Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 4, Europe

center, he found a 3.2-m-high cairn covering an oak coffin orientated east-west. It was poorly preserved but measured c. 2.5 by 0.3 m. On it were parts of the grave goods, sword, and fibula; other objects had dropped among the stones. The coffin stood on stones placed to make a horizontal bed. Under the stones was a charcoal layer c. 5 min diam. Cremated bones were found in this layer, on the coffin and in the cairn. The burial was covered by a layer of parallel oak trunks. The bones were identified as from a middle-aged, medium-sized gracile individual. The flange-hilted sword had gold-covered hilt with gold pommel button and 30 small gold nails; the fibula and three double buttons were also gold covered. Three more bronze buttons, two razors, and two tweezers plus several lengths of fine gold thread and some bronze pendants from a necklace? belonged to the grave.

In the mound were numerous bones of oxen, sheep, goose, horse, roe deer, and >three human individuals, >two adult pigs, >three dogs (jaws). The gold-plated bronzes all have their parallels in South Scandinavia, and there the Haga grave would be one of the two richest of their period. In central Sweden, this equipment is no less exceptional. Uppland is comparatively rich in bronzes, but Haga appears to have been the central place for a time.

Reference

Almgren, O. (1904). "Kung Bj6rns Hog" och andra fornliimningar vid Haga." Stockholm: Wahlstrom & Wildstrand.

Skjeberg

TIME PERIOD: 3000-2500 B.P.

LOCATION: Skjeberg, 0stfold, Norway, southeast of Oslo.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

Between Sarpsborg and Halden, the island Kraker0Y, and the inlets Grims0kilen, Torsneskilen, and Skjebergkilen along the wide Skjeberg plain, several rock-carving sites are located.

Cultural Aspects

The two Skjeberg groups include 110 individual sites and make the densest concentration in Norway. The

Scandinavian Bronze Age 311

carvings are partly on vertical cliffs, and in two cases excavations at the foot of the carving have been made (Johansen 1979). At Hornes, flints, sherds of storage jars, and burnt lumps of clay were found inside a row of stones at the foot of the carving. At Bj0rnstad, a similar row of stones with similar finds was found at the foot of the smaller rear ships. Ships predominate, the Pyntelund ship being 4.4 m long. Separate carvings contain sterotyped adorants of the same type as rock paintings and northern carvings. Circles and wheels are also found separately. Herds and rarely wagons are found with ships. The Pyntelund ship is manned by large ax-bearing individuals at both ends and has the usual strokes indicating paddlers. Other ships have stylized arches, which may be furs. Some of the carvings resemble the Tanum carvings, but the motifs are just a fraction of the Tanum range. The Oslo Fjord area, Vestfold, and 0stfold are richer in bronzes, especially from the late Bronze Age, the period of the carvings, than the rest of Norway. Special ornament hoards like the Vestby hoard with its twin animal figurines reach a maximum at the end of the period. Burial cairns line the archipelago. Graves with bronzes are rare and restricted to the coastal zone. Another important group of carvings at Gjerpen on the western shore of the Oslo fjord is very similar to Skjeberg.

References

Johansen, 0. (1979). "New Results in the Investigation of the Bronze Age Rock Carvings." Norwegian Archaeological Review 12: 108-114.

Marstrander, S. (1963). 0stfolds jordbruksristninger Skjeberg. Oslo: H. Aschelong.

Tanum

TIME PERIOD: 3000-2400 B.P.

LOCATION: Tanum, Bohuslan, north of Gothenburg, Sweden.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

The shoreline during the period was 5-15 m above present sea level so that the landscape was even more an archipelago than now. The rock carvings lie mainly between the 15 and 54 m curves. The Tanum plain is -c.

312 Scandinavian Bronze Age

12 km2 and surrounded by the 364 carving localities on the rocky outcrops, with burial cairns on the outer fringe marking the territory.

