Cult and Rituals in the TRB-Culture

Abstract

Cult and Rituals in the TRB-Culture

The earliest Neolithic culture in Northern Europe, dating from the period around 4000 BC onwards, is the Funnel-necked Beaker Culture or TRB-Culture. The geographical range of this culture covers an area from the North Sea to the Ukraine and from central Germany up to central Sweden. It is characterised by pots with a funnel-shaped neck. Although this culture has a number of common characteristics it is subdivided into a series of local cultures, of which an account is given here of the features in Denmark and Scandinavia.

In Denmark, the TRB-Culture supersedes the Mesolithic Ertebølle Culture, which monopolised the area in the fifth millennium BC. The TRB-Culture was itself replaced by the Corded Ware Culture around 2800 BC. The TRB-Culture in Denmark has been the subject of thorough research, not least in respect of its settlements, its megalithic graves and its votive caches. From extensive excavation from the 1950's to the 1980's we have also gained some insight into new types of structure associated with this culture, which give us an even more varied image of it. Among these should be noted the cult houses, (1) stone-packing graves, (2) and Sarup enclosures. (3)

In order to gain a more comprehensive view of the TRB-Culture, which has indeed left a very extensive range of finds in Denmark, regional studies of a couple of smaller areas have been undertaken in recent years. Thus in 1985 J. Skaarup could publish a general monograph containing the results of a thorough research project concerning the TRB-Culture on the islands south of Fyn, in an area of about 485 sq. km. With the present author's excavation of the site at Sarup as a starting point, the last decade has also seen regional studies within an area of about 12 sq. km around Sarup, with the aim of studying the enclosure in its regional setting. (4-5)

The large number of finds from the megalithic graves, in the votive caches and from the Sarup sites has given us an opportunity to examine the cult and religious life of the TRB-Culture an interest that has in part been strengthened by the current interest in these topics, as seen, for instance, at the conference "Sacred and Profane" in Oxford in 1989. Future analyses of the relationships between the different categories of finds ought also to make it possible to study cult and religious life in a better way than can be achieved if these groups of material are investigated in isolation. (6-7)

How to find signs from the ritual activities?

The Funnel-necked Beaker Culture in Denmark is divided into several chronological phases and a few regional groups. (8) In this account a division of the culture into three phases (early, middle and late) is sufficient, with their boundaries set at 3500 BC and 3200 BC. These three phases will subsequently be assessed with particular attention to remains of finds, which may be evidence for ritual activities. The author's studies have been concentrated especially on the activities at the Sarup enclosures, which were in use in the middle phase. In order to be able to work from this large body of material, that study defines what is understood as settlement material, and thus likewise what is not regarded as settlement or profane material. A settlement is defined as a place at which people spent the night, prepared and ate food, and produced and used tools. (9-10) In the archaeological record we ideally have to find buildings or huts, fireplaces and storage pits, and/or waste from toolmaking or -use (i.e. approximately 12 pieces of flint waste to each tool), a varied range of tools, sherds of pottery of diverse functions, very few complete pots, remains of food (e.g. bones C the meaty parts), and, if possible, quernstones (on agrarian sites). In other areas and cultures one may, however, have to anticipate different definitions of settlement­site material. It is then interesting to study the material that, according to these criteria, is not settlement material: for instance those cases in which one has an assemblage of finds with complete pots, complete axes, collections of flint tools without very much flint waste, caches of animals' skulls etc. Naturally of particular interest are finds that also contain human bone, either as complete skeletons or as parts thereof. In such cases one can also distinguish examples of grave finds, for instance when one or more artefacts are found in a grave together with remains of the dead person. Otherwise one is dealing with votive hoards or caches when two or more "valuable" artefacts are deposited in the same place and there is no question of a grave find. These definitions immediately make it harder to interpret those cases in which one has a grave-like feature with complete artefacts but no sign of a body. In these circumstances one usually suggests a cenotaph at some sites, however, there is an extraordinarily large number of cenotaphs! In finds with only one "valuable" artefact one has to judge whether these can be counted as votive deposits. (11-12)

Through thorough analyses of the available finds, one could probably find material and assemblages, which are associated with ritual life. In looking for such material one implicitly accepts that prehistoric societies used rituals in order to communicate with the gods. (13)

In order to distinguish a sacral find, it is therefore necessary to analyse the whole find and its composition. Concerning the TRB­Culture such studies have yet only been undertaken on a minor scale, and the account here will only point out certain elements, which could have been used in ritual life.

