This paper explores the dynamics of village community formation and change during the earliest Iron Age (c. 500–1 BC) using radiocarbon-based models. A dataset of more than 5000 radiocarbon dates from a study area within the Køge Bay region (East Zealand, Denmark) is compiled to approach multiple scales of analysis. First, overall spatiotemporal trends in the settlement record across the study area are examined to contextualise formational and transformative processes. These models show abrupt, significant growth in frequency and spatial densities of radiocarbon dated settlement from c. 400/350 BC, indicating high-tempo processes of expansion and formation into aggregated community configurations. Modelled densities peak c. 300–200 BC and then decrease rapidly, constraining this dynamic of growth, plateau and reduction to short-duration sequences. Second, site-scale models focusing on a specific village community within a corresponding timeframe are used to assess temporal frameworks and changepoints in detail. These models test diverse spatiotemporal frequencies and distinctive properties of several individual farm clusters constituting the village and consistently suggest significant intra-community variability. The results propose new ways to look at timings and change-rates in the dynamics of interaction, cohesion and division shaping earliest Iron Age village communities.
Since the 1890s, the Danish Single Grave Culture (SGC; c. 2850-2350 BCE) has been recognised as a distinct cultural complex with its core area centred on the sandy regions in Mid and Western Jutland, often associated with a pastoral-based economy. However, the absence of animal bone material from this area seriously constrains interpretations of prehistoric subsistence strategies and human-animal relations. This brief case study aims to assess the potential for future reconstructions of animal use and subsistence strategies in Danish SGC. By systematically re-evaluating all known and available assemblages with animal bone material from Jutland SGC contexts, supplemented by selective radiocarbon dating, we have tested the suitability for dating of the zooarchaeological remains. As a result, there are – still – no known dated animal bones from the heath regions of the Danish SGC. Therefore, we suggest that future research should explore alternative proxies, such as parasite analyses, phytolith studies, and sedaDNA, to comply with these fundamental empirical challenges.
Due to infrastructural work, Sydsvensk Arkeologi AB conducted an archaeological excavation in 2022 between the Scanian villages Fjälkinge and Gualöv, southern Sweden. The excavation revealed settlements and a cemetery from the Late Neolithic into the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Located at a plausible prehistoric intersection which connects the Lake Ivösjön to the Baltic Sea, and coastal south to the north, the site has the potential to provide new knowledge of ancient road systems and its possibilities for exchange of both ideas and people. The paper explores the buried population and burial tradition from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age through multiproxy data, combining traditional archaeological and osteological analyses with state-of-the-art biomolecular analyses, and microstratigraphic excavation of urns as well as trace element and lead isotope analysis of metals. The results show how the local environment substantially has affected the spatial distribution of graves and that the prehistoric roads have been important for transferring ideas and commodities from the Baltic inland as well as north to south along the coast. Reinterpretations of cremation pits ...
Due to infrastructural work, Sydsvensk Arkeologi AB conducted an archaeological excavation in 2022 between the Scanian villages Fjälkinge and Gualöv, southern Sweden. The excavation revealed settlements and a cemetery from the Late Neolithic into the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Located at a plausible prehistoric intersection which connects the Lake Ivösjön to the Baltic Sea, and coastal south to the north, the site has the potential to provide new knowledge of ancient road systems and its possibilities for exchange of both ideas and people. The paper explores the buried population and burial tradition from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age through multiproxy data, combining traditional archaeological and osteological analyses with state-of-the-art biomolecular analyses, and microstratigraphic excavation of urns as well as trace element and lead isotope analysis of metals. The results show how the local environment substantially has affected the spatial distribution of graves and that the prehistoric roads have been important for transferring ideas and commodities from the Baltic inland as well as north to south along the coast. Reinterpretations of cremation pits ...
This paper investigates the medieval Danish town of Randers, which first emerged at a strategic crossing of the river Gudenå and developed into a key urban centre, beginning in the late Viking Age. Both archaeological and written sources reveal that the town’s growth was driven by its role as a communication hub, supported by specialized trade and crafts. It relied on its geographical location and its networks. By the twelfth century, the town had fortifications, multiple parish churches, and a Benedictine nunnery, reflecting its regional prominence. Its growth continued throughout the late Middle Ages, marked by urban expansion and the construction of both secular and ecclesiastical buildings of high status. By the fifteenth century, Randers ranked among the leading towns of Jutland. The town’s international connections initially focused on Norway, but subsequently shifted to Lübeck, which became its primary trading partner, while regional trade centred on Northern and Central Jutland. This study highlights Randers as a case for understanding medieval urbanization in Denmark as driven by local wealth, consumption of goods, trade networks, and strategic geography rather than administration and ecclesiastical power.
