Offa
71/72 2014/15
•
Offa
Berichte und Mitteilungen zur Urgeschichte, Frühgeschichte
und Mittelalterarchäologie
Band 71/72 • 2014/15
Wachholtz Verlag – Murmann Publishers, Kiel/Hamburg
Herausgegeben
vom Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
und dem Archäologischen Landesmuseum der Stitung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig
sowie dem Archäologischen Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig
durch
CLAUS von CArnAP-BOrnHeIM, Schleswig, JOHAnneS MüLLer und ULrICH MüLLer, beide Kiel
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© Wachholtz Verlag – Murmann-Publishers, Kiel/Hamburg 2018
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InHALTSVerZeICHnIS
Ina-Isabelle Schmütz
Grube-Rosenfelde LA 83, Kreis Ostholstein – Ein Funktionsplatz der
akeramischen Ertebølle-Kultur in Schleswig-Holstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Binnie Feierabend
Hammelev, Haderslev Kommune, Sønderjylland. Eine Studie zu rituellen Gruben
der Einzelgrabkultur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Sönke Hartz und Johannes Müller
Spätneolithische Transformationsprozesse: Die Bedeutung von Quern-Neukirchen LA 28
(Tegelbarg) für die Rekonstruktion einer Übergangszeit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Wencke Höfgen
Der spätneolithische Muschelhaufen von Quern-Neukirchen LA 28 (Tegelbarg),
Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Katharina Fuchs
Die menschlichen Skelettreste aus dem spätneolithischen Grab von Quern-Neukirchen LA 28
(Tegelbarg), Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Luise Schaller und Wiebke Kirleis
Die subfossil-feuchten Großreste aus dem spätneolithischen Fundplatz Quern-Neukirchen LA 28
(Tegelbarg), Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Jens Ulriksen
A Völva’s Grave at Roskilde, Denmark? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Sven Kalmring in collaboration with Lena Holmquist
Hedeby Hochburg – heories, State of Research and Dating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Henrike Effenberger
Zur planzlichen Nahrungswirtschat der frühmittelalterlichen Siedlungen Gönnebek LA 109
und Högersdorf LA 54 im Kreis Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Philip Lüth
Frühe Slawen in Ostholstein. Archäologische und palynologische Untersuchungen zu Landnahme
und Konsolidierung im westlichsten Ausdehnungsbereich der slawischen Hemisphäre. . . . . . . . . . 309
Per-Ole Pohl
Das Erbe vom Reinbothschen Grundstück. Die archäologischen Befunde und Funde
der Grabung Schleswig, Rathausmarkt 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
3
Uelzener Gespräche 3
Rassenwahn, Ersatzverzauberung und Pagan Metal –
Archäologie zwischen Metaphysik und Wissenschaft
Ulf Ickerodt und Fred Mahler
Editorial zum 3. Uelzener Gespräch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Ulf Ickerodt
Weltliche Inbesitznahme: Archäologie zwischen Wissenschat, fortschrittsreligiöser Überhöhung
und pseudoreligiöser Ersatzverzauberung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Winfried Henke
Religiosität aus evolutionsanthropologischer Perspektive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Dirk Mahsarski
Das Ahnenerbe der SS und die Archäologen – Die Prähistorische Archäologie zwischen
wissenschatlichen Großprojekten, NS-Ideologie und religiöser Neustitung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
René Gründer
Geschichte als ,Steinbruch‘ religiöser Sinnstitung – Rezeption und Relevanz historiograischer
Wissensbestände bei Anhängern germanisch-neuheidnischer Glaubensvorstellungen . . . . . . . . . . 445
Martin Langebach
Pagan Metal und neues Heidentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Buchbesprechungen
Søren H. Andersen, Tybrind Vig. Submerged Mesolithic Settlements in Denmark (Svea Mahlstedt) . . . . 475
Barbara Scholkmann u. a., Archäologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit. Grundwissen (Felix Biermann) . . 478
Marcin Wołoszyn, heophylaktos Simokates und die Slawen am Ende des westlichen Ozeans –
die erste Erwähnung der Ostseeslawen? (Felix Biermann) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
Dariusz Adamczyk, Silber und Macht: Fernhandel, Tribute und die piastische Herrschatsbildung
in nordosteuropäischer Perspektive (800–1100) (Donat Wehner) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
4
Ofa 71/72, 2014/15 (2018) 229–240.
A Völva’s Grave at Roskilde, Denmark?
By Jens Ulriksen
Introduction
Studying Viking Age graves it soon becomes clear
that funeral rites not only varied in time and from
one Scandinavian region to the other but within
the same cemetery as well. hus, one could get the
impression that the burial rites were random or at
least not ixed in an obvious cosmological framework. However, a closer study of the furnishing of
the graves and the treatment of the interred indicates quite complex burial rituals some elements
of which can be identiied throughout Southern
Scandinavia1.