Rituals in the first part of the TRB-Culture The earliest phase of the TRB-Culture (3900-3500 BC) saw a change of the forest landscape of the Ertebølle Period into a more open landscape with relatively small settlement units located on light, sandy, level areas with ready access to water, meadows and woodland. The form of subsistence changed from a Mesolithic to a Neolithic way of life. (14-15) The finds of pollen, a few bones from domesticated animals (cattle, pigs and sheep/goat), grain impressions, and the position of settlements suggest an incipient farming culture with labile agriculture. Burial was carried out in inhumation graves, as in the Ertebølle Culture, (16) but there were also major long barrows with complex structures containing graves for one or more individuals. (17) Near the eastern ends of the long barrows clear signs of sacrificial rituals have been found. (18) Wetland rituals were carried out involving the sacrifice of flint axes and human-and animal bone. (19)

Some of these wetland finds come from constructed features. One example is Salpetermosen, (20-21) where in 1946 a thick layer of brushwood and twigs supported by vertical stakes was found. This layer covered an area of 10 m x 22 that lay right beside the old lake edge. In the midst and on top of this layer of twigs several pots, axes and animal bones were found. Flint waste and scattered sherds of pottery such as might represent settlement activity were absent.

Rituals in the middle part of the TRB-Culture

In the middle phase of the TRB-Culture (3500-3200 BC) we see a great change in the archaeological finds from Denmark with the introduction of large monuments such as the megalithic graves, the cult houses and the Sarup enclosures: monuments, which are believed to have been part of ritual activities. Through pollen diagrams one can see that Man was now affecting nature. We see a smaller amount of pollen pertaining to oak and lime forest and a higher amount from birch and later hazel: the pollen characteristic of an open landscape with grass and herbs. The clearance of the forest was contemporary with the first traces of cultivation using the ard. (22) This must have required large field plots, which had been cleared of stones and trees -a considerable investment of labour.

The introduction of the ard may have brought with it a series of changes in human social relations, for instance with men taking the cultivation of the soil upon them. Thus land inheritance and land rights became important and could easily lead to conflicts. The introduction of these innovations has been called the Secondary Products Revolution by Andrew Sherratt. (23) The settlements in the Sarup area now formed a dense pattern of sites about 500 sq. m in size, located on level, naturally drained sites with easy access to several biotopes. The economy was characterised by the storage of food in earth cellars (silos).

The megalithic graves

The megalithic graves are the clearest marks on the landscape from this period (Fig.1).We see a development from the construction of small dolmen chambers, which are slightly reminiscent of the body-length earthen graves of the preceding period (albeit built of stone), to large dolmen chambers, dolmens with a passage, and passage graves (at the end of the period). These stone chambers were often placed within a barrow, although they may also be surrounded by stone circles or oblong stone enclosures. (24-25) The graves could be either dispersed throughout the landscape or grouped in clusters. (26) At least 25,000 graves were constructed within Denmark, only about 2,300 of which are now preserved and protected. (27) The graves are frequently found to have been built upon a previously ploughed field. (28)

In the course of the middle phase we see a fundamental change in the construction of megalithic graves. The earliest dolmens (the so-called "Ur-dolmens" or primordial dolmens) (24) are small, body-length stone cists that were completely closed with no access to the burial chamber. Dolmens with larger chambers whose supporting stones stood on the short side succeed this type of dolmen. There was access to the chamber as one of the supporting stones was lower than the others that actually carried the cap stone, or as a result of a gap being left between the supporting stones where a couple of entrance passage stones were placed. These passage stones had no cap stone and the dolmens were not covered by a barrow. Around 3200 BC the architecture was radically changed with the dolmens now being provided with a longer passage that had a cap stone and the whole structure being covered by a barrow. (25) At the same time one sees that some chambers are made larger, to produce the regular passage graves (Danish: jættestuer). This change seems to have been more than just a change in building technique, as the graves with a covered passage must have been created with some symbolic purpose. The construction with a covered passage and grave chambers meant that entrance into the chamber was a rite of passage in which one had to crawl through a small entrance way in order to stand in a high, dark and damp megalithic vault. It would have been an equally "strong" experience to crawl from the dark chamber back through the passage and out into the open air and a powerful mass of light and sound. This compulsory transit through the passageway would undoubtedly have been an aweinspiring experience 5,000 years ago, just as it is for us today!