Cultural Aspects

Tanum and the neighbor parish Kville hold> 8, 000 individual carvings plus 14,000 cup marks. Ships dominate, followed by human figures, foot soles, animals, and various kinds of circles (Bertilsson 1987; Coles 1990; MaImer 1981). The carvings date from several centuries; the latest show horsemen with rectangular shields, belonging to the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Dating of individual motifs or scenes is based on likeness to the bronze weapons and styles (Almgren 1987). There is a great variability, from simple circles and spiked wheels over shield pictures to sun disks with rays. A similar richness recurs with the other motifs. Ships up to 4.5 m long, may poles, oxen, stags, acrobats somersaulting in boats, oversized men like the huge "cobbler," linefishing men in a boat, hunters with dogs are among the many motifs. Some sites show layers of carvings as a result of prolonged use. Others have firmly composed scenes with ships and men or plowing scenes, hieros gamos, hunting or mock combat with axes or spears. The most famous sites are Vitlycke with a loving couple next to an ax-heaving god? a fallen male with a kneeling woman, and warriors fighting across a border indicated by a long row of cup marks; Aspeberget with a great fleet, procession with woman, male duels with axes, and acrobat; Litsleby with a 2.3-m spear-carrying man on top of ships, some with shields like Froslunda; Tegneby with man plowing, warriors, 900 cupmarks in geometric pattern and two groups of horses, riders, birds and troops offootmen and horsemen with spears and shields; Bro with adorants, two men carrying a ship, five spear carriers, fur blowers; Kalleby with helmed men with swords. The area is not rich in bronzes and is the prize example of a marginal Bronze Age center without abundant metalwork. Other, lesser centers are known from other parts of West Sweden, South Norway (Skjeberg and Gjerpen), West Norway (Ausevik).

References

Almgren, B. (1987). Die Datierung bronzezeitlicher Felszeichnungen in Westschweden. Uppsala: Institute of Archaeology.

Bertilsson, U. (1987). The Rock Carvings of Northern Bohusliin: Spatial Structures and Social Symbols. Stockholm: Department of Archaeology.

Coles, J. (1990). Uddevalla.

MaImer, M. P. (1981). A Chorological Study of North European Rock Carvings. Stockholm: Almkvist & Wiksell.

Egtved

TIME PERIOD: c. 3370 B.P.

LOCATION:: Burial mound Storh0j (Big Mound) at Egtved in South Jutland (Denmark) 15 km west of Vejle.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

Near the Oxroad, the main land route north-south through the peninsula at the edge of the Vejle river valley in a group of 52 barrows on undulating sandy soil. The mound was excavated in 1921, and the oak coffin examined at the National Museum, Copenhagen, where it is exhibited (Aner and Kersten 1990: no. 4357). A young blonde woman 16-18 years old was buried in a 2-m-long hollowed-out oak trunk felled in the year 3370 B.P. (dendrodate). She lay extended on her back on an oxhide, covered by a woolen plaid 1.7 by 2.6 m, woven on a broad (horizontal?) loom, dressed in a shortsleeved woolen blouse and a short string skirt, with her feet wrapped in cloth. Traces of fine textile leggings are mentioned. She wore an armlet on each arm and a spiral decorated belt disk in her wool belt as well as a ring in her left ear. Her hair was short cropped; a horn comb lay at the belt. Her fingernails were well cut. A birchbark container held remains of mead. Another contained an awl and wool thread plus some cremated child bones. At her feet was a parcel of cremated bones of an 5-6-year- old infant wrapped in cloth (same individual as in the bark container). The badly ruined mound was built of grass turfs and the coffin was preserved owing to the capsule of iron pan characteristic of the Jutish mounds with preserved coffins (Holst 2001). The grave was acentral, i.e., secondary.

Cultural Aspects

This and the other oak coffins with well-preserved textiles have given us a fine set of clothes, both male and female, all dated between 1381-1275 B.P., owing to the special humid conditions created-on purpose? (Breu- ning-Madsen and Holst et al. 2001). We have observations on hairstyle, dress, age, sex, and wealth. Studies of how they signaled their status have been made (Randsborg 1974), but the correlations are not always clear.

