Prehistoric Longhouses

I midten af ældre bronzealder var bebyggelsen vest for ungmorænen i det sydlige Jylland karakteriseret af robuste treskibede langhuse. Indenfor de senere år er der i Vejen kommune undersøgt en række lokaliteter med bebyggelseslevn fra perioden. På lokaliteten Kongehøj II blev der fundet en halv snes hustomter, hvor det største og kraftigste langhus blev genstand for detaljerede arkæobotaniske analyser. Herfra foreligger vigtige informationer om blandt andet husindretning og agerbrug på en gård fra 1300-tallet før vor tidsregning. Bebyggelsen er med til at nuancere billedet af den landbrugsmæssige udvikling, der tilsyneladende finder sted i løbet af den ældre bronzealder. Dog er det vanskeligt at vurdere forholdet mellem agerbruget og husdyrholdet, da
førstnævnte er stærkt overrepræsenteret på bopladserne.

Publiceret i By, Marsk og Geest 27, 2015

This paper discusses a variant of the Bronze Age's three-aisled post-built long house: buildings with a trapezoid roof-supporting structure. These structures often have their widest-set pair of posts to the west and are narrower to the east. The span between post pairs is also often longer to the west than to the east. I argue that the purpose of this design was to create an open area with a high ceiling around the hearth in the western part of the house, for fire safety reasons. This open area was the living quarter. The eastern end of the house with shorter spans and narrower post width supported a loft, possibly to store grain on.

El yacimiento de Las Lunas ha estado a punto de ser destruido por un equipo arqueológico escasamente formado que no
fue capaz de detectar los restos del primer asentamiento en el lugar, y sólo una feliz circunstancia ha hecho que puedan
salvarse en parte los restos del poblado. Las Lunas ofrece una nueva visión del Bronce Final y el comienzo de la Edad del
Hierro totalmente desconocida hasta ahora, ya que avala la existencia de grandes poblados de hasta 10 Has de extensión
con complejas arquitecturas de cabañas de diferentes tamaños. Las Lunas abre asimismo una puerta a la interpretación del
complejo mundo simbólico de este periodo, a la par que confirma el gran desarrollo al que habían llegado la agricultura y la
ganadería en estos momentos

The settlement of Las Lunas has been close to being destroyed by an archaeological team scarcely formed that was not
capable to detect the evidences of the first settlement, and only a happy circumstance has made possible that part of
those archaeological evidences of settlement could be saved. Las Lunas offers a new vision of the Final Bronze and the
beginning of the Iron Age completely unknown until now, since it confirms the existence of large populated areas till 10Has
of extension with complex architectures of different sizes huts. Las Lunas likewise opens a door to the interpretation of the
complex symbolic world of this period, and confirms the great development of the agriculture and the stockbreeding at this
moment.

The here presented PhD project explores the phenomenon of cereal cultivation during the Iron Age (c. 500 BC – AD 1100) in southern Scandinavia. The main body of the thesis consists of four articles. These were written with the aim to identify chronological, geographical, theoretical and methodological gaps in current research, to develop, apply and evaluate approaches to how new knowledge on Iron Age cereal cultivation can be attained, and to assess the interaction between archaeobotany and other specialisms currently used in settlement archaeology. The introduction section of the thesis also contains a historical overview of archaeobotanical research on cereal cultivation in southern Scandinavia.

The first article is a compilation and summary of all available previously performed  archaeobotanical investigations in southern Sweden. This data is compared and discussed in relation to similar publications in Denmark and smaller scale compilations previously published in Sweden. The main result of the study is an updated and enhanced understanding of the main developments in the investigation area and a deepened knowledge of local development chronologies and trajectories in different parts of southern Sweden.