The form of the passage graves and the narrow entrance way has nourished the idea that they may be regarded as a symbol of the womb, with associations with life and death. (31) One can imagine that a deceased person, or parts of that person, were brought through a rite of passage from this world to the world of the dead in the form of a megalithic womb. In this connection it is note­worthy that the most voluminous and profound native depositions of pottery are found in front of the megalithic graves with a passage. The construction of the passage graves also shows a change in that megalithic building was now concentrated upon a few structures, in contrast to the large number of dolmens: there was evidently a focusing of rituals.

No whole burials have been found in the original layers of the megalithic graves, only parts of bodies. (29-33) The original burials in megalithic graves have shown that some bodies were laid to rest in a defleshed state. In the passage grave Sarup Gamle Skole II (from 3200 BC) two floor layers were found: at the bottom a flagstone floor and another floor about 10 cm above it constructed in the phase MN AII (about 3100 BC). On the original floor there were a few human bones, including part of the right upper jaw of a 16-to 18-year-old, probably a young woman, and a flint knife and a transverse arrowhead. In front of the entrance to the passage grave more than 350 pots had been placed, now left as some 26,000 sherds. From other passage graves we have no regular remains of bodies from the period when the chamber was erected. The chamber was perhaps not constructed for the burial of whole bodies.

From the beginning of the period, while dolmens were being constructed (3500- 3300 BC) we have evidence for votive deposits of flint axes and ceramics from the kerb stones of round- and long-dolmens, but from MN A I (3300-3200 BC), especially in front of the entrance to the passage graves, we have a large number of votive depositions of pottery. Careful excavations have demonstrated that some pots had stood on horizontal flagstones placed upon the kerb stones (Fig. 2). (36) It is, however, interesting that sherds from some vessels, which were originally placed upon these flagstones were found both behind the kerb Stones and in front of them. (37) It was evidently not important to keep the kerb stone and the flagstone in the original position, unless these are instances of the deposition of pottery only after the collapse of the structure.

Analyses of the position of the vessels by the entrance have produced various understandings of how the votive activities were shaped. Klaus Ebbesen believes that there were successive depositions while others believe that there were only a few votive ceremonies with up to thirty vessels placed there on each occasion. (38-39) The quantities of pottery placed in front of the entrance can, as at Sarup Gamle Skole II, exceed 300 vessels, although 50 to 100 vessels is usual. These sacrifices of pottery were made particularly during the MN A I phase, extending partly into MN A II (3200-3100 BC).

The types of pottery used in the votive deposits in front of the passage graves included funnel beakers, both large storage vessels and smaller ones beside pedestaled bowls, ceramic spoons, and richly decorated vessels: the so-called "display vessels" (German: Prachtbecher) (Fig. 3). (40-41) The vessels are thought to have been especially made for these ceremonies. Similar vessel-types were also used in votive deposits in the cult houses (see below).

We often find the votive deposits by the passage graves covered by a layer of stones. Sometimes otherwise complete pots placed by the kerb stones were deliberately smashed for instance at the passage grave at Nørremarksgård by Horsens, where a large shouldered vessel was found with a headsized rock in the middle (Fig.4). (42) Besides the complete vessels in the votive deposits we encounter cases where only parts of the vessels were used. In front of the passage grave at Mejs in West Jutland, for instance, fragments of seven to eight vessels and two ceramic spoons were found in a slightly burnt layer of earth. No more than a quarter of each vessel was represented and the sherds were highly fragmented although they lay in an untouched state. The excavator, C.A. Nordman, (43) considered that the vessels had been broken up before they were placed in front of the kerb stones, and that only a smaller part of each vessel was deposited here. Since selected fragments of vessels were sometimes placed in front of the passage graves, the explanation of these offerings cannot simply have been a desire to place food offerings there.

