Early Roman Iron Age Burials in Denmark

So. Here are some facts about Roman Iron Age burials in Denmark.
Perhaps George and Alexander would like to comment on whether some of
the customs are similar to those of the As/Yas and Vani,
respectively? One should bear in mind that three traditions should be
considered: the continuation of (Celt?, Cimbrian) customs, a possible
Yaz component, and a possible Vani component. With respect to the
latter two, place names with (W)odin and Nerthus/Njord are relevant.

from Politikens Arkæologileksikon:

" The Juellinge Burial Site (north east of Nakskov) [T: on the island
of Lolland south east of Fyn]

Inhumation burial from Early Roman Iron Age, excavated 1909 by
conservator G. Rosenberg, the National museum. Four north-south-
oriented long narrow graves of varying depths were excavated. The
dead had their heads towards the north, and there were traces of wood
cover or coffins in the graves.

All four graves have been women's graves. The most richly provided of
them was brought home as a total preservation(?) [præservat] and is
today exhibited in the National Museum. This grave (grave 1) was very
deep, 2.25 m, and contained the corpse of an approx. 30 year old
woman with a pathological {change, transformation} [omdannelse,
actually a tumorous growth] on one of the thigh bones. The woman was
lying in a sleeping position on her side. Her {equipment, grave
goods} [udstyr] consisted firstly of objects belonging to her {dress,
clothes} [dragten]: 2 silver needles with gold plating, originally
sitting in her hair or in a kerchief; oround her neck composite gold
ornament [guldsmykke] with berlock, two {identical, similar} [ens]
holding her clothes together "

T: I went to the National Museum yesterday, and looked at the Early
Roman Iron Age room. I copied some of the texts of the exhibits:

Lolland:

Grave goods from the grave of a wealthy woman found at Juellinge on
the island of Lolland. The woman had been buried fully dressed with
her most precious ornaments. The long narrow wooden coffin contained,
among other things a bronze-mounted drinking horn and a costly
banqueting service.

Fyn

Grave goods from one or more richly-furnished graves, found at Espe
on the island of Fyn. The Roman glass bowls, the bronze saucepans and
the wine ladle, as well as the drinking horns, indicate that here, in
the first century AD a wealthy farmer had been buried.

Sjælland:

Stangerup, Roman imports.

Southern Jutland;

Grave goods from the richly-furnished grave of a wealthy farmer and a
woman, found at Dollerup in Southern Jutland. Both corpses had been
buried fully dressed in oak coffins along with a costly banqueting
service. The man's grave included two Roman wine buckets and two
silver goblets. The woman's grave contained two bronze-mounted
drinking horns.

Lolland:

The Roman bronzes from the Hoby graves were all made in the Southern
Italian city, Capua, during the reign of the emperor Augustus.

Hoby, Lolland:

Silver goblets made in Italy shortly before the time of Christ. The
name of the master craftsman is inscribed in the bottom Cheirisophos,
a Greek who produced for Roman tastes. The picture on the silver
goblet portrays scenes from the Iliad. The goblet at the left
portrays the Trojan king Priam begging his enemy Achilles for the
corpse of his son. The goblet at the right shows the hero Philoctetes
in a scene where Odysseus and a companion attempt to win his famed
bow. On the other side Philoctetes is having his foot washed after a
snake bite.

[T: This is interesting in relation to the discussion we had about
the "Troy-tradition" among the Germanic-speaking peoples, whether it
was a native tradition or whether they only learned of it after
Christianisation. It appears that a least one Germanic-speaker knew
the tradition before 0 CE, at least if he asked the salesperson first
(?); or else he knew about the native tradition; note the choice of
motive: Priamos, who according to Medieval writers was supposed to be
the ancestor of the Aesir.]

peninsula of Stevns, Sjælland:

At a burial place at Varpelev a wealthy farmer was buried with his
most precious possessions. Roman drinking goblets of glass were
placed by the head of the corpse.

Fyn:

Many prosperous farming communities developed on the fertile soil of
Fyn. Large herds of cattle grazed in the countryside surrounding the
small cultivated fields of the villages. In the alder swamps which
were to soft and moist for grazing, hay could be harvested with a
scythe. The villages were controlled by powerful families who in time
of war could marshal many armed men. Such an army could consist of a
couple hundred foot soldiers and approx. ten on horse.

Southern Jutland:

In Southern Jutland, the farming villages stretch from the fjord
landscapes of the east coast to the low marshes of the west coast. A
village could house a couple hundred people and and 300-400 large
cattle. Farming work - cultivating the fields, caring for the cattle,
harvesting the hay and much more - necessitated cooperation. A
visible expression of this cooperation was the large open space in
the middle of the village. This commons belonged to everyone. Here
the large herd of cattle could be gathered and here no houses could
be built.

[T: and here was a text commenting on the great difference between
classes in Early Roman Iron Age]

Not even in death there was equality. The richest villagers were
given an elaborate funeral, the poor ones a far more modest burial.
When a villager died, he was usually cremated fully clad and
accompanied by his personal possessions. At the feast held at the
funeral pyre, a sheep was slaughtered and large pieces of meat and
other food and drink were sacrificed for the deceased. After the
cremation, the sparse remains of the pyre were gathered and buried in
a clay vessel in the village cemetary.

After cremation, there was little left of the corpses and the grave
gifts from the funeral pyre. These nine graves with their contents of
burnt bones from a cemetary at Drengsted, South Western Jutland.

