Mogens Bo Henriksen | Aarhus University (original) (raw)

Papers by Mogens Bo Henriksen

Bellinge & Brændekilde sognes historie , 2020

Neolithic stone axes with Medieval rune inscriptions, probably used as amulets. Presentation of t... more Neolithic stone axes with Medieval rune inscriptions, probably used as amulets. Presentation of two finds from the Danish island of Fyn (Funen).

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Årbogen Museum Odense, 2023

Gennemgang af fynske guldfund fra 2010-22 med henblik på at vurdere, om teorier og modeller, der ... more Gennemgang af fynske guldfund fra 2010-22 med henblik på at vurdere, om teorier og modeller, der blev præsenteret i et studie i 2010 holde med tilvæksten af nye fund.

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The article describes the successful re-locating and subsequent excavation of an Iron Age hoard, ... more The article describes the successful re-locating and subsequent excavation of an Iron Age hoard, parts of which had surfaced during more than a century. Few specimens were recoved in situ. The hoard consists of gold jewellery, aurei and solidi, with a numismatic t.p.q. AD 336.

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Small Things – Wide Horizons, 2015

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Revue Numismatique, 2007

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Mogens Henriksen er cand. phil. i forhistorisk arkaeologi. I slutningen af 1970-erne blev der iva... more Mogens Henriksen er cand. phil. i forhistorisk arkaeologi. I slutningen af 1970-erne blev der ivaerksat et stort tvaervidenskabeligt projekt i samarbejde mellem Syddansk Universitet og Odense Bys Museer: Landsbyens opstaen og udvikling. Det resulterede indtil 2004 i ikke mindre end 106 ”sikre” grundris af hustomter pa 21 lokaliteter pa Fyn, og det er dette materiale, som forfatteren praesenterer og diskuterer. Hans konklusion er, at der ikke kan opstilles nogen entydig typologi over husenes udvikling.

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Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2019

In september 2018, the DIME portal was officially launched to facilitate the user driven recordin... more In september 2018, the DIME portal was officially launched to facilitate the user driven recording of metal detector finds produced by members of the public. The concrete and operational aim of DIME is to provide a portal for the registering and hence safeguarding of the increasing number of metal detector finds and to make them accessible for the general public and for research. The more overarching vision behind the DIME project is to realise the potential of recreational metal detecting as a medium to implement an inclusive and democratic approach to heritage management in Denmark and to advance the incorporation of principles of citizen science and crowdsourcing in museum practice. This article intends to present the background of the DIME portal’s development, its basic functionalities and their technological underpinning as well as the overarching vision behind DIME.

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Quartär 67, (2020) 2022, 105-180, 2022

The Danish Palaeolithic began during the Lateglacial (approximately 12,350 calBC) and lasted for ... more The Danish Palaeolithic began during the Lateglacial (approximately 12,350 calBC) and lasted for about four thousand years. Only a handful of sites and organic stray finds have been precisely dated. And it is primarily on these that a preliminary chronological framework has been built. Similarly, numerous hypotheses on palaeohistory, typology, and settlement patterns have been proposed. However, due to the preservation of sediments that allow the preservation of organic materials and their exploitation during the past 170 years, abundant reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and elk (Alces alces) remains have been uncovered. Many of these are worked and at least some of which can be assigned to the Palaeolithic. These remains have, so far, been only partly studied. Here, we present a study of the complete corpus. The Lateglacial faunal collections in 33 Danish museums were assessed, and 50 reindeer and elk objects are described in detail because they are worked or were mentioned in the literature as being worked. The Palaeolithic artefacts were AMS 14 C-dated and analysed together with existing datasets. The results of the study create a more robust framework for hypotheses building. A reliance on reindeer for tool production throughout the Danish Palaeolithic is confirmed, as is the twofold occupation of Denmark during the Hamburgian. Furthermore, the new results indicate a reduction of human occupation or even possible absence of humans during the first half of the Younger Dryas, followed by an intensive re-occupation of eastern Denmark during the Preboreal. Furthermore, the analysis of the worked bone and antler materials provides new insights into the manufacturing processes. The repeated occurrence of transversely segmented reindeer antler, documenting a continuous evolution of this technique from the Late Upper Palaeolithic to the Final Palaeolithic, speaks against a clear separation of the different cultural entities.

