Invasion scenarios

I didn't know where to cut up this article, so I post it all. The point is to show that the archaeological facts do not contradict a scenario in which Denmark was invaded approx. at the change from Bronze to pre-Roman Iron Age (approx 500 BCE) and the change from pre-Roman Iron Age to Roman Iron Age (approx 50 BCE). In particular, the bog corpses would be the remains of the leaders of the conquered nation, in the style of Katyn.




Michael Parker Pearson
Economic and ideological change: cyclical growth in the pre-state societies of Jutland
in
Ideology, Power and History

'A comparison of the ritual and profane aspects of Germanic society in Jutland, Denmark, from 500 BC to AD 600, as interpreted from funerary, votive and settlement contexts, highlights the accumulation of worldly power through the sacrifice of precious goods to the supernatural. The whole period was one of increasing wealth-destruction which halted abruptly in the seventh century AD. Agricultural production expanded until the fifth century when there occurred an economic crisis which continued into the sixth century. Within this long-term cycle of expansion and decline were three smaller cycles. In the first (500 - 50 BC) increasing quantities of prestigious items were sacrificed as votive offerings. At the end of the cycle they were placed in graves and no longer in votive contexts, possibly representing a transition in spiritual allegiance from deities of the bogs, lakes and other natural features, to ancestral powers. At the same time there were important changes in the privatization of agricultural property. In the second cycle (50 BC - AD 200) there was a cumulative increase in wealth-items as grave goods, accompanying a gradual elaboration and reworking of ritualized roles and categories. After a period of social unrest in the third century there was another increase in the removal of gold and silver from circulation (either in a single 'horizon' or gradually) between AD 400 and 600. Agricultural expansion and technological innovations within each cycle accompanied progressively unequal social relations.

While we know that past societies have gone through successive cycles of development and decline we have less idea why and how those changes occurred, especially in small scale, pre-state, agricultural societies. Of all the current theories of social change Marxist theory has perhaps received least attention from archaeologists, partly because of the political views of the researchers and partly because of the assumed poverty of the archaeological evidence. The integration of Marxist concepts with archaeological material has never proved simple but such an attempt is the aim of this paper. Some twenty-five years after the death of Childe, archaeologists in the West are once again developing Marxist ideas to study prehistoric societies (see contributions in Spriggs (Ed.) 1984). It is also to be noted, as Carr has remarked somewhat cynically, that theories of cyclical change recur at times of social and economic recession (1961, p. 43).

Although Childe considered that the pattern of the human past has been a series of troughs and crests (1942, p. 282) he never successfully developed a detailed analysis to distinguish cycles of cumulative growth and subsequent revolutionary change. His closest attempt, Scotland Before the Scots, was hampered by inadequate archaeological material and an over-emphasis on the materialist conception of the primary role of production (which lacked a sufficient appreciation of the relationship of production and consumption and an understanding of the role of ideology in directing economic activities). The detailed research that has been carried out on Iron-Age societies in Jutland provides material that can be used to examine the validity of a theory of short-term cycles forming a longer-term evolutionary trajectory. The implications of this enquiry for the broader spectrum of Marxist studies are interesting, since, through the long-term perspective provided, we may discern a certain blurring in the conventionally precise distinction between capitalism and non-capitalism.

Marx identified capital accumulation as central to capitalism. In his view this was based on the capitalists' appropriation of surplus value, and a falling rate of profit was the inevitable outcome of such a process. Although Marx himself did not develop this argument fully, subsequent studies of both capitalist (Sweezy 1942; Mandel 1976; 1978; 1980) and non- or precapitalist societies (Friedman 1975; 1979; Ekholm 1980) have shown that variations on this process may result in discontinuous cyclical change. This cumulative expansion and crisis is clearly explained in Sweezy's book The Theory of Capitalist Development. Mandel has set out the evidence for long waves of economic expansion and stagnation (each cycle lasting about fifty years) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries whilst also acknowledging that capitalist development in the long run might conform to a single large cycle (1980, p.11). He states that cycles are asymmetric and conform to a pattern of boom followed by slump. Revolutionary changes are necessary to implement a period of expansion since the outcome of the depressive long wave is not predetermined by the logic of capitalist accumulation (1980, pp. 47-61).

Marxist analysts have frequently sought to demonstrate that the concept of surplus value exists only in capitalist societies. Surplus value is defined as the discrepancy between what workers produce and what they receive for their upkeep, since the wages and other financial outlays paid by the capitalist must always be less than the income for the commodities produced. Surplus value is the surplus product in money form (i.e. in the form of value) rather than in the form of luxury goods. For the capitalist this gives additional purchasing power not only for luxury goods but also for more machines, labour and raw materials. This permits reinvestment in the competition for accumulation of capital as surplus value is transformed into more capital (Mandel 1976, pp. 46-54). Sweezy states that in pre-capitalist societies simple commodity-exchange took place outside a framework of capital accumulation. Commodities might be produced for exchange into a primitive form of currency which could be transformed into an equivalent, and not greater, quantity of commodities. Without the process of capital accumulation crises would be unlikely (Sweezy 1942, pp. 134-6). Godelier's analysis of the production and exchange of 'salt money' amongst the Baruya (a 'Big Man' society in New Guinea) sought to demonstrate that their exchange of commodities was for the satisfaction of basic needs and not for the accumulation of this primitive currency in order to make a profit (1977, pp. 127-51). This would confirm Sweezy's proposition. Hindess and Hirst likewise characterize pre-capitalist societies as non-accumulative in that surplus labour can produce surplus but the social relations that permit accumulation and profit-making are absent (1975, pp. 267-70). While there has been a tendency to assume that non-capitalist societies are free of the profit mechanism the results of this study suggest that this is not the case.

