Hvolris

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The present 18 hectare Iron Age museum village ( Danish Jernalderlandsby ) Hvolris is located about 17.0 km north of Viborg in Jutland , Denmark .

The name

Sandy humus lies here in a thick layer on blue clay. Since this is impermeable to water, a spring formed in the depression between the hills (Jutland "hwol"), from which Hvolris takes part of its name. The rear part of the name is the old word for undergrowth (German: "Reis" or "Reisig").

Discovery of the place

In 1961, Anders Olesen noticed the accumulation of ceramic shards and flint stones on the hill. He turned to the Viborg Museum. An excavation revealed multi-period settlement remains, especially from the Iron Age . In 1963 a seven hectare area was bought and it was decided to create an excavation field and make the finds available to the public.

  • Hvolris

  • Hvolris block stone tomb

  • Hvolris stone circle

  • Hvolris house floor plan

  • Furnace system

context

Most of the remains of the settlement date from the older or the Roman Iron Age (around 100 BC). At this time, the Cimbri and Teutons left the peninsula and looked for better conditions in the south.

The settlement

Several house floor plans were found in Hvolris. The oldest house (House VIII) was a long house, the walls of which were built from rows of posts with wickerwork and clay filling . The floor was made of rammed earth. The gable roof , covered with grass or heather peat , was supported by a row of sturdy posts in the middle of the house. Stone floors were found in front of the middle of both long sides, marking the entrances. After this house burned down, several new ones were built. Six of them looked something like the older one. One had a plank wall and no post-supported roof.

There were semicircular clay benches around the fireplace in houses I and III. House VIII contained a stone fireplace covered with a thick layer of red-burned clay . A large jug had been buried in front of the house, possibly for supplies. A small buried cup was found near the fireplace in House IX. A number of pits filled with charcoal and fire-blown stones were found throughout the settlement . Some of them were at the same time, but some were also older than the settlement. It could be so-called cooking pits .

To the west of today's hedge are two houses with different layouts. They are younger than the eastern ones and were created around the turn of the ages. A study carried out in all houses showed that the phosphate content is particularly high in the eastern part . This indicates that animals were kept loose or in boxes. The houses are divided into two parts, the western half as an apartment with the stove and the eastern half with partition walls for the cattle.

The main crops were wheat and barley , but also oats . The grain was ground on the millstones found in large quantities . The village community was self-sufficient. This applied to food and drink, household items, as well as clothing and shoes. Sheep wool was spun and woven. The cloth was sewn into clothes. There were connections to other villages. Iron had to be exchanged. It is significant that very few iron tools were found in the poor village of Hvolris. A small man's head made of clay is one of the few things that had no practical value.

The stone floors

At about the same height as the village are 100 m to the west, some stone floors. They are made of stones of about the same size, which are worn on the surface. Between them there were pottery shards that are at the same time as the pottery of the settlement. The purpose of the place is unclear.

The source

The source was essential for the settlement of the place. A larger layer of stones extends south and west from the source. It consisted of hand-sized stones that formed a carpet that was covered with earth mixed with shards and ashes. Some of the shards came from the Roman Iron Age. To the north of this stone location, the area of ​​the spring was leveled with sand. On top of it there were pavements made of larger, flat stones. Two deep gullies in which there were post marks could be seen in the light sand north of it. Maybe it's the remains of wooden gutters that led the spring water to a horizontal watermill .

The stone circles

On the southern ridge of the hill is a series of stone circles , one of which is 16 meters in diameter and the other six meters. The little ones are the older ones. They date from around 500 BC. A stone circle encloses a small cremation grave with the remains of a jug as grave goods. Cremation graves with bent swords as additions, which were found outside the large stone circle, date from a little earlier. The large circle included several fire pits with animal bones and pottery shards. It coincided with the houses that were built around 100 BC. Were created.

The pit house

The remains of a pit house from the Neolithic age were found under the western part of the large stone circle . The house was 6.5 x 3.5 m and sunk 40 cm into the earth. Two posts carried the tent roof, which otherwise rested on the ground. The pottery shards found in and on the house come from the individual grave culture .

Block stone graves

Between the stone circles there are square pits dug about one meter into the ground, which are surrounded by large stones. These are graves from the Roman Iron Age 100 AD. In addition to four block stone graves found, there is also a grave in which the stones have been replaced by planks. All of them were used for body burial. The dead lay on his side with his legs slightly drawn up, his back facing north and his head facing west. A knife was placed in the dead man's hand. At the south end was a barrel (corn or flour), a long-necked jug, and a number of bowls and mugs. This grave was covered with planks. Several graves of this type have been found east of the actual Hvolris area, but the houses in which the people lived are still missing. Hvolris was abandoned around the time of the birth of Christ.

The furnace system

The furnace in the hollow between the ridges is part of a medieval courtyard that is only represented by the furnace. It was made of clay, which lay like a beehive over a skeleton of branches or twigs. A long furnace channel led to the furnace. It was heated up by stuffing it full of fuel and lighting it. When the oven space was heated up, bread was baked in the warmth of the oven walls. During the excavation, a coin from the time of Erik VI was found. Menved († 1319) by means of which one could date the complex. A bronze clasp was also found.

Bronze Age hill

The Bronze Age period, the epoch before the oldest circular graves were dug on the hill, has not been sufficiently illuminated here. The nearby store Bussehøj (høj = hill) probably dates from this period, as does the Lille Bussehøj that was examined. No less than 16 urns were excavated here, all from the younger Bronze Age, around 1100 to 500 BC. Chr.

paving

The paving is similar to the two stone floors in the western part, but no fragments have been found here that could help with the dating. It could have the same function as the other two. Only one detail distinguishes them, a small round bowl in one of the stones.

Cult place of the Neolithic Age

This facility is one of the oldest in the area. It comes from the time of the Corded Pottery and is located east of the Iron Age village. Part of it was originally under the village and was only discovered when the foundations of the house pits were removed. Many of the Iron Age house posts go down to the Stone Age layer. They also pretty much destroyed the cooking pits dug in other places in this layer. Traces of fire pits have remained, which are built over small, horseshoe-shaped piles of stones with an opening to the south. Inside the "horseshoe" a smaller and a larger stone setting were found with a high, pointed stone at one end. A number of small, ornamented shards and a 5 cm long loaf-shaped clay mold were also found.

literature

  • Ingrid Falktoft Anderson: Vejviser til Danmarks oldtid . 1994 ISBN 87-89531-10-8 , pp. 132, 189, 192, 198
  • Karsten Kjer Michaelsen: Politics bog om Danmarks oldtid . Copenhagen 2002 ISBN 87-567-6458-8 , p. 86
  • P. Seeberg: Hvolris, en neolitisk kompleks Kuml 1968

Coordinates: 56 ° 34 '50 "  N , 9 ° 30' 59.6"  E