The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

by Chris Fowler

  FIG. 18.2. The Pitted Ware site Fräkenrönningen (HG = House foundation) (Björk 1998).

  Further up the Baltic coast near Örnsköldsvik two sites were excavated on a large scale; Bjärstamon and Kornsjövägen (Gustafsson and Spång 2007). Kornsjövägen comprised at least five houses in an area c. 120 by 120m and was situated in a very steep and stony area. The houses are of different types; partially dug out, stone foundations and round houses (Gustafsson and Spång 2007, 195ff). The best preserved house (1) was partially dug into the slope and had a rectangular shape, 15 by 14.5m. The site at Bjärstamon had a completely different location in the landscape. It was located on a sandy slope towards the sea. A total number of twelve houses were documented in the 650 by 50m excavation, but only five were actually excavated. The houses are of three types: rounded, oval and rectangular. The last mentioned were placed along the beach with the long sides facing the sea. The chronology of these sites is based on both radiocarbon dates and pottery and suggests three phases: 1. 2800–2600 BC; 2. 2600–2400 BC; 3. 2400–2100 BC. During these phases the house designs barely changed.

  Middle Neolithic B

  In the period c. 2700–2400 BC we see the existence of several different groups of people in southern Scandinavia who manifested their social identity through variation in their material culture, especially pottery but also flint and stone working (in our terms, PWC, BAC, and SGC). These groups of people all existed at the same time but chose to inhabit very dissimilar locations, and they probably all had quite different economic strategies as well: they were ‘living in cultural diversity’ (Larsson 2004).

  When Mats Malmer (1962) wrote his eponymous book about the BAC no excavated settlement sites existed and he defined a BAC settlement as a site with at least one sherd of BAC pottery (Malmer 1975, 52). The number of excavated settlements that can be attributed to this in comparison to the periods discussed above is still very modest, making it difficult to discuss and interpret settlement structure or settlement organization. Only three houses in all the extensive excavations from western Scania can be dated to MN B and the BAC. The Dösjebro 19 house is not complete but, based on a single row of roof supporting posts, the size of the house has been estimated as 26 by 6–7m (Andersson 2004, 116–117). In the eastern part of the house two small, shallow, bowl-shaped pits were excavated. A large quantity of charred seed was recovered, and one grain of wheat provided a radiocarbon date of 2290–2040 BC. This corresponds to the transition between the middle and late Neolithic (Andersson 2004). Two similar houses have been excavated at Dagstorp 19 and Dagstorp 11, providing radiocarbon dates of 2570–2320 BC (Andersson 2004, 118) and, from Dagstorp 11, 3020–2700 BC and 2280–1980 BC. According to the excavator, the later date is the most reasonable (Andersson 2004, 119).

  The large-scale excavations in western Scania have, in comparison with earlier periods, left us with few datable MN B houses or settlements (Rostovanyi 2007, 59; Svensson 2003, 142). From the site Lockarp 7A there is one house about 14m long, and one row of roof supporting posts and a slightly oval form exist. The living area is estimated to about 50sq. m. The dating of the house to the BAC is based on a radiocarbon date and some flint (Rostovanyi 2007, 37, 61). A final Scanian BAC house was excavated in a smaller project near Ystad (L. Larsson 1992). The excavated revealed a ‘pit house’ (L. Larsson 1992, 114; Larsson and Olsson 1997, 270ff): the pit produced a dark-coloured trapezoidal depression 13.5 by 7m (Larsson and Olsson 1997, 104). In addition to the depression 27 posts were documented at the bottom of the depression as well as to the east and west of this. It is not possible to establish a clear pattern with regard to the position of the posts (Larsson and Olsson 1997, 106). A small amount of late BAC pottery and flint were recovered, along with evidence for small scale manufacture of axes. Four radiocarbon dates (from hazelnut shell, food residue, and charcoal) place activity in the period c. 2580–2330 BC (Larsson and Olsson 1997, 113; Svensson 2003, 143).

  Four more BAC houses have been found near Linköping in Östergötland in eastern central Sweden, one of which was covered by occupation debris including flint, quartz, and pottery (Larsson and Olsson 1997, 288). Characteristic BAC pottery sherds were found in the houses. All four of these houses were rectangular, c. 10 by 5m in size, and provided MN B radiocarbon dates. Other than these BAC houses, what has been interpreted as a cult house has been excavated at Gläntan, south of Stockholm (Lindström 1994). The shape of the house is slightly trapezoidal with four large corner posts, and it is smaller than the others, at 4.6 by 2.8m. It is interpreted as a cult house based on a large quantity of cremated human bone found in the building. The dating of the structure to the Battle Axe culture is based on a large amount of characteristic pottery and axes (Lindström 1994, 59ff).