There are certainly major qualitative differences which distinguish capitalism from earlier social forms; wage labour, with its contradiction between socialized labour and private appropriation, and the accumulation of capital are two of the main ones. However, it is still possible to recognize an inbuilt 'dynamic' in certain pre-capitalist societies in which capital can be accumulated so long as it is consumed. In other words capital is symbolic rather than economic. Its consumption can be understood as a kind of reinvestment if it is directed to win the support of supernatural forces such as deities and ancestors. Agricultural surplus can be transformed into luxury goods which may be sacrificed to gods. Exchanges between the living and the supernatural may then lead to accumulating debts among the living. An anthropological consideration of this phenomenon may be found in Friedman's study of Kachin tribal society in highland Burma (1975; 1979). He starts with the assumption that competing lineages are capable of producing a surplus which can be distributed to the community in the form of feasts and thereby converted into prestige. Only by producing a large surplus can lineages own items of wealth (cattle and imported prestige items). The need to consume increasing quantities of surplus and prestige items is fundamental for the maintenance or advancement of prestige and power. By giving gifts to gods, ancestors, marriage partners and feast-sharers, competitors can make debtors out of those who cannot return a similar or better gift or provide the same for their respective deities or ancestors. Those who cannot pay their debts pledge some of their labour to their creditors who can thus produce an even larger surplus and hence stand to increase their power even further. Friedman's analysis focussed on the generalized exchange of marriage partners - an asymmetrical model of wife-givers and wife-takers produces 'marriage chains' which eventually form circles (A-B-C- . . . n-A). In this way rich groups which inter-marry concentrate their wealth and consolidate their power. Leading lineages are then able to receive more wealth from their debtors by raising the brideprice paid for lineage daughters. This spiral consequently widens the gap between rich and poor.

The relationship between leading lineages and the rest of the community is further transformed by a change in the relationship between the living and the supernatural. Initially Kachin communicate with the spirit world through a village ancestor. As one lineage becomes increasingly wealthy the link with the ancestors becomes correspondingly closer (their prosperity being interpreted as the result of divine favour). The leading member of the lineage finally assumes the role of chief and mediator with the spirit world through his personal ancestor who replaces the village ancestors. Friedman has demonstrated that a kind of surplus value does exist in some pre- or non-capitalist societies, allowing the accumulation of wealth-items which are indirectly reinvested through enterprises like feasting and sacrifice. The debtors thus created repay their debts as gifts of surplus, labour or allegiance and increase the power of the chief even more. The final goal of increased power and prestige is the same in precapitalist and capitalist societies alike; however the mode of its accumulation is different.

Friedman outlines two contradictions between the forces and relations of production which develop until a crisis ensues. The first is the contradiction between the production of enough surplus for use and the production of an extra surplus for exchange. He equates this to the extraction of 'surplus value' though strictly speaking the term should be used only with capitalist societies. The second contradiction is manifested in the widening division between production and consumption - as consumption increases steadily (increasing competition and growing population) the surplus declines as production falls and returns diminish (soil exhaustion, movement onto less fertile land, intensified labour per unit area). Once past a certain point of diminished returns the working population is incapacitated by starvation and even lower productivity. Rebellions, coups and other kinds of active conflict often occur before this stage is reached. New cycles are then generated through major social and technological innovations (integration into nearby states, specialization in a wider exchange system, new rice-technologies).

It is not proposed that Friedman's interpretation of Kachin society applies directly to Denmark in the last millennia BC and the first millennia AD. They are very different historically, environmentally and socially, yet the cyclical process may apply, with certain modifications, to both societies. Indeed Friedman's structure may well be unsuitable for the societies in Highland Burma where he tried to apply it. Leach, who carried out the fieldwork on which Friedman based his study, claims that Friedman has totally misinterpreted the material though Leach does not support his allegations with factual evidence (Leach 1977, p. 163).

One archaeological application of this theory of debt-spirals creating class stratification and its consequent collapse is Frankenstein and Rowlands' analysis of the effects of Mediterranean contact on the peripheral societies of central Europe in the sixth to fifth centuries BC (1978). Frankenstein and Rowlands observe that the grave goods of a small section of that society gradually increased in wealth. They interpret the furnishing of lavish grave goods as a reflection of status and infer that the wealthy graves are those of different levels of chiefs and paramounts. They do not consider that the act of 'consuming' wealth by burying it with the dead may play an important role in creating the spiral of debts, with its concomitant centralization of power in the hands of a few. In contrast, this paper explores the theory that, in certain societies, supernatural ancestors become involved in the relationships of the living. The sacrifice of grave-gifts at burial becomes an economic institution of central importance, as wealth is taken out of circulation and consumed in acts of ritual supplication to the dead.

As most people know, facts do not speak for themselves but require interpretation through theoretical models. A few simple theoretical 'tools' are employed in this study to cross the divide between mute artefact and relevant social insight. Of particular interest is the ideological aspect of material culture, with artefacts embodying ideas and being used to represent or misrepresent social strategies and positions. A more detailed discussion of the relationship between ideology and power can be found elsewhere (Parker Pearson 1983). Some of the main points can be summarized as: 'categorization' (see Hodder 1979; Miller 1982), 'legitimation' (see Parker Pearson 1982) and 'competitive consumption for debt creation' (see Douglas and Isherwood 1978; Friedman 1979).
1. Categorization. Roles emphasizing gender distinctions, age grading and differing ethnicity may be employed to represent group identity. Antagonisms can be contained by strict role-playing since lifestyles and responsibilities are clearly demarcated and less open to dispute.
2. Legitimation. The status or social position of a group or individual can be reinforced by actions of competitive display designed to impress on others the power of that group or person. This can take many forms: constructing royal genealogies, building public monuments and memorials , holding lavish funerals or waging war on neighbouring territories.
3. Competitive consumption and indebtedness. If a gift is exchanged then a gift of similar or identical value should be returned. A spiral of increasingly expensive gift-exchange could then develop which would eventually ruin one partner and thus make them indebted to their competitor. Similarly those who can give most away to deities or deceased ancestors can increase their standing (equivalent to buying salvation, respectability and divine favour) as others become indebted to them through their inability to be so generous. Far from being ruined, the 'generous' competitors may then be able to collect tribute from their indebted 'inferiors'.

This paper is a summary of research being carried out on Iron-Age societies in southern Jutland (Denmark) to show how archaeological evidence from varying contexts (settlements, burials, votive deposits) can be used in an evolutionary theory of revolutionary change. This could only be done by taking a long term perspective from c. 500 BC to c. AD 600. This time range can be divided into three cycles of development:
1. Celtic or Pre-Roman Iron Age (PRIA) 500 - 50 BC.
2. Older Roman Iron Age (ORIA) 50 BC - AD 200.
3. Younger Roman Iron Age (YRIA) AD 200 - 400 and
Older Germanic Iron Age (OGIA) AD 400 - 600.
Each phase is treated in three parts, corresponding to the three contexts of surviving archaeological material: graves, lake and bog depositions, settlements.

