Hedeby/Slesvig, Danevirke and beyond -the External Perspective Preliminary programme (original) (raw)
2019, 37. Tvaerfaglige Vikingesymposium
For the next 10 years of Hedeby-research a research agenda will be developed within the newly established research cluster “Hedeby/Slesvig, Danevirke and Beyond”, which is structured around three thematic main complexes: I) Production, Distribution and Networks, II) Interaction of Economy and Lordship and III) the Power-Political Framework. The annual Tværfaglige Vikingesymposium takes this year place at the “Wikinger Museum Haithabu” near Schleswig on the 1st of October, which we plan to be special not only due to the recent World Heritage nomination of the “Archaeological Border complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke”. Instead of presenting themselves and their most recent results on Hedeby/Slesvig-research at the Vikingesymposium, the organisers have invited several external specialists to present their personal view on one of the given thematic main complexes in order to test their viability independently by their skilled expert approach. On the Tværfaglige Vikingesymposium each two speakers – based on their personal point of origin in research – are planned to give an individual paper on one and the same thematic complex summarised by two final papers from both an archaeological and a historical point of view.
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DANEVIRKE IS REVISITED, aiming at a more differentiated and comprehensive understanding of the monument. The archaeological evidence is interpreted more or less inde- pendently of the written evidence, as a reflection of the organisational practice of a changing society. This approach harnesses Danevirke’s potential as a material reflection of a long-term development of military and, through this, socio-political organisation. The main questions are what the archaeological record implies for the socio-political background of Danevirke, and the constitutional character of the many different societies and institutions behind each stage of its construction. A further issue is the changing relationship between Danevirke and Hedeby/ Schleswig, and its implications regarding the process of urbanisation. The proposal is that Danevirke involved many different forms of centralised leadership, depending on varying historical situations, different military-strategic challenges and the different resources and diverse objectives of the leading promoters behind its construction. The results therefore help to shed light on a decisive phase in the evolution of S Scandinavian society.
Eight papers presented at the 36th Interdisciplinary Viking Symposium in Odense may 17th 2017. PREFACE / THE FORTIFIED VIKING AGE 36th Interdisciplinary Viking Symposium – 17 May 2017................................................7 Mette Bruus & Jesper Hansen Henne Kirkeby Vest, a fortified settlement on the West coast of Denmark...................8 Lene B. Frandsen Erritsø – A fortified Early Viking Age manor near Lillebælt. New investigations and research perspectives................................................................ 16 Christian Juel & Mads Ravn …nú knáttu Óðin sjá: The Function of Hall-Based, Ritualised Performances of Old Norse Poetry in Pre-Christian Nordic Religion...................................................26 Simon Nygaard Early Viking camps in Scandinavia and abroad..............................................................35 Arjen Heijnis New archaeological investigations at Nonnebakken, a Viking Age fortress in Odense........................................................................................44 Mads Runge The Borgring Project 2016–2018..........................................................................................60 Jonas Christensen, Nanna Holm, Maja K. Schultz, Søren M. Sindbæk & Jens Ulriksen The Danevirke in the light of recent excavations.............................................................69 Astrid Tummuscheit & Frauke Witte Emporia, sceattas and kingship in 8th C. “Denmark”.....................................................75 Morten Søvsø
Papers from The Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schleswig, 2011
This paper briefly discusses various aspects of the Gudhjem area on the Baltic island of Bornholm during the first millennium AD: the landscape, urbanization, administrative subdivisions, roads, ports, rural settlements and cemeteries. The whole area is of great archaeological interest with many 'recognized archaeological sites' and 'cultural heritage areas of national importance'. The paper lays emphasis on the coastal area around Gudhjem, which includes the classical Iron Age and Viking Age cemeteries along the coastal road from Salene Bugt, 0.5 km north of Gudhjem, to Saltuna, 6 km south of Gudhjem. This ancient coastal road from Gudhjem to Svaneke (Sorte Muld) is, figuratively speaking, the 'Via Appia' of Bornholm. The Via Appia is, of course, the most famous road in the Roman Empire, along which countless graves of wealthy families are located. The coastal area near Gudhjem is probably the best preserved ancient burial area in Denmark. The road leads directly to the large Iron Age settlement of Sorte Muld, a trade, production and religious centre near the town of Svaneke, 14 km to the southeast of Gudhjem. The hinterland of Gudhjem is also rich in Iron Age and Viking settlements, and the Christian landscape with its churches, chapels and religious place names is equally special. The Gudhjem area seems to have been important in both prehistoric and historical times-as a centre of administrative and religious power during the Germanic Iron Age, the Viking Age and the medieval period. It was indeed a picturesque and wealthy area-truly 'a home of the gods'. Gudhjem was a very interesting area throughout prehistoric and early historical times. I have called this paper 'The road to Gudhjem-the "Via Appia" of Bornholm' because of the remarkable concentration of ancient monuments, especially cemeteries and opulent burials, aligned like pearls on a string along the ancient coastal road near Gudhjem.
Schleswig, the medieval successor of the well-known Viking Age trading place Hedeby/Haithabu, has recently moved into the focus of new investigations. By using GIS and database programs, well preserved wooden structures from the medieval waterfront have been digitally recorded and analysed in a whole for the first time. They draw an image of a complex and rapidly developing waterfront in the transition from the Viking Age to the High Middle Ages.Within just 30 years, a large part of the shore of the old town peninsula as well as neighbouring shallow waters have been systematically occupied. Starting in the 1070ies with a plot layout and a street infrastructure, the building activities quickly reached out into the Schlei fjord where large dams were erected. While the major initiative behind these actions can be traced back to the Danish kings, most structures have been established individually by different actors who were mainly involved in the long-distance trade.With the construction of plots and dams they created themselves properties and harbour facilities at an advantageous spot for commercial transactions. This rapid development is without precedent in the northern European Middle Ages and not accidentally took place in a period when merchant seafaring becomes more and more a professional business.
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