Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T12:21:16.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Commemorating Dwelling: The Death and Burial of Houses in Iron and Viking Age Scandinavia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Marianne Hem Eriksen
Marianne Hem Eriksen*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Norway
*
[email: m.h.eriksen@iakh.uio.no].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Current debates on the ontology of objects and matter have reinvigorated archaeological theoretical discourse and opened a multitude of perspectives on understanding the past, perspectives which have only just begun to be explored in scholarship on Late Iron Age Scandinavia. This article is a critical discussion of the sporadic tradition of covering longhouses and halls with burial mounds in the Iron and Viking ages. After having stood as social markers in the landscape for decades or even centuries, some dwellings were transformed into mortuary monuments — material and mnemonic spaces of the dead. Yet, was it the house or a deceased individual that was being interred and memorialized? Through an exploration of buildings that have been overlain by burial mounds, and by drawing on theoretical debates about social biographies and the material turn, this article illuminates mortuary citations between houses and bodies in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Ultimately, I question the assumed anthropocentricity of the practice of burying houses. Rather, I suggest that the house was interwoven with the essence of the household and that the transformation of the building was a mortuary citation not necessarily of an individual, but of the entire, entangled social meshwork of the house.

Les débats actuels sur l'ontologie des objets et sur la matière ont ravivé les discussions théoriques en archéologie et ouvert nombre de perspectives sur le passé, des perspectives qui ont à peine commencé à être l'objet de recherches concernant l’âge du Fer récent en Scandinavie. L'article présenté ici est un examen critique de la tradition, qui se manifeste de façon intermittente, de recouvrir les maisons longues et les ‘manoirs’ (halls) de tertres funéraires pendant l’âge du Fer et l’époque Viking. Après avoir servi de marqueurs sociaux dans le paysage pendant des décennies ou même des siècles, certaines habitations furent transformées en monuments funéraires et remplirent un rôle mnémotechnique, rappelant l'espace dédié aux morts. Mais est-ce la maison ou le défunt que l'on enterre et honoreUn examen des structures d'habitat recouvertes par des tertres funéraires, ainsi qu'un recours aux discussions théoriques sur la biographie sociale et la matérialité, nous permet d’éclaircir les citations entre maisons et corps en Scandinavie à la fin de l’âge du Fer. En fin de compte c'est l'interprétation anthropocentrique de la pratique d'ensevelir les maisons qui est mise en cause. Ici il s'agit plutôt de suggérer que la maison était entremêlée avec l'essentiel du foyer et que la transformation des structures d'habitat était une forme de citation funéraire non pas d'un individu mais du réseau entier que la maison représentait. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Die aktuellen Diskussionen über die Ontologie der Gegenstände und der Materien haben den Diskurs in der archäologischen Theorie erneut und eine Vielfalt von Perspektiven über die Vergangenheit erschlossen. Diese Sichtweisen haben erst begonnen, in den Untersuchungen der späten Eisenzeit in Skandinavien aufzutauchen. In diesem Artikel wird die in der späten Eisenzeit und Wikingerzeit sporadisch dokumentierte Tradition Langhäuser und Edelsitze mit einem Grabhügel zu überdecken kritisch angesehen. Nachdem diese Häuser Jahrzehnt- oder sogar Jahrhundert-lang als Landschaftsmerkmale dienten, wurden einige Wohnsitze in Grabhügel umgestaltet, die als materielle Gedächtnisstütze des Bereiches der Toten galten. Ist es aber das Haus oder der Tote, den man so beerdigen und ehren wollte? Durch die Untersuchung von Wohnstrukturen, die mit Grabhügel