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Opening the Oak-Coffins

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VIII. METAL DEPOSITS


Traditionally, a tripartite division of archaeological
finds are employed in Nordic archaeology: Graves
(the first to be investigated), settlement-sites (today
a category much explored, including culture
landscapes), and deposits (which also have a long
research history). The latter, in the Bronze Age mostly
in the form of various metal finds, have always puzzled
archaeologists. Interpretations vary from treasures to
sacrifices (or rather votives). Common deposits do
not seem to vary in content according to context: the
latter being both dry lands - fields, pasture and forests
- and wetlands, like bogs. Deposits of special artefacts
comprise lur trumpets, cult axes, helmets, shields,
phaleras, golden cups and rings, etc. - the crownjewels of a society. These types of artefacts are usually
found alone (as one-type deposits), sometimes on
dry land, but often in wetlands. It is a characteristic of
all these finds that they are unaccompanied by animal
bones, special structure, or other indicators that a
religious act has taken place.
Sometimes, in other periods of prehistory, exquisite artefacts - often the finest known from the period
in question - are also found without other main types
of artefact. In addition, yet other types of find may be
added to this list, including mass-deposits of Iron Age
weaponry (including large boats), wrecks, humans
(bog-bodies), etc. Interestingly, archaeologists tend
to classify common deposits as religiously motivated
as regards the Stone and Bronze Ages, and as treasures as regards the Iron Age and later. There is no
methodological reason for this, as should be evident.
The explanation rests with the idea of that depositing of valuables must have been religiously motivated
in primitive times, or simple treasures in historical
or near historical periods, with a supposed advanced
economy, as demonstrated by the availability of coins
and other means of exchange, including hacked-up
items of precious metals, the existence of weight
standards, etc.
Wetlands have often been seen as harbours of irrevocable deposits, thus sacrifices. This suggestion
can be challenged, however, as we shall see from the
following. Another aspect of importance for the interpretation of the highly important category of deposits,

are contemporary and other literary sources, for instance ancient Roman texts describing Celtic or Germanic military deposits and related behaviour. In fact,
such texts might be drawn from even wider fields, as
also demonstrated by the following.

WRITTEN SOURCES

The below sample of fourteen ancient written sources


concerning votives or other particular items -including
their value, powers, and dangers - hidden treasure,
military deposits, etc. are arranged chronologically
(cf. the following section, which the quotes are meant
to accompany). Comments are not necessary in the
present context. Hopefully, the texts will serve to
widen the perspective on the presented archaeological
material, even if only a few of the sources are
contemporary with the Nordic Bronze Age:
1. ... if I [Hector] kill him and Apollo grants me glory,
Ill strip his gear and haul it back to sacred Troy and hang it
high on the Deadly Archers temple wall.
- Homer (The Iliad 7).
2. They tore the weasel-cap from the head, stripped the
wolf pelt, the reflex bow and long tough spear and swinging
the trophies high to Pallas queen of plunder, exultant royal
Odysseus shrouded out his prayer: A Here, Goddess, rejoice
in these, theyre yours!
- Homer (The Iliad 10).
3. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought
it into the house of Dagon [a deity], and set it by Dagon.
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark
of the Lord; ... Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and
let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and
our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout
the city; ... And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of
Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again
the ark of the Lord; ...
- Samuel (5:2 to 6:21).
4. Also Cyrus the [Persian] king [in 539 BC] brought
forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzr [the Babylonean king, in 586 BC] had brought forth
out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

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... And this is the number of them: thirty chargers [dishes] of


gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives
[incense containers], thirty basons [basins] of gold, silver
basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other
vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and silver were five
thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzr bring
up with them of the captivity that were brought up from
Babylon unto Jerusalem.
- Ezra (1:7-11).
5. ... A tenth part of their profits, amounting to six talents, they spent on the manufacture of a bronze vessel, shaped
like an Argive wine-bowl, with a continuous row of griffinsheads round the rim; this bowl, supported upon three kneeling figures in bronze, eleven and a half feet high, they placed
as an offering in the temple of Hera.
- Herodotus (The Histories I; 152).
6. When they [the Celts] have decided to fight a battle
they generally vow to Mars the booty that they hope to take,
and after a victory they sacrifice the captured animals and
collect the rest of the spoils in one spot. Among many of the
tribes, high piles of it can be seen on consecrated ground; and
it is an almost unknown thing for anyone to dare, in defiance
of religious law, to conceal his booty at home or to remove
anything placed on the piles. Such a crime is punishable by a
terrible death under torture.
- Caesar (The Conquest of Gaul I:1).
7. The customs of the Germans are entirely different. They
... are not much given to sacrifices. The only beings they recognize as gods are things that they can see, and by which they
are obviously benefited, such as Sun, Moon, and Fire; ...
- Caesar (The Conquest of Gaul I;2).
8. Since the country was rich in gold and settled by superstituous peoples, living a modest life, many treasures were
collected, and that these were preserved unviolated rested in
particular with the fact that is was in lakes that the amounts

