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Arrangement of Space Inside Ölandic Ringforts a Comparative Study of the Spatial Division Within the Ringforts Eketorp, Sandby, and Ismantorp

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Arrangement of Space Inside Ölandic Ringforts a Comparative Study of the Spatial Division Within the Ringforts Eketorp, Sandby, and Ismantorp Arrangement of space inside Ölandic ringforts A comparative study of the spatial division within the ringforts Eketorp, Sandby, and Ismantorp Lund University The Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology Department of Archaeology and Ancient History ARKM21, Archaeology and Ancient History: Master Thesis in Archaeology Spring semester 2019 Supervisor: Nicoló Dell'Unto Author: Fraya-Noëlle Denninghaus Abstract In the Iron Age AD, ringforts were constructed on the Swedish island Öland. Most of them contained a settlement inside. The remains of 15 of these ringforts are still preserved in the landscape. This thesis gives a general overview of the known and the possible Ölandic ringforts and their historical and constructional context, before analysing and comparing the settlements inside the ringforts Eketorp, Sandby, and Ismantorp regarding their spatial division and arrangement. At that, the focus lays on the main settlement phases in the Iron Age. The analysis was conducted to explore if there is a pattern in the arrangement of the settlements inside the ringforts and further to investigate the importance of sufficient open areas. In doing so, the arrangement and grouping of houses and open areas, the relation of built-up and open space, as well as the development of the respective interior settlement are analysed. The ringforts were an isolated and small settlement complex. Thus, usually there were houses with different kinds of functions (e.g. dwellings, stables, storehouses, workshops) within the ringforts. The results of this study show that there was more built-up space than open space inside each of the analysed ringforts. It is to assume that the open areas were used as public space respectively settlement squares. Consequently, it seems that the priority was to fit as many houses as possible into the limited inner area. Nevertheless, it was also important to have sufficient open areas (in terms of streets and squares) according to the ringfort’s function(s) and needs, as well as a well- connected street network inside the ringforts. The amount of open space probably depended on the ringfort’s function(s). Furthermore, the analysed ringforts were arranged similarly, with houses placed radially along the ring-wall, creating a large open place in the forts’ centre that was built- up in a later phase. A suggestion is that the ringforts all had a first phase in which houses were built only along the ring-wall and the centre was left open for a certain time – maybe until about 400 AD. This theory, however, is speculative and there is no proof for it yet; for that more excavations are needed. Key words Öland, Sweden, ringforts, Eketorp, Ismantorp, Sandby, settlement arrangement, Iron Age, Roman Iron Age, Migration Period Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Research questions .................................................................................................................2 1.2 Previous research ....................................................................................................................3 1.3 Theory ....................................................................................................................................6 1.3.1 Public and private space ..................................................................................................7 2. Method and Material ..............................................................................................................10 2.1 Source criticism and limitations ...........................................................................................12 2.2 The Ölandic ringforts ...........................................................................................................13 2.2.1 Context of the Ölandic ringforts: historical and constructional background ................16 3. Analysis .....................................................................................................................................19 3.1 Eketorp I ...............................................................................................................................19 3.2 Eketorp II ..............................................................................................................................23 3.3 Sandby ..................................................................................................................................30 3.4 Ismantorp ..............................................................................................................................36 4. Results and Discussion .............................................................................................................46 5. Conclusions ...............................................................................................................................57 5.1 Future prospects ...................................................................................................................61 6. References .................................................................................................................................63 7. List of figures ............................................................................................................................71 8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................75 Appendix A – Calculation of the square measures for the houses of Eketorp I ........................75 Appendix B – Calculation of the built-up and open areas in Sandby .......................................76 Appendix C – Calculation of the built-up and open areas in Ismantorp ...................................77 Appendix D – Proportions of the different house functions in the ringforts Eketorp II and Ismantorp ...................................................................................................................................82 Appendix E – Proportions of built-up and open space of the ringforts Eketorp I, Eketorp II, Sandby, and Ismantorp ...............................................................................................................85 1. Introduction On the Swedish island Öland (fig. 1) there are 15 ruins of Iron Age ringforts still visible in the landscape. These forts had a defensive enclosure in the form of a usually circular stone wall which in most of the ringforts protected a settlement inside. The construction of the ringforts is connected to the martial and conflictual historical context of the late Iron Age, and it is assumed that most ringforts were used as refuges. Generally, the Ölandic ringforts are conceived as one type of fortress. Moreover, the ringforts differ in their structure and arrangement from the common settlements and villages on Öland from the Iron Age. Since the settlements inside the ringforts on Öland were mainly occasionally inhabited it is questionable whether in their structure also open places that Figure 1: The Swedish island Öland is situated in the Baltic Sea, in front functioned as village squares for the of the south-eastern part of the Swedish mainland. (Map by Ylva social life were considered, or if it was Telldahl, Emma Svensson, Anders Götherström & Jan Storå 2011. Edited by the author.) prioritised to fit as many houses as possible inside, in order to provide as much living space as possible? Moreover, since the space within a ringfort was limited compared with the freestanding farmsteads and settlements or villages on Öland, the question arises how much open respectively public space was included? The theory that underlies this thesis is that the ringforts with a settlement inside had to undertake the functions of a normal settlement or village for the time they were occupied. Thus, having a good relation between built-up and open areas would be desirable, that is public space e.g. for the communal and social life and activities, to perform religious and cultural ceremonies, but also private space in terms of houses as a safe haven and private working area for a family or household. The Ölandic ringforts have been archaeologically studied and compared in the past; some more detailed than others. However, it seems that in the previous studies the focus was not on the analysis and comparison of the spatial arrangement of the ringforts and the respective division of the interior space. The study of the relations and proportions of built-up and open space, as well as of the proportions and division of the different functions of space, respectively of the houses inside a ringfort, might help to define a pattern regarding a general spatial arrangement of the Ölandic ringforts. Moreover, if there is a pattern would that suggest that the ringforts were not only based on a shared idea but were also planned and built according to standardised spatial concepts. The study of the spatial arrangement and division of the ringforts can be used to understand the functional character of a ringfort and to ascertain if it was intended to be occupied only occasionally or for a longer time. Moreover, if there is a pattern it possibly enables to predict the intended function and duration of use for other Ölandic ringforts. 1 This paper deals with the analysis of the interior spacial arrangement of the ringforts Eketorp, Sandby, and Ismantorp, in order to ascertain if the arrangement of the ringfort
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