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Fishing with Stationary Wooden Structures in Stone Age Denmark: New Evidence from Syltholm Fjord, Southern Lolland
No full textAn abundance and diverse range of prehistoric fishing practices was revealed during excavations between 2012 and 2022 at the construction site of the Femern Belt Tunnel, linking the islands of Lolland (Denmark) and Femern (Germany). The waterlogged parts of the prehistoric Syltholm Fjord yielded well preserved organic materials, including the remains of wooden fish traps and weirs, and numerous vertical stakes and posts driven into the former seabed – evidence of long term fishing practices using stationary wooden structures from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (c. 4700–900 cal BC). Here, we present the results of a detailed study on these stationary wooden fishing structures, making this the most comprehensive and detailed description of prehistoric passive fishing practices in Syltholm Fjord to date. The exceptional scale of the excavated area (57 ha) and abundance of organic materials encountered during excavations provides us with a rare opportunity to identify individual weir systems and information on their construction, maintenance, and use. To contextualise further, we provide an up-to-date compilation of comparable finds in the Danish archaeological record, including a dataset of directly dated specimens, based on both published and unpublished sources. Our results show that stationary wooden fishing structures are an invaluable archaeological resource, and their study, combining landscape reconstruction, ethnographic analogy, and fishing technology, together with artefactual evidence and radiocarbon dating, allows us to reconstruct prehistoric fishing strategies in depth. Due to the long chronology and diversity of the study materials, our results complement previous research on the many nuances and regional specificities of the persistence of fishing practices in the western Baltic Sea over time, despite introductions of new cultures, populations, and livelihoods. Finally, we emphasise that the Neolithisation process in Northern Europe was not as straightforward and uniform in terms of subsistence as commonly assumed
Re-thinking a Sacred Space:The evolution of burial practices as seen from a Bronze Age tumulus from Karlstrup, Denmark
No full textIn this paper, we use a cultural evolution framework and methods to explore how continuity and change can be observed in a relatively small, enclosed space – a single prehistoric burial mound, from Karlstrup, Denmark, with a long and complex history of re-use.This burial mound was extensively used and re-used across the Late Neolithic ‘Dagger Period’ and Early Nordic Bronze Age. Although archaeologists have long acknowledged the burial traditions of these two periods as quite distinct from each other, there is still much to be explored regarding what – if any – cultural evolutionary relationships there may be between societies across these periods (i.e., whether Nordic Bronze Age uses of sacred spaces, such as burial grounds, can be shown to have evolved from pre-existing Neolithic uses). By mapping a series of 41 cultural traits across the many funerary entities within burial Mound 4 at Karlstrup, we trace the degree of change, continuity, and coherence (i.e. cultural evolution) between Late Neolithic and Early Nordic Bronze Age burial traditions across time. We then relate these fi ndings back to contemporaneous changes in notions of identity and social status in later European prehistory. By examining the evolution of the use biography of this mound, we relate changes in the sacred landscape with the changing social and economic circumstances of the deceased individuals buried in the mound, as well as the living individu-als and communities that constructed them during a transitionary period of prehistory in flux
Warrior institutions and martial networks in Viking-Age Scandinavia
No full textThe figure of the warrior occupies a key position in both scholarly and popular representations of the Viking Age. Despite this, many aspects of martial culture and lifeways during the period remain obscure. In order to address this issue, this article offers an exploration of the identities, roles, and social position of warrior groups in Viking-Age Scandinavia. We adopt a recently developed institutional approach for the study of the archaeological record, which allows us to target and analyse a number of key properties that shed light on the objectives, activities, and ideologies of these groups. In doing so, we mobilise and combine a range of evidence types, deriving from both archaeological and textual sources, which collectively have the potential to provide a more holistic understanding of warrior institutions and their place within the wider social formations that constituted prehistoric society. Our analysis reveals the complex networks of obligation and dependency that not only bound these institutions together, but which also influenced and shaped the ways in which they interacted with their communities.The figure of the warrior occupies a key position in both scholarly and popular representations of the Viking Age. Despite this, many aspects of martial culture and lifeways during the period remain obscure. In order to address this issue, this article offers an exploration of the identities, roles, and social position of warrior groups in Viking-Age Scandinavia. We adopt a recently developed institutional approach for the study of the archaeological record, which allows us to target and analyse a number of key properties that shed light on the objectives, activities, and ideologies of these groups. In doing so, we mobilise and combine a range of evidence types, deriving from both archaeological and textual sources, which collectively have the potential to provide a more holistic understanding of warrior institutions and their place within the wider social formations that constituted prehistoric society. Our analysis reveals the complex networks of obligation and dependency that not only bound these institutions together, but which also influenced and shaped the ways in which they interacted with their communities