Among the remarkable features is the presence
of more than one individual in a grave, either as a
double or triple burial or as a secondary burial. Furthermore, except for the interred a grave can contain parts of additional individuals, for example a
hand or a skull of both children and adults. Burials
with more than one person are not exceptional in
Viking Age Scandinavia. A recent study has pointed out 38 cemeteries within the borders of present day Denmark where eleven cemeteries cluster
in Northeast Zealand (Christensen 2013, 53). Evidence from two Viking Age burial grounds, Kirke
Hyllinge Kirkebakke and Trekroner-Grydehøj,
both from the area around Roskilde Fjord and excavated in the 2000s, shows that 14 % and 22 % of
the graves respectively enclosed two or three persons and adding graves with parts of extra individuals the number augments to around 29 % (Ulriksen 2011). his particular practice does not mean
that the graves are similar. On the contrary, they
prove to be as diverse in the treatment of the deceased and the furnishing of the grave as the single graves.
he complex and enigmatic ritualized furnishing of a multiple grave was revealed during an excavation at Trekroner-Grydehøj. Amongst other
things the burial A 505 contained two women, half
a man, a stallion, a dog cut in two halves, a foetus of
a sheep, a small menhir and large boulders, all covered with a carpet of stone.
he Necropolis at Trekroner-Grydehøj, Roskilde
Grydehøj is the name of a small hill in the now
developed area of Trekroner some 4 km east of the
town centre of Roskilde, Denmark 2 (Fig. 1). he hill
has been a necropolis for more than 3,000 years.
Beginning in the Late Neolithic Period (c. 2000–
1700 BC) three stone cists covered with one or more
mounds were situated on the summit. In the Early Bronze Age (c. 1700–1100 BC) a mound was built
1
his article is based on a presentation of the traces of rituals
in Danish Viking Age inhumation graves and published in
the Danish periodical Kuml 2011 (see Ulriksen 2011). I am
grateful to Roskilde Museum for the permission to use excavation plans and photographs in the article.
2 Since the city council of Roskilde in the late 1990s began developing more than 70 hectares of farming land east of the
town centre, the local archaeological museum successively
in short distance to the west of the stone cists. Later this mound was expanded to facilitate a new Early Bronze Age grave and a ditch was dug around the
eastward foot of the mound, in order to make it appear larger in contrast to the neighbouring Neolithic mounds. In the Late Bronze Age or in the beginning of the Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 600–400 BC)
three urn graves were buried at the western foot of
went ahead digging many kilometres of trial trenches before
the construction of roads and main sewers began. During
this process several single farms of the Late Bronze Age and
Early Iron Age were excavated. hen, in 2005 the necropolis was found, and during spring 2007 the excavation took
place. he excavation was carried out by Roskilde Museum
and conducted by the author.
229
100 km
SWEDEN
DENMARK
GERMANY
Fig. 1. he Viking Age burial ground Trekroner-Grydehøj is
marked with a black dot.
the hill. hen more than a thousand years passed
until the late 8th or early 9th century AD when a
Viking Age burial ground was established. he 27
inhumations were primarily found on the western
slope of the hill with the old cluster of mounds as a
point of departure (Fig. 2).
Of the 27 graves 20 % were oriented E-W, some
with a slight deviation towards N-W, while 80 %
had a N-S to NW-SE orientation. Not all the graves
had preserved skeletal remains. All together 23
skeletons were registered, 13 in a supine position,
and ten placed in a crouched position. Two single
graves enclosed additional burned human skeletal
material, while ive graves contained two persons.
In four of these burials even parts of at least one
more individual were present. he graves with two
individuals could be separated in two groups: double burials, where the bodies have been interred at
the same time in the same pit, and primary/secondary burials characterized by a primary grave with
one individual and a secondary grave dug within
the limits of the irst one.
A505
N
20 m
Fig. 2. Trekroner-Grydehøj. he lay-out of the prehistoric necropolis, excavated area with contour lines at 0.25 m intervals at the level
of the excavated surface. Light grey: Late Neolithic stone cists; dark grey: the stone lined perimeter of the Early Bronze Age mound in
two phases; black: cooking pits connected with the mound; stars: Late Bronze Age/Early Pre-Roman Iron Age urns; hatched: Viking
Age inhumations. Illustration by author.