Graves represent one form of consumption directed by religious or spiritual values. They are also the context for the expression of central social values, as manifested in the treatment of the corpse and the selection and layout of its grave goods. The social identities given to different deceased individuals can be used to infer ritualized social orders. The degree to which they actually represent differences in day-to-day existence can be ascertained through comparison with aspects of settlement life. There are over two thousand excavated graves in southern Jutland for the Roman Iron Age alone and a recent study has concluded that a significant and representative sample of the original total has survived (Hedeager in press).

Prehistoric deposits in lakes or bogs are generally assumed to have had a ritual significance in Denmark. This is based partly on the Classical sources which note the sacred nature of natural features such as lakes and springs amongst the northern tribes. Many of these deposits would seem to have a ritual character since they are made in the same place at recurrent intervals and the artefacts are often 'killed' by being broken up. The size and quantity of items in a deposit make it unlikely that they were chance losses. The gold and silver hoards of the fifth and sixth centuries AD present more of a problem. Though many were found in bogs they might have been valuables buried at times of strife and not retrieved. If it is not possible to say that there was a ritual and spiritual motive behind certain of these depositions, we can still interpret the finds as a significant withdrawal of wealth from circulation.

Settlements of the iron age consist of farmsteads often grouped into villages or hamlets. The remains of animal byres and storage structures can be used to infer the productive capacity of different households (presumably family groups of some form or another). Changes in the production of agricultural commodities can then be compared with changes in the consumption of prestige items. Stylistic and production differences between farms can be studied in relation to differences between individual graves. In this way the changing expressions of class relationships may be examined.

One problem of looking at a wide range of material over a long time-span is the necessary geographical restriction of the research area. The Pre-Roman Iron Age material is taken from the whole of Jutland while my analyses of the Roman and Older Germanic periods are based on material from southern Jutland (the Amts or counties of Vejle, Ribe, Haderslev, Tønder, Aabenraa and Sønderborg). This was a small part of the Germanic 'barbarian' societies on the northern periphery of the Mediterranean world. Changes within these societies must be understood in relation to the exchange networks which linked the northern tribes to southern Europe. This paper does not examine this question in detail since it has been dealt with elsewhere (Hedeager 1978; 1978a).


Cyclical change in Iron Age Jutland
The first cycle: the Pre-Roman Iron Age c. 500 - 50 BC
The beginning of the Early Iron Age in northern Europe and southern Scandinavia marked the collapse of a hierarchical society dependent on the control of imported bronze. Several writers have inferred 'chiefdom' forms of organization throughout the Bronze Age on the basis of gold and bronze goods in a few of the graves, and the large ceremonial bronze items (lurs, exotic helmets and large ornamented axes) (Randsborg 1974; Kristiansen 1981, pp. 244-5). Settlement excavations have also revealed differences in house form which might be interpreted as social inequalities (Becker 1980). Though there are aspects of continuity between the Late Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age the social changes may be interpreted as a revolutionary change from a hierarchical to an egalitarian society (L.C. Nielsen pers. comm.).

Settlement and production
The farmhouses in the earliest villages of the Iron Age show little variation in size. Since we can identify the stalling in the animal byres we can estimate how many large animals were kept by each household. In the village excavated at Grøntoft in western Jutland the earliest Iron Age phase (known as Period I and dating to c. 500 - 300 BC; Becker 1961) consisted of over thirty houses concentrated in two areas and oriented east-west (Fig. 1; Becker 1968; Becker 1971; Becker 1980, Fig. 6). A small cemetery was located some six hundred metres south-west of the centre of the village. The average number of large animals per household was 10, though ten farms had space for only 6 - 8 animals and five farms had space for as many as 14 - 16 animals (Fig. 2). Several structures, both longhouse-sized and small square-post buildings, had no remains or stalling or hearths. In some cases this was due to surface erosion but the rest presumably never had them. Their purpose is unknown but it would seem likely that they were barns, grain stores or workshops. They were grouped in five areas of the village and only one of them could possibly have had a definite association with a farmhouse (in terms of location, orientation and position of doorways) (Fig. 1). If these were storage or workshop facilities, they had a communal as opposed to privatized, location though we do not know if they were owned privately or were the communal property of the village.

Though field systems exist for the Early Iron Age in Jutland (Hatt 1931) our knowledge of land tenure and property ownership is poor and certainly for the moment there is little that field systems can tell us about ownership of agricultural production. For the purposes of this study however it is assumed that the animals stalled in each longhouse belonged to that household and that their numbers represent some measure of difference in the productive capacity of each household.

The next archaeologically definable phase of the Early Iron Age is known as Period II (Becker 1961) and is principally defined on ceramic changes. There are, however, certain problems regarding its chronological 'integrity'. Its relationship to the succeeding phase, Period IIIa, is not at all clear and there may be some degree of overlap.

A number of longhouses at Grøntoft with architectural features not found in Period I houses could be dated by strati-graphic and ceramic associations to Period II. They were built less than a hundred metres to the south and west of the original settlement; the exact location of the village had changed but there was still settlement continuity (a feature generally recognized for Jutland where continuity of location existed from as early as the Bronze Age up to the present day - settlements would be moved generally not more than half a kilometre at a time (L. Hvass 1980, p. 25)).

A new feature of the Period II settlement at Grøntoft was the fence which enclosed a group of farms (Fig. 3). It was not strong enough for defence but at least served to demarcate the farms inside it from the rest and might have helped to keep farm livestock under control. No differences have survived between the farms inside and those outside the fence - there were large and small farms in both areas. Beside architectural differences between farms of Period I and those of Period II, there were some new features which would have had social and economic consequences. The average living area (west half of longhouse) increased by four square metres and there was greater variation in animal-stall space between longhouses (Fig. 2). The smallest farms remained the same size as before (space for six to eight animals) though the largest ones could now accommodate as many as twenty animals. Even though we know very little about land tenure, this change can be taken to indicate an increasing difference in productivity between households, aiding the development of a hierarchical society. Two kilometres away at Grønbjerg a small isolated enclosure was excavated (Fig. 4) and found to contain two longhouses and at least one outbuilding (Becker 1980a). It is dated to Period II/IIIa (between 300 and 100 BC) and has several features typical of the later phase. The outhouse, which is a smithy, is directly connected with the long-house with stalling for fourteen animals (also some of the pottery is a black-burnished ware similar to pottery found at Hodde, which will be discussed later).

By the second century BC (end of Period II) dramatic changes occurred in settlement organization which leave little doubt that a small part of the population could produce substantially more agricultural commodities than the rest. This greater potential surplus is matched by the deposition of prestigious imported commodities in grave and votive contexts.

