Balt-Norwegian migration of brooch design: New examples found - in Denmark

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Balt-Norwegian migration of brooch design

New examples found – in Denmark

Lennart Bondeson & Tobias Bondesson

Bondeson, L. & Bondesson, T., 2020. Balt-Norwegian migration of brooch design.

New examples found – in Denmark. Fornvännen 115. Stockholm.

When the intriguing phenomenon of Balt influence on the design of Migration Period brooches in certain parts of Norway was paid attention to in 2001, in the first and so far only comprehensive study of this subject, just four specimens of such cruciform or square-headed brooches with star- or spade-like foot had been recorded in Denmark. Since then, the number of Danish finds of this type has quadrupled, to judge from scattered examples occurring in print or posted on the web. In the present article, eleven such examples compiled from various sources, and two previously unpublished finds made in 2019 by one of the authors while metal detecting in collaboration with Danish museums, are reported and commented on.

Whether these finds in Denmark represent Norwegian “exports” or a direct Balt influence on Danish design is at present an open question. Both alternatives might be valid in view of other archaeological finds, as exemplified in the article.

Keywords: Migration Period, Brooch, Balt, Scandinavia

Lennart Bondeson, Repslagaregatan 6B, SE-211 21, Malmö, Sweden.

repslagaregatan6b@gmail.com

Tobias Bondesson, Einar Hansens Esplanad 65, SE-211 13, Malmö, Sweden.

t.bondesson@gmail.com

Introduction

The presence of a Balt influence on the local design of certain brooches in Norway during the Migration Period is an interesting phenomenon.

In a comprehensive study of this subject, it is emphasized that the Norwegian brooches in question appear to have been local products with a quite limited distribution, concentrated to Roga- land in south-western Norway (Bitner-Wrób- lewska 2001, pp. 65–76). When the study in question was published, very few specimens of this kind had been recorded outside of Norway (see below). Therefore, we think it is of interest to report and comment on two previously unpublished examples, recently found by one of us (TB) while metal detecting in Denmark in collaboration with Roskilde Museum on Zealand and Museum Thy in Jutland. Eleven additional

examples found or recorded during the last 18 years have been compiled from various sources and will also be commented on.

The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, we want to draw attention to the fact that the occurrence of Migration Period brooches with Balt traits in Denmark appears to be much more prevalent than previously thought. Secondly, we will point out observations indicating that at least some of these brooches may have been made in Denmark instead of Norway.

The find on Zealand

Our first example of a Balt-Norwegian type of brooch (fig. 1) was found on August 31st, 2019, in the plough soil of a field under cultivation at Gammel Lejre (Old Lejre) on Zealand. Gammel Lejre is an ancient central place with royal and

Fornvännen 115 (2020)

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cultic traditions, where a great number of metal objects from all periods, from the Bronze Age and forward, have been discovered by metal detecting amateur archaeologists during the last two decades (Olesen & Bondesson 2011; Bondesson

& Bondeson 2012; Baastrup 2015, pp. 477-563;

Christensen 2015; Nielsen & Christensen 2015;

Bondesson & Bondeson 2017; 2019).

A number of brooches from the Migration Period have been found at Gammel Lejre, but the one presented here (fig. 1) – a square-headed fibula showing a metope on its bow and a foot cor- responding to Bitner-Wróblewska’s type V of Balt crossbow brooches with star- or spade-like foot – is the first brooch with a distinctly Balt- Norwegian design registered in the area. Judging from grave finds in Norway, it dates to the period from the end of the 5th through the first three quarters of the 6th century AD (Bitner- Wróblewska 2001, pp. 73–74, pls. XXXV:4, XL VII:1, 2, & L:3).

As mentioned, very few brooches with Balt- Norwegian design have been recorded outside of Norway. In the detailed analysis published by Anna Bitner-Wróblewska in 2001, only three square-headed specimens with spade-like foot are registered: two from Denmark and one from Bohuslän in Sweden (p. 194). The find circum- stances for one of the Danish specimens are unknown. The other Danish brooch was found at Sebbersund in northern Jutland during profes- sional archaeological excavation of a Migration Period–Viking Age trading centre at the Lim Fjord, discovered in 1987 thanks to finds handed in to Aalborg Historical Museum by metal detecting amateur archaeologists (Christensen

& Johansen 1992, pp. 203, 208:item C 31392, according to Bitner-Wróblewska 2001, p. 194;

Christiansen 2008, p. 120, fig. 8c).

100 Lennart Bondeson & Tobias Bondesson

Fig. 1. The square-headed brooch found at Gammel Lejre, Zealand. Length 6 cm.

Cast copper alloy. Note the rectangular metope on top of the bow and the serrated, curved edge of the foot.

Photo: Tobias Bondesson.

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Fig. 2. The cruciform brooch found at Hillerslev, Jutland. Length 7 cm.

Cast copper alloy. Note the expanded and hollowed midsection of the bow and the widened foot.

Photo: Tobias Bondesson.