The second article is a methodological presentation of a multiproxy analysis combining plant macrofossil analysis, phosphate analysis, magnetic susceptibility analysis and measurement of soil organic matter by loss on ignition. The applicability of the method for identification and delineation of space functions on southern Scandinavian Iron Age sites is discussed and illustrated by two case studies from the Danish site of Gedved Vest. Particular focus is placed on exploration of the use of the functional analysis for assessment of taphonomic and operational contexts of carbonised plant macrofossil assemblages.

The third article aims at presenting an Iron Age cereal cultivation history for east-central Jutland, an area identified at the outset of the project as under-represented in archaeobotanical studies. The article combines data from depth analyses of material from the sites of Gedved Vest and Kristinebjerg Øst (analysed with the methods and theory presented in the second article) with a compilation of previously performed archaeobotanical analyses from east-central Jutland. The main results of the study are that developments in the study area appear to follow a chronology similar to that previously observed on Funen rather than the rest of the peninsula. Rye cultivation is furthermore discussed as more dynamic and flexible than previously presented in Scandinavian archaeobotanical literature.

The fourth and final article leaves archaeobotany as the main topic. It focuses instead on evaluating, theorising and expanding the multiproxy method presented in the second article by a thorough comparison of the botanical, geochemical and geophysical methods to other techniques of functional analysis currently used in archaeology. These techniques include studies of artefact distributions, assessments of spatial relations between settlement features, and studies of the structural details of dwellings and other constructions. The main result is that there is a correspondence between the functional indications provided by botanical, geochemical and geophysical methods and techniques used in mainstream archaeology. The comparison furthermore shows that a combination of the two data sets allows for more highly resolved functional interpretations than if they are used separately.

The main conclusion of the PhD thesis, based on the discussions in all four articles, is that archaeobotanical questions commonly necessitate the assessment of non-botanical archaeological material. The comparison of archaeobotanical data to other segments of the archaeological record does, however, enable the use of the former as an archaeological resource for addressing non-botanical questions. The increased understanding of (mainly settlement) site dynamics resulting from this integration of methods allows archaeobotanists to address increasingly complex botanical questions. Increased and more structured integration between archaeobotany and other specialisms operating within the framework of settlement archaeology is therefore argued to be the preferred approach to performing both high quality archaeobotany and settlement archaeology.

Az elmúlt tíz évben számos, korábban ismeretlen, nagy kiterjedésű középső neolitikus lelőhely látott napvilágot a mai Baranya megye területén. A közelmúltban több ilyen, a Kr. e. 6. évezred második felére keltezhető település komplex feldolgozása kezdődött meg. A feltárt leletanyagok alapján egyértelműen igazolódott az a hazai kutatásban
már korábban megfogalmazott hipotézis, miszerint a régió középső neolitikus lelőhelyein elsősorban nem a közép-európai, hanem sokkal inkább az észak-balkáni típusú tárgyi kultúra (a korai Vinča és Sopot) a meghatározó. A kerámiastílus markáns balkáni orientációja ellenére az építészet és a településszerkezet sajátosságai a korszak közép-európai hagyományait tükrözik: valamennyi eddig megvizsgált lelőhelyen megfigyelhetőek voltak a vonaldíszes kerámia településeiről jól ismert oszlopszerkezetes hosszúházak nyomai. Az elvégzett nagyszámú radiokarbon mérés alapján árnyaltabb képet rajzolhatunk az egyes települések belső fejlődésének dinamikájáról, és a hagyományos tipokronológiai megközelítés eredményeit pontosítva a különböző kerámiastílusok megjelenésének időrendi viszonyáról is.

A better understanding of the role of domestic dwellings in shaping past social relations is needed. Here, Northern Iroquoian longhouses are studied as sociotechnical systems, following Pfaffenberger (1992). This approach allows us to appreciate how social relations were generated and contested in the very activities of building and living in houses. I examine a sample of pre-Columbian longhouses from southern Ontario, Canada. Variation in aspects of house construction, spatial layout, and ritual indicates that sociotechnical networks associated with different houses were variable in scale, durability, and organization. What emerges is the sense that a dynamic, driving tension between forces of collectivization and atomization, inclusion and exclusion, lay at the heart of longhouse life.