INSURANCE

ISOLATION

of gold and silver were lowered. When the Romans conquered


these regions they sold the lakes on behalf of the state, and
many of those who had bought them found worked lumps of
silver in them.
Strabon (Geography IV.1.13).
9. Above all they [the Germans] worship Mercury, and
count it no sin, on certain feast-days, to include human
victims in the sacrifices offered to him. Hercules and Mars
they appease by offerings of animals, ... The Germans do not
think it in keeping with the divine majesty to confine gods
within walls or to portray them in the likeness of any human
countenance. Their holy places are woods and groves, ...
- Tacitus (Germania 9).
10. Traitors and deserters are hanged on trees; the coward, the unwarlike, the man stained with abominable vices,
is plunged into the mire of the morass with a hurdle put over
him.
- Tacitus (Germania 12).
11. These [the Cimbri and the Teutoni, in 111 BC], who
had conquered two [Roman] camps and won an enormous
booty, destroyed everything which they had taken under a
new and uncommon conjuration: Clothing was torn and
thrown away, gold and silver dropped into the river, the
armour of the warriors broken, harnesses split, the horses
themselves lowered into the chasms, the prisoners slung from
the trees with ropes around their necks, so that the victor did
not aquire any more spoils than mercy the defeated.
- Orosius (Histories/Against the Pagans V;16f.).
12. Odin established the same law in his land that had
been in force in Asaland [i.e., among the Pagan gods of the
Aser lineage]. Thus he established by law that all dead men
should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon
the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the
earth. Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with
the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also

a) Reality, deposit regained (treasure)


b) Super-reality I, benefits harvested (votive)
c) Super-reality II, deposit regained in afterlife
(treasure)
a) Of dangerous items (burial in extra-human world)
b) Of dangerous humans (burial in extra-human
world)

Fig. 21. Interpretative suggestions as to metal deposits (of the Bronze Age). Randsborg del.

Opening the Oak-Coffins

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Fig. 22. Well-documented (common) deposits of Period II in present-day Denmark. Status of sample: 1943 with a few additions (Broholm
1943f./Vols. I-II). The Trundholm Sun-chariot is not included. A very few finds may have other dates. Finds from wet environments are
marked. Randsborg del.

enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth.


- Snorre (Ynglingasaga 8, of Heimskringla, recorded in
the early 13th century AD, but referring to the Viking Age).
13. ... a sword is lowered into the lake because of its curse.
- Snorre (Asmundar Kappabana Saga 1; recorded in the
early 13th century AD, but referring to the Viking Age).
14. [The citizens of the town of beltoft, Denmark in
1659, during a naval battle off the town] ... began to lower
their valuables into the water. ... clothes, silverware and
money. They lower these things ... and are so clever that the
vessels in which there are hiding these things are so wisely
devised that nothing is ruined or gets wet; ...

- J. Passek/Polish officer (eyewitness) (cf. Petersen


1890, 247; Lindahl 1968).

ARCHAEOLOGY

One of the long-standing questions concerning


deposits centres on the military finds discussed at
the close of the last chapter. Do these reflect and
represent martial displays and subsequent gifts to the
Gods of captured enemy equipment by the winner on the traditional model inspired by Classical written

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sources on the behaviour of barbarians after battle