230
Two women, half a man, a stallion and
a dog in two parts
he most complex feature among the burials was
grave A 505. When unearthed it had an oblong shape,
182 × 280 cm, oriented N-S. In the top ill there were
stones and lint with white cortex in sizes around 10–
15 cm. One of the stones was scorched and another had a partly polished surface, probably a piece of
a quern stone. Among the stones lay a few pieces of
bones of varying size, some being from a dog. Along
the eastern side and to the north three large boulders
were visible (Fig. 3). Some 10–15 cm into the grave
the pit was narrowed to 140 × 240 cm and an oblong
patch of dark brown soil (c. 55 × 175 cm, 25 cm deep)
packed with stones of lint, chalk and granite became
visible. he dark patch was limited by two large boulders to the east, one large boulder to the north and a
smaller boulder to the west. In the patch the remains
of two humans were found (Fig. 4).
Individual I was a woman, her head in the north
and legs towards south, 35–40 years of age, the remains being parts of the skull, ribs, a shoulder blade,
a forearm, pelvis, lower extremities and a knee cap3.
Both hip joints were severely afected by rheumatism
and she has had a gumboil by the front teeth in the
lower jawbone. he skeletal remains were very fragmented and were not found in strict anatomical order. he skull was partly covered by a heavy boulder and was turned 180 degrees, so that the top of
the head pointed to the south. Underneath the skull
lay fragments of a shoulder blade, ribs and a forearm.
Whether the turning of the skull is due to post-depositional movements because of decomposition or
whether the head was cut of before the burial is not
clear. No cervical vertebrae were preserved to be examined for cut marks. he lower jaw bone was more
or less in the correct position in relation to the skull,
so if the displacement of the woman’s head is due to
the mechanics of decomposition this happened while
the ligaments of the jaw were intact.
Together with the woman lay parts of Individual II. he remains present were the right hand, part
of the pelvis and let and right femur. heir size and
shape suggest that they belong to a man, 35–45 years
of age. here were no artefacts in the upper grave, but
parts of a medium-sized dog were scattered among
the stones above the human remains4.
he third Individual III rested at the bottom of
the grave. he body was arranged in a supine position with the head to the north. he ill around the
skeletal parts was pale brown clayish humus and the
Fig. 4. Trekroner-Grydehøj. Upper level of grave A 505 with
skeletal parts from Individual I and Individual II (green) covered by stones of lint (light blue) and chalk (light grey). Boulders are grey, bones from a dog are yellow. he inner dark patch
is marked with a black line. Illustration by author.
3
4
he analysis of the human skeletal remains was conducted
by Dr. Pia Bennike, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences,
University of Copenhagen.
Fig. 3. Trekroner-Grydehøj. he top of the unearthed grave
A 505 seen from south. Photo Birgitte Borby Hansen, Roskilde Museum.
N
1m
he analysis of the faunal remains was conducted by conservator Kristian M. Gregersen, Natural History Museum of
Denmark, University of Copenhagen.
231
N
1m
N
1m
Fig. 5. Trekroner-Grydehøj. Lower levels of grave A 505. Blue:
Individual III; light purple: horse; yellow: dog; red: sheep or
goat; grey: boulders. Illustration by author.
Fig. 6. Trekroner-Grydehøj. Bottom of grave A 505. Blue: Individual III; yellow: dog; red: sheep or goat; black: artefacts; grey:
boulder (menhir). Illustration by author.
amount of stones was considerably smaller than in
the upper burials. hough the bones were fragmented it could be established that the interred person
had been a woman, 166 cm tall and 25–30 years of
age when she died. he skull was out of its anatomical
correct position and stood upright on the foramen
magnum facing west in a ‘nest’ of hand sized stones.
A large boulder covered both the skull and parts of
the torso (Fig. 5–6). heoretically the combination of
the weight of the boulder and the decomposition of
the body may have caused the dislocation of the cranium, but considering its preservation and position
in relation to the rest of the skeleton and the boulder
it is more likely that the head was removed from the
body before or during the burial ceremony.
Along with this woman more objects were found.
Close to the head lay the iron handle of a small bucket.
At the same spot was a 2 cm long wire nail of iron and
at her right arm were the closing device of a wooden
box, a heavily worn knife, the handle of another knife,
a slight copper alloy rivet and a substantial iron eye,
both with some wood attached. At her right hand lay
an 11 cm long and massive copper alloy piece cast
together with a short iron blade or point (Fig. 7). In
the abdominal area was found a tiny iron nail with
a round head and along the let leg were occasional
pieces of minute iron rods. Nearby the right thigh lay
a poorly preserved cranium from goat or sheep and a
dog’s jawbone while an iron hinge was situated alongside the tibia. At the feet of the woman rested a dog
the size of a pointer, the body cut in two halves beforehand. By its neck were three links of an iron chain5,
and partly on top of the hind part of the dog was a
small angular menhir. Beside the dog lay a hind limb
from a sheep, and by the menhir were two front teeth
from a foetus, probably a sheep. Ater the arrangement of these elements an old stallion has been placed
on its belly along the east side of the grave-cut. he
5
A chain of a similar type was found in grave 944 at Birka
(Arbman 1940, pl. 30)
232
Fig. 7. Trekroner-Grydehøj, grave A 505. Copper alloy piece with an iron point. Photo Cille Krause, Roskilde Museum.
