RELATIONS and RUNES the Baltic Islands and Their Interactions During the Late Iron Age and Early Middle Ages

RELATIONS AND RUNES The Baltic Islands and Their Interactions During the Late Iron Age and Early Middle Ages Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Per Widerström, Ben Raffield Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet) P.O. Box 1114 SE-621 22 Visby Tel. +46 8 5191 80 00 www.raa.se [email protected] Riksantikvarieämbetet 2020 Relations and Runes – The Baltic Islands and Their Interactions During the Late Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. Editors: Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, Per Widerström and Ben Raffield. Cover: The Pilgårds stone. Photo: Raymond Hejdström, © Gotland Museum. Text: copyright the authors Images, graphs etc: licensed by CC BY, unless otherwise stated, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN 978-91-7209-850-3 (PDF) ISBN 978-91-7209-851-0 (PoD) Innehåll 5 Introduction 11 Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson Entering the Viking Age through the Baltic 23 John Ljungkvist A maritime culture 31 Ben Raffield No one is an island: in-group identities in the Viking Age Baltic 41 Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay There’s something about islands: similarities and differences between Öland and Gotland in the Migration period 49 Christoph Kilger Long distance trade, runes and silver: a Gotlandic perspective 65 DARIUSZ ADAMCZYK Did the Viking Age begin on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea? Early Norse Trading Networks centred on Janów Pomorski/Truso 79 Ny Björn Gustafsson On the significance of coastal free zones and foreign tongues. Tracing cultural interchange in early medieval Gotland 91 Per Widerström The fourth road – new insights about Visby 107 Torun Zachrisson Öland during the Late Iron Age and Early Middle Ages (550–1200 AD): a donkey between two strips of hay 127 Magnus Källström The typology of the short-twig runes and contacts in the Baltic Sea 151 Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt Islanders’ attitudes to runic script – personal objects with runic inscriptions on Öland, Gotland and Bornholm 167 Cecilia Ljung Regional diversity and religious change – Late Viking Age burial and commemoration on Öland and Gotland LAILA KITZLER ÅHFELDT, CHARLOTTE HEDENSTIERNA-JONSON, PER WIDERSTRÖM AND BEN RAFFIELD Introduction This book is the outcome of a workshop in Visby in 2017. It is a joint venture between two research projects concerned with the Viking Age – The Viking Phenomenon and Everlasting Runes, and Gotland Museum. The Viking Phenomenon is a ten-year research initiative aimed at studying the very origins and development of the period that we now refer to as ‘the Viking Age.’ The project focuses on the crucial centuries either side of the year 800, with a view to understanding the factors that underpinned the violent expansion of Scandinavian interest into the Baltic and beyond. As a part of this, we are particularly interested in social development and contact among the groups inhabiting the Baltic islands and the surrounding mainland regions, as well as the interactions between them. Everlasting Runes: a digital research platform for Sweden’s runic inscriptions aims at increasing accessibility to the runic source material, with scholarly edited translations, maps and original documentation including previously unpublished photos and archival material. The project also includes a study of the use of runes on the Baltic islands of Öland, Gotland and Bornholm, and a comparison between these islands. The aim is to examine the relationships between these three ‘runic’ islands through the lens of interdisciplinary runic research, including runology, archaeology and scientific methods for documentation and analysis. Our aim with the seminar was to discuss our runic research in a wider perspective, and to consider issues such as identity, alliances and networks. For Gotland Museum, co-hosting this meeting in our premises was a pleasure and a privilege. Gotland Museum has an explicit ambition to take an active role in research that concerns Gotland’s history, and the island’s relations to its Baltic neighbours. Therefore, participating in a meeting with two of the most exciting ongoing research projects concerned with the Iron Age in the Baltic – The Viking Phenomenon and Everlasting Runes, brings us where we want to be. 5 We found that we had many questions and research interests in com- mon, which we wished to discuss with other scholars in a roundtable seminar. Through this, we sought to gain a new understanding of the field from the perspective of archaeology, runology and numismatics. We did not ask for finished studies, nor any final answers, but rather an open-minded conversation and discussion of interesting topics. The general themes and questions of the workshop revolved