An entire village of Period IIIa (c. 200 - 100 BC) has been excavated at Hodde in central Jutland (Hvass 1973, 1975, 1975a and b). At least five constructional phases have been recognized, the final phase being destroyed by fire. In the first phase there was only a single farm, surrounded by a palisade. It differed from other farms by having twice the area of living space and stalling for 26-30 animals. Within its compound was a barn (within its own enclosure) and a four-post storehouse. The evidence from a similar structure at Overbygaard in northern Jutland suggests that the four-poster was probably a granary; this structure, partly below ground, had been burnt down and contained many storage pots filled with grain, as well as two swords and an axe head (Lund 1979). The farm at Hodde became the focus of a developing village which, in its heyday, numbered twenty-three farms within a palisade (Fig. 5). The buildings can be divided into farmhouses, barns, storehouses and smithies (Fig. 6) with each compound composed of a farmhouse with varying barn and storage facilities (Fig. 7). While the average living space and the number of animal stalls in each farm had increased since Period II (Fig. 2), the differences between farms were much more marked than ever before. Only one farm had as much stall space as the main farm and only six farm compounds contained more than one four-poster storehouse. At least fourteen farms had no storehouse while some longhouses had hearths but no stalls, possibly because they were farms with no animals of their own. In the final settlement phase a number of longhouses had become smaller (Hvass 1975, p. 155), a further indication of growing poverty and differentiation between the poor and the well-off. The differences in productive capacity between the initial main farm and the rest were complemented by stylistic differentiation. We may assume that the main farm was the most imposing building in the village since each structure in its compound was founded on deep wall-trenches and the compound enclosure itself was the most strongly defined boundary in the entire settlement. The distribution of differing ceramic types across the village also marks this farm apart from the rest; fine black-burnished pottery was strongly localized in the main farm area. The pottery was used as tableware and perhaps as small storage containers. Its appearance in contemporary and later graves as symbolic tableware-sets for the dead is an important feature which allows potentially direct connection to be made between funerary and settlement contexts. While we must bear in mind that styles used in a domestic context by one social group may be used by a lesser social group for highly ritualized events such as funerals, it is equally possible that the events involving the preparation and eating of foods were also highly ritualized. As we shall see later, black-burnished tableware generally accompanies Period III burials which have unusual grave equipment.

Votive offerings
There appears to have been some continuity in the deposition of votive offerings from the Late Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age. Their quality and content was however diminished though their regular location in bogs and lakes was consistent with Bronze-Age tradition. The items deposited as votive offerings consisted of pottery vessels (sometimes containing food) (Becker 1971a), wooden ploughs (Glob 1945) and individual or collected metal dress-items. The dress fittings provide an interesting comparison between grave and votive deposits. Some occur regularly in both contexts, such as certain kinds of ring attachments (Becker 1961, Fig. 230) though the rest are found predominantly in one or the other context. Bracelets and armrings are not common features of cremation burials but are often found in large numbers in votive finds (Vebaek 1945). Heavy bronze neck rings, dating to the end of the Bronze Age and the early Pre-Roman Iron Age, show signs of extreme wear before disposal (Kristiansen 1981, p. 248) though a few of the very large ones had hardly been worn (Brøndsted 1960, p. 43). The majority of these neck rings were found in lakes or bogs, either singly or in pairs and separate from other bronze objects (Müller n.d., p. 30).

The bog deposits which have attracted most interest are the preserved human corpses (Dieck 1972; Glob 1977; Fischer 1979). Nine have been radiocarbon dated and they fall into two chronological groups; the earliest are Late Bronze Age and earliest Iron Age (650 - 425 BC) and the remaining five date to 200 BC - AD 50. These two groups coincide with the two periods of revolutionary change at the beginning and the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age but the standard deviation of the radiocarbon dates prevents us from establishing whether the bodies were buried at around the same time or over several hundred years. These spectacular finds are extremely enigmatic for a number of reasons. If they can be classed as a variant of funerary rites, they represent a ritual form which is diametrically opposed to the norm. They were placed naked in peatbogs and always singly; there was no evidence of grave markers and the majority of well-preserved ones showed signs of violent death - hanged, throat slit or clubbed to death. A second interesting feature among the well-preserved corpses is the delicate physique and fineness of skin which indicates that they did no manual agricultural labour (Glob 1977, p. 163). It would seem that they were members of a group separate from the longhouse farmers who inhabited villages such as Grøntoft. Since they were not involved in the direct production of agricultural goods these people must have lived on the surplus of others and in one sense qualify as members of an elite. They may have been ritual specialists or members of an aristocracy, toppled by revolutions or coups. Classical sources mention that the Germans put people to death in this manner for crimes such as cowardice and adultery (Tacitus 1970, p. 111) though the exact reasons may be more complex than the classical authors realized.

Few votive offerings can be securely dated to Period II. A
number of them would seem to belong to either Period II or Period IIIa. One is a large shallow boat, nineteen metres long, from a small bog at Hjortspring (Rosenberg 1937). Associated with the boat were bones of horse, pig, sheep, cow and dog and a large amount of weaponry; eight swords and three blade-fragments, 138 iron spears (with thirty-one tipped with wood or bone) and about 150 wooden shields. A slightly later weapon deposit is also known from Krogsb0lle on the neighbouring island of Funen (Becker 1948). These kinds of deposits have been interpreted as the remains of battles. Whether or not this is the case, they demonstrate that enough surplus was being produced to allow the destruction of valuable items (notably the boat and the imported iron swords; Klindt-Jensen 1953, p. 84). Another item buried around this period was a very large cauldron of bronze, broken up and placed with an axehead in a pit on a low hill at Braa, though not associated with any human bones (Klindt-Jensen 1953). The cauldron is dated by Megaw (1970) to La Tène Id (in Becker's Period II) though the iron axe associated with it is similar to one found in the Period IIIa settlement at Hodde (Hvass pers. comm.). Cast bronze fittings, presumably from a cauldron, were found at Store Vildmose and are stylistically similar to the Braa fittings. While the pottery and fibulae from graves and votive deposits of the late pre-Roman Iron Age can be divided into Periods IIIa and IIIb, many of the exotic items are not so securely dated, and for this reason the whole group will be considered together. During this period votive offerings reach their most impressive form in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and then, with the exception of offerings of pottery, and possibly textiles and ploughs, cease all together until the Younger Roman Iron Age (c. AD 200 - 500). These votive offerings include two elaborate bronze-inland wooden wagons from Dejbjerg, a gold torc from Dronninglund and a gold-inlaid silver cauldron from Gundestrup. The cauldron's date of deposition is very difficult to ascertain but has been assigned by Brøndsted to Period III (1960, pp. 82 - 3).