Cult houses

Cult houses are a type of structure interpreted as sacral features ever since the first example was discovered at Tustrup in the mid-1950's. In 1993 and 1997 Professor C.J. Becker summarised what we know about these buildings, eleven examples of which are now known, all of them from North Jutland. The buildings are constructed around pillars and have a rectangular chamber with an opening at one end (Fig.5). This chamber varies in size between 1.7 x 1.6 m and 9 x 6 m. The buildings had depositions of votive pottery (pedestaled bowls, ceramic spoons and Prachtbecher) which are most commonly placed in two groups. No weapons, jewellery nor tools have been found, nor any definite burials. After use the buildings appear to have been destroyed and their site sealed by a layer of stone. In four cases megalithic graves have been found right beside cult houses, and the example from Tustrup shows that the house was used in sacrificial activities or other ceremonies linked to burials within the megalithic grave. (44) The absence of grave goods shows chat the buildings were probably not final burial places but may have been used for temporary burial as one stage in the rites of passage. The uniform structure of the buildings, the pottery within them (types that, in fact, are found only in these and in front of the passage graves), the deliberate destruction of the buildings and the pottery and their subsequent sealing, all indicate that these must be examples of sacral structures, possibly small temples. (45)

Votive deposits

The middle phase of the TRB-Culture has produced more than half of all of the votive deposits, often from the wet areas, the bogs. (46) These deposits include human remains, pottery, amber, flint axes and animal remains. They are concentrated in particular wet­lands, where sacrifices were repeatedly performed. These sites lie at a certain distance from the contemporary settlements. (47) Some of the votive sites have wooden platforms, as at Veggerslev Mose. (48) Over an area measuring 50 m X 10 here a layer was found containing slender tree trunks and thick branches lying flat and supported in several places by vertical stakes. Pots and flint axes had been placed on and beside the platform.

The finds of skeletons in the bogs, for instance at Sigersdal and Boelskilde, can be regarded as evidence of human sacrifice. (49) There is a relatively high proportion of young persons between 16 and 20 years old among the skeletons found. The Sigersdal find, where the victims were two young women of 16 and 18, is thought-provoking. The elder of the young women had a cord around her neck and had been strangled. (50) in Gammellung Mose by Troldbjerg on Langeland four skull fragments representing two adults (women of 35 to 60 years of age) and two children were found. One of the women had traces of blows to the head. (51) In another bog on Langeland, Myrebjerg Mose, a tangled heap of human and animal bone measuring 1.8 m across was found beneath a layer of stones. The pieces of human skull lay gathered separately. The human bone represented five individuals: one adult female, two juveniles of 15 to 18, and two children of 3 and 4. The animal bones were from various domesticates. (52)

A couple of hundred pots that were sacrificed in the middle phase of the TRB­Culture have been recorded from the bogs. (53) The medium-sized funnel-necked beaker (20-30 cm in diameter) is the most common type of vessel in these deposits. From Becker's and Koch's accounts it is clear that not all the vessels were deposited whole and that there are examples of the deliberate selection of broken pieces of pottery. (54-55) In addition to the funnel-necked beaker, lugged vessels, lugged flasks, collared flasks, bowls and Troldebjerg bowls were sacrificed, but pedestal bowls are rare and no ceramic spoons have ever been found. (56)

Nearly all the Danish hoard finds with amber jewellery date to the middle phase of the TRB-Culture, a total of 51 in all. Most of these hoards (83%) have been found in wet areas and are thought originally to have been deposited right beside dry land. The hoards may contain hundreds if not thousands of beads. (57) Amber hoards occur in northern Denmark in particular. Amber beads are also found as grave goods in dolmens and passage graves.

