Gotlandic Villas Implications of the distribution of high status finds in Gotlandic Iron Age houses known as “kämpgravar” By: Jonathan Nilsson Two years master’s thesis in Archaeology Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Uppsala University: Campus Gotland Supervisor: Paul Wallin Co-supervisors: Gustaf Svedjemo & Alexander Andreeff Abstract Author: Jonathan Nilsson Swedish title: Gotländska Villor: Implikationer baserat på distributeringen av högstatusfynd i gotländska järnåldershus kallade ”kämpgravar”. English title: Gotlandic Villas: Implications of the Distribution of High Status Finds in Gotlandic Iron Age Houses Known as “kämpgravar”. Supervisors: Paul Wallin, Gustaf Svedjemo & Alexander Andreeff Swedish abstract: Det huvudsakliga målet med denna uppsats är dels att ge bra överblick över fynden som påträffats i de gotländska stengrundshusen (kämpgravar) som byggdes flitigt under järnåldern och att dels se om det är möjligt att separera vissa hus från andra och spåra social stratifikation och hierarkier baserat på fyndmaterialet. De föremål som var av speciellt intresse för detta mål är de som kan kopplas till rikedom såsom exempelvis exotiska dryckesföremål, romerska föremål och föremål av ädelmetall. Undersökningen har visat att det på Gotland faktiskt fanns en del, ofta enorma, hus som hade en speciell benägenhet att hamstra exotiska dyrgripar. De riktiga utstickarna på det här temat är huset känt som Stavgard och även den nyligen undersökta byggnaden i Hellvi. Båda hade rika mängder av dryckesobjekt såsom glaskärl och dryckeshorn och en del, för ön, unika romerska föremål. Ett sidomål var att även undersöka möjligheten att datera husen baserat på fynden, vilket visade sig vara högst problematiskt. (Master-uppsats i Arkeologi) Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to on one hand give a good overview of finds found in gotlandic stonefoundationhouses (kämpgravar) that were commonly built during the Iron Age and on the other hand investigate the possibility of separating some houses from others and trace social stratification and hierarchies based on the finds. The items of special interest for this goal were those that could be connected to wealth such as drinking objects, Roman objects and objects made of silver and gold. This investigation has shown that on Gotland it actually existed some, often enormous, houses that had a special tendency to hoard exotic valuables. The real standout houses on this subject are the one in Stavgard and the recently excavated building in Hellvi. A secondart goal was to investigate the possibility to date the buildings based on the finds, which was found to be very problematic. (Two years master’s thesis in Archaeology) Ämnesord: Kämpgravar, järnåldersbosättningar, fynd, Romersk-Skandinaviska kontakter, festföremål, statistisk analys Keywords: Kämpgrav, Iron Age settlements, finds, Roman-Scandinavian connections, feasting items, statistical analysis Front cover depicts Vallhagar H18 (Gejvall 1955:215). Edited by Jonathan Nilsson. 2 Special Thanks! First of all I would like to thank my supervisors Paul Wallin, Gustaf Svedjemo and Alexander Andreeff for a ton of help and often fast feedback when I was stuck in the writing process. Without them, these last two years of working on the thesis would have been a lot more painful and the thesis would suffer from it. I would also like to give a huge thanks to my dear friend and UK colleage Barbora Ziackova who did an amazing job helping me edit the text since English is not my native language. Of course I also want to thank my parents, family, friends and collegues for being all around great people which indirectly made the experience writing this thesis a whole lot better. 3 Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 8 1.1 PURPOSE AND QUESTIONS ................................................................................................. 8 1.2 THEORY AND METHOD ...................................................................................................... 9 1.3 MATERIAL AND CRITICISM .............................................................................................. 11 1.4 DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................................... 12 1.4.1 ”Kämpgrav” ............................................................................................................ 12 1.4.2 Choice of chronological system ............................................................................... 12 1.5 BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH ....................................................................... 12 2. PRESENTATION OF MATERIAL ................................................................................. 15 2.1 THE HOUSES USED ........................................................................................................... 15 2.2 GLASS .............................................................................................................................. 16 2.2.1 Beads (Including amber) .......................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Glass vessels ............................................................................................................ 17 3.2.3 Signs of Glass Making ............................................................................................. 18 2.3 METAL ............................................................................................................................. 18 2.3.1 Iron ........................................................................................................................... 18 2.3.2 Bronze ...................................................................................................................... 22 2.3.3 Silver ........................................................................................................................ 26 2.3.4 Coins ........................................................................................................................ 27 2.3.5 Gold .......................................................................................................................... 29 2.4 CERAMICS ........................................................................................................................ 30 2.4.1 Pottery ...................................................................................................................... 30 2.4.2 Other ceramic objects .............................................................................................. 33 2.5 BONE ............................................................................................................................... 33 2.5.1 Skeletal Remains (Homo Sapiens) ........................................................................... 33 2.5.2 Other bone objects ................................................................................................... 34 2.6 STONE .............................................................................................................................. 37 2.7 SUMMARIZING THE RESULTS OF THE PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION OF FINDS ........................ 38 3. ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 41 3.1 SEPARATING BUILDINGS WITH SPECIAL ARTEFACTS ......................................................... 41 3.2 HOUSES AND LONGHOUSES ............................................................................................. 48 3.3 FINDS, HOUSES & TIME ................................................................................................... 49 3.4 TRACING THE SOCIAL DIMENSION THROUGH FINDS IN HOUSES ........................................ 54 3.5 TRACING THE SOCIAL DIMENSION THROUGH RUINS ......................................................... 62 4. RESULT .............................................................................................................................. 63 5. SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 64 6. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 65 APPENDIX 1, THE FINDS ................................................................................................... 68 4 ALSKOG VISNAR .................................................................................................................... 68 House 1 ............................................................................................................................. 68 House 2 ............................................................................................................................. 68 ANGA BOTERS ....................................................................................................................... 69 House 1 ............................................................................................................................. 69 BRO EKES .............................................................................................................................. 70 House 1 ............................................................................................................................. 70 BRO ÅBY ..............................................................................................................................