Iron Age Hall

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Borg with a reconstructed hall as a Viking museum

The discovery of the Iron Age halls in Gudme, Denmark (from the 3rd century) and in Borg in northern Norway (from the 5th or 6th century) marked a turning point in Northern European Iron Age research . While there were 12 indoor and central courts in Denmark in 1993, there were already 40 in 2003 when the Viking settlement of Füsing was discovered.

In the last few decades in Northern Europe , in the course of the archeology of the central square , especially in places that are characterized by rich precious metal finds, further halls and in Norway also collections of Nausts have been discovered. Some of these so-called “wealth centers” have buildings that stand out in every respect from their surroundings. Because of the architectural features and the range of finds, they have been referred to as halls by northern European research since the 1990s. The halls, which were documented for the first time in the 3rd century AD, served neither as residential nor as storage or stable buildings. Their architecture is more continental with thatPfalzen been compared. However, there is no comprehensive analysis of the halls excavated in Northern Europe and the Old Norse written tradition. A list of the central place indicators can be found at Fabech (Fabech 1997, Fig. 3) and Helgeson (Helgeson 1998 Tab. I and II). The research situation is unsatisfactory, since important halls examined have so far been unpublished or have only been presented in short articles. It also remains unclear whether the places got rich because they traded or because they were spiritual centers.

Location of Gudme - in the south-east of Funen

In the literature, individual large buildings from the Danish Bronze Age (up to 50 × 10 m, with a subdivision into living, stable and central parts) are referred to as halls. However, there is no evidence that, like the Iron Age halls, they are places for gatherings or cults.

State of the discoveries

In the meantime, other halls have been discovered (e.g. Tissø and Erritsø in Denmark, Forsand and Huseby in Norway, and Alt-Uppsala , Hagebyhöga , Slöinge and Uppåkra in Sweden). Research therefore turned to historical princely residences, such as Alt-Uppsala in Sweden or Borre in Norway, in the hope of being able to identify halls there, which was also possible in Borre . In Denmark, 40 Iron Age centers of wealth have been located on the basis of precious metal finds, but only a few halls have been discovered. Initially thought to be royal seats, the centers, with a catchment area of ​​around 40 km in diameter, are more like chiefs' seats, which, however, from the end of the 6th century, prepare the traditional mythical kings of Denmark and Sweden (in the Vendel period ).

Names

A special hall is the "Gudme Kongehal / Königshalle". Its importance is not only clear from the countless precious metal finds in the 47 m long building, but also from the link with cultic place names, which are rare in Scandinavia in this density . The place name Gudme means "home of the gods". The name can also be found in other places in the north, such as Gudhjem on Bornholm and Gudhem in Sweden. Gudme is surrounded by hills called Albjerg (= "Mountain of the Sanctuary"), Gjaldberg (= "Mountain of Sacrifice") and Gudbjerg (= "Mountain of the Gods"). Another special place name is Tissø, (= "lake of the god Tyr"). The building in Borg in northern Norway (the name "castle" was originally intended to be of a cultic nature) is also exceptional. So far only one hall has been discovered here, which is located in a much larger house (64 m long); the reason for the construction can be climatic. In the 7th century an 80 m long building was erected on the same site - this dimension is unmatched anywhere else. Place name researchers have noted that references to halls have also been passed down in court names, as in the case of Uppsala.

definition

The Swede Frands Herschend set up a definition of such halls in 1999:

  1. The hall is part of a courtyard complex.
  2. It consists of one room with a minimum of internal pillars.
  3. It has a special location within the courtyard complex.
  4. The fireplace was not used every day (cooking, handicrafts).
  5. The finds in the hall have a different character than finds outside the building or in the other buildings.

Construction method and finds

The Iron Age halls are characterized by their particular size. Lengths of 50 m are not uncommon. Roof-bearing posts with a diameter of up to 100 cm suggest a large building height. In the Norwegian town of Borg, the internal height in the reconstruction is about eight meters. Reconstructions based on the distribution of the finds give the impression of a high seat on which the hall owner presumably sat during celebrations. It is noticeable that the valuable finds were located in the area of ​​the roof-bearing posts, where they were either deposited in the ground or attached to the post. Weapon offerings (in Dankirke and Tissø) or weapon offerings next to the hall (Uppåkra) are also occupied. At the same time, the proximity of the halls to particularly large burial mounds (in Borre and Alt-Uppsala) and early churches (Alt-Uppsala and Uppåkra) is striking. In the hall you can often find broken glass as the remains of stately feasts (Dankirke, Helgö and Gammel Lejre) as well as small embossed gold plates, so-called guldgubbers (Borg, Gudme, Muld, Tissø and Uppåkra). In addition to the metal finds in the vicinity of the halls, there were many remains of slag or casting crucibles as traces of blacksmithing (Gudme, Helgö, Slöinge and Tissø). In some cases, a fenced area with many animal bones (Tissø) or a smaller building (Uppåkra and Järrestad) was found next to the hall. The recovered animal bones and amulet finds indicate cult.

Location

The Iron Age hall is always located at or on a topographically conspicuous place in the settlement. For example, it is located on natural (Borg, Erritsø and Slöinge) or raised plateaus (Alt-Uppsala). In Borg the natural plateau, which had sufficed for the smaller hall of the 5th century, had to be extended in order to be able to erect a larger building in the 7th century. The geographical distribution extends in Scandinavia, mostly near the coast, from Northern Norway (Borg / Lofoten ) via Denmark (Gudme, Erritsø, Tissø) to Sweden. But Iron Age halls are not a purely Scandinavian phenomenon. Possible halls were discovered in England, Cheddar , Yeavering, the Netherlands (Wijster) and northern Germany ( Feddersen Wierde ).

