Journal articles on the topic 'Viking and Middle Ages'

This paper presents archaeological findings described as Saami metal deposits. These well-known "Finds from Lapp Places of Sacrifice", objects from the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages, were mostly found in northern Sweden. The author also presents a research project dealing with prehistoric and medieval Saami graves from the south Saami area.

Andreas Hjort Møller: “The Opening of the Barrow – From Rococo Medievalism in Johann Elias Schlegel’s Canut to Viking Romanticism in Johannes Ewald’s Rolf Krage” This article demonstrates how the representation of the Middle Ages changes from the picture of a barbaric period into the vision of a glorified past. Johann Elias Schlegel adapted a passage from Saxo’s Gesta Danorum for his 1746 play King Canute, which influenced Johannes Ewald’s widely read 1770 Saxonian play Rolf Krage. Both plays were highly popular in their time. Schlegel portrays the Middle Ages as a stark contrast to the absolutist Enlightenment ideals of his own time, whereas Ewald embraces the heathen Middle Ages as world in its own right, in which the author explores the human condition in all its aspects.

The trade of dried fish played an important role in the transformation from the Viking Age to the Middle Ages in Scandinavian polities such as Arctic Norway. This paper develops zooarchaeological methods to investigate whether similar processes occurred in the less well documented Norse colonies of northern Scotland — the joint earldoms of Orkney and Caithness.

Since the 19th century, it is well known that the Middle Ages have been used from different perspectives and with various objectives to configure and reconfigure the different imaginaries of Western culture. The purpose of this work is to deal with the use of the Middle Ages, specifically the Viking world, which has been made in some Marvel comics. To do this, we will focus on Thor series in Journey Into Mistery (1962-1963) and Tales of Asgard series (1963-1967), in order to observe, on the one hand, what treatment has been given to possible sources, and, on the other, to understand for what purpose they were elaborated and how they could be understood and interpreted by contemporary public.

Issues related to luxury relics such as silk textiles were associated in most early medieval discoveries with the movement of Viking groups from north to south and back. These priceless relics were found on burial grounds, and their owners undoubtedly belonged to the economic elite of the population. Parallel anthropological studies were carried out to see if this elitism is corroborated by individual morphological characteristics of the deceased persons. However, no significant differences defining the elitism of the studied individuals were uncovered. It is the grave furnishings – silk fabrics in particular – that are the most important element in this regard.

The catalogue summarizes published finds of macrofossils from 551 taxa of Spermatophyta originating from 505 sites in Denmark, Schleswig, Scania, Halland, and Blekinge and dated to periods between 13,000 B.P. and 1536 A.D. The information is arranged in one map and three tables. The map shows the position of each find. Table 1 presents the sites by number and name, where the finds are published, their age, the dating method applied, and the media examined. Table 2 lists the finds of macrofossils in pollen assemblage zones I-IX and the periods Pre-Roman Iron Age, Roman Iron Age, Germanic Iron Age, Viking Age, Early Middle Ages, and Late Middle Ages. Table 3 summarizes by family the finds of macrofossils in these periods.

It is proposed that a new type of disorder be incorporated in the DSM-III under the category of Dissociative Disorders. The disorder, the Berkserker/Blind Rage Syndrome is characterized by (a) violent overreaction to physical, verbal, or visual insult, (b) amnesia during the actual period of violence, (c) abnormally great strength, (d) specifically target-oriented violence. Some case studies are presented for illustration and a parallel is made with the Viking Berserkers of the Middle Ages.

Amazons are usually associated with the period of the early Iron Age. However, a large number of graves of armed women of the early Middle Ages are known in the territory of Eurasia. In the Scandinavian countries, the period of the 9th — the first half of the 11th centuries was called the «Viking Age». This period is related to the military, commercial and demographic expansion of the Scandinavians. During the archaeological researches, burials of women with weapons were recorded in the cemeteries of Denmark, Norway and Southern Sweden. They constitute a small series of 16 funerary complexes. Typically, the female warriors were buried in individual graves, and only occasionally they were accompanied by a woman or a child. Only in two cases armed man and woman of equal social level were placed in one grave. In the necropolis, the graves of the Amazons are usually localized among the military graves. On the territory of Western Europe, both rites of burial of warriors — inhumation and cremation are registered. The age range of female warriors is quite wide — from 10 to 50—60 years, with the domination of young women. The material complex showed that women’s weapons were intended for both remote (bows and arrows, spears) and close combat (swords, knives, axes). And in this period preference was given to axes. Several graves of female warriors were accompanied by a horse or a set of horse ammunition. This means that women could also fight in the equestrian battles. Based on the range and the number of weapons, the Amazons of the Viking Age mainly were part of the lightly armed units. These women took up arms on a par with men in moments of acute necessity — periods of seizing of new territories or defending their lands from an external enemy.

Stable isotope measurements and radiocarbon dates on 54 burials from northern Scotland document trends in marine protein consumption from the late Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages. They illuminate how local environmental and cultural contingencies interrelated with a pan-European trend towards more intensive fishing around the end of the first millennium AD. Little use was made of marine foods in late Iron Age Orkney despite its maritime setting. Significant fish consumption appeared in the Viking Age (ninth to eleventh centuries AD), first in the case of some men buried with grave-goods of Scandinavian style but soon among both sexes in ‘Christian’ burials. There was then a peak in marine protein consumption from approximately the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries AD, particularly among men, after which the importance of fish-eating returned to Viking Age levels. The causes of these developments probably entailed a complex relationship between ethnicity, gender, Christian fasting practices, population growth, long-range fish trade and environmental change.

This article examines the wide range of grave disturbance practices seen in Viking-age burials across Scandinavia. It argues that the much-debated reopenings at high-profile sites, notably the Norwegian ‘royal’ mounds, should be seen against a background of widespread and varied evidence for burial reworking in Scandinavia throughout the first-millennium AD and into the Middle Ages. Interventions into Viking-age graves are interpreted as disruptive, intended to derail practices of memory-creation set in motion by funerary displays and monuments. However, the reopening and reworking of burials were also mnemonic citations in their own right, using a recurrent set of practices to make heroic, mythological, and genealogical allusions. The retrieval of portable artefacts was a key element in this repertoire, and in this article I use archaeological and written sources to explore the particular concepts of ownership which enabled certain possessions to work as material citations appropriating attributes of dead persons for living claimants.

The work aims to study the features of the organization of the early medieval Christian society based on the development of intramundane asceticism as the basis of worldly activities with the aim of the natural arrangement of the world under the commitment to the conceptual vocation. The need to update the research study on this issue of inciting contradictions in ideas about the essence of Irish Christian culture. The chronological scope of the study is limited to the period of the 5th-11thcenturies. The lower limit of distribution with the birth of the Irish Christian mission and the appearance of the first missionary monks. The upper one is limited to the 11th century - a period of weakening of the Irish Church, rains of Viking raids, and later - the Anglo-Normans. The paper reflects the main features of the formation of Christian culture in the territory during the early Middle Ages, traces the evolution and reveals the characteristic features of the dynamics of the culture of Irish monasteries, and reveals the role of Irish monasteries in the development of modern culture. The article uses general scientific methods and methods of historical analysis.

The supposed ramifications of the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures straddling several centuries in northwestern Europe, reach far beyond meteorology into economic, political, and cultural history. The available annual temperature series from the late Middle Ages to the end of the nineteenth century, however, contain no major breaks, cycles, or trends that could be associated with the existence of a Little Ice Age. Furthermore, the series of resonant images, ranging from frost fairs to contracting glaciers and from dwindling vineyards to disappearing Viking colonies, often adduced as effects of a Little Ice Age, can also be explained without resort to climate change.

