Protecting Hedeby – Reconstructing a Viking Age maritime defense system based on visual communication. In: R. Annaert (ed.), Early medieval waterscapes. Risks and opportunities for (im)material cultural exchange. Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung 6 (Wendeburg 2019), 101–114. (original) (raw)
Related papers
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.
A Study of the Evidence for the Viking Age Harbour at Ribe, Denmark
Ribe is famed as the earliest Viking Age town and North Sea port within the borders of modern Denmark, however, the landing place for ships has never been located. This is partly due to the inaccessibility to the archaeological record, caused by the placement of the modern town squarely overtop of its predecessors, but more so to the ancient surrounding river- and landscape never having been investigated with a view towards potential landing places. This represents a significant hole in the present understanding of Ribe’s Viking Age occupation. As a site predicated on trade, and particularly on international overseas trade, the landing place and associated market can be viewed as the central point for Viking Ribe’s spatial settlement and may form the basis for its maritime cultural landscape, the physical and cognitive elements that define the town’s orientation to the sea. This paper aims to fill this gap by analysing a broad variety of data in order to contribute to a more complete understanding of this Viking Age maritime site. Through analogical study and landscape reconstruction, the form of the landing place(s) and two potential locations are identified.
Landscapes of Defence in Early Medieval Europe, 2013
The VIking Age proves complex when viewed from a military historical perspective. There is inconsistency in the correlation between home and abroad and between literary sources and archaeological remains. The break in continuity from fortification traditions of earlier periods represents a change in the societal structure where individuals become landowners, and there is both the will and the strength to dominate territories. This essay focuses on the continuity and discontinuity of fortifications in Eastern Scandinavia in an attempt to understand the paradox of the Viking Age landscape of defence.
The Flensburg inlet in the Viking Age – a neglected maritime cultural landscape
Th. Lemm/S. Kalmring, The Flensburg inlet in the Viking Age – a neglected maritime cultural landscape. In: B. V. Eriksen/A. Abegg-Wigg/R. Bleile/U. Ickerodt (Hrsg.), Interaktion ohne Grenzen. Beispiele archäologischer Forschungen am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts. Interaction without borders. Exemplary archaeological research at the beginning of the 21st century (Schleswig 2017) 631–647.
Analysed by GIS: the topography of the Schleswig waterfront in the late 11th century
Arkæologi i Slesvig/Archäologie in Schleswig , 2016
Schleswig, the mediaeval successor of Viking-age Hedeby, has recently moved into the focus of new investigations. One aspect is the analysis of a number of old excavations, whose features have always been connected to the port of Schleswig. Due to very good preservation conditions for organic material those excavations uncovered large numbers of wooden structures which have been well documented. Using GIS and database programs, during the past four years these structures were systematically recorded digitally and analysed in a whole for the first time. They draw an image of a complex and rapidly developing waterfront in the transition from Late Viking Age to the High Middle Ages. Within a time span of just 25 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 1070s with a plot layout and a connecting road infrastructure, the building activities quickly reached out into the Schlei fjord where large dams were erected in alignment to the plots. While the major initiative behind these actions must be traced back to a high-ranked authority, most structures have been established individually by different actors. Furthermore several specific artefact types proof the involvement of those people in the long-distance trade. Through the construction of plots and dams, properties on an advantageous spot for commercial transactions were created. The structures provided easy and secure access to the cargo vessels in the Schlei, as well as room for housing and the hosting of guests. Location and multiple functions are to be understood as the main reason for the occupation of the Schleswig waterfront, whose outstanding rapid development does not take place by chance in a period of increasing professional merchant seafaring.
Posluschny, Axel, Karsten Lambers and Irmela Herzog (eds.), 2008. Layers of Perception. Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Berlin, Germany, 2008