ROOTED IN MOVEMENTAspects of Mobility in

Bronze Age Europe

RO

OT

ED

IN

M

OV

EM

EN

T

JUTLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

978-87-88415-88-9

JUTLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

1

Rooted in Movement

2 3

In Memoriam

JYTTE LAVRSEN

4 5

Rooted in MovementAspects of Mobility in Bronze Age Europe

Edited by

Samantha Reiter, Heide W. Nørgaard,

Zsóia Kölcze & Constanze Rassmann

Foreword by Helle Vandkilde

J u t l a n d a R C H a e o l o g i C a l S o C i e t y

acknowledgementsThe research leading to the results presented by the editors has received funding

from the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)

“Forging Identities” under Grant Agreement no. 212402. The publication of

these papers, developed during the 2010 winter semester, was only possible

through the generous inancial support by the Jyte Lavrsen Memorial Fund. Therefore, this book is dedicated to Jyte Lavrsen. Special thanks to those whose commitment enabled the high quality of the contributions, the editors

and to Helle Vandkilde for her scientiic support and motivation. Additional thanks go to Jesper Laursen for introducing us to the craft of editing a printed volume and to Rob Lee for his assistance in making the English corrections.

6 7

Content

9 Foreword

Helle Vandkilde

11 introduction

Should i stay or should i go

Constanze Rassmann

15 a Choreography of Place

globalisation and identity in the Bronze age

Samantha S. Reiter

23 the Social identity of the oak-Coin People

Majken Tessa Tollaksen

37 are Valued Craftsmen as important as Prestige goods ideas about itinerant Craftsmanship in the nordic Bronze age

Heide Wrobel Nørgaard

53 Materiality and Mobility in the late neolithic and early Bronze age of Southern Scandinavia

Karin Johannesen

65 the transmission of Spiral ornamentation through Bronze age europe

Disa Lundsgård Simonsen

77 the Fårdrup-type Shaft-hole axes

Material Hybridity in Bronze age europe c. 1600 BC

Zsóia Kölcze

89 World in Motion

an examination of the Skallerup Wheeled Cauldron and Conceptualisations of Mobility

Rannveig Marie Jørgensdoter Spliid

99 the Cosmological Signiicance of Ships

Birgite Damkjer

109 the Meaning of Hands

a Semiotic approach to the interpretation of Hand Stones

Thomas Rune Knudsen

117 list of Contributors

Rooted in Movement

Aspects of Mobility in Bronze Age Europe

© the authors and Jutland archaeological Society 2014

layout & prepress: louise HilmarCover: louise Hilmartype: Palatino linotypePrinted in denmark by narayana Press, gyllingCover photo: theresa airey, avebury circle

iSBn 978-87-88415-88-9iSSn: 0107-2854

Jutland archaeological Society Publications Vol. 83

Published by:Jutland archaeological SocietyMoesgaard MuseumdK-8270 Højbjerg

distributed by:aarhus university Presslangelandsgade 177dK-8200 aarhus nwww.unipress.dk

Published thanks to a bequest from the estate of archaeologist Jyte lavrsen and funding from the european union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), grant agreement Pitn-ga 212402.

8 9

the title of this book is highly appropriate; mobility has always been a key issue in human life, both at home and abroad. almost everything we do is con-cerned with movement rather than idleness. Move-ment involves dwelling: one dwells while one travels by ship, horse, or wagon and one both responds to (and of course transmits) culture while underway. Paradoxically, even dwelling involves movement. When we dwell, we often move on a small scale within our homes and residential neighbourhoods. Houses and setlements could be considered places of decelerated movement in which people socialise and engage with material culture. the reception and transmission of culture (itself intrinsically material-ised) is built into every movement, be it short- or long-distance. it is important to note that almost anything can move either on its own or when aided by human interaction, agency or travel: ideas, things, technolo-gies, people, plants and animals. We easily recognise this state of afairs from our own globalised present. the actual scale of movement and interaction and the response to transcultural lows has varied over time as well as within the metaphorical and literal expanse of culture and geography.

Historically, some periods and societies in human history were more dependent on corporeal and mate-rial movement than others. today’s level of movement, for example, is much higher than that in the prehis-toric past. nonetheless, the portrait of the european Bronze age which emerges from current research is a period in which the world was in motion, albeit vary-ing with such factors as geography, culture, economy, and class. in temperate europe, the Bronze age lasted from circa 2000 BC to 500 BC and saw two clear and important socio-economic turning points during this 1500 year time span: in c. 1600 BC and again in c. 1200 BC. during these times of upheaval, waves of change in cultural and religious trends characterised an interconnected europe. Current research suggests that the trait common to these breaking points was increased mobility.

increased macro-regional interconnectedness often occurred in the past. However, with the onset of

the Bronze age, movement on diferent scales became both a necessity as well as a new way of life for a dominant section of society. this connectivity was based on the demand for bronze, that new, pliable metal with geographically restricted sources. if one wanted to be part of ’project’ Bronze, one had to either move in order to obtain the metal, or arrange for said metal to be delivered to one’s own doorstep.

this process of increased connectivity across europe notably triggered parallel innovations in oth-er social sectors. More efective axes enabled the pro-duction of new plank-built ships, specially-designed weapons enabled warfare to be enacted on a larger scale to more deadly efect and intricate jewellery efectuated and created social distinctions between diferent genders, classes and cultures. Bronze also became intertwined with religion, cosmology and ritual, as did those distant voyages that brought the metal back home. Bronze was not just a metal; it was imbued with complex meanings which were rooted in movement as well as in adjacent social mentali-ties. Bronze changed the world, making it both more complex and open.

However, this dependence on a foreign material also made societies potentially more vulnerable to societal transformations in other parts of europe. When bronze disappeared in the mid irst millen-nium BC generating the emergence of the iron age, a whole way of life among an internationalised upper echelon vanished, leaving behind some key innova-tions for further development. the articles of this volume (nine in number) all touch upon a number of diferent themes which each convey the Bronze age as a crucial period in the history of europe.

“Rooted in Movement” has roots of its own. it grew out of a Ma course about Bronze age mobility which took place in the autumn of 2011 at Moesgård under the auspices of aarhus university’s Section for Pre-historic archaeology. that course (as well as this manuscript) can be considered an ofshoot product of the eu-project ‘Forging identities – the Mobility of Culture in Bronze age europe’ which developed

Foreword