überdeckt wurden und mit Hinsicht auf die theoretischen Diskussionen über die soziale Biografie und Materialität wird hier versucht, die Zitierung von Häusern und Körper in der späten Eisenzeit und Wikingerzeit in Skandinavien zu erleuchten. Schlussendlich wird unsere anthropozentrische Einstellung gegenüber der Sitte Häuser zu begraben infrage gestellt. Hier wird betont, dass das Haus eher mit der Wesentlichkeit des Haushaltes verknüpft ist und dass die Umgestaltung der Gebäude eine Art von Zitierung war, aber nicht unbedingt eines individuellen Toten, sondern des gesamten, verknüpften sozialen Netzwerkes eines Hauses. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Keywords

Iron AgeViking AgeScandinaviahallsburial moundsburied housessocial biographyagency of the housematerial turnâge du Ferépoque Vikingmanoirstertres funérairesmaisons enseveliesbiographie socialeagentivité de la maisonmatérialitéEisenzeitWikingerzeitEdelsitzeGrabhügelvergrabene Häusersoziale BiografieAgentur eines HausesMaterialität
Type
Article
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , 2016 , pp. 477 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 the European Association of Archaeologists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Primary Sources

Egil's Saga. 2001. In: Thorsson, Ö. ed. The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, trans. by Scudder, B. New York: Penguin, pp. 3–184.Google Scholar
Eyrbyggja Saga. 1989. Trans. by Pálsson, H. & Edwards, P. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Thorsdråpa. 1900. Published as Þórsdrápa Eilífs Goðúnarsonar, trans. and comm. by Jonsson, F. Oversigt over det Kongelige Danske Videnskabers Selskabs Forhandlinger, 5:369–410.Google Scholar
Alberti, B. & Marshall, Y. 2009. Animating Archaeology: Local Theories and Conceptually Open-ended Methodologies. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 19 (3): 345–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amundsen, M. & Fredriksen, P.D. 2014. Når stedsbånd veves og løses opp. En sosial kronologi for bosetning av Kalvebeitet i indre Sogn i yngre romertid og folkevan-dringstid. Viking, 77:79–104.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. 1986. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, D.W. 1990. The Living House: Signifying Continuity. In: Samson, R., ed. The Social Archaeology of Houses. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 19–48.Google Scholar
Baudou, E. 1989. Hög - gård - helgedom i Mellannorrland under den äldre järnåldern. Arkeologi i norr, 2:9–43.Google Scholar
Bjorvand, H. & Lindeman, F.O. 2007. Våre arveord: etymologisk ordbok. Oslo: Novus.Google Scholar
Blier, S.P. 1987. The Anatomy of Architecture. Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bloch, M. 1995. The Resurrection of the House Amongst the Zafimaniry of Madagascar. In: Carsten, J. & Hugh-Jones, S., eds. About the House: Lévi-Strauss and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 69–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boivin, N. 2008. Material Cultures, Material Minds: The Impact of Things on Human Thought, Society, and Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brück, J. 1999. Houses, Lifecycles and Deposition on Middle Bronze Age Settlements in Southern England. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 65:145–66.Google Scholar
Brück, J. & Fontijn, D. 2013. The Myth of the Chief: Prestige Goods, Power, and Personhood in the European Bronze Age. In: Fokkens, H. & Harding, A., eds. The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 197–215.Google Scholar
Capelle, T. 1987. Eisenzeitliche Bauopfer. Frühmittelalterliche Studien, 21:182–205.Google Scholar
Carlie, A. 2004. Forntida byggnadskult. Tradition och regionalitet i södra Skandinavien. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Carsten, J. & Hugh-Jones, S., eds. 1995a. About the House. Lévi-Strauss and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carsten, J. & Hugh-Jones, S. 1995b. Introduction. In: Carsten, J. & Hugh-Jones, S., eds. About the House. Lévi-Strauss and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–46.Google Scholar