The find in Jutland

Our second example of a brooch with Balt-Nor- wegian traits (fig. 2) was found on September 20th, 2019, in Hillerslev in northern Jutland dur- ing an annual meeting organized by Thy-Mors detektorforening, where some 60 metal detecting amateur archaeologists surveyed an area of arable land, with informed consent from Museum Thy in Thisted. The find producing area was quite recently discovered and is still expanding. The finds are often of very high quality and not infrequent- ly of rare or unusual types. On the same day that our fibula was found, around 30 other Iron Age brooches of various types and many other items, the oldest from the 2nd century AD, were locali- zed by metal detector in the plough soil and later handed in to the local museum in Thisted with GPS coordinates – a mapping of the area that might help to direct possible future excavation(s).

As regards the cruciform brooch presented here, the shape of its bow is of particular interest. Its

pointedly expanded and hollowed midsection is a feature of Balt-Norwegian cruciform brooches found in the county of Vest-Agder, i.e. the southern- most part of Norway, closest to Jutland. In fact, our brooch from Hillerslev has a quite similar Nor- wegian counterpart found in a barrow in Ådland in Vest-Agder (Bitner-Wróblewska 2001, pp. 66–

68, pl. XLIII:8). The only noticeable difference between the two is a straight rather than slightly curved ending of the foot plate on the Hillerslev brooch. Regardless of this, a close relationship between the presumably Balt-influenced Ådland brooch and our brooch from Hillerslev is apparent, not least in view of their particular and iden- tical bow design, being a recognized alternative to a bow with rectangular metope in the Balt- Norwegian brooches from Vest-Agder.

In the analysis by Anna Bitner-Wróblewska from 2001, the few cruciform brooches with mixed Balt-Norwegian traits recorded outside of Norway – two in Denmark and three in Sweden 101 Balt-Norwegian migration of brooch design

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– appear to be quite heterogeneous morphologi- cally. One of the Danish specimens comes from the exploration of the exceptionally rich Iron Age settlement complex at Gudme on Funen, a huge project initiated in 1982 because of gold objects handed in to Svendborg Museum by metal detecting amateur archaeologists. The other Dan- ish specimen, acquired by the National Museum from a private collector in the 1800s (inventory no. NM C 5770), was probably found in Jutland, somewhere around Viborg (Åberg 1919, p. 42, Abb.

38 & 39; Reichstein 1975, pp. 133, 135, Taf. 71:4

&107:7; Thrane 1993, pp. 8, 62, pl. 12; Bitner- Wróblewska 2001, p. 69, pl. XLIV:5). For reasons given below, it should be mentioned that one of the Swedish specimens probably was found in Scania. However, there is no further information on either where or how (Montelius 1869, pl. 4:16).

Comment

The occurrence of a Balt influence in the design of Norwegian brooches during the Migration Period is presumed to be the result of trade con- tacts, and especially Baltic amber has been put forward as an important reason for such long- distance travels. The exchange of design appears to have been a one-way influence. Neither of the two brooch types discussed had been reported from Balt territory when the in-depth study by Anna Bitner-Wróblewska was published. And vice versa; with a single possible exception from a barrow in Hordaland, there had been no finds in Norway of the particular type of Balt crossbow brooches thought to be the source of inspiration for the star- or spade-like foot and the rectangular metope on the bow introduced in local Nor- wegian fibula design during the Migration Peri- od (2001, pp. 59–76, figs. 11–14, pl. LI:4, 4a).

The reason that the two brooches with Balt- Norwegian traits reported here came to end up in Danish soil is anyone’s guess. Perhaps trade was directly involved here too. This possibility is at least close at hand regarding the brooch from Hillerslev. Its find spot was located next to the point on the coast of Jutland where the distance to Norway is the shortest (about 111 km over Skagerrak). It should be mentioned that trade overseas in this area was established long before

the Hillerslev brooch was made. Actually, sea- borne trade between Jutland and Norway appears to have started as early as around 2400 BC – during the Stone Age (Østmo 2005).

Follow-up

From our search of data for this case report it has become apparent that more than our two examples of brooches showing Balt influence on Scan- dinavian design have been unearthed in Den- mark after the publication of Bitner-Wróblewska’s comprehensive study in 2001. In the recently launched user-driven and museum-connected database DIME, designed for find reporting by amateur archaeologists (see www.metaldetek- torfund.dk), we have come across an additional brooch with spade-like foot (DIME ID 19989), a fibula from Hjørring, northern Jutland, with semi oval head, which – for the sake of simplicity – is counted here as a variant belonging to the square-headed main type. The same applies to a spade-footed, non-cruciform fibula with uncer- tain square or oval original head-shape, being affected by severe corrosion (found at Hillerslev, northern Jutland, and handed in to Museum Thy).

An incomplete square-headed fibula (DIME ID 43329) lacking its foot has not been included in the numbers presented, although a rectangular metope on its bow indicates a probable Balt influence on the design. When going through the older archive material of thousands of find photo- graphs posted by amateur archaeologists on the website www.detectingpeople.dk since 2006, we have come across two more specimens with spade- like foot; one square-headed from Nørholm near Aalborg in northern Jutland (National Museum danefærecord 2008-002372) and one cruciform from an excavation at Frejlev, also near Aalborg (Nordjyllands Historiske Museum, jnr. 6120).