(e.g., Randsborg 1995; cf. Caesar; Orosius, previous
section). The Romans even sold property where one
could find metal deposits (Strabon, previous section).
Generally, the metal deposits of the South Scandinavian Bronze Age - which are of several kinds, both
in terms of composition and location - are interpreted
as religiously motivated sacrifices (cf. the introduction
to this chapter). This hypothesis is the dominant one,
in particular concerning finds from wet contexts,
like rivers, bogs or lakes (in contrast to finds from
dry fields, etc.), usually believed to be irrevocable (e.g., Jensen 2002; cf. Willroth 1985, 16f. for a research history of interpretation; even Verlaeckt 1995).
There is, however, only little archaeological evidence
in support of this general proposition, or, for that
matter, most of the other interpretations of this large
group of hidden finds. A wet environment of find
is not necessarily a sacred one, as is often claimed;
rather, a bog may a place - a limbo - in between the
land and the water (and the sky) of the living, in fact
a place to hide dangerous, unwanted or dead objects,
even though other events may also be connected with
the bogs. Interestingly, a fair number of Bronze Age
deposits are from gravel pits and other barren places,
environments, which are also different from common
agricultural land, pastures, or even forest - the land of
the living.
Finds from wet environments naturally stand out.
They arouse curiosity, and, certainly, wetlands are preserving environments in contrast to agricultural soils.
One almost imagines the objects hanging in water or
bog soils like on branches of trees. Might the original number of deposits on dry land not have been as
dense as in at least some wet environments, the artefacts only decayed, destroyed or removed to a much
higher degree? Stressing the otherness of wetlands,
they seem an ideal place to deposit unwanted - likely
un-clean - artefacts and to hide others, thus avoiding
routes of transport and work, thus detection.
The idea that the metal deposits are gifts to the
ancestors is sometimes aired in connection with
the observations that metal deposits may cluster in
periods, even regions, where less metal is invested
as burial goods and richly furnished burials are few
(Hundt 1955; cf. Struve 1971, 89f.). An economic
rationale for such differences certainly can be found

(Randsborg 1974, 58f.), since the observation is


accurate enough. The problem rests in establishing
the crucial relationship, which is very difficult, since
the furnishing of burials, even formal burial, is a
social variable. Also, the number of metal deposits
is much lower, for instance in Period II of the Early
Bronze, than the number of rich burials. Thus, if gifts
to the ancestors, the metal deposits of the Bronze Age
must be collective or festival ones, relating to many
ancestors at one and the same time. Furthermore,
their highly variable contents make identification with
specified personages very unlikely. In the Classical
world (and the Classical centuries), ancestor cults
mainly concerned upkeep of graves.
In the earlier Neolithic of Denmark, pots were deposited in bogs and other wet environments, often together with polished and used work flint-axes, animal
and human bones, etc., and likely on platforms of
branches (Koch 1998). These finds are probably cultic deposits, likely remnants of sacrifices, and probably to the powers of fertility, including the contents
of the pots. However, other interpretations of the potdeposits have also been suggested, with reference to
historical sources. Mundane interpretations include
eel-traps (the eels being lured to the pot by the food)
and containers for food (kept in oxygen-starved environments under water for preservation). Possibly,
the mundane explanations of these pots even reflect
fluctuations in the archaeological attitude towards deposits.
Such deposits are often found near settlements and
megalithic graves. The same phenomenon is known
from the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Early Imperial Roman Period (but not the later Neolithic or the
Bronze Age) (Becker 1971). Commonly, these pots
are accompanied by animal bones (but not by human
ones). Crude representations of deities with accentuated sexual organs are also found, the oldest of these
going back to the close of the Bronze Age (Kaul 2004,
76f.). The idea is obviously that the visage and shape
of the Gods are unknown (unlike the Classical World);
there is no reason to believe that better images could
not have been produced, as is evident from the quality
of boats or of jewellery, for example.
Most sacrifices of the historical or ethnographical
literature, or otherwise, are of biological substances
and usually linked to recurring events. The Classical

Opening the Oak-Coffins


world distinguished between non-bloody and bloody
sacrifices on the one hand and votives on the other, the latter being largely non-biological in nature.
Ancient Greek sanctuaries displayed many votives
(individual gifts to the Gods), donated in gratitude
for military victories - for instance 10% of the spoils,
literally or in value; also non-military items would
serve such purpose. Other votives were for victories
in major sports games, and yet other received from
princes, or from private persons, either in anticipation of support from deities or in gratitude towards
these for benefits. Such votives could be statues, ritual
objects, weapons either won in battle or belonging to
the winning party, tools, musical instruments, jewellery, even humans and animals, etc. For reasons of
space, votives might be buried in the ground after a
while, seemingly mixed with each other and various
other materials, and even sold or leased (Riis 1959,
48f.). When sold, the item is at once profane. Some
Greek city-states even built treasure houses for their
votives, as at Delphi. Visitors inspected the votives
in much the same way as today museums; often the
items became stolen at some point.12
Seen in this light, the Danish and other Bronze
Age metal deposits are rather votives than sacrifices,
but other suggestions are also possible, including hidden treasures, perhaps hidden during times of conflict
and never retrieved due to death or difficulty of locating the site. The context of find is highly significant
when determining the character of the find. However,
usually only the content of find is a clue towards understanding. Some archaeologists subscribe to rather
narrow interpretations, other to broader ones, and
yet others present entire social narratives in the attempt at explaining the diversity of data over wide
areas (Bradley 1990). But on the whole, archaeologists are rather uncertain about the interpretation of
the meaning of depositing, even if individual archaeologists often appear rather certain of his of her particular data-set, whatever the explanation chosen (see,
e.g., the contributions in Blajer 1997). Nevertheless, a
comprehensive list of the options of interpretation of
the metal deposits might run as follows:
12 Metal representations of human body parts displayed at
Roman Catholic chapels are likely distant echos of ancient
votive customs.