  The known settlements with houses from the Single Grave culture in Denmark are few. At Hemmed, East Jutland, a total number of nine houses have been excavated. Chronologically they span the period from the late SGC until the early Bronze Age (Boas 1993, 119ff). The oldest measures 16 by 6m and had slender, slightly oval wall post holes; the roof supporting construction was made up of three internal posts 5–6m apart. Scattered in the bottom layer and over most of the excavated area in and around the house, pottery from the late SGC was found (Boas 1993, 127). Pieces of thick-butted axes, adzes, and three D-type arrowheads complete the picture. House VI is radiocarbon dated to 2500–2400 BC (Boas 1993, 127). A similar house was discovered at Enderupskov in southern Jutland (Ethelberg 2000, 120).

  Marked changes in the settlement pattern can be detected in connection with the transition to MN B and the rise of the Single Grave and Battle Axe cultures in southern Scandinavia. It is obvious, though, that basically the same areas as before were used for settlement (Andersson 2004, 200). This was already noted by Mats Malmer in the 1960s (Malmer 1962). In many regions in for example Scania, as discussed above, this change can be traced back to MN A III (Malmer 1962, 200ff; M. Larsson 1992, 84f). The oldest BAC graves as well as the oldest types of battle-axes are, however, to be found in small sites with few finds in regions with little preceding settlement evidence (L. Larsson 1992).

  LATE NEOLITHIC

  The transformation to the late Neolithic (c. 2350 BC) is characterized by an expansion into new regions (Larsson and Olsson 1997, 215). The period has often been seen as a transition from a diversified society in the middle Neolithic to a more unified one in the late Neolithic. This notion is based on what appears to be a universal material culture, with flint daggers replacing battle-axes as a male prestige artefact (Vandkilde 1996). Gallery graves with stone packing or under flat earth have been seen as characteristically late Neolithic, and earthen flat graves were also common (see Sjögren, this volume).

  Before the 1980s the number of house remains was very small in southern Scandinavia (cf. Björhem and Säfvestad 1989). One of the most intensively surveyed areas, also with some of the largest excavations, in southern Scandinavia is the Malmö area. Nils Björhem and Ulf Säfvestad (1989) recognized ten different types of houses datable to the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The types stretch from pit houses via longhouses with a partially subterranean floor to ordinary longhouses. As in the periods before, a two-aisled system of roof supports is characteristic. This type of house, and variants thereof, has been excavated from Jutland in the west to eastern central Sweden to the north. One of the more ground-breaking excavations was the one in Fosie IV in southern Malmö in the early 1980s, where 12 houses divided on to five different settlement areas were excavated (Björhem and Säfvestad 1989; Fig. 18.3). Out of the 12 houses, five are so similar that we can talk of a ‘type house’, with a rectangular shape, three roof supporting posts and inward-angled wall posts. The length varies between 13.4 and 17.4m and the width between 5.8 and 6.7m (Björhem and Säfvestad 1989, 70f). Based on the extensive excavations it has been suggested that the settlement structure in the Fosie area was based on single farms made up of a couple of buildings, or sometimes maybe only one building. The buildings
were relocated in the same area a couple of times (Björhem and Säfvestad 1989, 126). This pattern has been recognized during other later excavations in the Malmö area, and it has been suggested that each settlement was used for a couple of generations and then moved (Björhem and Staaf 2006, 138). It has also been noted that there is a development from shorter, more simple, buildings to longer, more elaborate ones (Björhem and Staaf 2006, 139). This is particularly noticeable at the site Almhov in Malmö where as many as 38 longhouses were found along a ridge. The distance between them was 50–150m and some of these houses were quite large; 35m long and 6–6.5m wide. One of the largest has been radiocarbon dated to 1890–1680 BC (Artursson 2009).

  FIG. 18.3. Late Neolithic houses from Fosie IV, Malmö (Björhem and Säfvestad 1989).