Else Roesdahl reaches 60l first met Else Roesdahl in 1969, when, newly graduated, she was working as an assistant in the National Museum. This was the foun­dation of a friendship which spans her professional career.Else was born on Als and her sense of history and her fierce in dependence is based in the background of her family, which was deeply involved in the politics of Sønderjylland after 1864. Although she studied in Copenhagen, she returned to Jutl and with her husband, Erich Lange, in 1970, and soon became firmly established in Aarhus University.As a student (and later as a postgraduate) she took par t in P.V. Glob’s Bahrain expedi­tions .The three seasons she spent there deep­ly influenced her development as an archae­ologist and scholar. The dig excited her sense of adventure and stimulated her to travel in India, Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt, develop­ing an interest in pottery and glass originally in stilled by her father, a learned collector. At home she took part in many other excavations. She is, for example, proud of the fact that at Skuldelev she found the beautiful stem of Wreck 3.Concentrating on the Viking Age she became, through such outlets as the Viking Congress, party to an innovative critical interdisciplin ary approach to the period. Nowhere is this better expressed than in the annual and successful tværfaglige Vikingesymposium, of which she is one of the most influential organisers, or in the foundation of the Aarhus Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies. She excavated with Olaf Olsen at all the Trelleborg fortresses, and in 1970 joined him in the newly- founded department of medieval archaeology at Moesgård. Succeeding as head of department in 1981, she was promoted professor in 1996.Although engaged with the whole of the Middle Ages, her first enthusiasm was for the Viking Age. With Olaf Olsen and Holger Schmidt, she published the Fyrkat excava­tions in 1977, and it is a tribute to the academic integrity of both Olaf and Else that, though differing in their conclusions, they did not fall out – disproving the adage, ‘archaeology is not a discipline, it’s a vendetta’.Much in demand internationally, she was deeply in volved in the organisation of the Vikings in England exhibition in 1981-2, and was the coordinator of the magnificent exhibition Viking og Hvidechrist in 1992-3. The catalogue which she edited for this exhibition, together with her books Danmarks Vikingetid and Vikingernes Verden, are now central to any stud y of the Viking Age and have been translated into many languages. She has edited many other books, most recently Dagligliv i Danmarks middelalder, and,with Mogens Bencard, wrote the pionering Dansk middel­alderlertøj.She has many honours – among them the Dannebrog, a LittD from Dublin, a special professorship at Nottingham, and corresponding fellowships of learned bodies in Germany and England – but it is her friendship, scholarship and wit that we celebrate on her sixtieth birthday.David M .WilsonCastletown Isle of ManOversat til dansk af Annette Lerche Trolle

The medieval Scandinavian written sources locate Bjarmaland to the White Sea. The words Terfinna land connect the location with the Kola Peninsula and the environs of the Varzuga River whereas the name Gandvík guides our interest towards the Kantalahti Bay of the White Sea. The name Vína can be connected with either the Northern Dvina River or Viena Karelia. The Bjarmians as portrayed in the written sources seem to have been a permanently settled group of Baltic Fennic speaking people that lived in the north of Europe since the Viking Age (first mentioned in writing in the ninth century) until the early Middle Ages (mid-thirteenth century). They seem to have been involved in the international fur trade and had continuous contacts with Norwegians with both looting and trade as integral part of interaction. The Bjarmians cannot be connected ethnically with any existing group of people but must be considered as a group of their own. The origin of the specific ethnical identity most likely lies in economical interaction (trade with furs and possibly other items) with neighbouring areas. Since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries new settlers moved to the northern areas and many political and economical changes occurred in Northern Fennoscandia and Russia, all of which would have contributed to a change that left the Bjarmians out of written sources.

Weapons in water The purpose of the article is to throw light on Viking Age weapon finds from wetland areas. In the presentation, the author claims that these weapons should be interpreted as traces of ritual acts of deposition rather than as lost items or traces of actual battles. The positions of the weapon deposits in the landscape are discussed. Further, the interpretation of a number of written sources mentioning weapons in connection with wetlands is discussed. An examination of Viking Age weapons found in wetlands in Zealand and Scania shows that they are concentrated in the small rivers of Værebro Å, Tude Å, Lavringe Å, Dybecks Å, Sege Å, and Kävlinge Å; in the Borremosen bog on Møn; in the lakes of Tissø, Näsbyholm Sjö, Søborg Sø, and Højby Sø, and in the wetlands surrounding Kristianstad (Fig. 1).The weapons found in the river Værebro Å (Fig. 2) are discussed. Traditionally, these weapons were interpreted as the remains of a battle that took place in 1133. However, the majority of the weapons are from the 10th century. In addition, both jewellery and tools have been found in the river, and these finds cannot be interpreted as remains of actual battles. The author therefore suggests that the finds from Værebro Å should be interpreted as ritual deposits. In addition, numerous Viking Age weapons have been found in wetlands in Sweden, in the British Isles, and on the Continent. These finds are usually interpreted as the remains of ritual deposits, and the same interpretation is therefore suggested as applying to the Danish and Scanian material.Seen as a whole, the material from Zealand and Scania tends to accumulate near the mouth of small rivers and streams (Fig. 3), and in natural harbours. There is also a tendency towards weapon deposits accumulating near bridges and fords (Fig. 4). It is shown that weapons from the Middle Ages tend to be concentrated in wetlands near castles, and these finds often include a few Viking Age weapons from the time before the building of the castle. Weapon finds from Dybecks Å and Näsbyholm Sjö are examined. The lake of Näsbyholm Sjö contained axes from the 9th to the 12th century (Fig. 5). The river Dybecks Å runs out of the lake, and in it a sword, decorated in the English style, was found near the Herremandsbro bridge, next to which a rune stone called the “Östervemmenhögssten” was raised in memory of “a very noble man”. This type of stone was often raised in commemoration of men that died on Viking expeditions. The sword and the rune stone both date from the late 10th century.The author analyses a number of written sources from the late Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. The poem Vóluspa 21 from the older Edda describes “a stream called Slid, flowing with swords and saxes.” This stream is also mentioned in Grimnesmal 28 from the same Edda, which describes several streams that “run through Midgard, but from here they fall to Hel.” Some of these streams have names that reflect fear, battle, and death in combat. In addition, a new translation of Adam of Bremen’s scolie 138 is suggested: instead of translating the word fons into a “brønd” (well), it should be translated into a “kilde” (spring). If so, Adam of Bremen describes the pagan custom of making sacrifices to springs in Uppsala, which is in keeping with the incidence of weapons from the 9th to the 13th century found in the river Fyris Å, which flows through Uppsala.In some of the rivers there is a long continuity of weapon deposits. This applies to the finds from Tissø, Værebro Å, Søborg Sø, Højby Sø, Näsbyholm Sjö, and from the wetlands surrounding Kristianstad (Figs. 6 & 7). The author suggests that the weapon deposits are connected to overseas expeditions. This interpretation is based on the fact that large quantities of the weapons found are in harbours or river-mouths. In addition, many Viking weapons have been found in areas of the Continent and the British Isles where the Scandinavians stayed for a prolonged period. The importance of the expeditions during the Viking Age is seen in the fact that around one third of the Swedish rune-stones describe men that died on expeditions, and these rune-stones were often placed near large waterways and major roads.The author also suggests that the weapon deposits near bridges and fords could be explained by the importance that these special landscape features had. The fact that bridges had considerable cultural importance is stressed by the large number of rune stones that were erected next to bridges towards the end of the Viking Age. As weapon deposits near bridges occur during the whole of the Viking Age, this may mean that the building of a bridge should not be understood as a Christian act, but as an act of ritual or religious importance that continued from the pagan era into Christian times. In Gylfaginning 48 from Snorre’s Edda, Midgard and Hel are separated by a river, and a bridge leads to the entrance to Hel. The rivers described in Grimnesmal also indicate that some rivers lead to the realm of the dead. There thus seems to be a connection between death and certain waterways. Perhaps this explains why bridge-building became an important Christian act during the late Viking Age and early Middle Ages. The author finally suggests that weapon deposits should be seen as a manifestation of social identity, as deposits in wetlands during the Viking Age follow the same groupings that we know from grave goods such as weapons, jewellery, and tools.Viking Age weapons found in wetlands thus seem to be the remnants of ritual acts, rather than the remains of battles. The finds show that wetlands and waterways were significant features in the Viking Age countryside. Not only were they important means of communication and travel, they were also of fundamental importance to man’s self-concept and philosophy of life.Julie LundInstitut for Arkæologi og EtrologiKøbenhavns UniversitetTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

Abstract Concluded at Rouen in March 991, the Anglo-Norman treaty has traditionally occupied a very small corner of the huge historiography for King Æthelred’s reign as one of the first of the king’s failures to deal with the threat of renewed viking raids. This article is an attempt to rethink the place and importance of this treaty in the scholarly literature by looking at it from the perspective of how diplomacy was practised in the earlier middle ages. It reveals the treaty as the earliest arbitration treaty in the medieval West and offers alternative ways of viewing the immediate context and circumstances of the negotiations, as well as the persistence of important diplomatic practices across a long period.

