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ABSTRACT
The newly excavated sites of Toftum Næs, Jutland (Denmark), will be presented, and the special features that have been registered here will be discussed. In particular, the conspicuous architecture will figure prominently; a very sturdily built and thus high structure that can only be interpreted as a tower placed along with a succession of larger hall-type buildings, and a possible ritual building. This ‘aristocratic quarter’ is in direct contact with another area characterized by a larger pit-house cluster of more the 100 units, and placed in the vicinity of two conjoining streams. The different structures mentioned and their internal, topographical distribution as well as architectural features will be incorporated as the main base for a functional interpretation of and motive behind the buildings and the activities pertaining to the site in general. The topic of commercial control and what type of influence the aristocracy had on the early development on these types of sites will be included. Furthermore, the structural fluctuation of the site at Toftum Næs, and in particular the changes that seem to have taken place during the main use-phase both at the site in question and with regard to the overall development of aristocratic sites with production areas and at the Viking Age towns, will be debated in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The Agency of Culture and Palaces financed the greater parts of the excavations, and a generous grant from the Beckett-Foundation made possible the Geomagnetic Surveying. The authors are grateful for the support of the involved students and employees at Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Aarhus and Pre-Christian Cult Sites, National Museum of Denmark. Also many thanks to Maria P. Baastrup, who provided the more exact dating of the different ornaments, Katrine Vestergaard for solving several of the post-holes conundrums, and Arjen Heijnis for his detailed viewshed analysis.
Notes
1. A dendrochronological dating has been made of the remains of a roof-bearing post. The youngest preserved year ring was formed in AD 585; with the missing sapwood it can be calculated that the timber was felled after about AD 605.
2. Since the initial excavation in the early 1950s, the find material has been lost, wherefore the dating of the posts and tower rests on the drawings and diary made by the excavators. The majority of pottery finds do, however, belong to the eighth century, as does a culture layer found in connection with the tower (Ruhmann Citation2004: 19–20).
3. In this respect Stellerburg, as well as the other Carolingian examples, bears clear resemblance to the very simple, four-post structure (i.e. a box) upholding the central tower, which has been excavated at numerous, small Roman fortifications spread virtually all over the Roman Empire (Baatz Citation1976, Hanson and Friell Citation1995).
4. Whether the sides are open or closed has been debated (Ericsson Citation1992:37ff), but since part of the surface was removed by modern earthworks, no clear-cut answer can be given.
5. The collection of taxes is generally accepted as a means to establish the extended network of commercial sites of the Viking Age, where a patron guaranteed safety and a place to rest, whereas the trader paid to obtain this protection. The only contemporary reference to income by taxation is the Annales Regni Francorum, which states that the Danish king Godfred (Godofrido) sacks the merchant town of Reric, which allegedly was a town that had provided him with great wealth (via taxation). Also the place-name Ribe (Ripensis) seems to indicate a toll-reference as the merchants’ payment for their lots in the mercantile town of Dorestad is called Ripensia. Thus, the name Ribe could have a direct link to toll payment at this place (Sawyer Citation1986, Middleton Citation2005).