Lund Archaeological Review is an international peer-reviewed journal of archaeology published annually by the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University.
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University
Copyright (c) 2024 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University
During the medieval period, the agrarian society underwent great changes. One of them were the formalisation of tenant farms and the established system of crofts and crofters at the noble estates. The knowledge of how the crofter lived and organised life during this time is virtually unknown. In this article, three aspects of how to characterise medieval crofts and crofters are examined. The material contexts, the spatial contexts and the social contexts are investigated in order to highlight and increase the knowledge of this social group in society, mostly forgotten in archaeology. The article stresses the fact that essential for studying the crofters are a greater awareness of the remains of their material culture in the landscape, which leads to the question of how to locate the site of the crofters. Other important aspects concern consciousness of their historical setting in a specific local society. The crofter’s life and living environments varied accordingly.
Copyright (c) 2024 Lund Archaeological Review
In the 1980s much effort was made to get an, until then, unknown Viking Age silver hoard into the University Museum of Lund for registration. It was a large hoard consisting of over 900 coins, jewelry and hacksilver. We succeeded to have the hoard on display a few days in 1986.Thereafter the hoard was collected again by the finders and its further destiny was unknown. This was very much to regret as the hoard contains several unique objects, some of them also of exquisite quality. There is filigree work of Scandinavian and West Slavonian origin, a couple of coin bracteates and an arm ring. Most of the objects are fragmented, which indicates that they were means of payment. The coins, German, English, Islamic, Scandinavian, Italian etc. clearly show the wide contact net of Southern-Sweden in the late Viking Age. For long, I thought that the hoard was forever lost for research. However, in spring 2021 the hoard appeared and was put at auction in Stockholm and two numismatic foundations bought the entire hoard, which is now kept at The Royal Coin Cabinet, now Ekonomiska Museet, Stockholm.
Helgö, in the Mälaren area of central Sweden, was a centre of metalworking, specifically casting jewellery from copper alloys, in the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE (See Excavations at Helgö I – XVIII). In the year 536 CE, however, when manufacturing at Helgö was at its height, Classical sources record the occurrence of a devastating climate event which in Scandinavia became known as the ’Fimbul Winter’. Analyses of the raw materials and cast objects at Helgö have shown that the effects of the climate crisis included the disruption of trade routes and the consequent lack of access to high-quality raw materials for casting. Primary copper-alloys (bronze and brass), which were predominant during the Migration Period, were replaced in the Early Vendel Period by secondary alloys made from scrap-metal (known as gunmetal in English). The raw material used for casting in Uppåkra in the Vendel Period also consisted of secondary alloys. This fundamental change could have resulted from the climate-related collapse of trade routes in the middle of the 6th century.
This paper presents an analysis of lead from the original roof of the Cistercian abbey Church of Sorø which burned in 1247, compared to fragments of lead from the coffin of Archbishop Absalon, who was buried in Sorø 1201. His coffin was made of south English lead and the roof by lead from around the cities of Aachen and Cologne in northwestern Germany. This is compared to the rather exclusive evidence of Absalon as a possible buyer of lead on the international market at the end of the 12th century. A survey of extant traces of original roofing material on churches in Scania challenges the general view of lead as the predominantly used roofing material in medieval Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. Further research into the origin, use and distribution of lead is recommended.
The large archaeological project in Motala have included paleoenvironmental studies of macrofossil, pollen and diatoms from radiocarbon dated lake and river sediments as well as from excavated sites. These investigations have revealed evidence of the Yoldia Sea regression, the Ancient Lake Vättern transgression, and the following stepwise river formation process, major natural phenomenon and changes that interacted with key stages of Mesolithic settlement, c. 9000–4000 BC. During the Boreal, the first stage of River Motala Ström was formed, in 7200 BC, and the oldest burial was established at the Mesolithic cemetery at Strandvägen. Around 5800 BC, a second erosional event cut down the river-threshold to modern day level. At this time, the Late Mesolithic settlement in Motala was established, all starting with major ritual events at Kanaljorden and Strandvägen expressed by extensive depositions of artefacts and parts of humans and animals in water. We argue that ritual depositions, in addition to appeasing the spirit world, also may have acted as boundary markers for hunter gatherers in the region, and thereby, as with graves, have become agents in territorial struggles. We also suggest the possibility that the people in Motala believed that the water environment of the newborn river was seen as alive, being sentient with a more-than-human personhood, to whom it was essential to have good relations with.
Bronze casting in Late Bronze Age south Scandinavia was a widespread, varied and often spectacularly performative affair tied to significant rituals. Fragments of casting debris are found in many settlement and burial contexts. In contrast, remains of Pre-Roman Iron Age casting are sparse, despite many excavated settlements. This paper reviews casting debris and their find contexts, with a comparative view on the Late Bronze Age and the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The aim is to identify changes in craft organisation during this transformative period when many classic object types went out of use. Our results, together with previous research on casting technology, demonstrate changes in crucibles, in strategies for melting metal, and in the visibility and setting of casting events. While Late Bronze Age bronze artefact production entertained a variety of social institutions and settings, the Pre-Roman Iron Age bronze working was more concentrated to individual households. The discontinuity highlights the profound social changes of the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
The hitherto largely unnoticed tool type, core point chisels, is presented in the paper. The tools are reminiscent of core axes, but are pointed at one end and flat at the other. Based on the presence of small crush marks on each end and along the edges of the long-sides, it is suggested that the tools were used for preparation of rock. Several possible objects for which the core point chisels may have been used are suggested, while the chisels’ use for preparation and reoccurring pecking of quern stones is emphasised. The tool type is dated to the late Middle Neolithic B, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age based on find contexts.