This paper compares the results of anthropological research and information about the burial of horses in the burial grounds of the Sambian-Natangian civilisation (Dolkeim-Kovrovo culture). The inclusion of anthropological analysis data from the cemeteries of Mitino and Zaostrovye-1 shows that for the Merovingian period and the beginning of the Viking period, the connection of horse burials exclusively with male graves is not certain. Horse burials are accompanied here by male, female and children’s burials. Presence of a horse in the burials of Sambian-Natangian culture was undoubtedly a social marker, and Roman period was associated primarily with military funerary rituals. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the custom of burying a horse was “democratized” and widely used. However, presence of horses in burials continues to play the role of a social indicator, but now it is not the presence of the horse that is indicative, but their number.

The article contributes to the discussion on source criticism within the research field of Old Norse religion. It examines the common assumption that archaeological sources are always to prefer above written sources from the Middle Ages where the Viking Era is described as such accounts are invariably tendentious and biased. Influenced by theories from the field of social anthropology, however, the article argues for the worth of written sources as a complement to the material ones. As an example, the effort to interpret the inscriptions on the runic stone from Rök are introduced. The article suggests that different kinds of source material offer a spectrum of possibilities out of which none alone, but rather all taken together, can deepen the researcher’s knowledge about the object under study.

The period of the early Middle Ages is controversial among scholars, especially with regard to gender studies, which have intensified since the late twentieth century. It is believed that in the Middle Ages women were restricted in their rights and the role of a noble woman was limited to strengthening alliance by contracting dynastic marriage. This was the case with the Carolingians, but the end of the early Middle Ages is also known as the beginning of the Viking’s Age, where women were treated with honor and respect, a woman could rule the odal while her husband was absent, and participate in the campaign. The territories of Britain of 9–10 centuries were constantly attacked by Scandinavians, culminating in the establishment of Danelag (area of Danish law), so England at that time was on the border of two civilizations - Western European and Scandinavian. The Kingdom of Mercia lost part of its territory and bordered on Five Viking burgs, while Wessex was able to maintain independence from the Danes. Thus, in the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms with common traditions, religion and law, different patterns in the realm of women were formed. In 911, a woman who accompanied her husband for a long time in all his campaigns was recognized as the ruler of Mercia, and the question remains whether she could hand over the reins of power to her daughter. The main purpose of the article was to determine the characteristics of the succession to the throne of the Anglo-Saxons and to analyze the possibility of recognizing this right for a woman on the example of the Mercian Princess Elfwynn. The transition of power to the woman’s heir was not typical of the Anglo-Saxons, which aroused interest in a more thorough study of this issue. Based on the analysis and comparison of primary sources, as well as historiography, the article considers the basic principles of succession to the Anglo-Saxons in the early Middle Ages and analyzes the possible transfer of power to the heiress, taking into account the recognition of this right by the nobility. The foreign policy processes that influenced the domestic policy of the Kingdom of Mercia and, as a result, were reflected in the position of the ruling elite on the succession to the throne, are considered in the study. The scientific paper provides a deeper understanding of the status and role of women in the political arena of Anglo-Saxon society by determining the level of their involvement in the government of the kingdom.

This paper sets out to trace the life history of a horse skull found in a bog in Scania in the year 1900. A parallel is drawn between the find of the horse and the famous painting, "Midwinter Sacrifice" by Carl Larsson. The story of the horse has opened up a discussion on how material culture is created and recreated in time and space, resulting in completely new communicative fields. The manifestation of the past and the reuse of Stone Age places and artefacts are brought into focus when the author discusses the location where the horse skull was originally found.

Excavation of the Schurovo archaeological site, located on a ∼12-m river terrace, has revealed 3 occupation periods: 1) as a dwelling site of the Migration period (4th–5th centuries AD); 2) as local burial mounds (termed “houses of the dead” in Russian); 3) and as a ground burial period, which left a cremation layer directly on the ground and is now covered by the Little Ice Age overbank alluvium. The latter 2 periods contain few artifacts, which makes radiocarbon dating more appropriate for establishing their chronology. The burial mounds were dated to the mid-6th to mid-7th centuries AD. The accumulation of colluvium in mound ditches points to a rather long (at least a century) pause between the construction of burial mounds and the appearance of ground burials. Dates from the cremation layer (ground burials) span a wide range from the 8th to 13th centuries AD. As the younger dates do not correspond to regional historical and archaeological contexts, we believe them to be “rejuvenated” due to their long exposure before burial to the young alluvium. The ground burials are dated to the mid-8th to mid-10th centuries AD, the so-called “dark ages” in the Moscow region characterized by very few archaeological data. An isolated ancient branch of the Oka River near the archaeological site was radiocarbon dated and found to be active until the mid-10th to later-12th centuries AD, meaning that it was likely used as a local harbor on the transit river route throughout the site's occupation.

In this paper, the authors analyze the Center of Slavs and Vikings (hereinafter Centrum), a reconstruction of early medieval Wolin functioning as an open air museum. The reconstruction was made on an islet on the Dziwna Strait, opposite the center of Wolin. In the early Middle Ages, the city was one of the largest craft and trade centers on the Baltic Sea. It appears in numerous written sources and has been the subject of archaeological research for nearly 200 years. Its history is connected with the legend of Jómsborg and Vineta. The idea of ​​building an archaeological and ethnographic open-air museum was established in 1958 in archaeological circles. For various reasons, this intention was not realized during the period of the Polish People’s Republic. In 1992, the Viking Festival (today the Festival of Slavs and Vikings) was initially organized in Wolin, which is now one of the largest reenactors’ events in Europe. As the festival developed, elements of its scenery were created. In 2002, the local Wolin–Jomsborg–Vineta Center of Slavs and Vikings Association was registered with the aim of building the Center. It was opened in 2008 and has been gradually expanding with new elements. The center is a historical park that presents a simplified vision of the early Middle Ages, with little reference to the history of the city and the region. The success of the Slavs and Vikings Festival and the Center became its greatest disadvantage ― it ceased to be a reconstruction of early medieval Wolin. The content presented there is related to the subculture of performers and as such is not original ― similar forms can be found in other facilities of this type in Poland and abroad. The presented image of the Slavs is simplified in a way that is assimilable to the contemporary recipient ― the emphasis is on nature-related spirituality, courage, honor, freedom, ecology. On the other hand, content that would be unacceptable in contemporary culture (e. g. the role of women) is omitted. The lack of cooperation with professionals makes the activities of the Center chaotic, confusing the notion of tradition with reconstruction, history with story, archeology with handicraft, and finally science with guesswork. Creating new content on the basis of selective historical knowledge and presenting it as «revived traditions» requires special attention in Western Pomerania, where due to the population exchange after 1945 there is a real problem of regional identity. The center, run by a private association, is dynamic and is a success as a product of promotion and tourism. Nevertheless, its success resulted in the «privatization of heritage», which most of the region’s inhabitants do not identify with. To counteract this, the authors postulate increasing cooperation between private entities (Association, Center) and public institutions (the Museum, Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences).

The present study focuses on the decipherment and interpretation of the unique runic inscription carved on the zoomorphic pendant of Scandinavian jewelry traditions. The new Scandinavian zoomorphic pendant of 10th century, originating from the region of Middle Dniester, Republic of Moldova. The graffito and amulet have no direct analogies. In the research paper the runic inscription is interpreted as the protection magical spell. The runic inscription is based on the ideographic runes of the Elder and the Younger Futhark. The runic inscription of a similar nature with this combination of graphemes has not yet been known in runology, and is first encountered. The inscription made in Scandinavian runes is the first discovery of a runic inscription in Republic of Moldova and the same time is the first written evidence of the presence of the Vikings in the Dniester-Prut Region. The research methodology is based on a comparison of the runic formula of the zoomorphic amulet inscription with the known analogies of the runic formulas inscribed on various artifacts of ancient German material culture. As much as the inscription contains archaic runes of the Elder Futhark and runes of the Younger Futhark, the study used the approach of identifying the semantic load of the runes used as ideograms with the meaning of their own names. In the present research paper, the retrospective method is used in the most famous examples of Scandinavian runes of the Elder and Younger Futhark as ideograms in the described runic inscriptions of the amulet and incantation character. The comparative method is also applied between compare runes as ideograms of the present inscription and the same runes as ideograms in the other cases of use in the similar or analogical context. Comparative and retrospective methods are also applied in the search for analogies of the use of runes in the meaning of own names in mixed inscriptions made by means of a combinations of older and younger runes. The study widely involved a significant amount of scientific work in the field of methodology of reading and interpreting runic inscriptions of famous runologists of 20th and 21st centuries. In scientific work were used ancient German literary sources, such as: Old Norse, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon runic poems, Old Icelandic sagas about the gods and heroes of the Elder Edda and materials from written sources of the 11th–13th centuries were examined in detail and compared in the context of “magic runes” and mythopoeic concepts in mithological considerations. The archaeological context of this research includes both a comprehensive description of the most unique amulet, and the general layer of the most significant finds of the Viking Age and traces of the Scandinavian cultural presence in the Slavic and Old Russian world of the early Middle Ages in the area of the Dniester-Prut interfluve of present-day territory of Moldova.