stallion’s body partly covered the interred woman,
while the head rested on the hind part of the dog next
to the menhir (Fig. 8). By the horse’s neck were two
massive eyed pins of iron, most likely used for securing packing on a saddle (Cosack 2005, 424 f.). None
of the artefacts had chronological signiicance, while
an AMS 14C analysis of a tooth from the stallion suggests a dating between AD 720 and AD 9706.
he description above is almost like playing a movie backwards. Step by step the conduct of the burial
may have been as follows: he original grave-cut was
260 × 157 cm and dug 42 cm into the subsoil. According to the cross section of the grave-cut it has been illed
up with a mix of top soil and subsoil (Fig. 9). It was not
possible to ind out whether a person, an animal or objects were buried at this point. Ater a while a re-opening of the grave-cut made way for the body of a woman
(Individual III) placed in the mid-axis with her head
in the north end, probably cut of before the interment.
To her right hand side were a bucket, knives, a wooden
box and a wooden staf with a composite metal point.
At the southern end of the grave a sacriiced dog cut in
two halves, a part of a sheep and a sheep foetus were arranged and partly covered with a 32 cm tall and angular menhir. At this point a stallion has been sacriiced
and placed along the east side of the grave-cut partially covering the woman and the dog. Finally four boulders were placed in the northern half of the grave-cut,
two of them resting on top of the horse while a third
boulder was placed over the cut of head and torso of
the woman. hen the grave was illed.
Ater an uncertain time span the grave-cut was
re-opened once again, 172 cm wide and 32 cm deep,
but this time a little displaced to the east. he boulders on top of the woman and the stallion were visible and untouched. he reason for this episode is not
clear, but in the central part of the grave the cross section witnessed a disturbed area right to the bottom of
the original grave-cut. Studying the section the disturbance was later than the burial of Individual III,
but it was impossible to ind out to which of the later
episodes it belonged. Somewhat later a grave-cut was
dug between the large boulders. From top to bottom
this secondary grave was illed with a mix of top soil,
stones of granite, chalk and lint, the latter dominating in the upper 20 cm of the ill. Between the stones
were placed the body of an older woman (Individual I) and above her the pelvis and femur of a man (Individual II) and parts of a medium sized dog. hereater the deceased presumably rested in peace.
A Black Magic Woman?
A grave of such a complex character with more
than one individual, sacriiced animals, a stone carpet
and several boulders is not exclusive in Viking Age
Denmark. Nevertheless grave A 505 included some
attributes that separates it from most other inhumations of that époque. Together these attributes suggest
that one or more of the individuals interred were considered out of the ordinary.
6
Double graves are oten interpreted as the master
and his/her slave, the latter executed at the time of the
funeral to accompany the irst (i. e. Ramskou 1963–
65; Skaarup 1976, 178; Christensen 1981, 26 f.;
1997, 34; Andersen 1993, 98; Svanberg 2003, 93 f.;
Price 2008, 266 f.). However, it has also been suggested
that this explanation of the phenomenon – sacriiced
slaves – may not be the only one. In his monography,
AAR-10742: 14C age 1178±36 BP, AD 720–970 (2σ), AD 770–
900 (1σ).
233
Fig. 8. Trekroner-Grydehøj. he south part of grave A 505 with the stallion’s head in front and its body to the right. he front part of
the dog is visible to the let of the menhir. Photo Birgitte Borby Hansen, Roskilde Museum.
West
East
Individual I
bones
Individual III
(animal/human not spec.)
secondary grave-cut
a later opening
original grave-cut
boulder
upper dark patch containing Indvidual I and II
flint
re-opening for Individual III
chalk
Fig. 9. Trekroner-Grydehøj, cross section of grave A 505.
234
0.5 m
he Viking Way (2002), Neil Price argued that some
of the graves with more than one individual could represent a völva, i. e. a seeress and sorceress, accompanying a deceased person to the Otherworld. he identiication of the völva rested on a staf-like object of
iron, previously interpreted as either a whip shank
(Brøndsted 1936, 196), a linear measure (Arbman
1943, 320) or as a roasting spit (Roesdahl 1977, 92).
