THE GERMAN REGION of North Frisia (Kreis Nordfriesland) is the northernmost part of the ‘Frisian’ settlement area and some of the population still speak several local Frisian dialects today. Being somewhat removed from the Frisian core area in the Netherlands and Lower Saxony, it is often out of focus when dealing with Frisian archaeology. In the past decade, new archaeological discoveries and subsequent investigations have provided new insights into the Early-medieval settlements of North Frisia. Their focus lies on the three northern islands of Sylt, Föhr and Amrum, which possess an especially rich archaeological heritage and may be regarded as a foremost important settlement area for the first settlers in the period. The paper will give a short overview in the recent developments and aims to draw a picture of the Early-medieval inhabitants of North Frisia.

The state of settlement research

The development of the North Frisian population and identity can only be traced back to the High Middle Ages by means of historical accounts; the earlier phases must be examined through archaeological records. The beginning of Frisian settlement on the North Frisian islands is traditionally considered to have commenced no earlier than the mid-seventh century AD, moving into a landscape void of settlement activity due to the fourth- and fifth-century migrations in the North Sea area (Jankuhn 1960; Arhammar 1995). The early settlement activities concentrated mostly on the North Frisian islands of Sylt, Föhr and Amrum, the marsh island Wiedingharde, parts of Eiderstedt and the edges of the mainland's moraines, the ‘geest’. From the seventh century onwards, lively settlement activity unfolded, leading to a settlement pattern which can still be seen today, since most of the island villages’ place-names date back to the Early Medieval Period (Laur 1960).

Archaeological research concentrates on the little known period between the seventh and eleventh centuries AD (Fig. 6.1). In the research history of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the objects of excavation were the monuments which left their marks in the landscape – hundreds of burial mounds and impressive defensive enclosures in the form of ring-shaped, earthen ramparts (Ringwallburgen: here referred to simply as ‘ringforts’). While numerous graves were more or less scientifically excavated to make way for intensified agriculture, only a little knowledge was gained about the settlements. This changed somewhat in the early 1950s, with small-scale excavations in the ringfort of Borgsum/Föhr (Segschneider 2009).