  Examples of another type of house were first excavated at Limensgård on the Danish island Bornholm. These were found to have a length of between 32 and 44m, and with a width of between 6.5 and 8m. As at Fosie, the wall posts were set angled inwards. The houses at Limensgård that have preserved ends have a rounded shape to these ends. A variation on this type of house was found at Piledal in south-eastern Scania (L. Larsson 1992, 119f). This house (I) was at least 33 by 5.5m, and the rounded form of the south-east end wall could be clearly documented along with five large central posts which yielded late Neolithic pottery as well as characteristic arrowheads. Two radiocarbon dates place this settlement at the transition between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age: between 1600 and 1500 BC (L. Larsson 1992, 120).

  In the mid-1990s one of the largest settlement sites in Sweden was excavated at Pryssgården (Norrköping) in Östergötland, eastern central Sweden (Borna 2002). One house is of special interest: House 153 was 32 by 6m and the only two-aisled house discovered during the excavations (Borna 2002, 28f). The end walls were rounded. A radiocarbon date indicates the transition to the early Bronze Age; 1686–1499 BC (Stålbom 1995). This house was located at the highest point and with the long sides facing Motala River. Further to the north a large number of houses were found during fieldwork in 2002 for a new highway north of Uppsala. At the site Kyrsta house 5 is similar to the houses of Piledal type. It was 32m long and 7.5m wide (Göthberg 2007).

  To summarize, during the late Neolithic, settlement patterns and society were gradually changing from a diversified cultural picture to a more unified one. There were more settlements than before, and the number of houses of different types—longhouses of different types as well as pit houses—is large. At the end of the late Neolithic a new type of house emerged. This type could be called Piledal-type houses, after the site Piledal in south-eastern Scania. This type of very long building has sometimes been seen as emerging in conjunction with a new competitive society in which the control of metal was important (Björhem and Magnusson-Staaf 2006, 139).

  DISCUSSION

  During the earliest Neolithic TRB culture in south Scandinavia new regions inland were coming into use, whilst the old coastal midden sites were still used seasonally for hunting and fishing. The new settlements were preferably on sandy soils and in close proximity to fresh water. Already in the EN I people built longhouses of the Mossby type. The settlements have usually been seen as small, and interpreted as single farms. Evidence from new excavations challenges this presumption, however, and it is quite possible that the situation is much more complex. Along with the longhouses pit houses and different types of huts were also used. During the middle Neolithic (MN A) this pattern continued but the settlements increased in size and developed slight variations on the Mossby house type. There was also a change in the use of the landscape, with a marked concentration near the coast. At the same time the constructed of large megalithic monuments—passage graves—continued. During the middle part of the MN A there was, however, a clear change. The old settlement regions were largely less abandoned and new inland regions were increasingly inhabited, whilst passage graves fell out of general use.

  During the MN A the PWC was widespread in many parts of southern Scandinavia, especially in eastern central Sweden and along the Swedish east coast. The settlements differed significantly from the TRB settlements and as yet we have no evidence for longhouses of any kind. The settlements are generally large and made up of several more or less round/oval hut structures, sometimes also pit houses. At the end of MN A the evolution of the BAC and SGC in both south Sweden and Denmark saw a cultural change towards single graves, often placed in cemeteries. Settlements were still few but the evidence that we have points to a continuation of the same house types that were in use in the TRB culture. As far as we can tell the sites were small and dispersed.

  During the late Neolithic we can see an expansion in the areas of the landscape used for settlement, and new regions were settled as indicated by the construction of a large number of gallery graves in the central parts of southern Sweden. It is also from the late Neolithic that a really large number of houses of different types were built. Characteristic is the two-aisled longhouse, sometimes over 30m long, but mostly c. 12–20m long. It is also the first time that we can confirm that a couple of farms were erected contemporaneously at the same settlement, and used for a long time. Together with longhouses there were also late Neolithic pit houses of different types.

  NOTE

  1.All radiocarbon dates in the text are calibrated.

  REFERENCES

  Ahlbeck, M. and Artursson, M. (eds) 1996. Bollbacken: en sen gropkeramisk boplats och ett gravfält från åldre järnålder, RAÄ 258, Tortuna sn, Västmanland. Upplands Väsby: Arkeologikonsult.

  Andersen, S.H. 1993. Björnsholm. A stratified kökkenmödding on the central Limfjord, North Jutland. Journal of Danish Archaeology 10, 59–96.

