Weapon graves in Iron Age Norway (1-550 AD)

Die Bewaffnung der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarn in den letzten Jahrhunderten vor Christi Geburt , 2002

The paper revises the chronology of the weapon burials in Scandinavia in the light of the new Pre-Roman Iron Age chronology of Jutland suggested by the author in 1995 (see Praehistorische Zeitschrift vol. 71.2, 1996, pp. 217-243). This enables the author to split up the material into three chronological "waves" with different diagnostic types spreading from different centres. The meaning of the weapon burial rite is discussed and it is demonstrated that there is no direct link between weapons and other wealth indicating goods in the graves, neither between the equipment and the possible role the person played in actual warfare. The choice of equipment in the grave is a strictly ideological expression.

The excavation of the Illerup ’A’ war-booty offering and the subsequent publication of the finds, have yielded new insights into Late Roman military organisation. But only few studies have so far tried to utilise these insights to (re-)study other types of source material that can cast new light upon how Late Roman period armies were organised and recruited. The present paper has dealt with weapon graves from SE Norway. Altogether, some 150 grave fi nds and stray finds with weapons that can be dated to C1-C3 are known from this rather extensive area. Taken as a whole, graves with one weapon type comprise 41 % of the total number of graves. Graves with two weapon types comprise 27 %, and graves with three comprise 32 %. Thus, it seems that graves with a ’full’ set of weapons is over- represented in SE Norway vis-à-vis Denmark. 12 % of the weapon graves can be attributed to Ilkjær’s level 2, against 88 % in level 3. For Illerup the comparable ratios would be 9 % and 89 %, respectively. Thus, there is a great degree of correspondence between the SE Norwegian weapon graves and the Illerup find. In SE Norway, graves associated with level 2 consist of two combinations: a full weapon set either 1) with or 2) without spur(s). Level 3 has three combinations: 1) a singular lance or javelin (and sometimes including a shield), 2) sword, lance, and javelin (and sometimes including a shield), and 3) lance and javelin (and sometimes including a shield). Only one aspect of the SE Norwegian material associated with level 3 seems to diverge from the Illerup pattern, namely the dominance of finds with only one weapon type, either a lance or a javelin. Most of the weapon graves in the present study are from the ’Opplandene’ area, i.e. from the districts centred at the great lakes of Eastern Norway, Randsfjorden, Tyrifjorden, and Mjøsa. The dominance of weapon graves in this region has been dicussed within Norwegian archaeology since the 1920s, with researchers at times arguing for a military interpretion, and at times for a social or economic one. In the ’Opplandene’, there is a tendency for graves with swords, either belonging to level 2 or level 3, to form large, marked clusters. There is one such cluster in each of the old ’folkland’ Ringerike, Hadeland, and Toten. Graves with lance and/or javelin (and sometimes shield) as the only weapon(s) also occur in more peripheral areas, and thus have a much more widespread distribution than the sword graves. In the Illerup fi nd, swords are associated with the upper and middle level of the military hierarchy, as well as with a minority within the lower level. In Late Roman burials in ’Opplandene’ the numerical distribution of weapon types is similar to the one from Illerup. But topographically speaking there seem to be clear differences between weapon graves with or without swords, as graves with swords are found first and foremost in clusters which also contain level 2 graves, i.e. graves associated with the middle level of the Illerup hierarchy. There is only one kind of militaryorganisation which seem to fit this pattern: aristocratic retinues. The distribution of weapon graves in the ’Opplandene’ is a topographical expression of the difference between the sword-possessing aristocracy and their followers on the one hand, and ’ordinary’ warriors on the other. The members of the retinue were based on the chieftain’s hall. The reason for the clustering of weapon graves in smaller districts, i.e. not solely on the farm containing the chieftain’s hall, could be that the comites were granted farms that were part of the chieftain’s estate for their maintenance. The spear and/or javelin carrying foot-soldiers were probably recruited from the large and diverse group of free men, including independent farmers, loyal to the chief. Big Late Roman armies like the one defeated at Illerup were probably made up of several chieftains’ retinues, with each level 1 warrior commanding a retinue including both level 2 and level 3 men. 10 to 12 clusters of the same kind as the 3 to 5 found in the ’Opplandene’ would be enough to gather an army of a thousand men. It cannot be a coincidence that there is one cluster of weapon graves with swords in each of the old landscapes of Ringerike, Hadeland, Hedemarken and Toten, i.e. all of the central districts in the ’Opplandene’. One can hardly avoid the conclusion that these ’folklands’ were in existence already by the 3rd century AD, at least as distinct social and military hierarchies.

While recent year’s research has concentrated on the Roman military equipment from the south Scandinavian weapon deposits, the material from other contexts has been more or less neglected. Focusing on the grave finds, a number of intriguing aspects emerge as both similarities and differences between the material of the different find groups can be identified. The differences include for instance the time of deposition as the grave finds contain Roman weapons from the early 1st century AD while most of the Roman material from the weapon deposits belong to the 3rd century AD. Apart from the Roman material itself, the grave finds also comprise imitations of e.g. Roman gladii and evidence of reuse and transformation of Roman produced militaria. This paper concentrates on the Roman material from the two first centuries AD in Danish grave finds and focus on the interaction between Roman and Germanic weapon trends and fashions and their impact on the military equipment itself.

