The four horses of an Iron Age apocalypse: war-horses from the third-century weapon sacrifice at Illerup Aadal (Denmark)

The Illerup Aadal weapon sacrifice mirrors the material world of a Germanic army from c. AD 210. Apart from the personal equipment and the weaponry of more than 400 warriors, it comprises four horses. The present paper gives the first conclusive analysis of the skeletal remains of these animals, involving osteological investigation and strontium isotope analysis. The results shed new light on the character of the sacrificial ceremonies which unfolded in the aftermath of Iron Age battles; on the nature of cavalry and its significance in Iron Age warfare; and on the much debated question as to where the army of Illerup Aadal had originally come from

Conflicting Values or Common Ground? : Some Concluding Thoughts

Peer reviewe

Citizen Science in Archaeology : Developing a Collaborative Web Service for Archaeological Finds in Finland

Peer reviewe

Citations in Stone: The Material World of Hogbacks

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Archaeology on 06/07/2016, available online: doi 10.1080/14619571.2016.1186910This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Archaeology on 06/07/2016, available online: doi 10.1080/14619571.2016.1186910This article explores a meshwork of citations to other material cultures and architectures created by the form and ornament of house-shaped early medieval recumbent stone monuments popularly known in Britain as ‘hogbacks’. In addition to citing the form and ornament of contemporary buildings, shrines, and tombs, this article suggests recumbent mortuary monuments referenced a far broader range of contemporary portable artefacts and architectures. The approach takes attention away from identifying any single source of origin for hogbacks. Instead, considering multi-scalar and multi-media references within the form and ornament of different carved stones provides the basis for revisiting their inherent variability and their commemorative efficacy by creating the sense of an inhabited mortuary space in which the dead are in dialogue with the living. By alluding to an entangled material world spanning Norse and Insular, ecclesiastical and secular spheres, hogbacks were versatile technologies of mortuary remembrance in the Viking Age

The Scale and Impact of Viking Settlement in Northumbria

Recent archaeological research, notably at the Viking winter camp at Torksey, has indicated that the armies that invaded Anglo-Saxon England in the late 9th century were much larger than has often been assumed and that a literal reading of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s assessment of the size of Viking fleets may, after all, have been correct. Furthermore, study of the Torksey metalwork assemblage has allowed the identification of the archaeological signature of the Viking Great Army and, when applied to Cottam, it confirmed the identification of an initial phase of raiding by an element of the Army, followed shortly thereafter by settlement represented by the development of a hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture. Taken together, over 25 categories of non-ferrous artefacts are diagnostic of Viking or Anglo-Scandinavian activity in Northumbria. Applying this model to over 15 sites, largely known only from metal-detecting, we can observe a common pattern. At the majority of sites, a large and fairly standardised Middle Anglo-Saxon finds assemblage is succeeded by just a few Viking finds, which we attribute to raiding following Halfdan’s return to Northumbria with part of the Great Army in AD 876. At a much smaller number of sites there are also assemblages of Anglo-Scandinavian finds, relating to the establishment of new settlements by the new landowners. The overall picture is of major settlement disruption and dislocation of existing land holdings and populations in the late 9th century. This demonstrates, for the first time from archaeological evidence, the scale and impact of Viking activity in Northumbria

Beobachtungen an markierten und unmarkierten Köcherfliegen (\u3cem\u3eTrichoptera\u3c/em\u3e) in der Bärenhöhle im Lonetal (Schwäbischer Jura)

1.The Bärenhöhle, one of the ten caves situated in the episodically water-bearing valley of the Lone (Swabian Jura), serves as summer quarters for the total of ten species of Trichoptera, most of which are Micropterna nycterobia and Stenophylax permistus. 2.Counts carried out in this cave from 1967-1972 and observations of flood and dry-periods of the Lone during the same years make evident that the number of Trichoptera flying into the cave seems to depend in a large measure on the seasonal activity of the creek: a steady flow of water makes the undisturbed development of larvae possible and results in high numbers of individuals entering by air, while intermittent water-flow disturbs the development of the larvae and results in few individuals entering. 3.Such factors as darkness, humidity, and temperature which cause or favour the active entrance by air of Trichoptera into the cave as well as the “diapause” taking place in the subterranean region are considered. 4.Dynamically climatized caves or caves which are too small are rarely occupied by Trichoptera; they evidently prefer larger caves with climatically balanced regions (comparatively low temperatures and high atmospheric moisture) not too far from the entrance. 5.Trichoptera start flying into the Bärenhöhle generally in May; the highest number of individuals and copulating couples may be found as early as July. They start flying out by the end of July or in August/September, the last of them leaving the cave generally in September or October. 6.Two attempts at marking (on 28th June all Trichoptera to be found in the cave were marked with black ink, on 4th July all yet unmarked with red ink) gave better evidence of their disposition and time of copulation as well as of the number of arriving unmarked and departing marked specimens. 7.The Trichoptera marked with black ink stayed in the cave for a maximum of 85 days, the ones marked with red ink for a maximum of 79 days. Food intake was not observed during this period, and there was no indication of the insects’ leaving the cave during their diapause. 8.Trichoptera are characterized by a remarkably long time of copulation: a specimen marked twice was in copula for 22 days, and before copulation it had been in the cave for 49 days