Burial practices.
The funerary practices of Period I were relatively simple and uniform. The body was cremated in full dress and the surviving ashes and metal dress fittings were collected up and placed in a storage pot which was then buried under a small, shallow mound. While the mounds were relatively the same size, they were constructed in many different ways, often surrounded by ditches or stake-circles. The grave goods were restricted to iron or bronze dress-items such as thick-headed pins, belt fittings and single ornaments (Becker 1961; Jørgensen 1971; 1972; 1975). The graves are located in large cemeteries of up to 1500 cremations under mounds and carefully respect each other despite being placed close together. The horizontal stratigraphy (Becker 1961, p. 180; Jørgensen 1975, Fig. 1) would suggest that spatial segregation on the lines of age, sex or family lineage division was subsumed under a community ideology for the dead. The only prominent divisions between graves are the segregation of urns in cemeteries and urns buried in secondary graves in earlier prehistoric mounds, and the different sizes of the mounds (though even the largest would have required only a small amount of effort to build, unlike many of the Bronze-Age mounds).
The graves assigned to Period II are too few for detailed analysis and their scarcity adds to the doubt surrounding the chronological distinction between Periods II and IIIa. Some burials of this period stand out, however, with grave equipment which includes large iron belts (Klindt-Jensen 1953, pp. 87 - 9). In Period III a few graves in Denmark mark a break in continuity (located away from earlier cemeteries and containing large quantities of prestige items and sacrificed animals). Cremations at Langaa on Funen and Kraghede in northern Jutland contained the burnt remains of wagons, cauldrons, weaponry and other items.1 Another change in burial practices at this time was the inclusion of weapons on the funeral pyre and their burial with the ashes. There are some fifty-three weapon graves of Period III in Jutland (Nielsen 1975) some of which are very well equipped.2 In Period IIIb silver first appears in two Jutland graves at Farre (Thorvildsen 1951) and Vorbasse (Hvass pers. comm.). Black-burnished pottery occurs in nine Period IIIb cremation burials in southern Jutland (five of them are weapon graves and the rest are female graves equipped with knives, fibulae and needles) and in the Period IIIa graves at Kraghede.

There are some very profound changes during this Pre-Roman Iron Age. From a stage which might be regarded as one of 'primitive communism' Iron-Age society is gradually transformed as competition between farms increases with the more successful getting larger. Accompanying the growing rift between those who can increase their surplus and those who remain with the same productive capacity is the cumulative deposition of imported valuables as votive gifts, presumably to placate or enlist the support of supernatural forces. This gradual process culminates in a sudden and revolutionary series of changes (Fig. 8). The gap between the rich and the poor is formalized into a clearly marked class relationship defined ideologically in several ways. While animals had always been kept privately it is only in the second century BC that storage structures were placed in the privacy of a well defined compound. Such changes could be well explained as the manifestations of new rights of private property (Stummann Hansen 1981). There may also be a link between the growing differences in surplus production and the increase in gifts to gods. A gift is thought to oblige the recipient (in this case the deity) to reciprocate, by bestowing divine favour on those making the gift. This fund of divine favour has the effect of increasing the respect and indebtedness of others towards those producers who have 'bought' their closeness by making such gifts (see Parker Pearson 1983).

In this situation the wealthy become wealthier and the poor become indebted to the wealthy (Friedman 1975; 1979). The emergent elite class consolidates its position of power by transferring 'gifts to gods' to 'gifts to ancestors'. The important thing to note here is that to destroy valuable commodities with the dead, instead of 'giving' them to lakes and other natural features, implies that certain of the dead are invested with powers previously attributed to external supernatural forces. The successor to the deceased thus has ideological legitimation for a political position by being directly related to a deity. This 'privatization' of the supernatural fits well with the concurrent changes in private property and the stylistic distinctions (in architecture and ceramics) which categorize the newly emergent classes.


The second cycle: the Older Roman Iron Age 50 BC to c. AD 200
The Older Roman Iron Age has been conventionally known as the period when the first Roman imports appears in Denmark. It is the least well documented period of the early Iron Age since burial is the only context which has been extensively researched. No settlements of this period have been excavated in their entirety and votive deposits had virtually ceased at the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The chronology of grave assemblages has been worked out on fibulae and Roman imports (Albrectsen 1956) and as many as five phases have been recognized (Liversage 1980). An accurate chronology based on ceramics and fibulae also exists for southern Jutland (Jarl Hansen 1982). The distinction between Roman and pre-Roman, although stylistic, need not be chronological and it is likely that the two periods overlap (Bech 1976). The earliest graves of the Older Roman Iron Age may well be contemporary with the latest ones of Period IIIb.


Burial practices
Early phase of the Older Roman Iron Age Throughout Denmark and other areas of north-west Europe there are a number of burials dated to the early first century AD which stand out with their Roman equipment, normally drinking sets. One of these was a cremation inside a black-burnished pot from Tombølgaard in southern Jutland. It was covered by a bronze Roman dish and contained a bronze Roman saucepan, gold jewellery, a silver fibula and two drinking-horns (Norling-Christensen 1960). The view that wealthy 'Celtic' graves were replaced by wealthy 'Roman' ones over a passage of time is complicated by the concurrence of Celtic and Roman Iron-Age styles (of weaponry, dress ornament and ceramics) in the same grave assemblage from burials such as Dons 1 and Sønder Vilstrup. The conventional archaeological interpretation of such assemblages might be that they represent a transitional chronological phase, though it may be nearer the truth to interpret the difference between Celtic and Roman in terms of a broader European ideological and political conflict as the Roman frontier advanced to the Rhine and the Danube. The 'transitional' assemblages would represent a slightly later reworking of conflicting ideologies.

Another change that occurs around about the time of the birth of Christ is the introduction of inhumation burial. This rite is closely related to the use of imported Roman commodities as grave equipment in contrast to the association of cremation with Celtic equipment; with a few exceptions, notably Tombølgaard (see above) and Avnevig, an inhumation with a Celtic-influenced Hannoveran brooch (Anon. 1957). Approximately one in ten of every burial recovered from this phase is an inhumation. The relationship between this rite and black-burnished tableware as grave goods is quite strong; thirty-eight out of a total of around forty-five inhumations of probable first-century date are equipped with black-burnished pottery, in contrast to eighteen cremations, four of which contained Roman imports.