Sofie Laurine Albris: At bo, at benævne. Arkæologi og stednavne i jernalderens og vikingetidens landskab. Eksempler fra Sydvestsjælland.(Lisbeth Eilersgaard Christensen)Angelika Abegg-Wigg & Nina Lau (eds.): Kammergräber im Barbaricum. Zu Einflüssen und Übergangsphänomenen von der vorrömischen Eisenzeit bis in die Völkerwanderungszeit.(Birgit M. Rasmussen)Kasper H. Andersen og Stefan Pajung (red.): Drikkekultur i middelalderen. (Jette Linaa)Hans Dal: Arkæologi på havbunden. ­Historien om udgravningen af en stenalderboplads i Tybrind Vig.(Peter Moe Astrup og Claus Skriver)Peder Dam: Bebyggelser og stednavnetyper.(Per Grau Møller)Palle Eriksen & Niels H. Andersen: Stendysser. Arkitektur og funktion.(Lars Larsson)Vivian Etting: The story of the drinking horn. Drinking Culture in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages.(Jette Linaa)Hans Christian Gulløv (ed.): Northern Worlds – landscapes, interactions and dynamics(Mogens Skaaning Høegsberg)Jane F. Kershaw: Viking Identities. Scandinavian Jewellery in England. (Else Roesdahl)Lutz Klassen: Along the Road. Aspects of Causewayed Enclosures in South Scandinavia and Beyond.(Poul Otto Nielsen)Mette Svart Kristiansen & Kate ­Giles (red.): Dwellings, Identities and Homes. European Housing Culture from the Viking Age to the Renaissance.(Linda Qviström)Henriette Lyngstrøm: En meget mærkelig mand – Jernforskeren Robert Thomsen.(Jørgen Lund)Poul Otto Nielsen, Finn Ole S. ­Nielsen og Christian Adamsen (red.): Solstensøen – På sporet af Bornholms bondestenalder.(Uffe Rasmussen)Søren Olsen: Kampen om Danmarks natur. Fra fredskovforordningen til genskabelsen af Filsø.(Sven Thorsen)Anne Pedersen: Dead Warriors in Living Memory – A Study of Weapon and Equestrian Burials in Viking-Age Denmark, AD 800-1000.(Silke Eisenschmidt)Andreas Rau (Hrsg.): Nydam Mose, Band 3: Die Schiffe. Katalog, Konkordanz, Tafeln, Pläne. Nydam Mose, Band 4: Die Schiffe. Beiträge zu Form, Technik und Historie.(Jan Bill)Samantha Reiter, Heide W. Nørgaard, Zsófia Kölcze & Constanze Rassmann (eds.): Rooted in Movement. Aspects of Mobility in the Bronze Age Europe.(Sophie Bergerbrant)Else Roesdahl, Søren M. Sindbæk & Anne Pedersen (red.): Aggersborg i vikingetiden. Bebyggelsen og borgen.(Olaf Olsen)Else Roesdahl, Søren M. Sindbæk, Anne Pedersen & David M. Wilson (eds.): Aggersborg. The Viking-Age settlement and fortress.(Olaf Olsen)Søren M. Sindbæk & Athena Trakadas (red.): Verden i Vikingetiden.(David M. Wilson)Søren M. Sindbæk & Athena Trakadas (eds.): The World in the Viking Age.(David M. Wilson)Lasse Christian Arboe Sonne: Thor-kult i vikingetiden. Historiske studier i vikingetidens religion.(Mads D. Jessen)E. Stidsing, K. Høilund Nielsen & R. Fiedel (eds.): Wealth and Complexity. Economically specialised sites in Late Iron Age Denmark.(Birgitta Hårdh)Jeanette Varberg: Fortidens Slagmarker. Krig og Konflikt fra Stenalder til Vikingetid.(Klavs Randsborg)Dorthe Wille-Jørgensen: Kongens borg – 123 års arkæologi på Vordingborg.(Rikke Agnete Olsen)

Zusammenfassung: Seit langem nehmen in Norwegen und Schweden Ortschaften und Höfe mit dem Namen Huseby o. ä. zentrale Punkte in der Frühgeschichtsforschung ein. Sie werden dort als seit jeher bedeutende Orte interpretiert, die in der späten Wikingerzeit oder am Übergang zum Mittelalter zu königlichen Höfen aufstiegen und in diesem Zuge mit der standardisierten Bezeichnung *húsabýr versehen wurden. Die dadurch ersetzten ursprünglichen Ortsnamen sind nur selten überliefert. Die Huseby-Orte Alt-Dänemarks fanden in der Forschung hingegen nur wenig Beachtung. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse der in den letzten Jahren durchgeführten Kontextanalysen und archäologischen Prospektionen erlauben es nun, das einst in dänischem Reichsgebiet gelegene Husby in Angeln in eine Reihe mit den bedeutenden Huseby-Orten Schwedens und Norwegens zu stellen. Archäologische Funde, allen voran die Entdeckung eines Siedlungslatzes mit zahlreichen Metallobjekten, die verkehrsgeografische Lage, Flurnamen in der Umgebung und eine romanische Kirche mit wahrscheinlich hölzernem Vorgängerbau zeichnen für Husby das Bild eines in der jüngeren Germanischen Eisenzeit, in der Wikingerzeit und im Mittelalter (über-)regional bedeutenden Ortes. Résumé: En Norvège et en Suède les localités ou habitats portant le nom d’H useby ont depuis longtemps occupé une place de choix en recherche protohistorique. Là, on les a toujours considérés comme des localités importantes, et ces endroits s’élevèrent au rang de cours royales au courant de l’époque viking tardive ou au début du Moyen Age ; de ce fait ils ont acquis la dénomination standard de*húsabýr. Les toponymes d’origine que ces nouvelles dénominations ont remplacés ne survivent que fort rarement. Cependant très peu d’enquêtes ont porté sur les toponymes Huseby que l’on rencontre dans l’ancien Danemark. Les résultats préliminaires d’études contextuelles et de prospections de terrain effectués au cours des dernières années nous permettent de ranger le site d’Husby en Anglie (Angeln), qui faisait anciennement partie du royaume danois, dans la série des sites importants portant le nom d’Huseby en Suède et en Norvège. Les données archéologiques, en particulier la découverte d’un habitat contenant de nombreux objets en métal, sa situation géographique, les noms des parcelles aux alentours et la présence d’une église romane avec probablement un précurseur en bois indiquent qu’Husby jouait un rôle (supra)régional significatif pendant l’âge du Fer germanique tardif, l’époque viking et le Moyen Age. Abstract: Settlements or farmsteads bearing the name Huseby or similar have occupied a central position in protohistoric research in Norway and Sweden for a long time. There they have always been interpreted as significant places, which rose to being royal courts in the Late Viking period or at the beginning of the Middle Ages and in the process were given the standard denomination of *húsabýr. The original place-names that these new denominations replaced rarely survive. Research has however paid little attention to the Huseby place-names of ancient Denmark. Preliminary results from contextual studies and archaeological surveys conducted over the last few years allow us to now align the site of Husby in Anglia, which once lay in the Danish realm, with the important Huseby sites of Sweden and Norway. Archaeological finds, especially the discovery of a settlement containing numerous metal objects, its geographical location, field names in its surroundings, and a Romanesque church with a probable timber precursor indicate that Husby was a significant (supra-) regional place in the later Germanic Iron Age, the Viking period and the Middle Ages.

As a result of the Arab conquests, there were significant changes in the geography of international trade routes. They shifted from the Mediterranean basin to the north and passed through the Slavic-populated regions of Central and Eastern Europe and Ruthenia. The new system of water and land routes connected the European Frankish West, the Slavic Baltic Pomerania, the Danube and the Ruthenian East of the continent. With the development of trade with the Arab East, the Way from the Vikings to the Greeks was formed and began to function, connecting the lands of the Baltic Wagri Slavs with Kyiv and Constantinople. It ran through the trade centers of the Pomeranian Slavs in the Baltic, across the Vistula, Western Bug, Pripyat, Dnieper and to the Black Sea coincided with the route of the transcontinental highway between Europe and the Arab East, which passed further east through the Sea of Azov, Don, Volga and the Caspian Sea. According to Arab authors, the main goods of Arab imports, including fur, honey, wax, and Frankish swords, came to the east from the Slavic lands and Ruthenia. The earliest and largest treasures of Arab dirhams, found in the lands of the Baltic Slavs, also indicate that the main counterparts of Arab trade in Europe were the Slavs and Ruthenia. The active participation of Ruthenian state in international trade is also evidenced by the construction of a network of stone fortresses in the upper Seversky Donets, Oskol and the Middle and Lower Don, which were not only border outposts of Ruthenia, but also trading posts.