In the area around Roskilde Fjord on Zealand,
20 two-aisled house sites have so far been identified, which
date from the Early Neolithic until the Early Bronze Age.
On the basis of ceramic finds, the Early Neolithic houses
can mainly be attributed to the Svaleklint phase, and consist
of buildings of around 15 m in length, with straight
or slightly rounded long and end walls. The houses from
the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age are mainly dated on
a typological basis, or by objects with a very broad date
range, and are buildings with rounded end walls and parallel
long walls, and measure 13‑20 m in length. The house
that was recently discovered at Vinge Station differs from
the other houses due to its length of 45.5 m and open ends.
Several houses have a characteristic roof-bearing module,
which indicates room division. A single hybrid type with
two- and three-aisled elements is also present. A noteworthy
site from this period involves a house located under a
plough-damaged burial mound.

This paper is a preliminary report on the recent
discovery of the FBC longhouses at Líbeznice
in Central Bohemia. The rescue excavation,
carried out during motorway bypass construction
produced evidence of more than ten ground plans
of FBC longhouses and their remains. According to
the finds associated with the houses, it is possible
to date the houses to the Salzmünde phase of the
FBC. Analogical finds are very rare in Bohemia.
Two very similar dwelling structures were discovered
by Ivana Pleinerová at Březnoin in Northwest Bohemia and
another yet unpublished example
was recovered at Milan Zápotocký’s excavations
at Kozly (Mělník district). In Central Europe,
there is only a limited number of similar examples
from Poland, the Saale Region and Lower Saxony
but overall numerous examples of FBC houses
are known. It is likely that the longhouses with
post construction were the most prevalent type of
dwelling throughout the Neolithic/Copper Age in
Central Europe, even if evidence of them is very
limited for some periods.

Blog article about the site I was in charge of at Ørland Main Air Station, Norway during the summer of 2015. Published in the archaeological weblog Norark.no, http://norark.no/undersokelse/vei-lag-og-hus-i-nord-pa-orland-kampflybase. The article shows one of the longhouses we found (probably Pre-Roman Era) and a holloway. We also found a large midden. 

Blogginnlegg om oppstarten av utgravningsfeltet jeg hadde ansvar for på Ørland Kampflybase sommeren 2015. Innlegget ble publisert på arkeologibloggen Norark. Innlegget omhandler et treskipet førromersk langhus, en hulveg og et stort avfallslag.

The present work aims to partial assessment excavation of Neolithic settlement site located on cadastres of former villages Hrdlovka-Liptice. With regard to the amount of material obtained through excavation and exposed situation, the field of interest was reduced to the StK period longhouses. The ceramic material from the filling of objects spatially associated with the house no. 3 was analysed, which enabled closer dating of the house. These findings are compared with current knowledge and views of Neolithic longhouse construction and function.

Presentamos ahora un yacimiento excepcional, el de Las Camas (en el madrileño barrio de Villaverde Bajo, antiguo
camino a Perales del Río), descubierto en el año 2004 en el curso de una intervención arqueológica preventiva
asociada al espectacular desarrollo urbanístico que vivió el sur de la capital durante aquellos años. Los trabajos arqueológicos
pusieron al descubierto restos de dos cabañas de enormes dimensiones, junto a elementos cerámicos,
útiles metálicos y de adorno personal, hornos y evidencias de actividad alfarera y metalúrgica.
El significado de estas longhouses, comunes a otros horizontes cronológicos y contextos culturales muy diversos
(desde los nativos norteamericanos a los vikingos escandinavos, con paralelos arqueológicos notables, tanto en
Europa como en el Mediterráneo oriental), pasa por su interpretación como espacios comunales de función residencial
y reunión de familias extensas. Aunque se conocen ejemplos en otros contextos del centro peninsular, en
ningún caso alcanzan las extraordinarias dimensiones de Las Camas, próximas a los 30 metros de longitud.