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(1) Votives (gifts to divine beings, even spirits or


ancestors); votives used to sanctify or protect structures not included
(2) Ex- or discarded votives (originally on display)
(4) Dangerous items (removed from the world of
the living)
(5) Other powerful items (removed from the world
of the living for protection when going out of use,
obviously too powerful to be used as metal scrap for
fresh items)
(6) Hidden treasures (originally to be regained at a
later point of time)
(7) Casual losses
(8) Yet other types of find
Several difficulties of interpretation should be listed:
For instance, votives may be clandestine and thus
hidden, looking like treasures when found. Finds of
discarded objects may not refer to their original context,
for instance public display, thus also resembling
treasures. Furthermore, it is postulated, that some
items hold particular powers, acquired through their
form and biography, e.g. participation in display and
exchanges, rituals, battles, etc. Therefore, such items
are potentially dangerous (in particular to enemies,
cf. Samuel in the previous section), or, in need of
protection by hiding when not in use (anymore). A
cache of these artefacts may also resemble a hidden
treasure, indeed, is a treasure.
It is evident from the above list and comments
that it is often difficult to establish archaeological criteria for one or the other interpretation, in particular
where formal sacred areas can not be established.
The archaeological context is highly important in
interpreting Bronze Age metal deposits. Seemingly,
there are no clear-cut distinctions between dry
(from field) and wet finds, in character or otherwise, at least as far as the majority of deposits are
concerned. In fact, most of the common finds, even
the wet ones, may be lost treasures, if taking the
cue from the Danish deposits of personal treasure
(silverware, jewellery, coins, etc.) from the wars and
military occupations of the 17th century AD, a period where of course no pagan sacrifices were taking
place (Randsborg 2002). An oxygen-deprived wet
environment actually preserves bronzes better than
a so-called dry one.

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Opening the Oak-Coffins

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Fig. 23. Well-documented common deposits of Periods IV (page to the left) and Period V (page to the right) in present-day Denmark. Status
of sample: 1943 with a few additions (Broholm 1943f./Vols. III-IV: reduced high-quality sample as rendered in rsnes 1958). Finds from wet
environments are marked. Randsborg del

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With a few exceptions, the Danish Bronze Age


metal deposits hold artefacts which belong to the same
period and are found hidden and in isolation, without
animal bones, potsherds or any other indicator of sacrifice, or even daily life. Often, pots were used for
containers in dry environments, while bronze vessels, both imported and local (finely decorated female
boxes), were used in wet ones. Except for a very
few cases, only one deposition was carried out at the
same location, which speaks against any such locality
being a shrine. Furthermore, there are no indications
at the sites of the Bronze Age deposits of a particular,
possibly sacred area. On dry land, these deposits are
often by a boulder or near a barrow (rsnes 1958,
15f., 84f.). Such are possible markers for retrieval of
hidden treasure. In an increasing number of cases,
Bronze Age metal deposits can be seen to have been
deposited inside, or very near, common house structures on settlements, which probably also seems to
speak in favour of hidden treasure (e.g., Hertz 1987,
200f., 440, Lind/H. Thrane). This is not to ignore
the existence of foundation-sacrifices, e.g., pots at
posts, as commonly found in the Iron Age.
Thus, deposits of common Bronze Age artefacts
actually look like the hidden treasures of the 17th
century, which are evenly divided between wet sites
(rivers, bogs, lakes, etc.), dry sites (often with markers recognizable even at the time of find, including
boulders and barrows), and contemporary house
structures. Bronze Age finds contain both whole and,
quite often, broken artefacts, even scrap metal; only
in a limited number of cases are the broken artefacts
sundered upon deposition (joining fragments). Often, whole and broken artefacts are found together.
This clearly speaks against an interpretation as votives - items killed for gifts to supernatural beings.
Nevertheless, also treasures may have been put under protection of deities. Commonly, the whole artefacts are slightly damaged, but often it is difficult
to distinguish between ancient, recent and modern
damage.
The finds do not represent certain rounded values (payments), since weights vary very much, even
though most hoards are of less than one kilogram of
bronze (cf. Levy 1982, 60 Fig. 5.1 & 121f.). The idea
of payments - to deities or ancestors - might still be
of some validity, though, dependent for example on