around cultural similarities and differences between the islands of the Bal- tic, with a focus on Öland, Gotland and Bornholm, as well as the relations that existed between them. We also sought to explore island mentalities, the role that islands play as nodes of interaction and communication, and also to examine change and continuity in a long-term perspective. These themes are revisited in this book, discussed in light of current strands in archaeological research including insularity, net- work theory and the Viking diaspora. The first theme, which centred on similarities and differences between the islands and the relationships between them, focused on material culture, language and the runic inscriptions from an archaeological perspective. Given that the islands were competitors in trade and warfare, did the inhabitants of these places choose to make cultural statements that expressed affiliation with or differentiation from each other? The second theme, ‘island mentality,’ touched on issues such as cultural development and change in comparison to surrounding mainland regions, the continuity of traditions as seen in late silver hoards, cemetery finds, and late rune stones, and re-inventions and re-interpre- tations of mainland traditions and practices. The third theme – ‘islands as nodes of interaction and communication,’ explored the role of the Baltic as a catalyst for social and economic change and expansion. This included discussions of emporia and ports of trade, beach markets and also numismatic perspectives on interaction. Finally, in considering the theme of change and continuity in long-term perspective, we discussed how cultural traditions develop over time, the innovation and preservation of knowledge, technology and expressions of political integration or independence. The contributions in the book cover a wide spectrum of topics and approaches to both materials and questions. We want to acknowledge the importance of in-depth studies of specific archaeological materials 6 while at the same time stressing the need to situate these discussions within the broader context of cultural development and change in the Baltic. We also seek to highlight the importance of a multi-discipli- nary perspective. The main aim of the workshop was therefore not to present concrete ‘results’ of various studies, but rather to promote an open and scholarly discussion, something that we hope is conveyed through the contributions in this book. Directly from the trench, Widerström shares his detailed observations from recent excavations in Visby, where there may be traces of a Tuna farm. Such sites are unusual on Gotland and they are also highly-relevant for our understanding of the origins and development of Visby. These observations also highlight the necessity of source criticism concerning, for example, dating methods and the results of archaeobotanical analyses. It also serves as a reminder of the hard work and difficult circumstances under which basic archaeological information is extracted from the soil. In a discussion of trade and its relation to novelties and intellectual capacities, Kilger seeks to relate numismatic research to other topics in this volume, and to examine how the results of runic and numismatic research can serve to complement each other. As Kilger demonstrates, runes, trade and silver were deeply-interconnected within the context of long-distance exchange. It is likely that specialists were needed in this profession, and the trading communities of the Baltic may have provided the social and intellectual environment needed for the develop ment of the short-twig runic system. Bogeviken on northern Gotland, for example, is shown to be rich in silver hoards and, accord- ing to Källström, it may have been a centre for runic knowledge. Hedenstierna-Jonson and Ljungkvist delve into some of the social and political circumstances underpinning the very beginning of the Viking Age. The development of sailing technology and skills in nav- igation are evidently crucial, with Ljungkvist also suggesting that the desire to secure access to maritime resources may have even provided the grounds for seafarers to extend the range of their operations. The concept of insularity is addressed from different perspectives by Papmehl-Dufay, Gustafsson and Raffield. Gustafsson argues that Gotland developed a range of unique cultural expressions not as a result of isolation, but rather due to the construction of a ‘deliberate otherness’ that was maintained in spite of its ample exposure to foreign 7 influences. Papmehl-Dufay similarly argues that the otherness of the large islands in the Baltic was actually symptomatic of their role as communicative nodes on a ‘maritime highway.’ Raffield from another, more anthropological perspective, discusses insularity as an aspect of in-group mentality, where it is important

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