Flint axes are known from votive deposits throughout the Neolithic, but the majority of finds, and also the largest and finest axes, were deposited either in wet areas or on dry land in the middle phase of the TRB-Culture. (58)

Votive deposits thus form a rich and diverse body of finds from the middle phase of the TRB-Culture. Many of the finds were unfortunately made a long time ago, and therefore we do not have very accurate details of the contexts from which they come. We must therefore hope that we shall have another chance to find and excavate carefully a site with, for instance, wooden platforms like the one in Veggerslev Mose. (59)

The Sarup enclosures

The Sarup enclosures are a type of structure that was first encountered in the Nordic TRB-Culture with the excavations at Büdelsdorf and Sarup around 1970. (60) The enclosures are characterised by system-ditches and/or palisade trenches, which enclose natural promontories or high points. The sites are between 1.6 and 20 ha in size. Only Sarup itself, with the 9.5 ha site of Sarup I from 3400 BC and Sarup II from 3200 BC, has been subjected to extensive excavation comprising an area of 6 ha (Fig.6). The finds from the sites can be categorised as specially selected material, and the sites cannot be interpreted as settlements. The author's view is that the sites served to symbolise the overriding unit that embraced a large number of settlement areas. (61) The Sarup sites are regarded as having played a role in the rites of passage for deceased members of the area's Stone-age population, who were given temporary burial here before being exhumed in the context of major funerary rituals. Parts of the bodies were then reburied in the megalithic graves of the area while other parts remained at the site and were included in further rituals.

The finds from the Sarup enclosures provide us with an insight into the activities that went on there. At the base of the system­ditches that delimited the sites like a double row of beads on a string, whole pots, sometimes under spreads of stone, have been found, or large potsherds, heaps of flint tools, sometimes discrete masses of waste, a few animal bones (especially the skulls of cattle and pig), human bones (especially skulls), and layers containing charcoal, which show that fires were lit in the ditches. The system­ditches were quickly refilled and many of them were subsequently re-cut several times over.

The find of a small dolmen on the bottom of a system-ditch in a recently found Sarup enclosure situated by Sarup Gamle Skole, around 500 m south of the Sarup site is quite peculiar. This dolmen measures only 112 cm X 73 and was built in the same technique as large dolmens (Fig. 7a). The cap stone had been removed by cultivation, and the chamber contained nothing but a couple of sherds from a funnel-necked beaker. Another c 150 sherds were found just outside the miniature dolmen (Fig. 76). The funnel-necked beaker had been deliberately destroyed, as all the sherds had just about the same size. This would not have been the case had the beaker been accidentally dropped. This beaker had therefore been deliberately placed against the miniature dolmen on the bottom of the system-ditch. This find thus provides us with a clear connection between the activities at the Sarup enclosures and the stone dolmens.

A substantial palisade trench was found at Sarup I with evidence of closely spaced posts 3 to 4 m high. On the outside of this palisade, which must have been an impressive sight to the Stone-age folk (Fig.8), a large number of pots had been deposited at several locations, together with the remains of pyres and burnt bone, including one human. (63) On the outside of the palisade of Sarup I and Sarup II there was a series of fenced enclosures which must have had some particular meaning relating to the activities that went on there, as the position of the system-ditches of Sarup I respected the regular positioning of the fenced enclosures, while the system-ditches of the inner row of Sarup II were placed within these fenced enclosures (Fig. 9). (64)

The inner area of the two Sarup enclosures had been little used. There were a few traces of occupation in these areas but some pits with material of ritual character (Fig.10). (65) On the southern point of the promontory within the Sarup II enclosure there were structures consisting of a couple of curved trenches and a feature constructed with four heavy posts. (66) Two of these post­holes contained burnt human bone, one with 34 pieces from the upper part of the body but not the facial area of a young adult, possibly female (Fig.11).

The finds from Sarup I and II are of good quality. From Sarup II 17 "Prachtbecher" were found (10% of the vessels) (Fig.12).67 This phase also produced the finest artefact from Sarup, a battleaxe of striated sandstone. Some of the finds from Sarup I and II had been deliberately destroyed before deposition in the system-ditches, beside the palisade fence or in the pits. (69) We have seen similar destruction of material in the deposits in front of the passage graves, in the cult houses and in some votive hoards.