With the exception of the few lavishly equipped 'Fürsten-gräber' inhumations (Gebühr 1974), the inhumations of the first century (and probably most of the second century) were poorly equipped. Unlike contemporary 2nd-lst century AD cremations, some inhumations were buried under mounds (e.g. Hvejsel; Lund-Hansen 1974) and a few possessed gold rings but otherwise their assemblages were little different in quantity of metalwork from the average cremation burial. The most usual equipment was a bronze or iron fibula, a knife and perhaps a pair of shears or a razor, along with a few black-burnished pots. An analysis of textile impressions on the metalwork in some of these graves demonstrates that the clothing of the deceased was of mediocre quality (Bender Jørgensen 1979, pp. 38 - 9). Black-burnished pottery was still in use on the largest farms such as the Older Roman Iron Age longhouse at Dankirke (Finn Ole Nielsen pers. comm., Thorvildsen 1972), suggesting that its distribution was still restricted to a dominant social group (the same impression can be formed from its rare appearance in certain grave assemblages as noted above). However, more extensive excavations in ORIA settlements must be carried out before we can be sure that smaller farms did not have access to this commodity. There are certain important 'stylistic' features which separate the two funerary groups; the provision of shears, spurs, gold rings and black-burnished pottery is closely correlated with inhumation and, where it survives, mound construction; while in only two cases was weaponry placed in inhumations since it is otherwise found only in cremations (until the late 2nd/early 3rd centuries).

Unlike the 2nd-lst centuries BC and the earliest 1st century AD, characterized by rising destruction of imported commodities in graves, the 1st / early 2nd centuries AD are characterized by symbolic categorization between classes in death without consuming large amounts of gold, silver or bronze. The distinction between social groups is both subtle and heavily ritualized to provide a framework in which individuals 'know their place'. A further ritualized division develops among groups that cremate their dead in Period IIIb and the early phase of the ORIA. Males and females, with the exception of young children, are buried in separate areas within the same cemetery and even in different cemeteries (this seems to be the case in northern Germany too; Capelle 1971). The phenomenon is true for the distinction between inhumations and cremations, though amongst inhumations there is little evidence for sexual differentiation, either in terms of grave-location or grave-equipment (osteological analysis reveals that male cremations are equipped with swords, shields, spears, razors and long knives and females with paired or multiple sets of fibulae, small curved knives, sewing needles and bone pins; Dehn unpub., Hvass pers. comm.).

It is important to understand why there might be so few valuables placed with the dead at this time, in comparison with the earlier period of deposition. It would be easy to explain this change in purely external terms, that the intensity of exchange with the Roman world (and the Celtic world, now occupied by Roman forces) fluctuated and had markedly declined by this time. The absence of precious metals and imported valuables in buried contexts may be the result of their disappearance from circulation. A corollary of this is that large quantities of surplus could no longer be produced for conversion into valuables. The settlement evidence sheds some light on this problem. From stratified layers of a farmhouse at Fredbjerg dating to the first century AD, came the remains of a wagon similar to those of the first century BC (Jensen 1980). Its presence in a rubbish context indicates that it was thrown away instead of being used as a grave good or recycled as scrap. At Ginderup in north-western Jutland a Roman coin-hoard of twenty-four silver coins and one gold coin was found under the floor of a small building. The coins date between 124 - 103 BC and AD 74 and the hoard is estimated to have been deposited not later than the beginning of the second century AD (Hatt 1935, pp. 47 - 50). For whatever reason the coin hoard was concealed, it does indicate that silver was in circulation in the early second century AD though it was not commonly used as grave equipment. At Dankirke in southern Jutland fragments of imported bronze cauldron were found in ORIA rubbish-layers but we must wait until the pottery in these deposits has been dated more closely (Jarl Hansen, pers. comm.).

Longhouses excavated at Dankirk (Thorvildsen 1972), Fredbjerg (Jensen 1980) and Myrthue (Thomsen 1964) are of the same size, if not larger than the main farm at Hodde, indicating that some houses were capable of producing a surplus. The large-area excavation of part of an ORIA settlement at Rugsted Lund in central Jutland has uncovered twenty-one houses which are, on average, larger than the farms at Hodde(Adamsen unpub.). However there is still not enough settlement evidence for this period to be able to compare social structure as represented in settlements and in graves. It would seem likely that farms of this period were capable of surplus production though the wealth found in graves is not a reflection of the capacity to produce a surplus at any one time nor does it directly reflect fluctuations in the circulation of valuable commodities. We must find another explanation for the withdrawal of commodities from circulation for placing in graves, such as the suggestion above that cumulative class-differentiation and indebtedness increasingly threaten the established elite who respond by enlisting the help of the ancestors. However, ancestral aid does not solve the dilemma until there are changes of a revolutionary nature (rebellions, tribal wars, new technology) which will temporarily end growing contradictions.

The later phase of the Older Roman Iron Age
Though the quantity of imported valuables in graves of the later first and early second centuries is small, nevertheless it marks the beginning of a cumulative process of grave-good deposition. The number of bronze fibulae in burials remains constant throughout the ORIA (Fig. 9). The rate of deposition of bronze, then, remains steady throughout the ORIA, but we should note that the deposition of gold and silver, and indeed of finished Roman bronzes increases steadily amongst a small
section of the population (Fig. 10). Until we have a full settlement sequence for the ORIA we can only conjecture on the development of increasing inequalities in surplus production.

By the late second century AD nearly all the gold, silver, glass and Roman bronzes (over 90%) come from eighteen graves in southern Jutland. The double inhumation at Dollerup (Fig. 11) is the richest, with two Roman bronze buckets, two Roman silver cups, two drinking-horns, silver and silver inlaid fibulae, three gold rings, nineteen silver fittings and very high quality fabrics (Voss and Ørsnes-Christensen 1948; Bender Jørgensen 1979, p. 44). While this is the only grave in the area to have been categorized as part of the 'Fürstengräber' phenomenon across north-west Europe, it is stylistically related to the other wealthy graves of southern Jutland and must be considered in the context of those other graves. Some of the wealthy graves are cremations which are buried in mounds and contain a startling variety of bronze and iron drinking and fighting equipment along with the gold, silver and bronze dress-fittings. Confirmation of the wealth gap comes from an analysis of the textiles, which are of fine quality in these wealthy graves and ordinary quality in the rest (Bender Jørgensen 1979, pp. 44 - 5).