References

Aner, E., and Kersten, K. (1990). Die Funde der iilteren Bronzezeit des nordischen Kreises in Diinemark, Schleswig-Holstein und Niedersachsen 9. Neumiinster: Vejle Amt.

Brondsted, J. (1963). Nordische Vorzeit 2: Bronzezeit. Neumiinster: Wachholtz

Glob, P. V. (1974). The Mound People. Danish Bronze Age Man Preserved. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Holst, M. K. et a!. (2001). "Genesis of Iron Pans in Bronze Age Mounds in Denmark." Journal of Danish Archaeology II: 80-86.

Randsborg, K. (1974). "Social Stratification in Early Bronze Age Denmark." Priihistorische Zeitschrift 49: 38-61.

Kivik

TIME PERIOD: c. 3300 B.P.

LOCATION: The cairn Bredar6r (Broad Cairn) at Kivik, S6dra Mellby parish, on the east coast of Scania (Sweden) 15 km north of Simrishamn.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

Low coastal plain with several smaller cairns, cupmarked stones (Randsborg 1993). The cairn was quarried into in 1748 and the tomb spoilt. Restoration was carried out only in 1931 (Oldeberg 1974: no. 790; Randsborg 1993). The cairn measures 75 m across and may have been > 5 m high but is now only partly restored. In the center is the stone cist 3.4 by 1.2 m and c. 1 m high set of slabs. They all carry composite rock carvings the meaning of which has been discussed for generations (Althin 1945; Burenhult 1973; Randsborg 1993). The grave goods are nearly all lost; a dagger pommel and bits of an embossed bronze vessel survive and may be compared to the Gyldensgard grave on Bornholm (Thrane 1963). They secure the date of the burial.

Cultural Aspects

The cairn is the biggest in Scandinavia where boulders became a substitute for grass turfs north of South Scandinavia. The cists made of large stone slabs echo the preceding period. Cists with slabs with carved insides are also known from West Norway, but none has the variety that the Kivik carvings display. The most

Scandinavian Bronze Age 313

intelligible carving shows a two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle, and this chariot is hardly imaginable without a Mycenaean background (Thrane 1963). Other scenes show processions of masqued? persons, offerings? There are also ships and a pair of axes plus several mysterious scenes. The iconology reflects religious and political ideas, some of Mediterranean origin (Randsborg 1993). The frames around most scenes have been interpreted as inspired by textile hangings.

No similar collection of carved pictures is known, and the size of the cairn is unrivaled. The rock carvings at Fdinnarp and Simrishamn (Althin 1945; Burenhult 1973; Coles 1999) to the south may reflect the importance of this corner of Scania, which any ship going to Central Sweden would pass by. Kivik may be so special that it defies the ordinary definitions of chiefdom and central place.

References

Althin, C. A. (1945). Die bronzezeitlichen Felszeichnungen von Schonen.

Lund: C. W. K. Gleenup.

Burenhult, G. (1973). The Rock Carvings of GO"taland. Lund. Coles, J. (1999). The Dancer on the Rock.

Oldeberg, A. (1974). Die iiltere Metal/zeit in Schweden I. Stockholm: kg!. Vitterlata, Historic & antelariteobad

Randsborg, K. (1993). "Kivik: Archaeology and Iconography." Acta Archaeologica 64: 1-147.

Thrane, H. (1963). "The Earliest Bronze Vessels in Denmark's Bronze Age." Acta Archaeologica 33: 109-163.

Thrane, H. (1990). "The Mycenaean Fascination." In Orientalisch- /lgiiische Einfiusse in der europiiischen Bronzezeit, ed. P. Schauer. Mainz: 165-185.

Voldtofte

TIME PERIOD: 2900-2700 B.P.

LOCATION: Village Voldtofte in Southwest Funen (Denmark).