An attempt at relating Bronze Age rectangular dwellings to the familial structure is not that
challenging any more in Korean archaeology， and has contributed for better understanding on social organization of Bronze Age. However, some current practice in interpreting archaeological data is interfering with productivity of the attempt. The current practice is a very interpretation that long rectangular houses were precedent to short rectangular houses based on the classified by ratio of their long to short axes. However, logic외 basis of the interpretation is not so solid. Examining data in opportunistic manner and applying the concept of local cultures of the Early Bronze Age in limited manner seem to place in the backside of the interpretation.
Challenging the practice prevalent in the Bronze Age archaeology, I try to focus on some micro-aspect of dwelling feature and establish archaeological explanatory model. The archaeological explanatory model tried here includes understanding on the Early Bronze Age dwelling patterns especially, of Yeoksamdong-and Heunamri- types- in relation to the concept of household developmental cycle. Analyses on dwelling data from both types’ settlements in the Hoseo region say that the variation of floor shape could have been a function to varying family structure in which parent generation and their off-springs have resided in the same dwelling structure. That is, the houses of different floor shapes, such as short, middle, and long rectangular houses might have been adaptive to the changes in number of family members but not represented a simply stylistic variation in terms of temporal and/or spatial dimensions.

This article is focused on the deliberate orientation of longhouses observed within the wide area of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) and succeeding cultures (post-LBK). Spatial analysis is based on the assemblage of 1546 buildings, whose purpose it was to attempt to cover the whole area of longhouse distribution. Despite variability, which considerably increased over time, the alignment of house entrances towards the south or south-east was observed. The widely accepted theory of house alignment towards the ‘ancestral homeland’ is therefore challenged by a new hypothesis, which sees orientation governed by the celestial path of the sun. Using 3D-modelling of light-and-shadow and solar impact, sun alignment is discussed as an integral element of the longhouse concept already present by the time of its genesis. The tendency of aligning longhouse entrances towards the east, which emerged during the LBK expansion westwards, is considered to be a regionally limited pattern, as no analogical shift was observed in the eastern areas of longhouse distribution.

Der Beginn des Mittelneolithikums ist nach südwestdeutscher Lesart mit dem Aufkommen der Stichbandkeramik verknüpft, während in Mitteldeutschland diese Wandlung forschungsgeschichtlich bedingt an das Ende des Früh- oder Altneolithikums gesetzt wird. Einher mit unterschiedlichen chronologischen Termini geht die Unterschiedlichkeit der Modelle zur Ausbreitung und zur Entstehung der Stichbandkeramik als archäologischer Kultur.
Ein großes Manko in vielen typologischen Erwägungen scheint bisher die Fundamentierung der Ideen mit absoluten Daten zu sein. Neue Ergebnisse aus aktuellen Grabungen in Mitteldeutschland sorgen durch Feuchtbodenüberlieferung (Brunnen) für Impulse, um den Beginn und die Fragen der kulturellen Wandlungsprozesse neu zu diskutieren. Ausgehend von fundplatzspezifischen Beobachtungen und der absoluten Datierung der älteren Stichbandkeramik in Mitteldeutschland können auch Fragen der allgemeinen Kulturgenese des  5. Jahrtausends v. Chr. aufgeworfen und in einem neuen Blickwinkel betrachtet werden.