Time position

The halls built in Scandinavia from wood can be proven from the 3rd century to the end of the Viking Age (1050 AD), after which they were replaced by stone buildings. The halls were apparently in use much longer than other buildings. If the latter can be assumed to have a useful life of around one generation (30 years), the Iron Age halls (Järrestad and Gammel Lejre) remained in use for up to 200 years. The younger building in Borg, built in the 7th century, lasted until the second half of the 10th century. Also striking is the loyalty to the location, which was not given up if the hall had to be torn down or went up in flames. When building the new halls in Borg, Gammel Lejre and Uppåkra, the post holes from the previous building were used.

Formerly known as Hof; but more likely a hall in "Feddersen Wierde" - here in the reconstruction model

In recent times the classification as “hall” has often been based on a finding whose final evaluation is still pending. Not every large wooden house was a hall in the sense of the hall in Gudme. Some halls (e.g. the one in Gammel Lejre) lack evidence of outstanding finds, although medieval sources name the place as the seat of the ruler.

The term “hall” is used differently. Scandinavian and English research uses the term, while in Germany the function of the building is referred to as “mansion”. The term “hall” (as a translation of Latin aula ) is also used, whereas other buildings (e.g. in Feddersen Wierde and Runder Berg near Bad Urach) are sometimes referred to as a hall.

In addition to distribution, construction, dating and the range of finds, an interdisciplinary consideration is important for the interpretation of the building type, which leads to a functional assignment and interpretation. In addition to place names and historical documents, medieval written sources should also be consulted, which may be more recent than the archaeological findings, but retrospectively refer to past epochs and mention halls with remarkable frequency. On the basis of this written tradition, the excavated buildings were actually interpreted as halls.

Hall fire

In old Nordic texts, the hall is designated as the residence of kings. In the King's Hall there was partying, advice and fighting, and it was not uncommon for entire families to come true in one hall. Politics, alliances, law and fate meet in the hall in terms of motifs and this encounter often escalated into an inferno, the “hall fire”.

Heroes' songs testify that the total destruction of an enemy, the extinction of his gender, goes hand in hand with the burning of his celebration hall (e.g. Atlakviða). The protagonists therefore often set fire to halls in order to assert claims to power and to represent the impotence of the opponent (e.g. Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks).

In Eddic poetry, great families end when their halls are set on fire. Budlungen and Gjukungen, families of the Nibelungen saga , were burned in a hall, as were some Danish and Swedish legend kings . In the 6th century, the mythical Hrólfr Kraki ruled and burned in a hall in Gammel Lejre and King Adils (or Edgilds) in a hall in Old Uppsala. Archaeological investigations revealed remains of halls at both locations. There is evidence that a hall in Gamla Uppsala was destroyed by fire in the 9th century.

Although this is a remarkable correspondence between archaeological findings and more recent written sources, it does not match the names in terms of time. The mention of the halls in written sources and the hall fire that is often mentioned are indications that the hall must have been an extraordinary building. In Högom, Sweden, a kind of burial mound was built over a burnt hall from the 5th century. This clearly indicates that the hall was not a “profane or normal building”. The custom of burying buildings that were evidently temples under hills dates back to the 14th century BC. Recorded in the burial mound of Trappendal .

literature

  • Lydia Carstens: Burned and Buried - New Research on Iron Age Halls in Northern Europe. In: Archaeological News from Schleswig-Holstein. 2011, pp. 10-14.
  • Anne-Christine Larsen: Convention halls from Lejre et reconstruction project. International workshop 25. – 27. November 1993 på Historisk-Arkæologisk Forsøgscenter, Lejre, on reconstructions of viking halls from Gl. Lejre og et vikingetidsmiljø
  • Stefan Brink: Political and social structures in early Scandinavia. A settlement-historical pre-study of the central place. In: Gate. Issue 28, 1996, pp. 235-281.
  • Walter Christaller: The central places in southern Germany: An economic-geographical study on the regularity of the distribution and development of settlements with urban functions. Jena 1933.
  • Charlotte Fabech: Slöinge i perspective. In: Johan Callmer, Erik Rosengren (Eds.): "... Gick Grendel att söka det Höga huset ..." Arkeologiska källor til aristokratiska miljöer i Scandinavia under yngre järnålder. (Falkenberg seminar 1995). Halmstad 1997, pp. 145-160.
  • Frands Herschend: The Origin of the Hall in Southern Scandinavia. In: Gate. Issue 25, 1993, pp. 175-199.
  • Harald Egenæs Lund: Håløygske høvdingeseter and do-anlegg fra eldre and yngre jernalder: Resyme of hovedresultaterne 1949-1958 . Svorkmo historielag 1959
  • Preben Meulengracht Sørensen: The Hall in Norse Literature. In: G. Stamsø Munch, Olav Sverre Johansen, Else Roesdahl (eds.): Borg in Lofoten. A chieftain's farm in North Norway (= Arkeologisk script series. 1). Trondheim 2003, pp. 265-272.
  • Heiko Steuer: Central locations. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde². Volume 35, Berlin / New York 2007, pp. 878-914.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ It had three aisles with two rows of roof-bearing stilts and was initially 55 m long and 8 m wide. In the 7th or 8th century the hall was enlarged. It was now 83 m long and 7.50 to 9 m wide.
  2. ↑ Walter Christaller (1893–1969) was the founder of the “theory of central places” in 1933, the aim of which is to prove networks of neighboring mansions.
  3. ↑ http://www.pastperfect.org.uk/sites/yeavering/images/hall.html

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