Roman Iron Age in Scandinavia Research Papers (original) (raw)

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.