Later, Leszek Gardeła (2009 a) suggested that other
types of staf-like objects such as spear heads may be
connected to the völva. his brings the peculiar metal point in grave A 505 into consideration (cf. Fig. 7).
he copper alloy piece with the iron blade is unique.
he rear end has a thorn for a shat and copper alloy
wire curled around it. Altogether the object resembled
an arrowhead but it weighs twice as much as an average Viking Age arrow head of iron, and is by no means
suited to be used as a projectile7. It has been considered that the object was a scalpel, while surgical instruments with iron blades and copper alloy handles
are well known in the period of the Roman Empire.
Nevertheless no instruments of a similar shape have
been found, neither from Roman times nor from the
Early Medieval Period (Kirkup 2006, ig. 26; ig. 234)8.
he combination of a brass or bronze body amalgamated with an iron blade is unusual both for a tool
and a weapon in a Scandinavian Viking Age context.
Instead this pointed object may have been a part of
a seiðr staf (Price 2002, 175 f.; Gardeła 2009 a). In
pagan Scandinavian ritual practice of seiðr the völva played the central role. In Old Norse völva (vǫlva)
means staf-bearer and a staf (Old Norse vǫlr) seems
to have been the ‘insignia’ of the völva9. In Old Norse
texts there are references to several diferent names of
stafs, but accurate descriptions of their design and
the context in which they played their part are missing (Price 2002, 180; Gardeła 2009 a). In this particular case the staf may be what an Old Norse term
refers to as a gandr or gǫndull. No actual description
of the object exists, but the gandr/gǫndull may have
consisted of a wooden shat with a sharp point (Price
2002, 179; 181). Purpose and handling of this object
has been disputed. It may be understood as a stick of
magic associated with divination and sexual magic
(ibid. 177 f.). he gandr/gǫndull is also thought to have
been used by the völva in a phase of ecstasy as a means
of travelling for the released soul or spirit (ibid. 178;
Steinsland 2005, 322). Yet another implication has
been suggested concerning the seiðr stafs, namely as
a symbol of Odin, the master of seiðr (Motz 1996,
84; Gardeła 2009 a, 200; 210 f.). One of Odin’s attributes was a spear, and the staf with the composite
point from grave A 505 may well be associated with a
symbolic spear.
Besides the assumed pointed staf of magic the presence of the stallion attracts our attention. Intact skeletons or parts of skeletons of sacriiced horses have
been recorded in a limited number of Scandinavian
Viking Age graves, showing some regional variation
regarding frequency and cremations compared to inhumations10. In Danish context sacriiced horses are
generally found in male graves, oten combined with
pieces of riding gear, weaponry and other high status
objects. Sacriiced horses are less frequent in female
graves, where the equipment related to the horse typically will be draught harness. Chronologically, graves
with riding gear and/or a sacriiced horse are uncommon before the 10th century (Pedersen 1997, 125).
Grave A 505 is – at least for the time being – one
of three inhumation burials with a sacriiced horse
on the island of Zealand. In addition to the scarcity
of this kind of graves the AMS 14C dating indicates
a 65 % chance that the interment took place between
AD 770 and AD 900 (see p. 233 note 6). he horse resting alongside and partly upon the woman was an old
stallion of at least 15–16 years of age with a measure of
withers of about 124 cm. It is unlikely to have served
as a splendid steed by the time of its death11. his is
emphasized by the lack of objects connected with riding or draught of a wagon. Only the eyed pins of iron
may be connected to the horse as tackle for securing
luggage to a saddle. Comparable inhumations in other parts of Denmark and in Sweden have the horse
placed at the narrow side of the grave-cut, typically
at the foot of the grave and combined with either riding gear or harness tackle. Furthermore, where osteological surveys have been conducted the horses had
a measure of withers about 127–140 cm and were in
7
sprog” (www.ordnet.dk/ods/). Clive Tolley (2009, 536 f.)
argued that etymologically völva means a seeress and plays
down the connection between the word vǫlva and staf.
10 Brøndsted 1936; Arbman 1943; Müller-Wille 1976;
1987; Gräslund 1980; Kleiminger 1993; Eisenschmidt
1994; Svan berg 2003; Børsheim 2002/03; Stylegar
2007.
11 he determination of the horse’s age by the time of its death
is an estimation based on the wear of the teeth and the
joined centrotarsale 1–5. Pers. comm. conservator Kristian
M. Gregersen, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.
he point weighs 31.6 g, while an average Viking Age arrow
head of iron weighs c. 15 g.
8 Dr. Ralph Jackson, curator of Romano-British Collections,
British Museum, London, and specialist in ancient Greek
and Roman surgical instruments, has valuated photographs
of the object in question. With reservations, because he did
not have a close look at the original object, Dr. Jackson stated that it is not a scalpel. I am grateful for his kind support.