Location: Münster
Event Date: Sep 29, 2015
Organization: 2nd Münster conference on the 5th millenium, University of Hamburg

Fjordbotnene på Helgeland er lite arkeologisk utforsket. Gardsnavn og arkeologiske funn viser imidlertid at det fantes en jordbruksbosetting her i jernalderen. På Myrmoen av Holand i Drevjabukta utførte NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet en utgraving i 2010 i forbindelse med omlegging av Rv 78. Utgravingen og vegetasjonshistoriske undersøkelser av masse fra ardspor, annen kulturmark og et langhus kaster nytt lys på tidlig jordbruk i fjordbotnen og spørsmålet om det har vært kontinuitet i jordbruket her allerede fra og med ca. 2000 år f.Kr. diskuteres. En flatehogd flintdolk funnet i en grav viser at gamle jeger- og samlertradisjoner var i endring. Graver fra yngre steinalder er sjeldne i Norge. 
Dateringen av langhuset på Myrmoen diskuteres og massen i stolpehullene problematiseres. I et av stolpehullene ble det funnet asbestmagret keramikk av Risviktype og betydningen av dette diskuteres. Leirskredet på nabogarden Nyland i 1743 med endring av elva Drevjas utløp er viktig i forståelsen av området.

The emergence of the Neolithic introduced one of the most fundamental turning points in the history of humankind. People left this imaginary Eden of symbiosis with animal species to start their new role of stewards and destroyers of the nature. In this way humans completed their departure from nature into the world of their own culture and civilization. With a sedentary life and a newly acquired knowledge of the production and reproduction of their food sources, people set off to the path to their overpopulation and ruling over the entire planet and after more than 12,000 years to continue beyond its gravity. However, not everything was positive on this departure from the paradise, and soon people also tasted the bitter taste of the forbidden fruit that the first farmers seized. Along with the change of diet a general deterioration in the health of the Neolithic population occurred and we can even talk about the first diseases of civilization.
The course includes a current discussion on the conditions, methods and evidence of the emergence of cereal agriculture in the Western Asia. In addition to archaeological evidence of changes in the subsistence strategy, changes in the symbolic systems, cosmology and religion of the first agricultural civilizations, as well as demographic and social aspects of neolithisation, will be taken into account. The process of domestication will be investigated in various climatic-ecological contexts with emphasis on explanation of local variability in diversification of agricultural strategies. The topic also includes the spread of the Neolithic way of life outside the Neolithic epicentre, i.e. to the northwest of Asia Minor, the Balkans and North Africa. Subsequent cultural development and population cultural variability of newly domesticated areas will also be discussed. Finally, we compare the development in Western Asia and Europe to the domestication processes in other parts of the world.

Review of a series of four children's books on North American indigenous groups by Bobbie Kalman.  With illustrations by Barbara Bedell, Margaret Amy Reich, and Bonna Rouse. The four books, all excellent for children, are Nations of the Plains, Life in a Longhouse Village, Native Homes and Life in a Plains Camp.

Das Langhaus ist zweifelsohne eines der charakteristischsten Merkmale bandkeramischer Kultur. Welche Bedeutung hatte „das Haus“ in den bandkeramischen Gesellschaften? Gerade in der Theorie- und Modellbildung zu Siedlungsstruktur und –entwicklung spielt das Haus oder der Haushalt eine zentrale Rolle. Dabei werden bewusst oder unbewusst bestimmte Vorstellungen oder Bilder von der bandkeramischen Gesellschaft impliziert. Je nach Größenordnung und „Qualität“ (Varianz und Vielfalt in den Funden und Befunden) der Siedlung anhand derer ein Modell zur Siedlungsentwicklung erstellt wird, variiert auch der Grad an Komplexität und Stratifizierung der den bandkeramischen Gesellschaften beigemessen wird. Grundlegend dabei aber ist immer die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Haus und seinen Bewohnern bzw. Nutzern.
Der Vortrag widmet sich besonders soziologischen Herangehensweisen an das Siedlungsmaterial und diskutiert vor allem Fragen nach Multifunktionalität bestimmter Befundgruppen und kultureller Dynamik innerhalb einer Siedlung. In wie weit lassen sich über das Verständnis der räumlichen Organisation einer bandkeramischen Siedlung auch Aussagen zur sozialen Organisation treffen? Wie spiegelt sich das Wechselspiel zwischen Raum/gebauter Umwelt und Mensch wider?
Anhand der in ihren Ausmaßen vollständig erfassten bandkeramischen Siedlung mit Gräberfeld von Schkeuditz-Altscherbitz, sollen einige dieser Aspekte exemplarisch besprochen werden.