the wealth of an individual. In the Icelandic Sagas of


the Viking Age - one and a half thousand years after
the Bronze Age - it is claimed that the supreme god
Odin decided that dead fighters might arrive in Valhal with what was on their funeral pyres, as well as
with what they themselves had buried in the ground
(e.g., Struve 1971, 93f.). Thus, the particular context of
a deposit should always be taken into consideration.
Some archaeologists, like S. Mller, detects a religious dimension in finds where certain items, usually large exquisite ones - like cult axes, lur trumpets,
golden vessels, golden rings, etc. - are found together
with one or more specimens of the same type (Mller
1886: historically, the origin of the deliberations on
the Bronze Age metal deposits and other significant
finds). As a rule, no other artefact types, and in particular not common or broken items have been found
with the exquisite items. In contrast to the deposits
with large special items are the common mixed finds
with both male and female artefacts, often incomplete
and broken. Possibly, one might add, found together
with one or more specimens of the same type, or of
the same exquisite kind. Incidentally, opposition to
Mllers opinion was rare and today unfortunately almost forgotten (cf. Petersen 1890).
In a comment to Mllers classic statement one
should perhaps note that elegance and structure in
a find do not necessarily imply a reference to supernatural powers. Outside Denmark, several archaeologists today subscribe to a religious interpretation of
the bronze deposits, even to the point of seeing them
all as votives (e.g., Hansen 1991, 183ff., 188f.; 1994,
371ff., 381f.: both with comprehensive interpretative
discussions). Other archaeologists maintain the position of hidden treasure (e.g., Huth 1997).
The exquisite Bronze Age items are part of a long
line of deposits - wet as well as dry - of particularly fine
artefacts. The items include very long polished flint
axes, amber necklaces, and copper axes of the earlier
Neolithic. From the Bronze Age come the famous Sun
Chariot, found at Trundholm, Holbk County (AK II
867) (Fig. 28), the Balkkra drum (or rather throne),
Skne (Knape & Nordstrm 1994) (Fig. 27), as well
as many fine bronze swords, spearheads, shields (too
thin for battle, and thus for other purposes), lur trumpets, horned helmets, vessels, golden cups, etc. The
latter are mostly of the Late Bronze Age.

Opening the Oak-Coffins

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Fig. 24. Deposits of major ritual items of Periods IV-V. Lur trumpets = Dots (open signature = Period IV (and III), closed signature = Period
V). Uncertain/undated lurs finds are in question marks. Helmets, shields, and cult-axes = Triangles (open signature = Periods IV (and III),
closed = Period V). Phaleras (Period V) = Crosses. The sample is in the main from Broholm (1943f./Vols. III-IV), but updated, except for
phaleras. Randsborg del

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Fig. 25. Deposits of major ritual items of Periods IV-V. Golden vessels = Ring (all possibly Period IV). Bronze vessels = Triangle (open
signature = Period IV, closed signature = Period V). Grave finds are not included. The sample is in the main from Broholm (1943f./Vols.
III-IV), but updated. Randsborg del.

Opening the Oak-Coffins


Such items are in fact the crown-jewels of society. In traditional African societies, for example, they
would have been housed with the king, usually at
a homestead shrine, being the very harbour of the
legitimacy of the kings power - his prime role being
the guardian of these items.13 The disappearance into
the ground or into a bog of such items probably signals the end of a kingdom, whether as votives or not,
and by whatever agent, although likely an enemy
one. Even if such items did not always rest indefinitely in society - being important media of external
exchange, for instance - their deposition would still
signal the end of particular relationships. Thus, all
such deposited items from being active and alive
would turn dead, unwanted, even dangerous, and
therefore buried.
Voluntary sacrifice of such items seems hardly
possible, except, perhaps, during the greatest of crises,
or if formal sacred areas were established and very
many riches collected, as in Classical Greece, with its
display of eminent votives. Rather, the hidden exquisite Bronze Age finds represent the category of dangerous items, perhaps conquered in battles to which
opponents bring their cultic gear to fire the troops
and obtain support from the Gods. Notably, the exquisite finds are commonly from wet environments,
especially the larger items, like the bronze lurs, the
so-called shields, and major weapons. Golden items
are seemingly more common on dry land (but many
of these are early and documentation rather poor).
One may continue the list of particular deposited
items well into the Iron Age, with yet other fine vessels, including the silver Gundestrup cauldron (Kaul
1995), bronze vessels, iron weapons, waggons, fine
bronze necklaces, etc. Even the so-called bog-bodies of
the close of the Bronze Age and the earlier part of the
Iron Age may be added to the list of special and highly
evocative finds.
The mummified bog-bodies used to be interpreted
in the light of Roman statements on Germanic justice
(Tacitus 98; cf. van der Sanden 1996). Other interpretations centre on the concept of human sacrifice (or a
combination of the two). Clearly, the dead persons men, women, and children - have not been given prop13 Personal observations on location in Bnin and Ghana,
including participation in rituals.