The navigational feats of the Vikings and Norse in the Middle Ages have excited much interest and admiration, and we are fortunate that actual sailing directions for their various North Atlantic routes have been passed down to us in the Icelandic sagas. Using statistical data of modern wind conditions, this paper examines the sailing directions to determine whether the sailing times quoted are reasonable for a type of ship that was making these voyages in the Middle Ages. The findings show very good correlation between the calculated times and those of the sagas. The paper goes on to study an apparent anomaly for a particular route quoted in the sagas and concludes that the departure and destination points have probably been misinterpreted in the past.

The early history of the mouldboard plough – from the Late Roman Iron Age to the Middle AgesUntil quite recently, the introduction of the mouldboard plough to Denmark was seen as being closely linked to a new efficient Medieval cultivation system, the open-field system, which was considered to be the foundation for dynamic social changes evident in the area from c. AD 1000-1300. The open-field system is often explained in the context of a Medieval agricultural and technological revolution, whereby the mouldboard plough, ridge-and-furrow cultivation and crop rotation were introduced as a kind of package solution. Studies of Danish Medieval written sources suggest that these agrarian changes took place in AD 1000-1200, with use of the mouldboard plough consequently not being thought of as much older.Until the late 1990s, this idea was not contradicted by the significant body of evidence in the Danish archaeological record relating to the mouldboard plough, which in many ways is unique in a European perspective. Subsequently, new archaeological finds of well-preserved furrows made by a mouldboard plough have been discovered which clearly show that this implement was introduced to Denmark about 700-800 years earlier than previously thought, i.e. in the Late Roman Iron Age, c. AD 200-400. This challenges our understanding of the introduction of the mouldboard plough and the history of cultivation systems in Denmark prior to the Middle Ages and the evidence has therefore been subjected to new investigations.Archaeological finds of plough componentsThe archaeological record contains the only known finds of wooden plough components such as the beam, sheath, sole and mouldboard, as well as finds of the coulter, draught chains and shares (fig. 1). These finds can be dated to the period from the Late Viking Age to the Late Middle Ages or Renaissance.The archaeological record, together with pictorial representations on frescoes and seals from Denmark, provides a relatively tangible picture of the plough as basically a quadrilateral construction with the mouldboard attached to the right side. How far back in time this plough construction was used is not known for sure, but it is possible that it was developed by farmers as far back as the Iron Age, possibly being best suited to the asymmetrical function of the plough. It is obviously unlikely that an implement which was used for more than 1500 years remained static and unchanged in every way. As a consequence, the possibility cannot be ruled out that other versions of the mouldboard plough, either simpler or more complex, have existed over time.Ploughing tracesArchaeological investigations have unearthed several minor occurrences of fossil ploughing traces dated to between the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages. These take the form of ridge-and-furrow systems, turned furrows and furrow strips possibly correlated with the plough (fig. 6).In the light of the traces found at Tating-Haferacker, St. Peter-Ording, Joldelund and Danevirke, it must be assumed that the mouldboard plough was known and used across larger parts of South Schleswig in the Late Roman Iron Age. It may be possible to show that the plough was used even further north Jutland at this time, as the ploughing traces found in Henneby may date from the Late Roman Iron Age rather than the Germanic Iron Age. Notwithstanding the uncertainty regarding Henneby, the traces from Dommerhaven in Ribe and Klinkerne (figs. 2 and 3) show that the plough was known and used in significant parts of western Jutland by the Late Germanic Iron Age at the latest. There are presently no ploughing traces from other parts of Denmark dating from this period, although the furrows found beneath the burial mound Grydehøj on Zealand could have been produced by this plough. Similarly, the traces dated to the Viking Age, found at Hedeby, Fjand, Viborg (fig. 4), Lindholm Høje and Löddeköpinge, show that the plough must have been known and used across significant parts of Jutland and in Scania before the end of the Viking Age. Early Middle Ages ploughing traces have been found at Filsø and some other locations in Jutland and on Funen, but so far no definite ploughing traces are known from Zealand and Scania. There are only a few localities with ploughing traces dating from the rest of the Middle Ages: Ringkøbing, Puggårdsgade in Ribe, Amrum and Südfall in the western part of Denmark. The traces found at Ulbjerg Klint are unlikely to be later than the 15th-16th centuries (fig. 5).At first sight, this review of the fossil ploughing traces can be broadly interpreted as showing that the introduction of the plough to Denmark was an extended process, which began in South Schleswig no later than the Late Roman Iron Age and continued into the western parts of Denmark no later than the Germanic Iron Age, and reached the remaining parts of Denmark no later than the Viking Age. The question is, however, whether the review has given a better basis for determining when and how the mouldboard plough became a regular implement in various parts of Denmark. All things considered, the archaeological record only shows where the conditions for preservation have been particularly good for these specific types of finds, and where excavators happen to have found turned furrows when carrying out archaeological investigations. In western Jutland, peaty/boggy soils and sand drift have given good conditions for the preservation of fossil turned furrows, while the same conditions seldom exist in other parts of Denmark. This is emphasised by the fact that the finds of turned furrows dating from the Middle Ages have almost exclusively been found in western Jutland, even though the plough is considered to have been common across most of Denmark at this time. Consequently, the absence of fossil turned furrows cannot be used as evidence of the plough not having been known and used in the area in question. It would therefore be irresponsible to make dogmatic unambiguous statements about regional variations in the introduction of the plough to Denmark.Rye cultivation as an indicator of the use of the ploughThe problem can be addressed indirectly by turning to another source material. Perhaps the the more widespread cultivation of rye may be used as an indicator of the presence of the plough in a given area.Rye, as known from historical times, does not make great demands as to the type of soil, but it does require that the soil has been loosened and is not waterlogged; surface water can also destroy the rye. The mouldboard plough has therefore been considered as a prerequisite for more widespread and systematic cultivation of rye, especially winter rye, on the wet northwest European lowlands. This is because the plough could efficiently loosen the soil and gather it into ridged strips, facilitating field drainage.General developments clearly show that, after a cautious start in Late Roman Iron Age, rye was found increasingly during the Germanic Iron Age and subsequent periods. It would be irresponsible to draw too far-reaching conclusions with respect to relations between rye and the plough. However, if we accept the idea of a connection between the mouldboard plough and the more widespread and systematic cultivation of rye – especially winter rye, then it is tempting to claim that the results of the present review reflect a form of agriculture in which the mouldboard plough was in use across most of Denmark during the Germanic Iron Age.Perspectives on the early introduction of the mouldboard ploughThe mouldboard plough is interesting in both an ecological and a socio-economic context, because it was of major significance for tillage and prompted a reorganisation of field structures that, with time, had a knock-on effect on the structures of settlements and properties.The idea of a technological revolution around AD 1000 acting as a catalyst for dynamic social changes is no longer tenable. The earlier dates now established for the mouldboard plough, the ridged strips and crop rotation clearly show that these significant agricultural prerequisites for a new and effective Medieval system of cultivation, the open-field system, were very well-known in Denmark before this form of agriculture took shape at the beginning of the Early Middle Ages, AD 1000-1200. There is, therefore, no reason to stick to the idea of a technological revolution at this time. The dynamic changes evident in the Middle Ages are, instead, more likely to be a consequence of a general economic expansion, which saw expression for example in an increase in new villages and an associated expansion of the cultivated landscape during the Early Middle Ages.The context in which the earlier introduction of the mouldboard plough should be understood is as yet far from clear. Our knowledge of the plough is still very inadequate and unevenly distributed in time and space, and the archaeological record relating to the cultivation systems of the Late Iron Age, AD 200-1050, is similarly very sporadic.It seems that the introduction of the plough was very likely associated with the significant changes that took place at the transition between the Early and Late Roman Iron Age, c. AD 200, and which characterised society in the subsequent centuries.The earlier introduction of the plough and of ridged- and/or flat-field systems of cultivation must have influenced the organisation of the infield and gradually rendered it impractical to move the settlement around within the resource area, as had been the case since the last centuries BC. Estimates of the percentage of cultivated land at different locations in Denmark show that some settlements must have had cultivated areas corresponding to those of Medieval times as early as the Germanic Iron Age, while other settlements had far smaller areas. This could be one of the reasons that some villages clearly became fixed at their present location already in Late Germanic Iron Age, and not exclusively at the transition between the Viking Age and Middle Ages, c. AD 900-1100, as was previously thought.There are a number of indications that the agrarian society of the Late Iron Age was increasingly able to generate a surplus, which could mobilise an ever more complex social structure: For example, the establishment of large, rich productive sites, especially in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, the founding of the earliest towns, such as Ribe, Aarhus and Hedeby in the 8th and 9th centuries, the emergence of regional kingdoms and the waging of several wars for resources in the period AD 200-600. The earlier introduction of the effective mouldboard plough fits well into this sequence of developments – as one of several significant factors.Lars Agersnap LarsenViborg Museum