9 Vølve (modern Danish); vǫlva (gen. sing. vǫlu, nom. pl.
vǫl(v) ur, dat. pl. vǫlum), derived from vǫlr, stav (staf), tryllestav (magic wand); considering Scandinavian prehistory: spåkvinde (fortune teller), see “Ordbog over det danske
235
their prime by the time of death, meaning 4–8 years
of age (Brøndsted 1936, 154; Eisenschmidt 1994,
224 f.; Price 2002, 132)12.
hus, the evidence from grave A 505 difers in several ways from most other inhumations with a person and a horse in Viking Age Denmark. Traditionally horses in burials are taken as a sign of the high
status of the person interred. Considering the wooden
box, the bucket and the knives, the woman at the bottom level of grave A 505 was not without means compared to other burials of the period. Nevertheless, the
position of the sacriiced horse in the grave-cut, the absence of riding gear and draught tackle combined with
the assumed staf of magic may point to another kind
of high status than the ordinary.
In Old Norse mythology the horses Skinfaxi and
Hrímfaxi were dragging the sun and the moon across
the sky, and Sleipner, the eight-legged steed, was one
of Odin’s most renowned attributes, enabling him to
travel to the Otherworld. he horse also appears to
have had an important role in the blót, a ritual practice that could include the sacriice of a horse, and subsequently the eating of its lesh by the participants as
described in Saga Hákonar góða (Sørensen 1991). It
also appears that horse’s lesh was taboo as food at any
other time (Näsström 1999, 168; 2001, 23 f.), and the
speciic ban for Christians to eat the meat of horses,
initiated by Pope Gregory III in 732, may very well be
related to the special status of the horse in pagan rituals of Northwestern Europe. hus, the horse served a
number of important roles both among humans and
Gods, but most important in the present context is
that the horse seems to have been a psychopompic animal, that could take the dead spirit to the next world
(Tolley 2009, 544). his may be the reason for the
presence of the stallion in grave A 505: an escort for
the woman’s spirit more than a means of transportation in a temporal sense.
Furthermore, following the trace of the völva the
stallion could be symbolizing a connection to Oðin,
the master of seiðr. Yet, a certain part of a stallion
seems to have played a signiicant role in a seiðr ritual known from the poem Vǫlsa ϸáttr. he origin and
age of the composition of these verses are disputed,
but even though the oldest known written account is
from the late 14th century Norway, the poem has original elements from the Viking Age concerning ritual
performance of seiðr (Price 2002, 217 f. with further
references). he poem refers to a ritual of fertility performed by the household of a farm, where especially
12
Early Anglo-Saxon and Continental inhumations containing horses and dating from mid 5th to mid 7th century show a similar picture considering the age of the sacriiced animals, primarily stallions with a typical measure of
236
the women are chanting lyrics of unequivocal sexual
character while holding the dried, preserved and linen-wrapped phallus of a slaughtered draught-horse.
here are speciically references to female masturbation using the phallic object, and ritualized masturbation seems to have been connected to the völva’s
performance of seiðr. he völvas’ stafs of magic are
actually perceived as phallic symbols, and the gandr/
gǫndull, probably the type of staf in grave A 505, may
have served as an epithet for ‘penis’ (ibid. 217).
Furthermore, it is worth pointing out the extraordinary elements of the treatment of the woman’s body.
Her head seems to have been intentionally removed
from the corpse, probably cut of post mortem and deliberately placed on the foramen magnum facing west.
Both in Old Norse texts and in the archaeological evidence from Sweden and Denmark there are a few examples of executions by decapitation or the removal of
the head of a buried person by re-entering the grave,
the latter presumably to prevent the deceased from
haunting the living (Gardeła 2013). his has also
been the conviction in Anglo-Saxon England (Reynolds 2009, 78). he woman in grave A 505 has no signs
on the cervical vertebrae of a decapitation or post mortal beheading, so it is likely that the head has been cut
of with a knife prior to the burial. he reason may
have been her position as performer of seiðr. his has
also been suggested as the cause to place large boulders
and stones on the deceased, keeping a malicious soul
or spirit from leaving the grave (Christensen 1981;
Gardeła 2009 b; Reynolds 2009, 93). In all, the precautionary measures against haunting emphasize the
supposed magic power of the woman in grave A 505.
Neil Price’s (2002, 127 f.) study of Scandinavian
graves of possible female sorcerers identiied a limited
number of burials by the presence of a staf-like object.
he graves, most of them dated to the 10th century, are
not at all alike but nevertheless include comparable elements. Beside the ‘staf’ a common feature is a rather
comprehensive furnishing of the graves with imports,
luxury objects, buckets, boxes, amulets and jewellery
indicating a high social status13.