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er treatment in dead (cremation) and have often been


mutilated, apart from being killed by various means. In
particular, the sadistic treatment of children is a puzzle
when considering both of the above hypotheses. Perhaps the said persons were considered witches (Lund
2002, 82f.); or, were hostages, killed when peace was
broken, as we know was often the case from Classical,
in particular Roman written sources. At any rate, also
the bog-bodies are dangerous items, as evident from
their treatment, including stones and poles to maintain
them in the bog. Some politeness may also be noted,
though, for instance nicely folded or arranged clothing
lying next to the corpse (hostages?).
The first Iron Age military and boat deposits also
belong here, including famous Hjortspring of the
fourth century BC, the period of Celtic expansion,
which may have had repercussions also in Northern
Europe (Randsborg 1995). The huge boat for about
22 fighters from the find is extremely elegant and
light, the copy easily going more than 100 kms a day
at speeds of up to 15 kms an hour. The Hjortspring
weaponry may have its origin in the Hamburg region, reaching Als in Denmark with an enemy force.
Thus, this find probably represents a deposit of
dangerous items - rich weaponry, boat, and other
items - impossible to re-use in spite of their perfect
condition. The reason is likely that the items belonged to a defeated enemy; perhaps they were even
consecrated as votives to the deities in gratitude of
the battle won. Notably, dead human beings are not
found among the weaponry and boats of the military
deposits, which thus do not reflect the battlefield per
se.
Later on in the Iron Age, very many deposits of
artefacts of costly metals, gold or silver, were carried
out, in particular from the Migration period and the
Viking Age. Most of these finds - again from both
wet and dry locations - are, when found, interpreted as hidden treasures, made up of some complete
items but also of much scrap metal and many coins.
Indeed, many of the deposits are from house and
settlement sites. Remarkably, archaeologists tend to
use religious interpretations on metal deposits from
before the birth of Christ, and profane ones for later
periods, usually without further reflection. Significantly, the many wet locations of the finds from
the later Iron Age are not commented upon, nor

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those of Middle Ages and later. Even Medieval and


later swords come from such environments.14
The huge military deposits of the couple of hundred years on either side of 300 AD - with thousands
of both exquisite and common weapons, boats, etc.
(but no humans), are nearly always interpreted as
sacrifices, inspired by the Classical authors cited in
the previous section ( Jrgensen et al. 2003). In fact,
these military deposits of the tools of war should
primarily be seen as dangerous items, perhaps
with some secondary characteristics (as votives).
The weaponry in the finds seems to origin from outside Denmark: Western Mid-Scandinavia (Norway),
Northern Germany, and the Baltic (Gotland). An
uncertainty is to what extent foreign weapons were
present in local South Scandinavian armouries. Recently, it has even been suggested that these military
deposits are remnants of barbarian editions of a Roman triumph (e.g., Jrgensen 2003). However, the
entire civil (and female) side of such is lacking, in
fact non-military booty and captives. At any rate,
this hypothesis is stressing the potential dimension
of primary versus secondary contexts of these deposits, and other.
Clearly, the deposition of weapon finds, clustering
in certain areas only, are historically conditioned - reflecting as of yet still poorly understood antagonisms
in Northern Europe around 300 AD. These happenings no doubt relate to the turmoil of the Late Imperial Period in the South, involving large contingents of
Germanic fighters in Roman service, as well as Germanic enemies of the Empire (cf. Fischer 2005).
The geographical distribution of the numerous
Bronze Age deposits also does not concur with the
general distribution of population, wealth, etc. in the
overall region. Most deposits are from the Danish
Islands, fewer from North Jylland, but almost none
from the western and southwestern part of the country (cf. Figs. 22-24). If in fact votives, one would have
expected a more or less even distribution of the deposits, in geographical space as well as over time (of
course, taking into consideration the supposed distri14 In 1807, the commander of the Danish militia of the town of
Sor, upon hearing of the English landing at Copenhagen,
ordered his troops to hide all weapons in the nearby lake. The
items were never found again and thus constitute a strange late
military deposit.