The pattern of destruction of weapons on funeral pyres also changed gradually during the first and second centuries AD. Swords were increasingly uncommon grave goods and none are found in second-century graves though spears and shields were often destroyed. By the late second and early third centuries AD swords were beginning to appear again but this time predominantly in the particularly wealthy inhumations and cremations. The rare occurrence of swords in ordinary weapon-graves might be explained in terms of class differences with lower social groups, who did not possess swords, emulating ruling-class ancestor rituals.

Another case of stylistic emulation can be made for the procurement of black-burnished pottery which, by the second century was increasingly a feature of cremations with few or no grave goods. Conversely it was seldom a component of the wealthy graves of the late second and early third centuries. Other ceramic stylistic changes included the diversification of decorative motifs on ordinary pottery (Jarl Hansen 1982). The simple horizontal-groove decoration of the first century AD was augmented or replaced by more diverse styles while numbers of different pot forms increased. The pottery of the wealthy graves at the end of the ORIA is generally of a different form and decoration from earlier styles; in some cases it is imported from northern Germany and in others the underside is painted with white spots (though not all the painted pottery is associated with wealthy burials). The segregation between cremation and inhumation, as mentioned above, also gradually broke down as an indicator of class. Likewise male and female distinctions became less meaningful. Spatial segregation of male and female graves was less common and a number of graves contained objects which had male associations together with those that had female associations. Virtually all ritual conventions which had served to keep people apart at the beginning of the ORIA had collapsed, presumably through a continuous process of emulation of ruling-class values. The increasing deposition of valuables in graves would be the only clear way of demonstrating worldly power, that is, by 'buying' ancestral legitimation.

The resulting crisis involved most of Scandinavia and north-western Europe which entered a period of tribal conflict in the third century AD. The lack of settlement evidence for this period means that we have to rely primarily on the burial evidence to document this crisis (increased consumption of wealth creating debt and poverty amongst the majority of the population). Evidence for warfare and territorial aggression comes from within southern Jutland as well as north-west Europe as a whole. A ditched and banked wooden palisade which has been traced for twelve kilometres was constructed to keep out groups to the north and to block the overland trade-route between Jutland and Schleswig. Its three phases of construction were dated by eight radiocarbon samples to AD 123, AD 140 and AD 201 (Neumann 1977).

In the latter part of the third century AD large quantities of weaponry were broken up and thrown into lakes in Jutland. They may well have been deposited after battles and could signify a period of conflict (their significance will be discussed below). Haderslev fiord on the east coast of Jutland was blockaded with underwater defences which have been dated to 260 ± 100, 240 ± 100 and 290 + 100 radiocarbon years AD (Crumlin-Pedersen 1975). Roman documents indicate that the empire faced its greatest threat in over two centuries. In the second half of the third century the northern frontier was breached from Britain to the Black Sea by barbarian incursions, including Saxon sea raids on Britain and France, and Alamannic and Frankish attacks on the Rhine and Danube frontier (Luttwak 1976, pp. 146 - 50). While there is no doubt that this resulted partly from weaknesses within the Empire it should now be recognized that tensions within the barbarian world probably provided some impetus for these attacks.



The third cycle: third to fifth/sixth centuries AD (Younger Roman Iron Age-Older Germanic Iron Age)
The chronology of the YRIA and OGIA in southern Jutland is not entirely satisfactorily worked out. Earlier studies (Mackeprang 1943) have been improved upon by the analysis of chronological sequences throughout Denmark and parts of north-western Europe (Lund-Hansen 1976; Jensen 1976; Jensen 1979a) to allow dress-items, and to a lesser extent, pottery, to be adequately dated. In southern Jutland the large number of settlements and cemeteries recently excavated, as well as the impressive weapon deposits in lakes (excavated in the nineteenth century as well as recently) provide an extraordinary range of material culture from different social contexts. When placed in chronological sequence, the material provides the clearest evidence for the processes of social change which characterize the Iron Age in Jutland.


Settlement evidence
There is now a considerable body of excavated settlement evidence for the YRIA and OGIA in southern Jutland (Jensen 1980a; Vorting 1973; Haderslev Museum 1979; 1980; Hatt 1958; Hvass 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979; 1979a; Thorvildsen 1972; Andersen 1978; Egeberg Hansen 1980). The settlement at Vorbasse has been the most extensively excavated and has been divided into three main chronological phases which roughly correspond to the third, fourth, and fifth centuries AD (Hvass 1979). The settlement provides a palimpsest of village and farmstead development during the third cycle of Iron Age social evolution (Fig. 12). The settlement plan is not published in the same detail as plans of earlier settlements like Hodde and Grøntoft, and stall-remains in the farmhouses are poorly preserved, making detailed analyses of living-space, animal numbers and storage-space more difficult.

At Vorbasse there are a number of new architectural and productive features which are common to all YRIA settlements excavated so far. The village is composed of up to twenty farms arranged in rows, indicating some form of planned layout. The farms were no longer arranged within a village enclosure but each was separated from the other by adjoining rectangular compounds. The double row of posts which formed the compound palisade was a clearer demarcation of property than any previous boundary structures within settlements. The farm unit now consisted of the farmhouse and one or two outbuildings (including lean-to structures against the palisade). The farmhouse had more living space at the west end than before and an estimated average of twenty-four large animal stalls. An extra storage and working area was added on to the eastern end of the longhouse. It was often open-ended and only very rarely contained a hearth, making it unlikely that this was a living-area. One outbuilding had been an animal byre and one or two had hearths which suggests that they were the habitations of impoverished groups, presumably involved in some sort of relationship of dependence to the main household. Unfortunately it is not clear whether they belong to an earlier or later phase.

The area of third-century occupation at Vorbasse has not been fully excavated though ten farms can be reconstructed (Hvass 1979, Fig. 3). There seems to be little difference between farm units though a main farm may have existed to the east outside the excavated area (at least three inhumation cemeteries of this period have been found in different parts of the site and would appear to correspond to individual farm-units; one in the eastern area had graves far more lavishly equipped than the others and would fit the theory that a dominant household existed in the village). The fourth-century layout (Fig. 12) included a farm which was distinct from the others in several ways with its large farmhouse and compound and four outbuildings (none of the others have more than two). By the fifth century the productive capacity of the settlement as a whole had markedly declined, with each farm smaller than before and none possessing more than one outbuilding (at this time sunken-floored huts were constructed outside the farm compounds but their small size limited the amount of storage-space). The main farm still retained its dominant position but was limited to one, or possibly two, outhouses. This reduction in production is most satisfactorily explained as an economic crisis, and after this phase the settlement was temporarily deserted, a phenomenon known for contemporary settlements in northern Europe (Hvass 1978, p. 106; 1979, p. 35). Corroborative evidence comes from the late YRIA settlement excavated at Mølleparken (Haderslev Museum 1979, pp. 7-8). Four small farmhouses were located to the north of a larger one which possessed three outbuildings. This large farmhouse had a second hearth at its eastern end and conceivably-housed two groups of people.

