Gammel Lundeborg

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Gammel Lundeborg ( German:  "Alt-Lundeborg" ) north of Lundeborg on Funen , excavated from 1986 to 1992, is one of Denmark's oldest trading centers . The 900 meter long natural harbor at the mouth of the Tange Å was used to transship ships of a type that was found in Nydam . Small, narrow huts show that Gammel Lundeborg functioned as a summer market for the nearby Iron Age wealth center Gudme . The port's heyday was between 200 and 550 AD, but it was used until 800 AD.

Here worked amber polishers , bronze casters , comb makers , silver and goldsmiths, blacksmiths and shipbuilders. Thousands of nails and rivet plates bear witness to the latter. Weights and scales point to trade, as do Roman jugs and coins, which show that not only local products but also goods from the south were traded, which contributed to the immense wealth of Gudme with its Iron Age hall .

In the middle of the port town, a total of 102 small, thin gold plates, so-called guldgubbers, were found, which were made around 600 AD. 30 were so close together that they could have been in a leather case. The amount of gold artefacts is only exceeded by the approximately 2500 Guldgubbers from the Muld variety on Bornholm . While the pictures on Bornholm usually show a single man, those on Fyn almost exclusively show a couple in an embrace. The function of the guldgubber is unclear, perhaps they were a kind of amulet or were used in the great cultic celebrations in Gudme.

It is possible that the wealthy landowners or a king taxed the central worship service. 7 small male figures and 5 bulls found in Gudme may have been idols or were used in the cult.

literature

  • Stefan Brink: Political and social structures in early Scandinavia. A settlement-historical pre-study of the central place. In: Tor 28. 1996, pp. 235-281.
  • Heiko Steuer: Central locations . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 35, Berlin / New York 2007. pp. 878–914.
  • Palle Østerggard Sørensen, Gudmehallerne. Kongeligt byggeri fra jernalderen. In: Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 1994. pp. 25-39.
  • Hauke ​​Jöns: Iron Age and early medieval wealth centers, central and trading centers on the southern Baltic coast. In: Central Places in the Migration and the Merovingian Periods , pp. 231–245 ( PDF ).
  • PO Thomsen, B. Blæsild, N. Hardt, K. Kjer Michaelsen: Lundeborg - en handelsplads fra jernalderen. In: Ski fra Svendborg og Omegns Museum 32, pp. 68–101.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hauke ​​Jöns writes of Iron Age and early Middle Ages "centers of wealth" and avoids such terms as "early royalty", as can be identified from the list of Swedish legend kings (places like Gudme also existed in Sweden at the same time) or "chief seat", of which in pre-Viking Norway is being discussed. The Danes, however, refer to the large house discovered in Gudme as " Kongehallen " (King's Hall ).

Web links

Coordinates: 55 ° 8 ′ 55.1 ″  N , 10 ° 46 ′ 59.5 ″  E