bution of the population, as defined by graves and


settlements, the distribution of wealth, etc.).
In Period II, for instance, there are very many
grave finds from all over Jylland. The deposits, by
contrast, cluster to the North and Northeast on the peninsula, being practically unknown to the South, very
rich in graves, including the oak-coffins graves under scrutiny here (sample Broholm 1943f./Vols. I-II)
(Fig. 22). Rather than votives, these deposits might be
treasures, thus reflecting areas of unrest. In addition
to the finds from Jylland there are numerous deposits from the Danish Islands, mainly western Sjlland
and the Store Blt (Greater Belt) region. The Period
II deposits are often from wet environments on the
Danish Islands, but rather rarely in Jylland.
The largest of these deposits, from a wetland near
Smrumovre, Kbenhavn County, and already mentioned above, even resembles the Iron Age military
deposits. It held 163 items, likely the arsenal of a
small army or a fleet of c50 fighters holding about 60
lances (10 are simpler, possible for use as spears) and
some 50 axes (10 exquisite, weapon grade), plus 50
unfinished and a couple of fragmented axes, etc. (AKI
354; cf. Randsborg 1995, 48f. Figs. 17-18). Only the
handle of a sword and a dagger refer to the weaponry
most commonly displayed in the graves by the elite.
The latter weapons may have belonged to the one or
two commanding officers, in turn accompanied by a
platoon of senior lance and axe fighters and four of
common ones, or, by a number of teams each lead
by a senior.
Indeed, there are significant differences in both
intensity and (partly) in character of the Bronze Age
deposits from period to period. Some deposits are
known from Period I, far more from Period II (here
ignoring the many single-found objects) (Fig. 22). Almost no deposits are known from Period III, which in
Central Europe is one of the richest phases in terms
of deposition. Thus, aloso here, a historical perspective must be employed. This fact is underlined by the
massive concentration of Late Bronze Age deposits, in
particular those with exquisite artefacts, on the Danish Islands: a veritable Chernobyl of deposition in
Period IV and in particular in Period V (with Period
VI) (Figs. 23-24).
In Period IV, the common deposits, often with
hanging vessels and scrap metal, concentrate in the

Opening the Oak-Coffins


northeastern part of Jylland. There is a significant
concentration on North Fyn (Funen), but relatively
few finds on Sjlland, etc. Finds from wet environments are relatively rare (better documented deposits
only: main sample of Broholm 1943f./Vols. III-IV,
reduced highly reliable sample of rsnes 1958) (Fig.
23). In Period V, only a concentration in North Jylland is noted; on Fyn, the deposits have now rather
moved to the southern part of the island, while finds
are common on Sjlland etc.; a fair number of again
deposits are from wet environments. Interestingly,
graves with full sword, rather rare in Period IV (but
almost not existent in Period V), seem to avoid areas
of deposits. Thus, a certain dichotomy may be noted
between areas with a seeming stress on martial male
values in Period IV and areas of deposits of common
artefacts. Again the explanation might be that the
common deposits are treasures, hidden in times of
conflict and attack.
The deposits of fine in the main ritual artefacts,
nearly always of one artefact type only, concentrate
on the Danish Islands (Figs. 24-25). The lurs of Period (III-)IV are mainly from Eastern Jylland, while
the ones of Period V concentrate on Sjlland. Almost
all are from wet environments. (Of course, the lurs
may also have served as military signal horns in battle.) The plate shields, helmets, and cult axes are in the
main found on the Danish Islands, as are the phaleras
(these are for horse harnesses of Period V, likely in
connection with ceremonial waggons). The shields
etc. are also from wet environments. In a few cases,
phaleras are found with other artefacts, all of a female
nature (e.g., hanging vessels, otherwise typical for the
common deposits). Bronze vessels have a wider distribution, some being from North Jylland (including
specimens of Period III). Incidentally, a few bronze
vessels are from princely graves on Southern Fyn,
like famous Lusehj, Odense Country of Period V
(Thrane 1984).
The one-type deposits of golden cups, likely mainly of Period IV date, clearly concentrate on the Danish Islands, in particular on or around Fyn. Only in
one case, do golden cups - incidentally, deposited in
a bronze vessel - come from a wet environment.
There is a weak, and as of yet unexplained, tendency
for lurs to be found in other areas than the golden
vessels.