Comparing the contents of grave A 505 with these
burials in order to support the assumed presence of a
völva’s grave there is no clear answer. Indeed, the supposed ‘staf’, the bucket and the wooden box are present, while jewellery, amulets, imports or luxury objects
are absent. Equally, the dominant features of grave
A 505 such as the stallion, the menhir, the boulders
and the stone carpet – not to mention the additional
13
withers between 130 and 140 cm (Fern 2012, 170).
he graves in question are Birka grave Bj. 660, Bj. 834 and
Bj. 845; Klinta grave 53:2 and 53:3; Aska; Fyrkat grave 4 (see
Price 2002, 127 f.).
human bodies and the severed dog – are no typical
traits of the burials in question. However, even though
double burials and sacriiced horses are scarce among
the völvas’ graves under consideration, an intriguing
example including both features is grave Bj. 834 from
Birka, where a woman was buried sitting on the lap of
a warrior resting in a chair and accompanied by two
draught horses (Arbman 1943, 304 f.; Price 2002,
132 f.). In another optional völva’s grave from Birka,
Bj. 660, a woman rested at the bottom of the 1.8 m
deep grave-cut with her jewellery, a wooden box, a
bucket, a cruciix and a ‘staf’. About 60 cm from the
top of the grave-ill, corresponding with the roof level
of the chamber, a human skull and a bent arrowhead
of iron was found (Arbman 1943, 231 f.).
Even though grave A 505 did not contain jewellery,
indeed it was abundantly furnished in a local and regional perspective. here were no female graves in the
cemetery at Trekroner-Grydehøj that contained jewellery other than occasional beads of glass in limited
numbers. As a matter of fact female graves richly supplied with jewellery or imports are infrequent in Zealand, and burials with the almost iconic set of oval
brooches, which are found in nearly all of the ‘stafgraves’, rarely exceed 5 % of the total number of burials at any cemetery in the region, if present at all14.
he example of grave A 505 underlines the signiicance of taking the complexity of the interment into
consideration when interpreting its social value. he
efort invested in the burial is by no means trivial and
without a doubt one or more of the persons interred
held an important social position when living.
Fig. 10. Trekroner-Grydehøj. he völva in her grave. Reconstructed by Mirosław Kuźma. Illustration copyright Leszek
Gardeła and Mirosław Kuźma.
Conclusion
At this point archaeological facts, circumstantial evidence and comparative examples have been presented claiming that grave A 505 contained a Viking Age
seeress and sorceress, i. e. a völva (Fig. 10). he facts are
an extraordinary complex burial ritual including some
re-entries into the grave, two presumably decapitated women and half the skeleton of a man, several sacriiced animals all covered with large boulders and a
carpet of stones of granite, chalk and lint. Admittedly,
complex burials with more individuals, animals, boulders and/or stone carpets are known in the archaeological record without being connected to völvas. However,
in this particular case some of the features have a twist
pointing in the direction of the extraordinary. he old
14
In this survey Viking Age cemeteries from Zealand with more
than 20 burials including graves containing oval brooches are
Tollemosegård, Græse Parish: 4 %; Snubbekorsgård, Sengeløse
Parish: 2 %; Trelleborg, Hejninge Parish: 1 % (Nørlund
1948); Ottestrup, Ottestrup Parish: 2 % (Eriksen 1991); Lejre,
Allerslev Parish: 2 % (Andersen 1993); Trekroner-Grydehøj:
stallion being way beyond his prime combined with
the absence of riding gear or draught harness is peculiar opposed to ‘normal’ burials with man/woman and a
well equipped horse. Add to this the exceptional bronze
piece amalgamated with an iron blade and indisputably
having been mounted on the end of a shat or stick. Interpreting the object as part of a völva’s ‘staf’ is indeed
circumstantial. Nevertheless, it has proven diicult to
establish any comparative profane tool or weapon of the
same size and manufacture. herefore, the combination
of the pointed object, the other contents of the grave and
the handling of the interred compared with the suggested völva graves from Scandinavia, grave A 505 from
Trekroner-Grydehøj may very well be one of this kind.
none (Ulriksen 2011); Kirke Hyllinge Kirkebakke, Kirke
Hyllinge Parish: none (ibid.); Forlev, Vemmelev Parish: none
(Brøndsted 1936). Considering Snubbekorsgård and Tollemosegård, I thank museum’s curator Lotte Reedtz Sparrevohn and Dr. Søren A. Sørensen respectively for the permission to use the unpublished data from their excavations.