Carstens, L. 2015. Powerful Space. The Iron Age Hall and its Development during the Viking Age. In: Eriksen, M.H., Pedersen, U., Rundberget, B., Axelsen, I. & Berg, H.L., eds. Viking Worlds. Things, Spaces and Movement. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 12–27.Google Scholar
Christensen, T. 2010. Lejre beyond the Legend – The Archaeological Evidence. In: Niedersächsisches Institut für historische Küstenforschung, ed. Settlement and Coastal Research in the Southern North Sea Region, 33, pp. 237–54.Google Scholar
Cleasby, R., Craige, W.A., & Vigfússon, G. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Eriksen, M.H. 2010. Between the real and ideal. Ordering, controlling and utilising space in power negotiations. Hall Buildings in Scandinavia, 250–1050 CE. MA dissertation, University of Oslo [accessed 20 March 2016]. Available at: <https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/23052/MariannexHemxEriksen.xMAxThesis.pdf?sequence=1>.Google Scholar
Eriksen, M.H. 2013. Doors to the Dead. The Power of Doorways and Thresholds in Viking Age Scandinavia. Archaeological Dialogues, 20 (2): 187–214.Google Scholar
Eriksen, M.H. 2015a. Portals to the past: an archaeology of doorways, dwellings, and ritual practice in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Oslo.Google Scholar
Eriksen, M.H. 2015b. The Powerful Ring. Door Rings, Oath Rings, and the Sacral Place. In: Eriksen, M.H., Pedersen, U., Rundberget, B., Axelsen, I. & Berg, H.L., eds. Viking Worlds. Things, Spaces and Movement. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 73–87.Google Scholar
Eriksen, M.H. forthcoming. Between Ideology and Practice: Houses and Households in Late Iron Age Norway. In: Pedersen, U., Amundsen, M. & Skre, D., eds. Viking Age Scandinavia – One, Three, or Many? (working title).Google Scholar
Fowler, C. 2004. The Archaeology of Personhood: An Anthropological Approach. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gansum, T. 2003. Hår og stil og stilig hår: Om langhåret maktsymbolikk. In: Rolfsen, P. & Stylegar, F.-A., eds. Snartemofunnene i nytt lys. Oslo: University of Oslo, pp. 191–221.Google Scholar
Gerritsen, F. 1999. The Cultural Biography of Iron Age Houses and the Long-term Transformation of Settlement Patterns in the Southern Netherlands. In: Fabech, C. & Ringtved, J., eds. Settlement and Landscape. Proceedings of a Conference in Århus, Denmark, May 4–7 1998. Højbjerg: Jutland Archaeological Society, pp. 139–48.Google Scholar
Glørstad, H. 2008. Celebrating Materiality – The Antartic Lesson. In: Glørstad, H. & Hedeager, L., eds. Six Essays on the Materiality of Society and Culture. Lindome: Bricoleur Press, pp. 173–211.Google Scholar
Grindkåsa, L. 2012. Boplasspor og grav fra romertid-merovingertid på Jarlsberg og Tem (lok 8, 9 og 10). In: Mjærum, A. & Gjerpe, L.E., eds. E18-prosjektet Gulli-Langåker. Dyrking, bosetningspor og graver i Stokke og Sandefjord. Oslo: Fagbokforlaget, pp. 43–105.Google Scholar
Hedeager, L. 2004. Dyr og andre mennesker – mennesker og andre dyr. Dyreornamentikkens transcendentale realitet. In: Andrén, A., Jennbert, K. & Raudvere, C., eds. Ordning mot kaos. Studier av nordisk förkristen kosmologi. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, pp. 219–52.Google Scholar
Hedeager, L. 2010. Split Bodies in the Late Iron Age/Viking Age of Scandinavia. In: Rebay-Salisbury, K., Sørensen, M.L.S. & Hughes, J., eds. Body Parts and Bodies Whole. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 111–18.Google Scholar
Herschend, F. & Mikkelsen, D.K. 2003. The Main Building at Borg (I:1). In: Munch, G.S., Johansen, O.S. & Roesdahl, E., eds. Borg in Lofoten. A Chieftain's Farm in North Norway. Trondheim: Tapir, pp. 41–76.Google Scholar
Herschend, F. 1993. The Origin of the Hall in Southern Scandinavia. Tor, 25:175–99.Google Scholar
Herschend, F. 2009. The Early Iron Age in South Scandinavia. Social Order in Settlement and Landscape. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. 2012. Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ingold, T. 2006. Rethinking the Animate, Re-animating Thought. Ethnos, 71 (1): 9–20.Google Scholar
