Reviews

Reviews: Arne Skjølsvold: Slettabøboplassen. Et bidrag til diskusjonen om forholdet mellem fangst- og bondesamfunnet i yngre steinalder og bronsealder. Stavanger 1977. (by Svend Nielsen). Klaus Ebbesen: Tragtbægerkultur i Nordjylland. Nordiske Fortidsminder. Ser. B, Vol. 5, 197 8. (by P. 0. Nielsen). Birgitta Hulthen: On Ceramic Technology during the Scanian Neolithic and Bronze Age. Stockholm 1977. (by Ulla Engberg). Renate Rolle: Totenkult der Skythen I. Das Steppengebiet. Vorgeschichtliche Forschungen 18,I, I and I,2. Berlin-N.Y. 1979. (by Ole Klindt-Jensen). Werner Haarnagel: Die Grabung Feddersen Wierde. Methode, Hausbau, Siedlungs- u. Wirtschaftsformen sowie Sozialstruktur. Wiesbaden 1979. (by Steen Hvass). U. Nasman and E. Wegraeus (eds.): Eketorp. Fortification and Settlement on Öland/Sweden. The Setting. Stockholm 1979. (by Ulla Lund Hansen). Ingrid Ulbricht: Die Geweihverarbeitung in Haithabu. Die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, Vol. 7. Neumünster 1978 . Heid Gjöstein Resi: Die Specksteinfunde aus Haithabu. Berichte über die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, Vol. 14. Neumünster 1979. (by Hans Jørgen Madsen)

Mårten Stenberger

MÅRTEN STENBERGER.Professor Mårten Stenberger, whom Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab is honouring with the Worsaae Medal, is as familiar with Danish antiquity as with Danish archaeologists. He started an active and cordial cooperation with them as early as 1932 in Greenland, as Poul Nørlund's collaborator. Later, in 1939, this time as a member of a joint Nordic team, he excavated Icelandic house sites, which had been destroyed by Hekla. Not least, he deserves our gratitude for rescueing the publication of this material from the storms of the Second World War. When these had subsided, he took up with perseverance another great Scandinavian project, the investigation of Vallhagar on Gotland.This task was characteristic of him as investigator and man. The extensive Iran Age village, with fields and burial sites, was an excellent objective for groups of archaeologists, who although they were able to work independently, were nevertheless always in contact with one another. For himself he chose the tiresome job of providing for the maintenance of the excavators and the investigation, and was always ready with skilled advice and stimulating discussion. No wonder many Scandinavians became good friends during these campaigns.The test of the accomplishment of the field-work at Vallhagar, as in the investigations, was in the final publication. Here Mårten Stenberger's sure style makes its mark; the material is presented in full, illustrated with precision, discussed with deference to many different views and exploited for cultural history, even natural and geographical conditions being drawn upon to give a broad perspective.This precision, intensive study and an awareness of the demands of publication, have benefited other topics. One has only to consider his investigation of the Gotlandic material, the large Stone Age burial site in Vesterbjärs and the profusion of finds from the Viking Age (two thick volumes on this subject alone). His first major work, "Öland under äldre järnåldern", which in 1933 earned him his doctorate, is already a classic in Nordic archaeology.But we should not forget that Mårten Stenberger as professor at Uppsala, is in the middle of his research, stimulating and full of life, ever ready to take up new problems and to sally forth into the field with his diminutive tent, only just large enough to afford him protection. He is a true archaeologist, who enjoys being close to the earth and investigating its secrets. He lacks neither the tense anxiety of the excavator, nor the ironical self criticism, which are true attributes of a highly respected scholar.Ole Klindt-Jensen

Typology and function of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cremation graves – a micro-regional case study

In Denmark, there has been little focus on characteristic differences between grave types from the transition period between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age with limited elaboration on the nature of the differences and on chronological variation. In nearby Scania, Sweden, a grave type classic for Southern Scandinavia, the ‘cremation pit’, has been interpreted as in situ remains of the actual cremation pyre, that is, a form of bustum. Here, we further explore this interpretation through both osteological and archaeological analyses of recently excavated graves from the Fraugde region on northern Funen ,Denmark. In the Fraugde region, pyre debris in cremation graves clearly gain significance during the transition period from the Bronze Age towards the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The exclusive presence of cremation pits on the Pre-Roman Iron Age grave sites in contrast to the varied grave types present on the Bronze Age sites implies a change in cremation practice and technology during the transition period. Although clearly commemorated and left undisturbed for centuries, the cremation pits on the pre-Roman Iron Age sites must be interpreted as intentional, secondary deposits of the debris from the cremation pyre, but not as in situ pyre sites