Abstract Three major events marked medieval Norwegian literary production, style, and language: the introduction of Christianity, the Black Death, and the Reformation. Foreign material in translation was pivotal to the transition between the pagan Viking Era and the Christian Middle Ages and to the passage from Catholicism to Lutheranism in the 16th century. Lack of translation and literary production following the Black Death also had an impact. Translation in a medieval and Renaissance context must be understood as transfer of knowledge, the crossing of linguistic and cultural borders. The translated texts helped introduce and consolidate the social conventions promoted by the new religion. The distinction between story and history faded. Religious and devotional material preceded the secular court literature from the French-speaking territories. Hagiographic material ran parallel to heroic tales: all genres helped illustrate the virtues of Christian life and social organization and needed only minor adaptation for a Norse audience. The pagan literary conventions blended with those of the imported material and resulted in a distinct Norse literary style. The systematic encounter with other gave rise to a new perception of self. The largely anonymous translators contributed to the inclusion of other in self, to the assimilation of foreign cultural values and concepts.

Neck-rings are frequent in finds from the Early Bronze Age, ca. 1000-550 B.C. Far later necklaces are mentioned in the Old Icelandic literature. For instance, thegoddess Freyja was the owner of the Brisingamen necklace, according to Snorri Sturluson in his Edda, written in the 13' century A.D. He also tells that the god Ööinn was in possession of the ring Draupnir, from which eight new rings fell every ninth night. Thus, necklaces appear in three quite distinct eras: the Early Bronze Age, the Migration Period, and the early Middle Ages. Is this interest of our ancestors in neck-ornaments concentrated on these periods, or were they used continuously during this long space of time? What meaning did the neck-ring have for prehistoric man? The finds indicate that the ring was not only used for decoration, but served other purposes as well. It might have been used as a sign of prestige or it might have had a religious significance. A necklace and a ring are the attributes of Freyja and Minn. Is it possible to find a connection between these divine accessories and the neckornaments which appear so abundantly in the finds from earlier periods? Could such a connection contribute to the understanding of the religion of the Viking Age?

The tradition of burying horses in Lithuania lasted from the Early Roman period until the late 14th C AD. It was the longest-lasting custom in Europe, which has left about 2000 known horse burials. This paper publishes the osteometric data and age of horses found in Lithuanian cemeteries and castles of the 3rd–14th C AD, over 200 individuals in total. These are the remains of all the horses still stored in Lithuanian institutions. The paper discusses the dynamics of horse body size in order to test previously suggested hypotheses regarding the relationship between large horse body size and its military use, possibly non-local breed, and high social status of the owner. Moreover, we are publishing the AMS 14C dates of 13 horses previously assigned to the Migration period. The research results corrected the existing chronology. The abundant data also allowed an assessment of the development of the size and age of the horses in Lithuania between the 3rd and 14th C AD. Osteometric analyses have shown that Late Roman–post-Migration-period horses were unusually large compared to the Viking and medieval horses in Lithuania. Meanwhile, we suggest that the semi-slender-legged 118–125-cm-tall horse, which predominated in the Viking period, is the most consistent with the local horse type. In general, the horses in Lithuania in the 3rd–11th C AD were small compared to those in Central and Western Europe or Scandinavia. More significant changes can be observed in the Middle Ages. In the 12–14th C AD, there was a much greater variety of horses and the expansion of taller (140–150 cm) individuals. However, the continued abundance of small horses in the medieval times, found buried with saddles and other equipment, allows one to renew the debate on the formation of the cavalry, the tactics of combat, and the social composition of horsemen in Lithuania.

