fig 20). This piece dates from AD 741. It seems that the maximum width of the track was around 3 m. Thus, two carts were able to pass each other on the track.

The eighth century is a dark age in South Scandinavia and there are only few written records of this period. However, the number and the quality of the finds from this period suggest that it was an important period during which the Danish Kingdom was formed. The Frankish chronicles speak of a "King" called Siegfred in AD 777, 782 and 798, i. e. contemporary with the track from Nybro. The best known King is Godfred, an industrious and belligerent king mentioned in AD 808 for having constructed Hedeby. He also made war campaigns against the Franks and the Slavs before he was assassinated in AD 810. King Hemming died in AD 812, at the same time as the last substantial maintenance of the Nybro track took place. The question is whether there is any connection between these kings and the Nybro track. If so, the lack of maintenance during the later years could be explained by the internal conflict that we know took place between King Godfred's sons during the ninth century. Such a conflict may have left neither time nor finances for maintaining a track leading to Varde and Ribe. Evidently the Nybro track could have been one of the transport roads to Ribe, maybe the very track along which some of the cattle that left so much dung in the layers of early Ribe were moved. We know that oak and cattle were important trading goods in Northern Europe already then and that they were exchanged for different kinds of prestigious goods.

Mads Ravn