Fjordbotnene på Helgeland er lite arkeologisk utforsket. Gardsnavn og arkeologiske funn viser imidlertid at det fantes en jordbruksbosetting her i jernalderen. På Myrmoen av Holand i Drevjabukta utførte NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet en utgraving i 2010 i forbindelse med omlegging av Rv 78. Utgravingen og vegetasjonshistoriske undersøkelser av masse fra ardspor, annen kulturmark og et langhus kaster nytt lys på tidlig jordbruk i fjordbotnen og spørsmålet om det har vært kontinuitet i jordbruket her allerede fra og med ca. 2000 år f.Kr. diskuteres. En flatehogd flintdolk funnet i en grav viser at gamle jeger- og samlertradisjoner var i endring. Graver fra yngre steinalder er sjeldne i Norge. Dateringen av langhuset på Myrmoen diskuteres og massen i stolpehullene problematiseres. I et av stolpehullene ble det funnet asbestmagret keramikk av Risviktype og betydningen av dette diskuteres. Leirskredet på nabogarden Nyland i 1743 med endring av elva Drevjas utløp er viktig i forståelsen av området.

Løken, T. 1990. Forsand in Rogaland - A local Centre in
the southern Fiords of Ryfylke. Gunneria 64: 207-221.
A short description is given of the excavations at Forsandmoen and what they are able to tell us about the size and location of the settlement compared with other settlement areas, the settlement pattern, the economic basis, trade routes and the social organisation of the society. The paper presemts a description of the settlement during 2000 years
of existence until the 7th century A.D. Hypotheses on this settlements position as a potetial centre, or alternatively as the first known of many similar settlements along the western coast of Norway, are evaluated.
It is concluded that the settlement was probably a local
centre in a redistributive system of a chiefdom territory reaching from Jæren to Setesdal during the Younger Roman lron Age and the Migration Period.

The use of house types and typologies has played a central role in settlement archaeology in South Scandinavia since the earliest finds of longhouses, but the methods, use and concepts of the approach are rarely discussed within the field. An increasing critique of types and typologies calls for a renewed engagement with the approach. In the article, an investigation of the use of the Trelleborg house type serves as a case for identifying and discussing more general problems with house types and typologies. The investigation demonstrates how house types are, often unreflectively, closely integrated with the documentation of the archaeological houses. It is argued that the use of house types in the primary documentation of archaeological houses causes serious limitations in the possibilities for complex interpretations and understandings. The house type is better suited for specific and targeted studies with an explicit purpose. As an alternative to the typological approach, it is argued that assemblage theory is a fruitful way to rethink description of the archaeological record which provides possibilities for a more complex understanding and interpretation of the development and meaning of the archaeological house, and in this case more specifically of the Trelleborg house.

Link to free e-print of the article (for the first 50 downloads): https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/nw3gkhsrhGhIG6dTtARi/full

During the E6 project Gudbrandsdalen, nine agricultural sites and three Iron Age farmsteads were excavated in Fron. The sites were located in the lower part of the valley, in an area prone to flooding from the river Lågen and landslides from the hillside. The archaeological finds were found in different stratigraphical layers, isolated from each other by sedimentary deposits. The oldest remains consisted of cultivation layers from the Bronze Age that had been sealed off by several floods in the pre-Roman Iron Age. In the Roman Iron Age and migration period, there is evidence of a long period of stability, with several new sites
including the three farmsteads followed by a general decline in the Merovingian period. The farmsteads were abandoned, and the cultivation layers show evidence of flooding. The sites are never fully recovered, though there is some evidence of sporadic activity in the following periods – mainly in the Middle Ages