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Local Environment

On the moraine hills <90 m above sea level 7.5 km north of the shallow and sheltered bay of Helmes beyond the narrow coastal plain. The settlement on Kirkebjerg (Berglund 1981) occupied several small hilltops and left the rubbish in the depressions around them. Recent agriculture has leveled the landscape and

314Scandinavian Bronze Age

destroyed the houses on the hills. 1.5 km west of the settlement, the mound Luseh0j 6 or 7 x 35 m covered a stratigraphy 3200-2800 B.P. with settlement followed by a field and cemetery of minimounds packed with urns, ending with two rich graves (Thrane 1994). Radial hurdles from the construction of the mound were preserved. Several other neighbouring mounds with gold and bronze objects are known from old excavations. The whole area saw its climax contemporary with the Kirkebjerg settlement, but no other burial reaches the level of the VoIdtofte mounds.

Cultural Aspects

The rubbish accumulated up to a depth of 1.2 m at Kirkebjerg. Cooking-stone cairns also indicate a long duration. The animal bones are the best sample from the period dominated by Catlle, and the largest grain find from 1908 underlines the importance of barley. The pottery reflects the Lausitz tradition; 29 bronzes plus crucibles and clay molds for a lur and a large dump of fine whitewashed and black and red painted daub from a cleared house site all give this settlement a special status (Thrane 1995).

The two contemporary graves from Luseh0j display a richness unique for the tradition. A stone cist with central European bronze bucket as urn, three bronze beakers, axe, razors, fine nettle textile, and gold armlet and toggles were wrapped in an oxhide, and woolen cloth was excavated in 1860. A cremation pit covered by a straw mat, and with burnt sword, chain, belt, and wagon bronzes plus gold was excavated in 1975 (Thrane 1994). As the grave goods had accompanied the dead on

the funeral pyre, the identification is not always easy. The two burials are second to none in Scandinavia.

The lower rank burials from the area with gold rings and bronze knives and richly decorated razors support the idea of Voldtofte as a central place. Its status presumably depended on the exchange connections across the Baltic (Thrane 1994). The complex has been interpreted as the best example of a chiefdom in the Scandinavian Bronze Age.

Another contemporary and similar center has been located across the Great Belt on Southwest Zealand. It is known mainly by the gold vessels from Borbjerg and by the cluster of gold arm rings c. 4 kilos (Jensen

1988).

References

Berglund, J. (1981). "Kirkebjerget." Journal of Danish Archaeology I: 51-63.

Jensen, J. (1988). "Bronze Age Research in Denmark." Journal of Danish Archaeology 6: 155-174.

Thrane H. (1994). "Centres of Wealth in Northern Europe." In Europe in the first Millennium B.C., ed. K. Kristiansen and J. Jensen. Sheffield: 95-110.

Thrane, H. (1995). "Placing the Bronze Age "Lurer" in Their Proper Context." In Festschrift fur Hermann Muller-Karpe zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. A. Jockenhovel. Bonn: 143-152.

HENRIK THRANE

Prehistoric Archaeology

University of Aarhus

Moesgaard, Hoejbjerg

Denmark

Scandinavian Iron Age

Roman Iron Age, Migration Period

ABSOLUTE TIME PERIOD: c. 2500-1500 B.P.

RELATIVE TIME PERIOD: Follows the Scandinavian Bronze Age, precedes the historic Viking period.

LOCATION: Scandinavia.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Iron tools such as

arrow points, swords, and plowshares; elaborate gold and silver objects.

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

The climate during the Scandinavian Iron Age was apparently cooler and wetter than today. Cooler temperatures made both agriculture and stock raising more difficult, and may have led farmers to keep their livestock indoors during the winter and consequently focus some effort on raising hay and other animal feeds.

Settlements

The typical farmstead of the Scandinavian Iron Age consisted of one or more structures surrounded by a low stone wall. The primary, and sometimes only,

structure was a longhouse built with a stone foundation, thick walls, and timber-frame roof. These were usually some 7 m wide and 20 or more meters long. They had an internal division which is thought to have separated the family's living space, usually at the western end of the house, from the space where animals were kept in cold weather. Farmsteads were often solitary, but were also built in small hamlets of some three to five farmsteads. Both farmsteads and hamlets were located with access to good agricultural soils and forest lands.