In the Sarup area, near the village of Strandby, a remarkable site was found, which had a special find material, in part consisting of deliberately ruined items, mainly thin­butted flint axes and flint chisels (fig. 13). More than 120 of these were gathered and 32 flint scrapers and 117 pieces of flint waste. Fire had made all brittle. The pottery sherds from this site represent many pots, such as funnel-necked beakers and pedestal bowls. This site dates to a phase between Sarup I and II, around 3.300 BC. A very similar find was made in Svartskylle in Skåne, Sweden, (70) where it was interpreted as the remains of a ceremonial structure. The custom of burning axes is also known from some sacrificial pits at for instance Sarup III, (71) but is mainly known from the areas in front of the megalithic graves, where flint axes, many ruined by fire, succeeded the pottery in the late part of the TRB-Culture. (72)

Ritual ceramics

A range of special types of pottery is also characteristic of the middle phase of the Funnel-necked Beaker Culture, some of which are vessels decorated with several different patterns from a fixed stylistic set. The collared flask is a distinctive type found particularly in features associated with the earlier part of the phase (about 3400 BC) although the form is also known in the previous phase. It is a small, flask-shaped pot about 10-16 cm high with a flat collar on its long neck. The collared flasks are found in flat graves, dolmens, bogs and a few settlement finds (Fig.14). (73-74) Only a few sherds from collared flasks have been found at the Sarup enclosures. Andrew Sherratt has compared these vessels if they are turned over to the head of a poppy. He suggests the vessels were used to store some form of opium and thus to have been part of ritual activity. (75)

Dated only to the later part of the phase (about 3300 BC) are a couple of special vessel-forms such as the pedestal bowls ("fruit stands") and ceramic spoons (Fig.15). (76) These two vessel-forms are very often found together in sets and display rich variation in decoration. (77) These two types of pottery are almost only found in the votive deposits from in front of the passage graves and in cult houses. They appear to have been associated exclusively with ritual life and were presumably specially made for this purpose. (78)

The display vessels or Prachtbecher are also a vessel-type used in all the activities argued here to have been of ritual character. As well as having been used in the votive deposits from in front of the passage graves and in cult houses, we find them used in the wet areas and at the Sarup enclosures (Fig.12). (79-81) Analyses of the lug patterns on the Troldebjerg bowls (a type of display vessel) show different zones for each pattern at Sarup II. (82) Corresponding patterns have been found at the excavated megalithic graves in the area around Sarup. Perhaps we can interpret this in terms of vessel-types (and decoration) belonging to particular settlements and burial areas and with similar representation in their own special zones at Sarup II.

The funnel-necked beaker is a form of pottery that occurs in all types of feature. In the deposits in the wet areas, in the bogs, we often find medium-sized vessels. Large vessels and small ones were used in the deposits in front of passage graves and in the Sarup enclosures.

In this phase, many vessels used in votive deposits display particularly sharp and definite decoration linked to specific vessel­forms. Neither before nor afterwards in the TRB-Culture do we encounter such strict rules governing both form and style. (84) Following some archaeologists one can emphasise the importance of the deliberate use of style by groups of individuals as an active agent in competition and regulation between groups. (85) The very strict use of special ceramic forms and styles is a topic that still wants thorough examination. It is striking that these vessel-forms and styles appear in just the period in which the Neolithic population introduced new agricultural under­takings and produced major construction works. It is also interesting that many vessels in the votive deposits had been deliberately destroyed and were sometimes deposited only in part.

Rituals in the later part of the TRB-Culture

In the later phase of the TRB-Culture (3200-2800 BC) we see further changes in society. Studies of the Sarup area show a concentration of settlement in this phase upon a few sites -on the Sarup promontory itself- one of which was about 4 ha in size, and thus 80 times larger than the settlements that had formerly been in use. This large settlement unit must have involved increasing social and economic dependency and integration. (86)

Burials now took the form of the reuse of megalithic graves in which complete bodies were buried, not just parts of them. As time passed, some of the bones of those buried were transferred to various heaps of bones within the megalithic chambers (Fig.16). In this late phase we also find that axes, chisels, knives and sickle blades become common grave goods. In front of the passage graves the votive deposits of pottery come to an end, and layers of Stone apparently cover these. The sacrifices here are superseded by flint axes and chisels, and knives, transverse arrowheads and other items. The material offered is often damaged, for instance by fire. (87)

In the wet areas, the bogs, flint axes largely supersede the pottery sacrifices, although a few pots are still deposited here. (88)

In the northwest of Jutland, stone-packing graves were produced in this late phase. These graves consist of two parallel, bathtub­shaped pits filled with stones. At one end there is what is known as a "mortuary house". This is a square stone spread that covers a pit that divides into two trenches at the bottom. It is not yet possible to determine the functions of these peculiar structures, more than 500 of which have been excavated. (89)