Since far from all of the ancient brooches detected in Denmark are voluntarily photographed and post-ed on the websites mentioned before being duly handed in to their respective local museums all over the country, we have good reasons to believe that additional examples of the intriguing Balt influence on Scandinavian brooch design can be found in the institutional archives.

An indication that this actually is the case appears from scattered remarks in the literature, 102 Lennart Bondeson & Tobias Bondesson

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where at least two examples of spade-footed cruciform brooches, both from Funen, have been added to the two Danish finds recorded by Anna Bitner-Wróblewska in 2001 (we thank Mogens Bo Henriksen, Odense City Museums, for kindly providing these articles: Henriksen 2005, p. 95, fig. 20; Gotfredsen et al. 2009, pp. 86–87, fig. 17).

As regards Danish finds of square-headed brooches with spade-like foot, at least four specimens – three of them from Jutland – have appeared in the literature after 2001 (we are grateful to Torben Trier Christiansen at the Historical Museum of North Jutland, for drawing our attention to these references: Nielsen 2002, pp. 206–207, fig. 8a;

Christiansen 2019, cat. no. 34, fig. 2e & cat. no.

35 = the brooch from Nørholm mentioned above).

A fourth example of this kind comes from Upp- åkra in Scania (Hårdh 2003, U4925, p. 53, fig. 5).

Although Scania nowadays is a Swedish province – after being conquered from Denmark in 1658 – it seems reasonable to include this Migration Period brooch with Balt traits from Uppåkra among the Danish finds of that time (cf. Høilund Nielsen 1991, p. 150). The brooch in question is of the square-headed type with spade-like foot.

However, interestingly enough the bow is not adorned by a rectangular metope; instead it has the expanded, rhomboid shape being distinctive of our find from Hillerslev in Jutland and certain Balt-inspired cruciform brooches from Norway (see above). The very same distinctive combina- tion of brooch components was quite recently noted in a not yet published find (ÅHM 6244 X338) made at an extensive excavation of a large Iron Age settlement at Søndre Tranders in the outskirts of Aalborg in northern Jutland. In addition, X-ray examination of a not yet excavated specimen (ÅHM 6784 X2753) from a grave asso- ciated with this settlement has disclosed a beau- tifully preserved fibula of cruciform type with spade-like foot and a rectangular metope on the bow (Torben Trier Christiansen, personal communication by e-mail, December 4, 2019).

Concluding reflection

When new finds of this kind are added to the col- lective experience, it should be kept in mind that Balt traits in Danish brooches not necessarily have made a detour through Norway. Apropos of

the Uppåkra fibula just mentioned, it is most interesting that studies of stylistic elements regarding stamp ornamentation indicate an inter- change between Scanian and Balt workshops during the Migration Period (Bitner-Wróblewska 1991, pp. 229–231, 238). The possibility of a direct Balt-Danish influence even earlier than the Balt-Norwegian one is indicated, for example, by horse equipment attributed to the area of present- day Kaliningrad, found in 1865 by a stonemason digging into a Roman Iron Age grave at Gud- bjerg on Funen (Albrectsen 1956, pp. 72–73, tavle 15; Thrane 1993, p. 12). Yet another such indication is a metal detector find made at Hillerød on northern Zealand (Kjartan Langsted, Museum Nordsjælland, personal communication, Octo- ber 26, 2019). The find in question (http://fibula.

dk/ modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/11738/

1347027694img_5570.jpg) is a brooch with crossbow construction and spade-like foot correspon- ding to Bitner-Wróblewska’s type I, produced from the end of the 4th century AD and thought to be the source of inspiration for later types of spade- and star-footed Balt crossbow brooches (2001, pp. 59–64, fig. 11, pl. XXXV:1), which in turn – as mentioned above – inspired the design of the cruciform and square-headed brooches commented on in this report.

To sum up, we have shown that finds of Mi- gration Period brooches with Balt traits have increased steadily in Denmark during the last two decades, a development that coincides with an increasing interest in metal detecting, per- formed legally by amateur archaeologists in collaboration with local museums all over the country. As regards the origin of the brooches in question, we have pointed out some reasons to con- sider the possibility of a direct Balt influence on Danish workshops, in addition to the previously emphasized “export” of specimens and/or inspiration from Norway, secondary to a Balt-Norwe- gian migration of brooch design.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to (in alphabetical order) the archaeologists Anna Bitner-Wróblewska, Char- lotte Boje H. Andersen, Torben Trier Christian- sen, Mogens Bo Henriksen, Kjartan Langsted and Per Lysdahl, and the detectorists Ejner Søren- 103 Balt-Norwegian migration of brooch design

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sen, Claus Thrane and Roger Torgersen for providing valuable information. Permissions to include previously unpublished finds in the present article were kindly granted by Museum Nord- sjælland, Museum Thy, Nordjyllands Historiske Museum and Roskilde Museum.

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