Measuring Trust:Identifying attitudes towards money in the Eleventh Centurya
No full textA relatively swift transition from a silver bullion economy to a coin-based monetary market- exchange system in Norway in the eleventh century CE coincided with both the new emergence of a sustained state-scale society and a widely accepted conversion to Christianity in the twilight of the Viking Age. However, what is less well-understood are the ideological dynamics of the transition itself. In this paper we propose that there was an empirically visible stage during the eleventh century during which traders slowly came to accept the legitimacy of coinage, and by association many aspects of a larger imagined community, far beyond the close-at-hand authority of local chiefdoms and in support of a wholly new, continental-style monarchy. We present as a case study the clear material evidence for a gradually growing trust and confidence in new coinage issued under the expanding authority of the king by way of an identifiable reduction in the practice of pecking coins, as in testing its precious metal quality, indicating increased trust in the authority of the issuer, Harald Hardrada. We propose that this entailed a process of symbolic entrainment, with the coins being seen ultimately as valuable in their own right, apart from value based solely on their precious metal content alone
Hverdagsliv og hverdagstro:Et kulturhistorisk studie af den danske præindustrielle landalmues hverdagspraksisser og hverdagsmæssige trosforestillinger eksemplificeret i en undersøgelse af pløjning og smørkærning
Get PDFUnder titlen ”Hverdagsliv og hverdagstro” går afhandlingen i dybden med den danske præindustrielle landalmues hverdagsmæssige praksisser og trosforestillinger, for at undersøge diverse praksissers form og betydning i hverdagen, men især med henblik på at studere om og hvordan diverse trosforestillinger kom til udtryk i, og hvilken betydning de havde for, de gængse hverdagspraksisser. Helt specifikt tager denne undersøgelse udgangspunkt i pløjningen og smørkærningen, og de praksisser og forestillinger der har omgærdet disse. Undersøgelsen befinder sig imellem felter, og er et forsøg på at opstille et gunstigt samarbejde mellem folkloristikken og historiefaget ved at fokusere på den praktiserede del af et klassisk folkloristisk felt. Undersøgelsen arbejder således ikke med én entydig og sammentømret teori, men tager teoretisk set afsæt i praksisteorien, mikrohistorien og erfaringshistorien, mens det kildemæssige grundlag fortrinsvist beror på udgivne folkeminder, topografiske værker og Nationalmuseets Etnologiske Undersøgelser. Grundlæggende skal der i undersøgelsen underforstås en kulturforståelse, hvor menneskers handlen struktureres af en bagvedliggende kultur, men i sin udførelse omstruktureres eller forandres denne kultur på sin vis også. Man kan derfor se folks praksisser som en udmøntning af, og dermed en form for indikator på, en given kultur. Ved at se nærmere på folks praksisser, kan man således ane denne kultur. I afhandlingen klarlægges det, hvordan smørkærning og pløjning hver især udgør et praksisfællesskab. Disse indeholder og bygger således på blandt andet oplæring, fælles regler og viden, social anseelse og altså generelt en grundlæggende delt forståelse af den overordnede, primære praksis og meningen med denne. Disse praksisfællesskaber indeholder dog også en omfattende forestillingsdimension. I behandlingen af smørkærningen og pløjningen bliver det tydeligt, at der er en hel del sekundære praksisser og trosforestillinger tilknyttet de to primære praksisser. Når man sammenstiller disse forestillinger og praksisser – både indenfor samme primære praksis, men også på tværs af de to – overlapper de på en række punkter, og der tegner sig et billede af en række overordnede praksisser, forestillinger eller principper, og man kan således ane en bagvedliggende kultur. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at hverdagen er udgjort af en (måske uendelig) lang række af disse praksisfællesskaber og overordnede principper, der overlapper på kryds og tværs. Med mikrohistoriens tanke, om det partikulære som en del af helheden, ville det således give mening, hvis dette også var tilfældet for en lang række andre hverdagspraksisser og trosforestillinger. I forhold til afhandlingens grundlæggende spørgsmål om hvilken betydning disse praksisser og forestillinger havde for hverdagen, kan det således konkluderende siges, at de ikke blot havde mening for hverdagen, de var hverdagen
Mumiernes tatoveringer er en nøgle til at forstå inuitkvindernes liv
No full textEn del af serien: Grønlandsk kvindekamp, skrevet af museumsinspektør Ivalo K.B.F. Olsvig fra Nationalmuseet og journalist fra Dagbladet Information Lærke Cramon. I 1970’erne fandt jægere seks mumificerede inuitkvinder i en snedækket grav. På deres hud gemte sig en historie om ritualer, overlevelse og kvindernes bånd til åndernes verden
Naja Lyberth følte, at Danmark koloniserede hendes livmoder
No full textEn del af serien: Grønlandsk kvindekamp, skrevet af museumsinspektør Ivalo K.B.F. Olsvig fra Nationalmuseet og journalist fra Dagbladet Information Lærke Cramon. Man kan fortælle den lyse historie om moderniseringen af Grønland, men man kan også fortælle den mørke – og her er Grønlands kvinder ofre for en uhyggelig kampagne
19-årige Maya-Natuk taler til verdens ledere
No full textEn del af serien: Grønlandsk kvindekamp, skrevet af museumsinspektør Ivalo K.B.F. Olsvig fra Nationalmuseet og journalist fra Dagbladet Information Lærke Cramon. Hun har allerede talt i FN og ved flere klimatopmøder. Maya-Natuk Rohmann Fleischer kæmper for klimaet og for Grønlands børn – og hun stopper ikke foreløbigt