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Vends 1998. Årbog for Lokal- og Kulturhistorie på Nordvestfyn, s. 65-75. , 1998

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Radiocarbon, 2020

Experimental studies have shown that significant carbon exchange occurs between bone-apatite and ... more Experimental studies have shown that significant carbon exchange occurs between bone-apatite and the pyre atmosphere during cremation, which can cause a calendar date offset between the radiocarbon (14C) event and the date of cremation. There are limited empirical data available to assess the magnitude of such wood-age offsets, but the aim of this paper is to test if they can be modeled statistically. We present new 14C dates on modern bone cremated in realistic open-air experiments and on archaeological samples of cremated bone and associated organic material. Experimental results demonstrate a wide range of carbon exchange with a mean of 58.6 ± 14.8%. Archaeological results indicate that the wood-age offsets have an approximately exponential distribution. We test whether the default Charcoal Outlier_Model in OxCal v4.3, developed to reduce the impact of wood-age offsets in dates of charcoal, is appropriate for cremated bone, but find that it slightly underestimates apparent offset...

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Dalum-Hjallese Lokalhistoriske Forening. Årsskrift 2021, s. 10-16. , 2022

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Bellinge & Brændekilde sognes historie , 2020

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Årbogen Museum Odense, 2023

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Small Things – Wide Horizons, 2015

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Revue Numismatique, 2007

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Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2019

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Quartär 67, (2020) 2022, 105-180, 2022

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Vends 1998. Årbog for Lokal- og Kulturhistorie på Nordvestfyn, s. 65-75. , 1998

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Radiocarbon, 2020

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Dalum-Hjallese Lokalhistoriske Forening. Årsskrift 2021, s. 10-16. , 2022

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Publication from a work shop dealing with different topics from the Gudme-Lundeborg research proj... more Publication from a work shop dealing with different topics from the Gudme-Lundeborg research project until 1995.

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LAG, 1991

Periodical presenting studies based on MA-thesis' from the Institute of Prehistoric archaeology a... more Periodical presenting studies based on MA-thesis' from the Institute of Prehistoric archaeology at University of Aarhus. Contributions from Berit Valentin Eriksen, Jes Martens, Ole Nielsen, Gitte Varde & Ulrich Kleiminger, Peter Thorup, and Anne Hedeager Krag. Topics ranging from Late Paleolithic and Iron Age armaments and fortifications to museum economy and exhibition strategy. Plus two book reviews.

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Fynske og nordjyske lokaliteter med metalfund 400-1100 e.Kr. Katalog, 2019