Hill forts appeared late in the Iron Age. These were walled and fortified strongholds located at the tops of easily defendable hills (thus the name "hill fort"). Within the defensive fortifications were a dozen or more houses, arranged along planned causeways that allowed easy movement within the fort.

Economy

The peoples of the Scandinavian Iron Age had mixed agricultural economy. They raised barley, rye, wheat, and other grains. They also kept sheep, pigs, goats, horses, and cattle. Cooler temperatures during the Iron Age apparently led to cattle and other livestock being kept indoors during at least part of the year, and this, in turn, forced people to raise and collect feed for their animals.

315

316 Scandinavian Iron Age

Hunting and fishing remained important parts of the Iron Age economy, and it may have been that some individuals became specialists in these activities. A lively trade in animal furs, particularly reindeer, was ongoing with peoples to the south and, ultimately, with the Roman Empire. Who hunted these animals and prepared their furs, and how those furs were collected and marketed, is not well understood; however, it seems likely that some specialists were involved, and scholars have identified several apparent trade centers.

Specialists in metalwork were certainly present among the peoples of the Scandinavian Iron Age; indeed, some of the finest examples of European gold and silverwork come from this tradition. Iron working as also advanced, and many excellent weapons and tools were produced.

Sociopolitical Organization

Despite the wealth of archaeological data, we have only an imperfect understanding of Scandinavian Iron Age sociopolitical organization. It seems clear from burials that there were both powerful warriors and chieftains, and that the two, indeed, went hand-in-hand; thus we can envision a warrior-led political system. How this political system integrated the majority of the population, living in small and relatively autonomous farmsteads, is unclear; however, the presence of hill forts suggests that war, or the threat of war, was present, and that the warrior-leaders may have exercised authority only when war threatened. It has also been suggested that trade with polities to the south was controlled by these warrior-leaders, and that this control formed an additional basis for their authority.

Within farmsteads themselves, the family was clearly the basis of sociopolitical organization. Families appear to have been largely independent, even maintaining their own cemeteries within the walls of their farmsteads.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Hoards of weapons and wealth items were deposited in bogs, streams, lakes, or in the ground. The reasons are not entirely clear, and may be as simple as hiding wealth in times of war. However, historical accounts suggest that at least some hoards were offerings to the gods following success in war. Similar sacrifices of

wealth, animals, and humans were made to the gods to both encourage their action and to offer thanks for actions performed.

The wealth items given to the gods often were the products of artisans who, by late in the Scandinavian Iron Age tradition, produced some of the finest gold objects ever known. Among the more common gold items were large ornamental "collars" made from long gold tubes set parallel to one another and covered with filagree and human and animal figures, medallions with stamped designs and usually with a human profile in the center, and sword pommels decorated in a variety of styles and often incorporating semi-precious stones.

There was tremendous variation in burial rites during the Scandinavian Iron Age. Both cremation and inhumation were practiced, and variation in both forms existed. Within this variation two recurrent types are clear: One is the burial of a "warrior" with sword, spear, shield, and often other items (sometimes quite luxurious, and frequently imported from the Roman world); the other is the burial of a "chieftain," often in a monumental grave with a large volume of grave goods. Chieftains' grave goods were often luxurious imports from the south, such as Roman glass, bronze caldrons and vessels from Italy and Gaul, and even Roman coins and medallions.

Suggested Readings

Hagen, Andes (1967). Norway. London: Thames and Hudson. Hedeager, Lotte (1992). Iron Age Societies. Oxford: Blackwell. Kivikoski, Ella (1967). Finland. New York: Praeger.

Kristiansen, Kristian (ed.) (1984). Settlement and Economy in Later Scandinavian Prehistory. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Number 211.

Prescott, Christopher (1995). From Stone Age to Iron Age: A Study from Sogn, Western Norway. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Number 603.

Ramqvist, Per H. (\983). Gene: On the Origin, Function, and Development of Sedentary Iron Age Settlement in Northern Sweden.