In some villages, the dead were buried without been cremated. The
graves were often oriented north/south. By the head or the feet of
the corpse the survivors set clay vessels containing food and drink,
and sometimes also some of the personal possessions of the deceased.
These grave gifts are from a cemetary at Næsbjerg in Southern
Jutland.

Central Jutland:

When a villager died, he or she was buried in a plank coffin built in
the newly-dug grave. The body was arranged in a sleeping position,
and in front of it was placed a meal with generous pieces of meat and
other foods served on a wooden tray or in the clay vessels which the
deceased had actually used in life. The picture and the grave gifts
below are from a woman grave dating from about 100 AD found at a
large cemetary north of Århus in Jutland.

A prosperous farmer who had also been a warrior was buried with his
weapons. These two graves were found at Hansted and Petersborg in
Central Jutland.

Northern Jutland: [clues: Villages close as never before. Stone grave
chambers. No Roman stuff.]

------------------- Odin place names:

Odin + (wi = (pagan) sanctuary)

Odense (obviously) (Adam of Bremen: Odansue)

Onsved (1085 Othense), Hornd Herred, Sjælland

Vojens (1421 Wodens)

Oens, Vejle Amt, South East Jutland

Oddense, Viborg Amt, Central Jutland

Other Odin names:

Vonsbæk, South Jutland (1413 Odensbek)

Vonsild (1462 Odensculde)

Onsild (Nørre-, Sønder-) (Vald. Jordebog [approx. Domesday book]
Othænshyllæheret) hilla, hylla = possibly: wooden sanctuary

Onsbjerg, Samsø (1424 Othensberg)

-------------------

Njord place names:

Nærå, Fyn (1304 Niærthøu) å = brook; suburb of Odense

Nærum, Sjælland, (1186 Niartherum) rum = space

-------------------

from Politikens Arkæologileksikon:

Boat grave

Specifically Nordic burial custom in the Iron Age. In its typical
form the boat grave is characterised by the deceased being buried in
a large or small boat, which burned or unburned often is covered by a
mound. The boat grave custom is generally considered to have
originated in Sweden late in the 500's; it is also known from Norway,
more seldom in Denmark and Sea-England (Scandinavian influence). In
the period between 600-800 CE it is considered as reserved for an
upper class, in the Viking Age it becomes general use. However, it
has become clear from the rich and varied material from the coastal
grave site at Slusegård on Bornholm that the custom existed already
in Early Roman Iron Age. From the time approx. 100-250 CE is known
approx. 45 boat graves of which the majority were half boats...The
lack of use of iron nails in boats of this type has made registration
of this grave type on other grave sites difficult: Slusegård is
therefore in all likelyhood not an isolated phenomenon, and the lack
of finds between the boat graves in Slusegård and the younger Swedish
and Norwegian ones is therefore probably only apparent. Boat graves
yet undated with larger clinker-built boats which (as eg. in Brokær
at Ribe) are found surrounded by graves of Roman and early Germanic
Iron Age may also be found to belong to the period of no finds...

[about the Hoby finds]

Under the bottom of the goblets is incised the collective weight of
the goblets, furthermore "Silius", most likely an owner, perhaps the
commander of the province of Lower Germania. The inscriptions point
to the time around 0 CE (Augustean time) and to Italy.

Roman Iron Age

... The largest and most significant find group in Roman Iron Age in
Denmark are the graves. These are the foundation for the whole
construction of the domestic chronology, since in these we find a
combination of domestic and imported objects.

During Early Roman Iron Age there is an abundance of graves all over
the country, but especially numerous they are found in the areas:
Vendsyssel, Thy, Himmerland, East Jutland, Fyn, Langeland, Lolland-
Falster and Bornholm. The grave custom is both cremation (a
continuation from Pre-Roman [Celtic] and as something new - the
inhumation burial. The cremation graves are found in the form of
cremation spot, urn cremation pit and urn pit with or without stone
setting. The unburned and burned burials are not found with equal
frequency everywhere, but changes in dominance region by region. Of
special inhumation forms should be noted the North Jutland megalith
grave and the East, Central and South Jutland clay pot graves. Well
known princely graves from Early Roman Iron Age are Hoby, Juellinge
and Dollerup. Relative to the very large number of graves of Early
Roman Iron Age the number is almost halved in Late Roman Iron Age.
Still there is a considerable number. The concentration of graves
forms a different picture than in Early Roman Age, since there is a
large decrease in North and East Jutland, moderate decrease in
Southern Jutland, on Fyn and Lolland-Falster [T: the area of
the "South Danes" in Alfred the Great's World Geography]. On Bornholm
it is approximately the same number as before. On Sjælland there is a
considerable increase in the number of graves, especially towards the
South and East. Still both cremation and inhumation are in use, but
in the areas, which now has many grave finds, inhumation is dominant.

On Sjælland, which is the main area for the richest finds, the graves
are together in large or small groups under level field, less
frequently under mound, often on hills and gravel ridges. The graves
can be very deep, up to approx. 2 m, they are most often oriented
north-south, the corpses are often lying with slightly bent legs. The
grave is long and narrow, and the grave goods are placed in the foot
or head end. Often one can observe that in the grave there has been a
coffin of wood, sometimes supported by stones. In the richly
furnished princely graves complete banqueting sets of bronze and
glass (import), meat, wooden buckets and clay pots are given, beside
a rich personal equipment of jewellery etc...

Torsten