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Using data from prehistoric Danish cremation graves and pyre sites, I pose four main questions: W... more Using data from prehistoric Danish cremation graves and pyre sites, I pose four main questions: Where did the prehistoric cremation processes take place, who did the burning, how was the cremation performed, and what remains did the cremation process leave?
Pyre sites have been found only in connection with burial sites, and almost every pyre was placed directly on the ground. Apart from the occasional use of posts to prop up the fires, structural supports were rarely used. Often, pyre sites have survived only as thin strata of fire sediments, typically measuring no more than a couple of centimeters in depth and covering less than two square meters, which contain small quantities of incinerated bone material and various pyre goods, all deriving from individual cremations. I include a typology of pyre sites.
Drawing on forensic, pyrotechnic, ethnological and ethnographic studies, I further discuss the requirements of the cremation process itself, including its stages and the products resulting from it. Mostly, however, cremation experiments performed by myself in the course of this study form the basis of my conclusions. The results show that a body can be successfully cremated within three to seven hours using less than two cubic meters of firewood, provided that the fire is well maintained. Furthermore, my results show that the process leaves a residual ash bed, which, upon inspection, corresponds exactly to similar strata found at prehistoric pyre sites. I posit a four-stage model for the combustion of the pyre and the incineration of the body, which I subsequently use to analyze archeological evidence. In addition, I show that sorting out the majority of the pyre products is easily achievable in one to two hours. Then, once I compare experimental and archeological pyre sites, it becomes evident that the crushing and cleaning of incinerated bones was generally unnecessary. Nevertheless, pyre goods were often intentionally shattered and destroyed. Furthermore, it can be concluded that, subject to chronological and regional variations, it was generally customary to bury only parts of the bone material and the pyre goods in actual graves.
My experiments show that cremations on an open fire were not a smoky, foul-smelling and complicated process requiring the presence of skilled specialists. However, the involvement of ritual specialists may have helped stage cremations as complex, multisensory experiences, whose impact may have been intentionally muffled or reinforced to create a specific mood or atmosphere. In fact, it may well have been central to the process itself that mourners be able to observe the transformation of the body from a recognizable human being to a charred torso, and from that, into brittle, white bones.
Finally, I conclude that the products of cremation derive from the interaction of the three conditions necessary for cremations to take place – i.e. time, temperature and oxygen on the one hand, vs. human intervention, the dynamics of the pyre as well as the products and process expected by spectators on the other. Thus, the pyre became an agent, charged both with creating a certain mood and atmosphere during cremation, as well as transforming bodies and pyre goods into products suitable for multi-stage funeral rites. It varies which of these two functions was the more important, depending on the chronological and geographic perspective

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This publication comprises a comprehensive account of the features and artefacts relating to a Ro... more This publication comprises a comprehensive account of the features and artefacts relating to a Roman Iron Age cemetery, excavated between 1988 and 1994 at the village of Brudager, 3.5 km southwest of Gudme in Southeast Funen. With its content of 168 graves, the burial site is one of Funen's largest. Chronologically, it covers the period between early B2 and the transition between C3 and D; in all about 330 years.
The publication is in two volumes: Volume 1 contains sections on the research history, excavation methods, definitions, analyses and perspectives of the cemetery's features and artefacts. Further to these are appendices providing reference material and a bibliography. Volume 2 comprises a catalogue providing descriptions and illustrations of features, structures and artefacts from the Brudager cemetery.
Volume 1 of the publication is divided up into seven main chapters, each of which deals with an overall theme:

Chapter 1 Introduction
sketches the long tradition of research into Iron Age remains from the Gudme area, with particular focus on the importance of N.F.B. Sehested and E. Albrectsen for the investigation, documentation and publication of the burial finds. This chapter defines and delimits the aims and objectives of the publication. It also explains its structure and the analytical methods and the chronology employed.

Chapter 2 Investigation of the cemetery and formation processes
begins with a description of the technical approach adopted in the investigation and documentation of the Brudager cemetery in particular, but also includes critical considerations concerning Iron Age graves in general. There is a special focus on the diversity of the formation processes associated with, respectively, inhumation and cremation graves, and the significance of this for the interpretation of the archaeological record.

Chapter 3 The cemetery and its features
contains a description of the burial site's relationship to the local topography and soils as well as to the contemporary settlement, and these observations are discussed in a regional context. An account is given of the grave forms found at the Brudager cemetery, and these are defined on the basis of an evaluation of the treatment of the corpse remains, pyre material and grave goods – and not the immediate appearance of the graves as has been the usual practice to date. It is demonstrated that, whereas cremation pits and urn cremation pits were the preferred grave form during the first half of the cemetery's period of use, urn graves and inhumation graves dominate during the later part. An account is then given of the presumed grave-related feature- and structure types found at the burial site, for example pottery deposits and cooking pits. Based on the demonstration of presumed post-built cremation-pyre frames there is a discussion of Danish cremation sites (cremation pyres) from the Iron Age and Viking times.

Chapter 4 Burial rituals
contains discussions of the treatment of grave goods in relation to the various grave forms, including the use of primary and secondary grave goods, destructive treatment of artefacts and the very widespread use of pars pro toto deposition. Similarly, the handling of the corpse remains from cremation graves, and their partial deposition, are discussed. There then follows an account of the organisation of, respectively, inhumation and cremation graves, with the demonstration of patterns in the location of grave goods and (corpse) remains. Finally, the practice of depositing grave goods outside grave features at Roman Iron Age burial sites is touched upon.