Umea: University of Umea, Department of Archaeology. Ramqvist, Per H. (1992). Hogom: Excavations, 1949-1984. Umea:

University of Umea, Department of Archaeology.

Sarlvik, Ingegerd (1982). Paths Towards a Stratified Society: A Study of Economic, Cultural, and Social Formations in Southwest Sweden During the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. Stockholm: University of Stockholm, Institute of Archaeology. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology, Number 3.

Sjovold, Thorleif (1967). The Iron Age Settlement of Arctic Norway.

Tromso: Norwegian Universities Press.

Stenberger, Marten (1955). Val/hagar: A Migration Period Settlement on Gotland, Sweden. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.

Stenberger, Marten (1962). Sweden. New York: Praeger.

Stjernquist, Berta (ed.) (1981). Gardlosa: An Iron Age Community in its Natural and Social Setting. Lund: Gleerup.

Scandinavian Iron Age 317

PETER N. PEREGRINE

Department of Anthropology

Lawrence University

Appleton, Wisconsin

United states

Scandinavian Neolithic

ABSOLUTE TIME PERIOD: c. 6000-3800 B.P.

RELATIVE TIME PERIOD: Follows the Eastern European Mesolithic tradition and precedes the Scandinavian Bronze Age tradition. Although variable chronological schemes are applied throughout the extensive region of Scandinavia, the southern Scandinavian chronology is often used as a standard of reference. This includes the Early (EN) and Middle Neolithic A (MNa) Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB), the Middle Neolithic B (MNb) Corded Ware/Battle Axe/Single Grave Culture, and the Late Neolithic (LN) period with a Bell Beaker, and then early Bronze Age CUnetice) inspired culture.

LOCATION: Denmark, northern Germany, southern and central Swedan, and Norway. From a diverse cultural situation in the Early and Middle Neolithic, generally characterized by a boundary between southern Scandinavian tradition and a northern tradition, the whole region is characterized by the homogeneous Nordic Late Neolithic culture.

DIAGNOSTIC MATERIAL ATTRIBUTES: Material attributes

vary greatly in relation to period and region. Pottery has been central to most chronological schemes. Polished and flaked flint and stone core axes, adzes and chisels, flake axes, shaft-hole axes, transverse points,

blade points, and bifacial points. Particularly in the northern regions, slate points and knives are diagnostic. Flint daggers, from the last phase; also bronze axes. Amber beads and pendants. Bone pins. Funerary structures include earthen long barrows, dolmens, passage graves, stone-packing graves, small mounds, and stone cist graves. Ritual structures include causewayed camps of the "Sarup type" and so-called "cult houses" of the "Tustrup type." In the earlier phases, houses are diffuse, but later, semicircular and rectangular houses, often of the long type.

REGIONAL SUBTRADITIONS: In the southern Scandinavian tradition (Denmark, southern Sweden, northern Germany and parts of southern Norway), the Funnel Beaker (TRB), Single Grave (Battle Axe/Corded Ware), and the Late Neolithic (LN) are found. North of southern Scandinavian traditions there are Pitted Ware associated traditions in Norway and Sweden, particularly toward the east. North and east of the above Arctic traditions are found.

IMPORTANT SITES: Sarup, Fosie, Myrhoj, the chronological reference sites (especially Oxie, Troldebjerg Klintebakke, and St. Valby). Pitted Ware sites (Kainsbakke), Slettab0, Auve, Kotedalen, Skrivarhelleren. Some megaliths and other monumental graves, cult houses, quarries, rock carvings.

318

CULTURAL SUMMARY

Environment

Climate. The earliest Neolithic phases coincide with the transition from the warm Atlantic phase to the somewhat cooler sub-boreal climate phase. Within the large region, precipitation, temperatures, and winds vary greatly, being characterized by coastal to inland climates.