  Andersson, M. 2003. Skapa plats i landskapet: Tidig—och mellanneolitiska samhällen utmed två Västskånska dalgångar. Lund: Archaeological Excavations Dept., National Heritage Board.

  Andersson, M. 2004. Making place in the landscape: early and middle Neolithic societies in two west Scanian valleys. Lund: Archaeological Excavations Dept., National Heritage Board.

  Artursson, M. 2006. Kult—och Dödshus inom den Gropkeramiska Kulturen. In M. Anglert, M. Artursson, and F. Svanberg (eds), Kulthus & Dödshus: det ritualiserade rummets teori och praktik, 41–64. Lund: Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Artursson, M. 2009. Bebyggelse och samhällsstruktur: Södra och mellersta Skandinavien under senneolitikum och bronsålder 2300–500 f. Kr. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg.

  Björck, N. 1998. Fräkenrönningen: en ‘by’ för 5000 år sedan: en gropkeramisk boplats: Arkeologisk undersökning, E4:an, RAÄ 399, Valbo Socken, Gästrikland. Gävle: Länsmuseet Gävleborg.

  Björhem, N. and Magnusson-Staaf, B. 2006. Långhuslandskapet. Malmö: Malmö Kulturmiljö.

  Björhem, N. and Säfvestad, U. 1989. Fosie IV. Malmö: Malmö Museer.

  Boas, N-A. 1993. Late Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements at Hemmed Church and Hemmed Plantation, East Jutland. Journal of Danish Archaeology 10, 119–135.

  Borna Ahlkvist, H. 2002. Hällristarnas hem: Gårdsbebyggelse och struktur i Pryssgården under bronsålder. Lund. Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Bradley, R. 2005. Ritual and domestic life in prehistoric Europe. London: Routledge.

  Buus, Eriksen L. 1992. Ornehus pa Stevens—en tidligneolitisk hustomt. Aarböger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1991, 7–19.

  Carlsson, T. 2004. Neolitisk Närvaro. En nästan fyndlös tidigneolitisk gård vid Bleckenstad i Ekeby Socken, Östergötland. Fornvännen 99, 1–8.

  Edenmo, R., Larsson, M., Nordqvist, B., and Olsson, E. 1997. Gropkeramikerna fanns de? Materiell kultur och ideologisk förändring. In M. Larsson and E. Olsson (eds), Regionalt och interregionalt: Stenåldersundersökningar i Syd—och Mellansverige, 135–213. Stockholm: Avd. för Arkeologiska Undersökningar, Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Eriksen, P. and Madsen, T. 1984. Hanstedgård. A settlement site from the Funnel Beaker culture. Journal of Danish Archaeology 3, 63–83.

  Ethelberg,
P. (ed.) 2000. Det sønderjyske landbrugs historie: sten—og bronzealder. Haderslev: Haderslev Museum.

  Fischer, A. 2002. Food for feasting? An evaluation of explanations of the Neolithisation of Denmark and southern Sweden. In A. Fischer and K. Kristiansen (eds), The Neolithisation of Denmark, 343–393. Sheffield: Sheffield University Press.

  Göthberg, H. (ed.) 2007. Hus och bebyggelse i Uppland: delar av förhistoriska sammanhang. Uppsala: Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Gustafsson, P. and Spång, L.-G. (eds) 2007. Stenålderns stationer: arkeologi i Botniabanans spår. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Hallgren, F. (ed.) 1997. Skogsmossen, an early Neolithic settlement site and sacrificia fen in the northern borderland of the Funnel-Beaker culture. Tor 29, 49–111.

  Hallgren, F. 2004. The introduction of ceramic technology around the Baltic Sea in the sixth millenium. In H. Knutson (ed.), Coast to coast—arrival: results and reflections. Proceedings of the final coast to coast conference, 1–5 October 2002 in Falköping, Sweden, 123–142. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.

  Hallgren, F. 2008. Identitet i praktik: lokala, regionala och överregionala Sociala sammanhang inom nordlig trattbägarkultur. Uppsala: Arkeologi.

  Karsten, P. 2001. Dansarna från Bökeberg: om jakt, ritualer och inlandsbosättning vid jägarstenålderns slut. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.

  Karsten, P. and Knarrström, B. (eds) 2001. Tågerup: specialstudier. Lund: UV Syd, Avd. för Arkeologiska Undersökningar, Riksantikvarieämbetet.