TamdrupRoyal residence and memorial church in a new light Tamdrup has been shrouded in a degree of mystery in recent times. The solitary church located on a moraine hill west of Horsens is visible from afar and has attracted attention for centuries. On the face of it, it resembles an ordinary parish church, but on closer examination it is found to be unusually large, and on entering one discovers that hidden beneath one roof is a three-aisled construction, which originally was a Romanesque basilica. Why was such a large church built in this particular place? What were the prevailing circumstances in the Early Middle Ages when the foundation stone was laid? The mystery of Tamdrup has been addressed and discussed before. In the 1980s and 1990s, archaeological excavations were carried out which revealed traces of a magnate’s farm or a royal residence from the Late Viking Age or Early Middle Ages located on the field to the west of the church (fig. 4), and in 1991, the book Tamdrup – Kirke og gård was published. Now, by way of metal-detector finds, new information has been added. These new finds provide several answers, but also give rise to several new questions and problems. In recent years, a considerable number of metal finds recovered by metal detector at Tamdrup have been submitted to Horsens Museum. Since 2012, 207 artefacts have been recorded, primarily coins, brooches, weights and fittings from such as harness, dating from the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. Further to these, a coin hoard dating from the time of Svein Estridson was excavated in 2013. The museum has processed the submitted finds, which have been recorded and passed on for treasure trove evaluation. As resources were not available for a more detailed assessment of the artefacts, in 2014 the museum formulated a research project that received funding from the Danish Agency for Culture, enabling the finds to be examined in greater depth. The aim of the research project was to study the metal-detector finds and the excavation findings, partly through an analysis of the total finds assemblage, partly by digitalisation of the earlier excavation plans so these could be compared with each other and with the new excavation data. This was intended to lead on to a new analysis, new interpretations and a new, overall evaluation of Tamdrup’s function, role and significance in the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages.Old excavations – new interpretationsIn 1983, on the eastern part of the field, a trial excavation trench was laid out running north-south (d). This resulted in two trenches (a, b) and a further three trial trenches being opened up in 1984 (fig. 6). In the northern trench, a longhouse, a fence and a pit-house were discovered (fig. 8). The interpretation of the longhouse (fig. 4) still stands, in so far as we are dealing with a longhouse with curved walls. The western end of the house appears unequivocal, but there could be some doubt about its eastern end. An alternative interpretation is a 17.5 m long building (fig. 8), from which the easternmost set of roof-bearing posts are excluded. Instead, another posthole is included as the northernmost post in the gable to the east. This gives a house with regularly curved walls, though with the eastern gable (4.3 m) narrower than the western (5.3 m). North of the trench (a) containing the longhouse, a trial trench (c) was also laid out, revealing a number of features. Similarly, there were also several features in the northern part of the middle trial trench (e). A pit in trial trench c was found to contain both a fragment of a bit branch and a bronze key. There was neither time nor resources to permit the excavation of these areas in 1984, but it seems very likely that there are traces of one or more houses here (fig. 9). Here we have a potential site for a possible main dwelling house or hall. In August 1990, on the basis of an evaluation, an excavation trench (h) was opened up to the west of the 1984 excavation (fig. 7). Here, traces were found of two buildings, which lay parallel to each other, oriented east-west. These were interpreted as small auxiliary buildings associated with the same magnate’s farm as the longhouse found in the 1984 excavation. The northern building was 4 m wide and the southern building was 5.5 m. Both buildings were considered to be c. 7 m long and with an open eastern gable. The southern building had one set of internal roof-bearing posts. The excavation of the two buildings in 1990 represented the art of the possible, as no great resources were available. Aerial photos from the time show that the trial trench from the evaluation was back-filled when the excavation was completed. Today, we have a comprehensive understanding of the trial trenches and excavation trenches thanks to the digitalised plans. Here, it becomes apparent that some postholes recorded during the evaluation belong to the southernmost of the two buildings, but these were unfortunately not relocated during the actual excavation. As these postholes, accordingly, did not form part of the interpretation, it was assumed that the building was 7 m in length (fig. 10). When these postholes from the evaluation are included, a ground plan emerges that can be interpreted as the remains of a Trelleborg house (fig. 11). The original 7 m long building constitutes the western end of this characteristic house, while the remainder of the south wall was found in the trial trench. Part of the north wall is apparently missing, but the rest of the building appears so convincing that the missing postholes must be attributed to poor conditions for preservation and observation. The northeastern part of the house has not been uncovered, which means that it is not possible to say with certainty whether the house was 19 or 25 m in length, minus its buttress posts. On the basis of the excavations undertaken in 1984 and 1990, it was assumed that the site represented a magnate’s farm from the Late Viking Age. It was presumed that the excavated buildings stood furthest to the north on the toft and that the farm’s main dwelling – in the best-case scenario the royal residence – should be sought in the area to the south between the excavated buildings. Six north-south-oriented trial trenches were therefore laid out in this area (figs. 6, 7 and 13 – trial trenches o, p, q, r, s and t). The results were, according to the excavation report, disappointing: No trace was found of Harold Bluetooth’s hall. It was concluded that there were no structures and features that could be linked together to give a larger entity such as the presumed magnate’s farm. After digitalisation of the excavation plans from 1991, we now have an overview of the trial trenches to a degree that was not possible previously (fig. 13). It is clear that there is a remarkable concentration of structures in the central and northern parts of the two middle trial trenches (q, r) and in part also in the second (p) and fourth (s) trial trenches from the west, as well as in the northern parts of the two easternmost trial trenches (s, t). An actual archaeological excavation would definitely be recommended here if a corresponding intensity of structures were to be encountered in an evaluation today (anno 2016). Now that all the plans have been digitalised, it is obvious to look at the trial trenches from 1990 and 1991 together. Although some account has to be taken of uncertainties in the digitalisation, this nevertheless confirms the picture of a high density of structures, especially in the middle of the 1991 trial trenches. The collective interpretation from the 1990 and 1991 investigations is that there are strong indications of settlement in the area of the middle 1991 trial trenches. It is also definitely a possibility that these represent the remains of a longhouse, which could constitute the main dwelling house. It can therefore be concluded that it is apparently possible to confirm the interpretation of the site as a potential royal residence, even though this is still subject to some uncertainty in the absence of new excavations. The archaeologists were disappointed following the evaluation undertaken in 1991, but the overview which modern technology is able to provide means that the interpretation is now rather more encouraging. There are strong indications of the presence of a royal residence. FindsThe perception of the area by Tamdrup church gained a completely new dimension when the first metal finds recovered by metal detector arrived at Horsens Museum in the autumn of 2011. With time, as the finds were submitted, considerations of the significance and function of the locality in the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages were subjected to revision. The interpretation as a magnate’s farm was, of course, common knowledge, but at Horsens Museum there was an awareness that this interpretation was in some doubt following the results of the 1991 investigations. The many new finds removed any trace of this doubt while, at the same time, giving cause to attribute yet further functions to the site. Was it also a trading place or a central place in conjunction with the farm? And was it active earlier than previously assumed? The 207 metal finds comprise 52 coins (whole, hack and fragments), 34 fittings (harness, belt fittings etc.), 28 brooches (enamelled disc brooches, Urnes fibulas and bird brooches), 21 weights, 15 pieces of silver (bars, hack and casting dead heads), 12 figures (pendants, small horses), nine distaff whorls, eight bronze keys, four lead amulets, three bronze bars, two fragments of folding scales and a number of other artefacts, the most spectacular of which included a gold ring and a bronze seal ring. In dating terms, most of the finds can be assigned to the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. The largest artefact group consists of the coins, of which 52 have been found – either whole or as fragments. To these can be added the coin hoard, which was excavated in 2013 (fig. 12) and which primarily consists of coins minted under Svein Estridson. The other, non-hoard coins comprise: 13 Svein Estridson (figs. 15, 16), five Otto-Adelheid, five Arabic dirhams, three Sancta Colonia, one Canute the Great, one Edward the Confessor, one Theodorich II, one Heinrich II, one Rand pfennig, one Roman denarius (with drilled hole) and nine unidentified silver coins, of which some appear however to be German and others Danish/Anglo-Saxon. Most of the single coins date from the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The next-largest category of finds from Tamdrup are the fittings, which comprise 34 items. This category does, however, cover a broad diversity of finds, of which the dominant types are belt/strap fittings of various kinds and fittings associated with horse harness (figs. 17-24). In total, ten fittings have been found by metal detector that are thought to belong to harness. In addition to these is a single example from the excavation in 1984. The majority of these fittings are interpreted as parts of curb bits, headgear and stirrups. One particularly expressive figure was found at Tamdrup: a strap fitting from a stirrup, formed in a very characteristic way and depicting the face of a Viking (fig. 20). The fitting has been fixed on the stirrup strap at the point where the sides meet. Individual stirrup strap fittings are known by the hundred from England and are considered stylistically to be Anglo-Scandinavian. The fitting from Tamdrup is dated to the 11th century and is an example of a Williams’ Class B, Type 4, East Anglian type face mount. A special category of artefacts is represented by the brooches/fibulas, and enamel brooches are most conspicuous among the finds from Tamdrup. Of the total of 28 examples, 11 are enamel brooches. The most unusual is a large enamel disc brooch of a type that probably has not been found in Denmark previously (fig. 24). Its size alone (5.1 cm in diameter) is unusual. The centre of the brooch is raised relative to the rim and furnished with a pattern of apparently detached figures. On the rim are some alternating sail-shaped triangles on a base line which forms four crown-like motifs and defines a cruciform shape. Between the crowns are suggestions of small pits that probably were filled with enamel. Parallels to this type are found in central Europe, and the one that approaches closest stylistically is a brooch from Komjatice in western Slovakia, found in a grave (fig. 25). This brooch has a more or less identical crown motif, and even though the other elements are not quite the same, the similarity is striking. It is dated to the second half of the 10th century and the first half of the 11th century. The other enamel brooches are well-known types of small Carolingian and Ottonian brooches. There are four circular enamel cross-motif brooches (fig. 26a), two stellate disc brooches with central casing (fig. 26b), one stepped brooch with a cruciform motif, one cruciform fibula with five square casings and two disc-shaped brooches. In addition to the enamel brooches there are ten examples that can definitely be identified as animal brooches. Nine of these are of bronze, while one is of silver. The motifs are birds or dragons in Nordic animal styles from the Late Viking Age, Urnes and Ringerike styles, and simpler, more naturalistic forms of bird fibulas from the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. Accordingly, the date for all the animal brooches is the 11th and 12th centuries. A total of 21 weights of various shapes and forms have been found at Tamdrup: spherical, bipolar spherical, disc-shaped, conical, square and facetted in various ways. Rather more than half are of lead, with the remainder being of bronze, including a couple of examples with an iron core and a mantle of bronze (so-called ørtug weights), where the iron has exploded out through the bronze mantle. One of the bipolar spheres (fig. 28) has ornamentation in the form of small pits on its base. Weights are primarily associated with trade, where it was important to be able to weigh an agreed amount of silver. Weights were, however, also used in the metal workshops, where it was crucial to be able to weigh a particular amount of metal for a specific cast in order to achieve the correct proportions between the different metals in an alloy. Eight bronze keys have been found, all dated broadly to the Viking Age (fig. 29). Most are fragmentarily preserved pieces of relatively small keys of a very simple type that must be seen as being for caskets or small chests. Keys became relatively widespread during the course of the Viking Age. Many were of iron and a good number of bronze. Nevertheless, the number of keys found at Tamdrup is impressive. A further group of artefacts that will be briefly mentioned are the distaff whorls. This is an artefact group which appears in many places and which was exceptionally common in the Viking Age. In archaeological excavations, examples are often found in fired clay, while metal distaff whorls – most commonly of lead – are found in particular by metal detector. Nine distaff whorls have been found at Tamdrup, all of lead. The finest and absolutely most prestigious artefact is a gold ring, which was found c. 60 m southwest of house 1. The ring consists of a 2 mm wide, very thin gold band, while the fittings comprise a central casing surrounded by originally eight small circular casings. In the middle sits a red stone, presumably a garnet, mounted in five rings. In a circle around the stone are the original eight small, circular mounts, of which six are preserved. The mounts, from which the stones are missing, alternate with three small gold spheres. The edges of the mounts have fine cable ornamentation. The dating is rather uncertain and is therefore not ascribed great diagnostic value. In the treasure trove description, the ring is dated to the Late Middle Ages/Renaissance, but it could presumably also date from the Early Middle Ages as it has features reminiscent of the magnificent brooch found at Østergård, which is dated to 1050. Two other spectacular artefacts were found in the form of some small four-legged animals, probably horses, cast in bronze. These figures are known from the Slav area and have presumably had a pre-Christian, symbolic function. Common to both of them are an elongated body, long neck and very short legs. Finally, mention should be made of four lead amulets. These are of a type where, on a long strip of lead, a text has been written in runes or Latin characters. Typically, these are Christian invocations intended to protect the wearer. The lead amulets are folded together and therefore do not take up much space. They are dated to the Middle Ages (1100-1400) and will therefore not be dealt with in further detail here. What the artefacts tell usWhat do the artefacts tell us? They help to provide a dating frame for the site, they tell us something about what has taken place there, they give an indication of which social classes/strata were represented, and, finally, they give us an insight into which foreign contacts could have existed, which influences people were under and which networks they were part of. Most of the artefacts date from the period 900-1000, and this is also the dating frame for the site as a whole. There is a slight tendency for the 10th century finds to be more evenly distributed across the site than those from the 11th century, which tend to be concentrated in the eastern part. A number of the finds are associated with tangible activities, for example the weights and, especially, the distaff whorls. Others also had practical functions but are, at the same time, associated with the upper echelons of society. Of the material from Tamdrup, the latter include the harness fittings and the keys, while the many brooches/fibulas and pendants also belong to artefact groups to which people from the higher strata of society had access. Some of the harness fittings and brooches suggest links with England. The stirrup-strap fitting and the cruciform strap fitting in Anglo-Scandinavian style have clear parallels in the English archaeological record. The coins, on the other hand, point towards Germany. There are a number of German coins from the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century, but the occurrence of Otto-Adelheid pennies and other German coins is not necessarily an indication of a direct German connection. From the second half of the 11th century, Svein Estridson coins dominate, but they are primarily Danish. Other artefacts that indicate contacts with western Europe are the enamelled brooches in Carolingian-Ottonian style. A number of objects suggest some degree of trade. Here again, it is the coins and the hack silver, and also the relatively large number of lead weights, that must be considered as relatively reliable indicators of trade, at least when their number is taken into consideration. In the light of the metal-detector finds it can, in conclusion, be stated that this was a locality inhabited by people of middle to high status. Many objects are foreign or show foreign inspiration and suggest therefore that Tamdrup was part of an international network. The artefacts support the interpretation of Tamdrup as a magnate’s farm and a royal residence. ConclusionTamdrup was located high up in the landscape, withdrawn from the coast, but nevertheless with quick and easy access to Horsens Fjord. Tamdrup could be approached from the fjord via Nørrestrand and the river Hansted Å on a northern route, or by the river Bygholm Å on a southern route (fig. 33). A withdrawn loca­tion was not atypical in the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages. At that time there were also sites directly on the coast and at the heads of fjords, where early urbanisation materialised through the establishment of the first market towns, while the king’s residences had apparently to be located in places rather less accessible by boat and ship. As withdrawn but central, regional hubs and markers between land and sea. One must imagine that Tamdrup had a high status in the 10th and 11th centuries, when the king had a residence and a wooden church there. A place of great importance, culminating in the construction of a Romanesque basilica to commemorate the Christianisation of Denmark. Tamdrup appears to have lost its significance for the monarchy shortly after the stone church was completed, which could fit with King Niels, as the last of Svein Estridson’s sons, being killed in 1134, and another branch of the royal family taking over power. At the same time as Tamdrup lost its importance, Horsens flourished as a town and became of such great importance for the Crown that both Svein Grathe and Valdemar the Great had coins minted there. Tamdrup must have been a central element of the local topography in the Viking Age, when Horsens functioned as a landing place, perhaps with seasonal trading. In the long term, Horsens came out strongest, but it must be assumed that Tamdrup had the highest status between AD 900 and 1100.Lars PaghHorsens Museum