Topography. Originally the Neolithic associated with agriculture and animal husbandry was thought of as a lowland, partially coastal phenomenon concentrated to the light, self-drained, cultivated soils. Today, Neolithic cultures of one kind or another have been identified in most if not all biotypes, with a tendency toward intensification of exploitation in less productive or less accessible zones through time (i.e., in the Late Neolithic). The region encompasses numerous ecozones from south to north, from Atlantic and Baltic coasts, fjord, inland valleys to alpine uplands.

Geology. Southern Scandinavia is characterized by calcareous sedimentary and metamorphic rock, often flintbearing in Sweden and Denmark. Western Denmark is characterized by a thick cover of glacial out-wash. Norway and Sweden have a diverse geology, marked by the Caledonides, with belts of strongly metamorphic Cambro-Silurian and Devonian but also Permian rock but, most important, pre-Cambrian granite gneiss base~ ment. The geomorphology is otherwise heavily influenced by glacial action from the quaternary period. Important geological resources include southern Scandinavian flint, which was quarried and is predominant in that region, but is also found distributed as finished products far to the North. Basalts and slates from Norwegian and Swedish quarries were likewise traded over large reasons. Numerous local sources of mylonite, rhyolite, quartz, quartzite, and jasper were exploited especially in the northern regions.

Biota. Vegetation varies between coastal deciduous forests, coniferous forests, and sparse upland vegetation. In the Late Neolithic, animal husbandry probably contributed to a more open landscape. The animal species varied according to local environment and included marine mammals, fresh and saltwater fish and mollusks, and terrestrial species like dear, moose, reindeer and fowl.

Settlements

Settlement System. In southern Scandinavia, data on the initial settlements are sketchy. Habitation sites are

Scandinavian Neolithic 319

small and located in relation to light soil types. Houses from this phase are not clearly documented but seem to be small. In the east (the Oxie group), burials, both in regard to characteristics and location, seem to indicate a continuity with the Mesolithic (based on a single find, the Dragsholm graves). So-called "timber built graves" (from coffins to timber-built chambers) exhibit a westerly distribution, outlining the areas where Funnel Beaker Culture concentrate habitation as far as Jutland is concerned. These areas largely avoid the central interior Jutland. In the latter part of the Early Neolithic, settlements are more concentrated, larger, and more complex, including megaliths, causewayed camps of the Sarup type, and habitation sites.

The expansive developments-more, larger and complex settlements---continue into the Middle Neolithic, with longhouses and semicircular houses being built. Although built for a shorter period of time, the monumental graves, especially the megaliths, continue to be a focus of ritual and settlement identity, probably tied to territorial rights. With the transition to Single Grave Middle Neolithic B phase in eastern regions of southern Scandinavia (Scania and the Danish islands), there seems to be continuity in settlement patterns. Jutland, the interior previously only sparsely settled by TRB groups, is "colonized" by Battle Axe groups. Settlement patterns in the rest of Jutland also change, with smaller, less permanent settlements. Discussions around the causes of this settlement change, and indeed the whole Single Grave Corded Ware development in southern Scandinavia have revolved around internal changes in production and economy with a stronger pastoral emphasis versus the immigration of a new people into the Jutland, and a gradual spread of Single Grave culture out of this core area through southern Scandinavia. In addition, an easterly Corded Ware influence, especially felt in Sweden, enters into discusSIOns.

Although the term "Pitted Ware Culture" has been used to categorize settlements from north and east Denmark, southern and eastern Sweden and large parts of southern Norway to the Atlantic coast, the core area is found in eastern Sweden. Chronologically in the Middle Neolithic, the Pitted Ware Culture exhibits small hunting, fishing and stockholding settlements, but also villages in the eastern, Baltic regions. Settlements are primarily located in the connection with intersection of different eco-zones, giving access to a range of resources.