237
Summary
In a period of increased focus on combining Norse
mythology, cosmology and archaeology a complex burial from the Viking Age was excavated at
Trekroner-Grydehøj in the outskirts of present day
Roskilde, Denmark. Grave A 505 was an inhumation
demonstrating a ritualized furnishing. Amongst other things the burial A 505 contained two women, half
a man, a stallion, a dog cut in two halves, a foetus of
a sheep, a small menhir and large boulders, all with a
stone covering of granite, lint and chalk.
Double graves are oten interpreted as the master
and his/her slave, the latter executed at the time of
the funeral to accompany the irst. However, it has
also been suggested that some graves with more than
one individual could represent a völva, i. e. a seeress and sorceress, accompanying a deceased person
to the Otherworld. he identiication of a völva rested on a staf-like object of iron. his brings a peculiar metal point of bronze and iron from grave A 505
into consideration. It is suggested that the point is a
part of a magic wand and consequently identiies the
woman interred as a völva. Besides the pointed staf
of magic the presence of an old stallion attracts the
attention. here were no riding gear or draught tackle and in the present context the horse may have been
a psychopompic animal that could take the dead spirit to the next world.
he treatment of the woman’s body also witnesses
extraordinary elements. Her head seems to have been
cut of post mortem and deliberately placed on the foramen magnum. Both in Old Norse texts and in the
archaeological evidence there are a few examples of
executions by decapitation or the removal of the head
of a buried person by re-entering the grave, the latter presumably to prevent the deceased from haunting the living. he reason may have been her position
as performer of seiðr. his has also been suggested as
a reason to place large boulders and stones on the deceased, keeping a malicious soul or spirit from leaving the grave.
So considering the pointed object and the other
contents of the grave as well as the handling of the
interred, in comparison with the suggested völvas’
graves from Scandinavia the deceased in grave A 505
from Trekroner-Grydehøj may very well have been a
female shaman and seer.
Zusammenfassung
In einer Zeit, in der vermehrt ein Schwerpunkt
auf der gemeinsamen Betrachtung von nordischer
Mythologie, Kosmologie und Archäologie liegt, ist
das wikingerzeitliche Grab von Trekroner-Grydehøj
in der Nähe von Roskilde, Dänemark, ausgegraben
worden. Das Körpergrab A 505 zeigt eine rituelle
Ausstattung, unter anderem enthielt es zwei Frauen,
die Hälte des Skeletts eines Mannes, einen Hengst,
einen in zwei Hälten zerlegten Hund, den Fötus eines Schafes, einen kleinen aufrecht stehenden Stein
und große Steinblöcke – alles bedeckt mit einem
Steinmantel aus Granit, Flint und Kreide.
Doppelgräber werden häuig als Bestattung von
Herrin/Herr und Sklavin/Sklave angesehen, wobei
die/der Bedienstete getötet wurde, um Herrin/Herr
in das Jenseits zu begleiten. Es wird allerdings auch
vermutet, dass in einigen Gräbern mit mehr als einem Individuum eine völva – eine Seherin und Zauberin – bestattet wurde, um die/den Toten in das
Jenseits zu begleiten. Die Identiizierung als völva
beruht auf einem stabähnlichen Objekt aus Eisen.
Ein derartiges Stück fand sich auch in Grab A 505:
Die Spitze wird als Teil eines Zauberstabs angesehen
und identiiziert somit die Bestattete als völva. Auch
238
der alte Hengst, bei dem sich kein Reit- oder Fahrzubehör fand, weist in spirituelle Richtung: Er könnte
die Aufgabe gehabt haben, die Seele der Verstorbenen in das Jenseits zu bringen.
Die Behandlung des Körpers der Toten ist ebenfalls außergewöhnlich. Ihr Kopf ist ofenbar nach
dem Tod vom Körper abgetrennt und bewusst auf
dem Foramen magnum abgesetzt worden. Sowohl
altnordische Texte als auch archäologische Befunde
liefern einige Beispiele für Exekutionen durch Enthauptung oder die Verlagerung des Kopfes eines Bestatteten bei einer erneuten Graböfnung. Letzteres
erfolgte vermutlich, um zu verhindern, dass Tote die
Lebenden heimsuchen. Der Grund könnte in ihrer
Stellung als Ausführende des seiðr sein. Vermutlich
führte dies wiederum dazu, dass große Felsblöcke
und Steine auf den Verstorbenen platziert wurden,
um böswillige Seelen oder den bösen Geist nicht aus
dem Grab entkommen zu lassen.
Verglichen mit den beschriebenen Gräbern von
völvas in Skandinavien lässt das stabähnliche Objekt
in Grab A 505 und der weitere Inhalt sowie die Behandlung der Bestatteten von Trekroner-Grydehøj
vermuten, dass hier das Grab einer völva vorliegt.
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