Bone samples from the Greenland Viking colony provide us with a unique opportunity to test and use 14C dating of remains of humans who depended upon food of mixed marine and terrestrial origin. We investigated the skeletons of 27 Greenland Norse people excavated from churchyard burials from the late 10th to the middle 15th century. The stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of the bone collagen reveals that the diet of the Greenland Norse changed dramatically from predominantly terrestrial food at the time of Eric the Red around AD 1000 to predominantly marine food toward the end of the settlement period around AD 1450. We find that it is possible to 14C-date these bones of mixed marine and terrestrial origin precisely when proper correction for the marine reservoir effect (the 14C age difference between terrestrial and marine organisms) is taken into account. From the dietary information obtained via the δ13C values of the bones We have calculated individual reservoir age corrections for the measured 14C ages of each skeleton. The reservoir age corrections were calibrated by comparing the 14C dates of 3 highly marine skeletons with the 14C dates of their terrestrial grave clothes. The calibrated ages of all 27 skeletons from different parts of the Norse settlement obtained by this method are found to be consistent with available historical and archaeological chronology. The evidence for a change in subsistence from terrestrial to marine food is an important clue to the old puzzle of the disappearance of the Greenland Norse, obtained here for the first time by measurements on the remains of the people themselves instead of by more indirect methods like kitchen-midden analysis.

The article is devoted to a specific category of ancient Rus burial monuments of X–XI centuries. They combine the features of both elite chamber tombs of the Viking Age and ordinary Christian burials of the beginning of the II millennium AD. The author considered to combine such burials under the term «pseudo-chambers» or «imitation chambers». There are four types of them: 1) chambers with coffins; 2) ground chambers; 3) «earthen» chambers with wooden flooring, but without wall coverings; 4) «large burial pits» without wooden structures. In the article there is first analysis of the structural and ceremonial features of each of these chamber types. Moreover, the author identifies their peculiarities. The basis of the sample is taken from the materials of excavations headed by K. Melnyk in 1897–1898, which was the source of the greatest number of such monuments. Obviously, the erection of classical chamber tombs in the southern Rus territories ceased with the beginning of Christianization. However, the ancient Rus elite could not abandon this tradition completely, which was reflected in the appearance of imitation cameras. The vast majority of them inside permanent wooden structures contain a movablecoffin. This fact contradicts the basic idea of the classical chamber tombs as «houses of the dead» and indicates at least a significant influence of the Christian doctrine. The spread of pseudo-chambers in the territory of Volyn should undoubtedly be linked to the governmental activity of Volodymyr Sviatoslavych that may have been accompanied by an influx of people («greater men») from the Middle Dnieper. According to the composition of the funerary inventory and analogies from the adjacent territories, they can be dated from the end of X – the first half of XI centuries. Comprehensive analysis of construction features and funerary inventory of imitation chambers from the territory of Volyn does not allow us uniquely associate them with representatives of the ancient Rus elite. Within the region, mentioned monuments are not a direct line of development of classical chamber tombs, but merely imitate socially prestigious ceremonial elements of the latter. Key words: Ancient Rus, Volyn, funeral rite, imitation cameras, Christianization.

Burials dug into Roman period – Viking age barrows can be distinguished in the context of the cemeteries from Lithuania’s Late Medieval – Early Modern period (late 14th–18th centuries). So far, at least 400 late burials have been found in 26 Lithuanian barrow cemeteries while only fragmentary information is available about another 25 such barrow cemeteries. The earliest historical period burials in old barrows should be dated to the late 14th–15th centuries, but this burial practice began to occur on a mass scale in the 16th–17th centuries. The main incidence range of this custom is Samogitia and North Lithuania. In respect to their construction, orientation, and grave good assemblages, these burials do not differ in any way from the context of the historical period cemeteries. The return of burials to old barrow cemeteries should be connected with the Christianisation of Lithuania. On the one hand, up until the 16th century the evangelisation of Lithuania’s rural population was not intensive and therefore burial in a churchyard and Christian rites were not well established. On the other hand, the compressed church network during the Reformation and especially the ounterReformation, the increased pressure from the Church to observe Christian burial rites and pay the exorbitant fees for them, and the lack of Christianity’s authority could have provoked the population’s hostility, forcing people to look for more remote locations for cemeteries, locations some communities found in old pagan barrow cemeteries. Keywords: barrows, cemetery reuse, Middle ages, Early modern times, christianization.

Democracy is one of the fundamental priorities of modern civil societies and the mainstay of nations and governments. Some people believe that democracy was born in United States. But democracy was born thousands years ago in Ancient Greek. Today democracy is only alternative choice against authoritarian and repressive regimes emerges as one of the most eligible mode of administration. In this article, we will look at the types of democracies and how democracy has changed from first version to present version. Also, why philosophers’ divided on democracy? Key words: history, democracy, magna carta, turks, vikings, middle ages, modern democracy