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Iron-Age Societies, From Tribe to State in Northern Europe, 500 BC to AD 700.

Lotte Hedeager (tr. John Hines)

This is another excellent volume in Blackwell's estimable "Social Archaeology" series.

The current volume is rich in ideas and pioneering in its use of archaeological finds to support

historical processes. The author's ostensible aim is to show the rise of the state in Denmark, but this

is also a valuable study in methodology. How a state developed from tribal societies is seen not

from the perspective of the all-too spare written sources, but from both material (archaeological
finds and historical geography) and theoretical (social theory) perspectives.

While the Danish state was formed through political and military actions of a perhaps royal

dynasty eventuating in Harold Bluetooth in the 10th Century, the actual process began in the Early

Iron Age, some seven hundred years before. As Hedeager says

"... the unification of a kingdom in itself depends on upon the pre-existence of the basic
components of a state organization, and that these do not emerge without historical reasons (p.1)."
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The problem is how to detect such changes over time when written source are so sparse. The

answer is by close analysis -- often statistical but not onerously so for the reader -- of the remains

of material culture. The results are then tested against theoretical models of the rise of states and,

of course, more conventional historical sources. In many ways this is a pioneering effort. For the

past twenty years archaeologists have used statistical analysis on small groups, specifically to

determine differences in grave goods and thus suggest changes in social organization. No one, to

date, has done this on such a massive scale, or looked at so much other evidence as has been done

here.

After a succinct commentary on currently popular social theory models, three broad areas

come under scrutiny. One is ideology and ritual communication. Specifically, this means burials

and hoards of artifacts. These seem to show changes from group rituals to ever more emphasis on

individuals, some buried with weapons, others not, but all equipped with relatively rich goods.

Here is graphic evidence of the rise of elites who were the creators of the new state organizations.

An examination of social and political systems that follows reinforces these conclusions. Social

differentiation arose partly on the basis of prestige goods imported from the Roman world, but also

powered by internal factors: Roman material accelerated ongoing processes of change. Last,

Hedeager shows changes in the rural economy of Denmark in the Iron Age and succeeding

periods. In a fascinating study of environmental decline, demographic pressure, and necessary

reorganization, we see the development of the classic Scandinavian rural landscape: independent

big farmers living in enclosed farmsteads with their large families and dependents. These would be

the warriors and nobility who set out to trade, raid, and settle in Viking Age.

The change in "barbarian" society from tribe to state, from chiefs to kings may seem

familiar. This, however, is far more sophisticated analysis than earlier works. It is real history in
depth.
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Bruce Kraig

Roosevelt University