Chapter 5 The contents of the graves
is the publication's longest chapter, and it comprises a detailed account of – and perspectives on – the artefacts from the graves, including the results of scientific analyses carried out on burnt bone, sheet bronze from Roman cauldrons and pottery and plant macro remains, including wood from the funeral pyres. Selected artefact types, thought to contribute in particular to an illumination of social, ritual and chronological circumstances during the Roman Iron Age, are subjected to specially detailed analysis. These are, specifically, imported artefacts, weapons and various prestige implement types (e.g. scissors, iron combs, so-called razor knives). The reference material employed in the analyses is presented in the appendices at the end of volume 1.

Chapter 6 The structure of the cemetery
and the development from the transition B1/B2 to the end of the Late Roman Iron Age are accounted for cluster by cluster and within an overall perspective. Then the burial intensity (number of burials per year) is examined in a regional context. On the basis of this it is concluded that the Brudager cemetery belongs to a small group of burial sites with cluster structures and containing more than 150 graves from the Roman Iron Age. It is noted, furthermore, that this type of burial site is associated, in particular, with the parts of the Funen Archipelago having concentrations of various status symbols, including Roman imports. Similarly, in a regional perspective, there is a discussion of the dates for the cemetery's establishment and its cessation of use. The establishment date for the Brudager cemetery, and many other Roman Iron Age burial sites on Funen, at the transition between B1 and B2 is explained by a contemporaneous change in settlement structure. The cessation of burials at many of the cemeteries at the end of C3, or at the beginning of the Germanic Iron Age (Migration Period), is explained through changes in the form of graves in the time around AD 400.

Chapter 7 The Brudager burial site put into perspective
begins with an account of the sex and age determinations for a selection of the graves on the basis of osteological investigations and the artefacts, respectively. Subsequently, there is a discussion of the symbolism of the various artefact types in grave contexts throughout the Early Iron Age. It is pointed out that, whereas the graves from the Late Pre-Roman, Early and the first part of the Late Roman Iron Age reflect, in particular, the masculine universe, the graves from the middle and the end of the Late Roman Iron Age are dominated by artefacts from the feminine world. There then follows an analysis of the complexity of the grave goods (NAT analysis) and their quality relative both to the various grave forms and to the chronological development of the cemetery. It is concluded that both the quantity and quality of the grave goods are greatest in graves from the end of the Early Roman Iron Age and the beginning of the Late Roman Iron Age. Furthermore, inhumation graves and urn cremation pits generally contain more complex equipment than cremation pits and, especially, urn graves. On the basis of these observations there is a discussion of the changes in the patterns of social investment and religious manifestation during the Roman and Early Germanic Iron Age (Early Migration Period). This includes particular focus on the fact that the decline in investment in the grave sphere is replaced by the deposition of, especially, precious metals in association with settlements and in marginal areas of the Iron Age cultural landscape. On the basis of the distribution of various prestigious artefact types, in graves and on settlements and in offerings, it is pointed out that a centre-periphery-marginal structure arose in the Funen Archipelago during the second half of the Early Roman Iron Age. This had its basis in the Gudme area, and in the course of the Late Roman Iron Age sub-centres arose at Ringe and Odense. The distribution and composition of the gold deposits show that this centre structure with minor modifications continued in existence throughout the Germanic Iron Age (Migration Period).
Chapter 7 ends with an evaluation of the research potential inherent in the Brudager cemetery, in particular, and Iron Age burial sites on Funen, in general, and the challenges it presents to further study.

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Populær fremstilling af større udgravningsområde med bebyggelsesspor fra yngre bronzealder, ældre... more Populær fremstilling af større udgravningsområde med bebyggelsesspor fra yngre bronzealder, ældre jernalder og vikingetid samt ældre middelalder

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Fornvännen. Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research , 2019

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