Small Freestanding Buildings with Two Trestles in the Vicinity of Uppåkra

Halls or Outhouses?

Abstract

The central place of Uppåkra, in southern Sweden, is the largest, artefact-richest and longest-lasting Iron Age settlement in the country. The functions and the importance of the central place surely differed during the Iron Age, but there is no doubt that it was a centre of power and a residence of the highest in the societal hierarchy. At the centre of the central place was a freestanding hall, sometimes referred to as a ceremonial building. One feature of the Uppåkra hall that makes it stand out from other contemporary halls is that it has just two trestles. Other features of the hall are the big and deep postholes for the roof support, the curved walls and its small size. The hall was constantly rebuilt and used from the third century AD to the early tenth century.

I propose that some of the small houses with two trestles for inner roof support on bigger farms in south-west Scania, especially from the Roman Iron Age, may be interpreted as halls. The hall at Uppåkra was the unattainable model that every hall owner of the nearby elite, allied with the paramount chief, tried to copy. How successful they were depended upon their wealth. The meaning of the hall/ceremonial building at the central place was thus translated to a more local context.

Furthermore, it is suggested that by trying to find copies of the Uppåkra hall in the surrounding landscape one can get an idea of how far the political, cultural and religious influence of the Uppåkra chief extended in the region. It can thus give us an idea of the political landscape during different periods of the Iron Age. To build a hall of Uppåkra type hence signals identity and affiliation.