Facets of Archeology. Essays in Honour of Lotte Hedeager on her 60th Birthday. OAS , 2008

On the re-introduction of weapon-furnished graves in Norway during the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The very slender material found so far is revised, and it is concluded that the weapon grave rite was even introduced in Norway during the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age. At the same time it is argued that weapon furnished graves were not the only kind of graves with signs of superior power at the time.

Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2022

During two campaigns in 1997 and 1999, archaeologists from Esbjerg Museum excavated a spectacular Late Roman Iron Age weapon burial at Veldbaek in Esbjerg, Denmark. In addition to full weaponry, the deceased was buried with magnificent grave goods such as gilded fittings for a military belt, gaming pieces, a gold finger ring, a silver animal fibula, a red carnelian intaglio, and a copper-alloy-clad wooden bucket. The assemblage dates the grave to the transition between periods C1b and C2 of the Late Roman Iron Age, which is to say ca. AD 250 or shortly thereafter. The grave is a crucial new piece in the puzzle to understand how power was distributed in southern Jutland during the Late Roman Iron Age.

2014

Since the early days of archaeology, Viking-Age burials and burial customs have attracted much attention. Evocative tales of warriors and their deeds preserved in Old Norse poetry and sagas, and recorded in the historical chronicles of church and court scribes formed the background for the interpretation of some of the most prominent finds, the burials with weapons and horse furnishings. To antiquarians and archaeologists of the nineteenth century, it was almost self-evident that a life so closely tied to warfare and violent expansion abroad would also find expression in the burials of the time, and many of the early discoveries appeared to confirm the view of the Nordic warrior who was expected to arrive with full fighting gear in Valhalla to continue his life amongst the brave warriors of Odin. Since then, the archaeological evidence has increased considerably, providing a far more extensive basis for the study of Viking-Age burial practices today than a century ago. Typological and chronological analyses of individual objects and burials demonstrate the diversity of the weapon burial practice of especially the 10th century. In a period of significant political and religious transition in southern Scandinavia elaborately furnished equestrian burials and weapon burials were one of the means of to demonstrate the position and the political and religious preferences of the Viking elite. The study is divided into two parts: Vol. 1 Text, including bibliography and site index, and Vol. 2 Catalogue with 24 maps and 70 artefact plates.

2007

Danish Journal of Archaeology, 2022

During two campaigns in 1997 and 1999, archaeologists from Esbjerg Museum excavated a spectacular Late Roman Iron Age weapon burial at Veldbaek in Esbjerg, Denmark. In addition to full weaponry, the deceased was buried with magnificent grave goods such as gilded fittings for a military belt, gaming pieces, a gold finger ring, a silver animal fibula, a red carnelian intaglio, and a copper-alloy-clad wooden bucket. The assemblage dates the grave to the transition between periods C1b and C2 of the Late Roman Iron Age, which is to say ca. AD 250 or shortly thereafter. The grave is a crucial new piece in the puzzle to understand how power was distributed in southern Jutland during the Late Roman Iron Age.

Danish journal of archaeology, 2022

During two campaigns in 1997 and 1999, archaeologists from Esbjerg Museum excavated a spectacular Late Roman Iron Age weapon burial at Veldbaek in Esbjerg, Denmark. In addition to full weaponry, the deceased was buried with magnificent grave goods such as gilded fittings for a military belt, gaming pieces, a gold finger ring, a silver animal fibula, a red carnelian intaglio, and a copper-alloy-clad wooden bucket. The assemblage dates the grave to the transition between periods C1b and C2 of the Late Roman Iron Age, which is to say ca. AD 250 or shortly thereafter. The grave is a crucial new piece in the puzzle to understand how power was distributed in southern Jutland during the Late Roman Iron Age.

A. Abegg-Wigg/N. Lau (Hrsg.), Kammergräber im Barbaricum. Zu Einflüssen und Übergangsphänomenen von der vorrömischen Eisenzeit bis in die Völkerwanderungszeit. Schriften des Archäologischen Landesmuseums Ergänzungsreihe Band 9, pp 191-206., 2014

While the Norwegian material has rarely been taken into consideration when discussing chamber graves from the Roman and Migration periods in a European context, there are indeed a great number of ‘oversized’ graves in Norway which should be very relevant to the chamber grave discussion. Among the 152 graves included in the present study, are both timbered chamber graves of types known from both South Scandinavia and the Germanic areas further south, but also some types that are particular to Norway. The latter includes the so-called hellekister; long, but relatively narrow stone cists, some of which are 7m long. It seems reasonable to regard the larger hellekister as a type of chamber grave, and any definition of what constitutes a chamber grave that starts off with excluding constructions made purely from stone, should be amended. Interestingly, some of the hellekister seems to be ‘hybrids’ incorporating elements of chamber graves of South Scandinavian type, first and foremost by having an inner timber construction. As is the case with the ‘normal’ chamber graves, the big hellekister are much more richly furnished than the average inhumation graves in the country. This points to the ‘oversized’ graves, whether they are made from stone or wood, or both, as being part of elite burial traditions in Roman and Migration period Norway.