Settlements from the Oslofjord, as well as in western Norway along the coast and in the central highlands of Norway have also been termed Pitted Ware, but this term is primarily relevant to the Oslofjord region. The

320Scandinavian Neolithic

other regions seem to have a hunter-gatherer population influenced by contacts with Neolithic TRB and Pitted Ware groups. In the Oslofjord region there also seem to be TRB groups located in areas with light soils, soils well suited for early agriculture. There thus seems to be a situation of two ethnic groups living in different ecological niches but in the same region. The coastal western Norwegian sites are characterized by deep refuse deposits in optimal areas like tidal streams, as well as smaller camps sites. The settlement patterns indicate utilisation of terrestrial and marine resources, and are primarily located in relation to these resources. In the upland areas, e.g. the Hardangervidda plateau and the mountains to the north, there are extensive traces of repeatedly used sites, probably tied to hunting of reindeer and small game. Interestingly, a number of these older sites along the coastal streams and in the highlands exhibit no traces of habitation from the Middle Neolithic Single Grave Period. As it is unlikely that these regions were depopulated, new forms of production, including stockholding and agriculture, might be involved.

In the final phase, there is a relatively homogeneous Late Neolithic cultural situation in the whole Nordic region. There is a general expansion in the use of all terrain types. The settlement patterns reflect agropastoral societies that also exploit a wide range of wild resources found as for north as 62°. Of particular interest are the long houses, clearly linked to increased emphasis on agriculture.

Community Organization. In the TRB regions communities are located to give access to agricultural soils suitable for shifting agriculture, but also access to wild resources, particularly marine resources. Apart from the domestic areas, major activity areas were tied to the monumental graves, particularly the megalithic structures, as well ritual structures like the causewayed camps and the cult houses. In the Single Grave phase, settlements are less clearly defined, and this is seen as indicative of a more mobile, pastoral settlement pattern. Megalithic monuments are still in use, but the period's own mounds were also probably ritually important. Wetlands, lakes and bogs were likewise clearly the receptacles of sacrifices in this period.

Outside of the TRB there is a variation in sites from special task sites connected to hunting and fishing on different scales, but also quarrying. Of special interest are the sites with rock carvings. These sites have from a few figures on a single panel, to multi-panel sites with thousands of figures like Ausevik and Vingen in western Norway. These sites were clearly a focus of ritual

activIty, and have been interpreted both as scenes of sympathetic magic, but also as locations used to mediate social tensions and ideological strains in an era of change. In the Late Neolithic phase there are variable habitation sites, task sites, and production sites (e.g. flint quarries in Jutland). Where found, the megaliths are still quite often used for ritual purposes, but for the period, typical stone cist graves with multistage inhumations and multiple burials were also locations of ritual. Ritual is otherwise strongly expressed in sacrifices of, among other things, early metalwork and flint in wetlands, but also in crevasses.

Housing. Houses from the earliest TRB are not known. From the early Middle Neolithic, longhouses and semicircular houses are known. From the Middle Neolithic b housing is little known. To the north, outside of the TRB region, the shelter type primarily studied is what amounts to small tent-like structures. Natural shelters like caves and rock shelters are also in use (e.g., in Gotland and western Norway) and are particularly intensively in use as of the Late Neolithic.

Population, Health, and Disease. Detailed studies of population size in this region are lacking, but in general terms the increase in sites and site sizes indicate population growth from the Mesolithic to the Middle Neolithic. Based on similar criteria, we can assume there probably was a growth in population in the Late Neolithic, at least in those areas drawn into the Nordic sphere. Throughout the Neolithic there are indications of violent death and human sacrifice. If average height is indicative of health and nutrition, studies of Danish skeletons indicate a slight reduction in average height from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic (1 cm from 166 to 165 for men, 154 to 153 for women). This could be interpreted as the result of a more monotonous agricultural-based diet in the Neolithic. A marked increase in average skeletal size is found in the Middle/ Late Neolithic (171 cm for men, 156 cm for women), a result perhaps of increased intake of protein and fats, a result of a "secondary products revolution" making systematic use of dairy products and generally increasing food production.

Economy

Subsistence. Throughout the whole region and through the time span of the Neolithic, modes of production are highly variable. Production includes shifting agriculture, production with strong pastoral components, more or less pure hunting-gathering, as well as very mixed