Ingold, T. 2007. Writing Texts, Reading Materials. A Response to my Critics. Archaeological Dialogues, 14 (1): 31–38.Google Scholar
Jones, A. 2007. Memory and Material Culture: Tracing the Past in Prehistoric Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, L., Albris, S.L., Bican, J.F., Frei, K.M., Gotfredsen, A.B., Henriksen, P.S., Holst, S. & Primeau, C. 2014. Førkristne kultpladser – ritualer og tro i yngre jernalder og vikingetid. Nationalmuseets arbejdsmark, 2014:186–99.Google Scholar
Kristiansen, K. 2013. Households in Context. Cosmology, Economy and Long-term Change in the Bronze Age of Northern Europe. In: Madella, M., Kovács, G., Kulcsarne-Berzsényi, B. & Briz-Godino, I., eds. The Archaeology of Household. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 235–68.Google Scholar
Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, C. 1983. The Way of the Masks. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Myhre, B. 1980. Gårdsanlegget på Ullandhaug I. Gårdshus i jernalder og tidlig middelalder i Sørvest-Norge. Stavanger: Museum of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Myhre, B. 1992. Funderinger over Ullandhaugs bosetningshistorie. In: Skår, A.K., ed. Gammel gård gjenoppstår. Fra gamle tufter til levende museum. Stavanger: Museum of Archaeology, pp. 47–68.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J.N. & Rasmussen, M. 1986. Sejlflod: en jernalderlandsby ved Limfjorden. Aalborg: Aalborg Historiske Museum.Google Scholar
Olsen, B. 2010. In Defense of Things. Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.Google Scholar
Price, N. 2008. Dying and the Dead. Viking Age Mortuary Behaviour. In: Brink, S. & Price, N., eds. The Viking World. London: Routledge, pp. 257–73.Google Scholar
Ramqvist, P.H. 1992. Högom. The Excavations 1949–1984. Umeå: Department of Archaeology, University of Umeå.Google Scholar
Renck, A.M. 2000. Den helgade marken. Ritualen som dokument. In: Ersgård, L., ed. Människors platser. Tretton arkeologiska studier från UV. Stockholm: Riksantivarieämbetet, pp. 209–27.Google Scholar
Renck, A.M. 2008. Erövrat mark – erövrat släktskap. In: Olausson, M., ed. Hem till Jarlabanke. Jord, makt och evigt liv i östra Mälardalen under järnålder och medeltid. Lund: Historiska Media, pp. 91–111.Google Scholar
Risbøl Nielsen, O. 1995. Arkeologiske undersøkelser foretatt i forbindelse med bygging av ny riksvei 3 fra Romedal i Stange kommune til Ommangsvolden i Løten kommune, Hedmark fylke. Oslo: Topographical archives, Museum of Cultural History.Google Scholar
Stenholm, A.-M.H. 2006. Past Memories. Spatial Returning as Ritualized Remembrance. In: Andrén, A. & Jennbert, K., eds. Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives. Origins, Changes and Interactions. An International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004. Lund: Nordic Academic Press, pp. 341–45.Google Scholar
Svanberg, F. 2003. Decolonizing the Viking Age 2. Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia AD 800–1000. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt.Google Scholar
Thäte, E.S. 2007. Monuments and Minds. Monument Re-use in Scandinavia in the Second Half of the First Millennium AD. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 2015. The Future of Archaeological Theory. Antiquity, 89:1287–96.Google Scholar
Tringham, R. 2000. The Continous House. A View from the Deep Past. In: Joyce, R.A. & Gillespie, S.D., eds. Beyond Kinship: Social and Material Reproduction in House Societies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, pp. 115–34.Google Scholar
Williams, H. 2001. An Ideology of Transformation. Cremation Rites and Animal Sacrifice in Early Anglo-Saxon England. In: Price, N., ed. The Archaeology of Shamanism. London: Routledge, pp. 193–212.Google Scholar
Williams, H. 2006. Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, P.J. 1988. The Domestication of the Human Species. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar