Ajvide

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Ajvide

Ajvide ( Swedish Ajvideboplatsen ) is a prehistoric site on the west coast of the Swedish island of Gotland , in the parish Eksta (Swedish socken ). It covers an area of ​​around 200,000 m² and was inhabited from the Late Mesolithic to the Middle Bronze Age.

The main activities on site took place in the Middle Neolithic from 3100 to 2700 BC. Instead of. This phase is assigned to the pit ceramic culture . Around 2900 BC The settlement area suffered from the marine transgression , the rise in water levels in the Baltic Sea.

Since 1983, Stockholm University , and later Gotland University , have carried out archaeological studies of the site. Inger Österholm (1942–2007) and Göran Burenhult (born 1942) carried out investigations in Neolithic Gotland, which included Ajvide.

The most important part of the site is a burial ground that contains around 80 graves. In some cases more than one individual is buried in a grave, while others may have been cenotaphs , (empty graves). Most of the graves date from the post- dimple pottery culture . Adjacent to the burial ground there is an area in the east with a very dark ground, which contains a mixture of artifacts , clay pots and bone fragments. In some texts this area is referred to as a black area , which may have had a ceremonial function. Österholm has suggested that it could have been used to extract seal oil . This could indicate economic activity, but in the case of Ajvide the area may also have had ritual connotations. The "oil field" was bordered by a series of large post holes and the graves were laid in an arch around them. Some graves were impregnated with seal oil. A valuable product like seal oil may well have acquired ritual significance.

A layer of animal bones suggests that the economy in the late Mesolithic addition to the fishing and hunting on cone , ringed and harp seals and porpoises based. Cattle , sheep and pigs were introduced at the beginning of the Neolithic . Seal hunting and fishing expanded in the Middle Neolithic. Cattle and sheep then returned in the late Neolithic and Bronze Ages. It has been argued that the pigs, which were also found on Gotland during the dimpled pottery culture, lived as wild or feral animals during that time. That would imply a change back to life as a hunter-gatherer and not just a greater use of maritime resources. Examination of the broken bones suggests that the bone marrow was extracted.

A woman around 25 to 30 years old was buried in grave 62. The above-average grave goods that were located close to the skeleton include 44 bird bones, which are clearly recognizable as being prepared. Some of the bird bones were of different sizes and were fitted with side perforations. It is believed that this was a special type of wind instrument in which the tones are produced with the lips by sucking in air and which are known under the English name sucked trumpets .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Outram, AK 2006. Distinguishing bone fat exploitation from other taphonomic processes: what caused the high level of bone fragmentation at the Middle Neolithic site of Ajvide, Gotland? In Mulville, Jackie and Outram, AK (Eds.), The Zooarchaeology of Milk and Fats . Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 32-43.
  2. ↑ Oss människor emellan - En resa till Arkeologisk stenålderns Ajvide (. Niklas Wirsen focus arkeologi 3, April 2008) ( Memento of 18 August 2010 at the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Österholm, Sven. 1997. Traceable remains of train-oil on Neolithic seal-hunter sites. In Burenhult, Göran (ed.). Remote sensing . Volume 1. Stockholm: Stockholm University, pp. 163-164
  4. ↑ Rowley-Conwy, Peter, Storå, J. 1997. Pitted Ware seals and pigs from Ajvide, Gotland: methods of study and first results. In Burenhult, Göran (ed.), Remote Sensing Volume 1. Stockholm: Stockholm University, pp. 113-130.
  5. ^ Riitta Rainio, Kristiina Mannermaa: Bird Calls from a Middle Neolithic Burial at Ajvide, Gotland. Interpreting Tubular Bird Bone Artefacts by Means of Use-wear and Sound Analysis, and Ethnographic Analogy . In: Janne Ikäheimo, Anna-Kaisa Salmi, Tiina Äikäs (Eds.): Sounds Like Theory. XII Nordic Theoretical Archeology Group Meeting in Oulu April 25-28, 2012. Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland , 2, 2014, pp. 85-100, here pp. 89-92

Coordinates: 57 ° 16 ′ 54 ″  N , 18 ° 9 ′ 27 ″  E