Immigrants to Denmark 0 CE

from Albrectsen: Fynske Jernaldergrave, vol. II Ældre Romersk
Jernalder

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VI Conclusion

...

Similarities and differences can be demonstrated between the
different parts of the country. It is obvious, as shown above, that
Fyn stands apart, bound to the rest of the country by common
features, but as a crossing point for western and eastern influences
it forms a separate culture province, in some respects however with a
close bond to South Jutland.

It has often been claimed, that the diverseness of the archaeological
material in the separate parts of the country must reflect the fact
that several tribal nations in Early Roman Iron Age have lived
separately in the separate regions within the borders of Denmark. It
could then be imagined that also the Fyn and its archipelago has been
the home of a separate population.

With that one reaches the question of who were the carriers of the
culture of the Early Roman Iron Age [0-200 CE] on Fyn. The safest
foundation for answering this important question would be a study of
skeleton finds from the graves, but here unfortunately a linr is
drawn by the fact that as we know cremation finds make up the largest
part of the finds. I all 77 inhumation graves have taken up on Fyn-
Langeland, but the possibilities are further weakened by the fact
that skeletal remains are found only in a very few of them. Of the
preserved Early Roman skeletal finds, with only 14 it has been
possible to conduct an anthropological investigation, of these 6 are
male, 6 female. However, generally the skeletons are badly preserved,
such that the most important characteristic, the shape of the skull,
can only be established in 5 cases, namely in the following finds:
Hjadstrup grav 3, Skrøbehave, Langebjerg, Store Keldbjerg grav 3 and
Brockdorff grav 3. I all 5 cases the cranial form id doligocephalic,
since the length/width index for the 4 first are 68.6, 74.2, 69.2 and
70.6, respectively, while the skull from Brockdorff cannot be
measured accurately. Unfortunately of these 5, 2 must be disregarded,
since the graves from Hjadstrup and Store Kjeldberg are not dated by
other find articles, and therefore just as well might be from Late as
Early Roman Iron Age. Three skulls then remain, of which the 2 from
Skrøbeshave and Langebjerg by the finds are dated in period II
[within Early Roman Iron Age], the third, from Brockdorff, in Early
Roman Iron Age in general.

It is evident that no sustainable conclusions may be drawn from so
slender a body of material. A comparison with corresponding material
from the rest of the country, however, is not without interest. As is
well known, measurements of preserved skeletal parts from Denmarks
Roman Iron Age have earlier been undertaken (H.A.Nielsen, Årbøger
1906 and 1915. - J. Brøndsted, Danmarks Oldtid III, pp 372-), in all
of approx 235 individuals, of which 100 with measurable skulls
(Brøndsted p. 254). The cranial measurements show by and large a
distinct doligocephality, as 84 of the 100 had a length/width index
under 75, the rest over 75, and of these only 3 were evidently
brachycephalic. The main part of this anthropological material is
dated in Late Roman Iron Age, but much can be related already to
Early Roman Iron Age. From the material available in the literature
we find that 20 skeleton finds with cranial measurements apart from
those from Fyn already mentioned may dated in Early Roman Age. Of
these 20, 17 are doligocephalic, 3 mesocephalic, doligocephalicity is
thus strongly dominant, and this is established already in Early
Roman Iron Age, as is seen from some finds in East Jutland from the
1st century CE.

The material offered here should of course, slender as it is be
treated with caution, but in all likelihood cannot be interpreted in
any other way than that doligocephality in inhumation graves all over
the country has been predominant, already in the 1st century CE. In
this framework the finds from Fyn fynd their natural place, and
identical characteristics have been found in all those regions where
inhumation graves with preserved skeletons occur.

It is well known that the predominant doligocephality of the
population of the Roman Age is in stark contrast to the situation in
Late Neolithic, where measurements have shown an approximate balance
between doligocephaly and brachycephaly. The powerful change in Roman
Iron Age in favor of the first-mentioned cranial type is by
anthropoligical authorities proclaimed to be a convincing proof that
immigration to Denmark has taken place. Using this as support
Brøndsted relates this immigration to the introduction of inhumation
graves in Early Roman times. Although this explanation appears very
probable, it lacks conclusive evidence and was therefore only advance
as a working hypothesis. That an immigration or several should have
taken place in Early Roman Iron Age will hardly be provable with
certainty given the means at our disposal. An unknown factor is the
cremation graves' content of skeletal parts. Whether that part of the
population, which inhumed their dead after cremation, has belonged to
the doligocephalic type or has corresponded to the anthropoligical
situation of the Stone Age finds, we don't know, therefore neither
whether the doligocephalic population element might possibly have
immigrated earlier, in the Bronze Age or in pre-Roman times,
undetectably from intervening archaeological finds.
"

Torsten