No further Sarup enclosures were constructed but activities of more ritual character were still carried out on the settlements, and re-cutting of the system-ditches continued. (90)

The pottery of this late phase is somewhat different as the forms are more rounded and the patterns more extravagant and less careful. We now face a situation in which we may see pottery styles losing their communicative role (Fig.17). (91)

One of the causes for this change may be found in new methods of production. (92) Farming practice now resembled relatively intensive forest agriculture with productive coppices. We ought to regard the forest landscape as having changed from a large number of open areas in the forest to a few more intensively used areas, of which strictly managed coppices were characteristic. It was possible to feed more people from these areas. The population no longer needed wide tracts of land and people could move together into larger settlement units. The material evidence now includes flint sickles, which testify to a change in the subsistence strategy. (93-95)

Recently, a new type of structure dating from the late part of the TRB-Culture and perhaps the early part of the succeeding Single Grave Period has been established in Scandinavia. It consists of one or more rows of strong posts semi-circling areas of two to four ha. Thorough excavations have taken place at for instance the Dösjebro site in Skåne, Sweden (96) and at the vasegård and the Rispebjerg sites on Bornholm. (97) On the two latter sites, circular post circles with a diameter of c 10 m, which in type and dating parallel the English "woodhenges", were found. This type of palisade enclosure has a find material, which suggests that a number of special activities of a ritual character took place here. These palisade structures -of which not much is known yet- were used at a time when comprehensive changes took place in the societies to which they belonged, resulting in the end in the emergence of the Single Grave Culture. This culture has different forms of settlement, burial and tool equipment. There are thus certain indications that periods with extensive changes also had a comprehensive ritual life, which left pronounced structures.

Why these many rituals in the Funnel-necked Beaker Culture?

This survey of the TRB-Culture has shown that in the Funnel-necked Beaker Culture we deal with a period of prehistory that saw massive changes that also had a clear impact on the ritual evidence. The middle phase of the period seems to have been a very dynamic time in Denmark. After the gradual transition to an agricultural culture in the early phase, we see developments in the direction of extensive, land-hungry agriculture. The methods of agriculture required people to live in relatively small settlement units out by the fields. The social organisation of this phase was that of a segmentary tribal sociery characterised by having structurally uniform and equally sized territories/land units inhabited by approximately the same number of people. (98) The territories were united in a higher order that constituted a political and economic unit embracing all the segments. (99) This social system does not have a central focus as a hierarchically structured society has, personified, for instance, in a chieftain. (100)

In the Danish evidence we know of no finds that provide evidence for chieftainships in this period. In my doctoral thesis on the Sarup enclosures (1997) I regard these enclosures as symbols of the overriding unity in a segmented tribal society, embracing a large number of equally sized territories or settlement areas. When deceased relatives were temporarily buried at Sarup, the dead person was brought into the general community. The Sarup enclosures thus consolidated the integration of the individual and area (the segment) into the whole and legitimised their use of the land in a period, which saw profound changes in social structures. Through a "network" of this kind, in association with which one should reckon with many different rituals carried out in and beside the burial structures, in the wet­lands etc., a forum would have been created which -with the help of the dead persons manipulated in the rituals- would, among other things, have been able to restrain conflicts over matters such as the right to use land, to provide a share in the system of food distribution if there were a shortage, to have reinforced the unity of society, and to have obstructed the development of a hierarchical system. (101-102) Perhaps the rites of death have structured the society of the living just as we saw it by the Mernina-people of Mada­gascar. (104) In this way, a stable course of development was sustained within a period that saw many new initiatives.

This stable system, with its wide range of rituals and strict rules (visible also in the pottery), apparently produced the surplus for some of the greatest construction works of Danish prehistory in the form of the many Sarup enclosures and the building of 20000-25000 megalithic graves. In the second half of the TRB-Culture, from about 3200-3100 BC onwards, all of this changed. The population now congregated at large settlements, no more megalithic graves or Sarup enclosures were constructed, and the rituals changed character leaving fewer finds behind them. The reason for these conspicuous changes is not yet known, but it will be a fascinating topic to investigate in future years.

Niels H. Andersen