Settlement evidence for the OGIA has been found at Nørre Snede in central Jutland where a large section of the village has been excavated (Egeberg Hansen 1980). As many as three or four phases of rebuilding have been identified within each compound. The average size of the longhouses is less than at fifth-century Vorbasse and there are not more than one or two barns or four-post structures within the compound (1980, Fig. 2). The economic depression recognized at Vorbasse in the fifth century would seem to worsen in the sixth century.


Funerary evidence
The number of burials known from the YRIA of southern Jutland is less than the number of ORIA graves. It is likely that this is due to retrieval differences - the vast majority of YRIA graves are inhumations dug deep into sandhills and less likely to be recognized by agricultural and other activities than the shallow-cremation graves and stone-lined inhumations of the ORIA. A number of YRIA cemeteries have, however, been extensively excavated and provide important spatial as well as chronological information (e.g. Broholm 1953).

The earliest funerary structures of the period are stylistically, though not necessarily chronologically, separate from the lavish grave assemblages that characterize the end of the ORIA.
Rectangular post structures supporting funeral pyres have been found at Farre and Enderupskov, the former with an unknown quantity of glass vessels, glass-bead necklaces, and vessels and fittings of bronze and silver (Thorvildsen 1951) and the latter with imported Terra Sigillata (manufactured c. 150 AD), a gaming set, glass beads and bronze items (Neumann 1970). Inhumation graves of the third century of TRIA style contained pottery and full dress-sets. Imported Roman drinking equipment was now rare in southern Jutland graves (but frequently found in graves on the Danish islands) (Neumann 1953). Metal dress-fittings, especially fibulae, were often of silver, and were widely distributed throughout the population. This contrasts with the latest ORIA graves when the distribution of silver was limited to the graves of a few individuals. The break in stylistic continuity, like that of the PRIA/ORIA division included changes of settlement location and cemetery location. As mentioned above, it is quite likely that stylistically distinct assemblages overlapped chronologically, but were kept rigidly apart as categorical opposites. We could express this in another way as the challenge of an 'alternative' culture to the existing order at a time of crisis. It is certainly to be noticed that each period of crisis is marked by the appearance of an innovatory repertoire of styles which are kept separate from the conventional assemblages.

There are few graves which may be dated with certainty to the fourth century AD. This is probably due to the absence of typologically distinct metal dress-fitting styles in the graves. Items of silver or gold are particular rare in those graves which have been identified. An inhumation cemetery at Hjemsted contained over seventy burials dating principally to the fourth and fifth centuries AD. Only a few of the graves produced finds of valuable commodities - these were fifth-century females wearing necklaces with silver pendants (Andersen 1978). A wooden chamber-grave of the late fourth century from Enderupskov contained a glass vessel, a spear, a knife and buckle and a bronze fibula (Rieck 1980) but otherwise there are few impressive burials of late YRIA and OGIA date. While the accumulation of valuables in graves did not follow the same process of incremental growth as before in ORIA the quality of dress worn by the deceased declined for the majority of the population. By the fifth century items of silver and glass were restricted to very few graves, and in those contexts were relatively plentiful.


Votive offerings
During this period burials were replaced by votive deposits as the central context for the destruction of wealth. These deposits are some of the most impressive archaeological remains from the Iron Age and include huge quantities of weapons (Engelhardt 1969; 1970) and numerous gold hoards (the latter are not easily definable as 'votive' offerings). The depositions of military equipment were made in lakes on either side of the sea dividing Jutland from Funen, an area which had become deserted in the YRIA (Fig. 13).

Recent excavations have demonstrated that this equipment was broken up and thrown into the lake in a single instance with later offerings of equipment being made in exactly the same place up to two hundred years later (this continuity would support the idea that these lakes had a sacred character; Ilkaer and Lønstrup pers. comm.). The interpretation of the deposits as collective sacrifices of war spoils was partly based on references from classical sources (Ørsnes 1963, pp. 232-3) and the composition of the assemblages can be broken down into a pyramidal structure. The third-to-fourth century deposit at Ejsb0l comprised nine horse-bits and harnesses, nine saddle-fittings, eight or nine pairs of spurs, sixty swords, sixty belt-buckles, sixty-two knives, over 175 shields, over 191 spears and over 203 throwing lances (Ørsnes 1968, Fig. 4). These could have equipped three types of warrior - mounted swordsmen, swordsmen on foot and warriors on foot equipped only with shields and spears. The ratio of mounted to foot soldiers (1:20) was equivalent to the division between main farm and other farms at Vorbasse at the same date and might well have represented a hierarchical division within a war band. No trace of the warriors has ever been found, though the bones of their horses, severely mutilated, were thrown in with their weapons (Engelhardt 1866). Remains of three boats from the deposit at Nydam suggest that war bands came from the eastern islands and Baltic Sea, but some of the fibulae are of a localized Jutish style (Jensen 1979, Fig. 2), suggesting that at least one of the weapon offerings was made with local equipment. The fibulae from the Thorsbjerg deposit further south in Schleswig indicate that the army to which they belonged came from the area between the Elbe and the Rhine (Ilkjaer and Lønstrup 1982, pp. 98 - 9). Since the swords were all Roman imports and the other weapons not distinguishable into regional styles little more can be said about the geographical origin of the warriors. While our knowledge about battles which may have preceded these offerings is uncertain, there is no doubt that the decision was taken to dump valuable items, rather than keep them in circulation. The production and procurement of these weapons, especially the imported swords, must have made considerable demands on the production of agricultural surplus or other 'commodities' for which they might be exchanged, which might, for instance, include slaves, or time spent in military service as a Roman mercenary. In southern incremental growth. There were three depositions at Nydam (Ilkaer and Lønstrup 1977); a small one in the third century sixth centuries with about one hundred silver sword-and dress-fittings but no weapons (Kjaer n.d.). There were at least two depositions at Ejsbøl; the main one in the late third or fourth century (C2/3) and a smaller one with bronze weapon-fittings and three ornate swords with silver dress-fittings in the OGIA (Ørsnes 1963).

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