57

The golden rings or bracelets, the so-called Oathrings, largely concentrate in the same areas as the
golden cups, in particular the heavy specimens. Western Sjlland is a particular focus, while a few light
specimens come from Northern Jylland. A very few
less costly specimens are from princely graves.
Thus, as to the fine ritual artefacts, this is in fact
the end of Bronze Age society - its ideology and cosmology - even though a final and generally somewhat
poorer period follows, Period VI, parallel in time to
the early Iron Age in Central Europe. The last areas
in present-day Denmark to be touched by this obvious social and cultural break-down are, seemingly,
southern Fyn and parts of Sjlland, in particular the
southwest, and, possibly, the northeast. On Southern
Fyn is, as indicated, also the famous princely Lusehj
mound burial complex of Period V, indeed very rare
for its period (Thrane 1984).
At the end of the Late Bronze Age, deposition was
clearly in decline, except in eastern Scandinavia, a
stronghold of archaic norms, perhaps stimulated by
an import of bronze from the Baltic and other eastern
connections, including the so-called Mlar celts (Vasks
& Vijups 2004; Hjrthner-Holdar 1993, 26f.). Even
migrations of eastern units of population into small
pockets of Southern Scandinavia towards the end of
the Bronze Age are likely, as reflected by Polish
(Lausitz/Lusatian Culture) ceramics and structures at
Vistad in stergtland, Sweden and Central Polish
etc. and Scythian metalwork deposited in a small area
at Vejle, eastern Jylland (Larsson 1993; Larsson &
Hulthn 2004; Jensen 1969).
In conclusion, if the deposits, as here, are interpreted as treasures or - in the case of the exquisite one
- as dangerous items (perhaps votives, but not by
the original owner), we are left with the problem of
missing votives on the Greek model. The solution is
likely that votives in the shape of metal artefacts were
not common in Bronze Age Europe; or, perhaps,
were limited to single found objects, sometimes from
wet environments, in Central Europe often rivers.
If votives were common, one would have expected a
very wide array of objects, not merely bronzes. In addition, the major difference between Greek votives on
display at shrines and the isolated hidden one-period
metal deposits in Central Europe and Denmark still
stands out clearly.

58

Acta Archaeologica

Possibly, we may summarize the observations in


the following scheme concerning all intentional noncasual metal deposits, excluding, for instance, burial
due to occasional fire, loss, and the like (Fig. 21). The
first heading is positive and active in character, being
that of Insurance, which may be mundane or real,
as in the case of a hidden treasure in a structure, in
the fields, or even in water: whether just hidden or
put under religious protection, as likely the Medieval
treasures in churches and churchyards ( Jensen et al.
1992, 46f./N.-K. Liebgott).
On the level of Super-reality, is, firstly, (I) the
active category of votives (to the gods), if such were
at all buried and not put on display, openly or hidden. The idea behind a votive is, of course, to reap
a benefit from supernatural beings, or to thank these
same powers. Secondly, (II) a category is included
that is mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas of the Early
High Medieval period (as referring to the Viking
Age). This equally active category, in the sagas a
close of the so-called the Odins Law, holds that
one goes to Valhal - the hall of the Pagan gods of the
Aser lineage, and home of dead warriors - with the
goods of the funeral pyre. Furthermore, it is added
- almost like an afterthought in the text - that he [the
dead man] would also enjoy whatever he himself

had buried in the earth. The reference is to Snorris


famous Ynglingasaga15, a part of Heimskringla (also
see above), and much quoted in archaeological literature. However, it is unknown to what extent this
concerns a prehistoric reality (e.g., Skovmand 1942,
197f.). Nevertheless, it is included here for its general
reference to the character of human nature, holding
on to property.
The second heading is negative in character, being that of Isolation, and passivity, namely of dangerous or unwanted artefacts, which for one or the
other reason cannot be destroyed or made to vanish,
but are instead deposited far from the realms of human settlement and fields: in wetlands, gravel pits,
etc. This heading, in other contexts than here, may
be extended to include deposits of dangerous human
beings, like the well-known bog-bodies (van den
Sanden 1996). It is of course implied that metal artefacts, even stemming from foreign contexts, which
one wished to keep for oneself, were included in a
category of own, and thus only buried as treasure
(or, perhaps, as votive), if at all.
In fact, it is to mans thoughtful imagination - his
intellectual emotions - that we shall finally delve from soul and spirit to cosmology and the base of
science, calendars and mathematics.
15 Chapter 8; quoted above.

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