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Roman Iron Age weapon deposits are intentional burial of weapons stashes from the
Roman Iron Age
The archaeology of Northern Europe studies the prehistory of Scandinavia and the adjacent North European Plain,
roughly corresponding to the territories of modern Sweden, Norway, Denmark, northern Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.
The regi ...
of Scandinavia. The weapon deposits were intended for either sacrifice or burial and forms part of other Iron Age votive offerings from the period of
bog deposits in Scandinavia. Almost all Scandinavian Iron Age bog deposits have been found in Denmark and southern Sweden, including
Gotland.
Illerup deposit
The archaeology of a former lake at the
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
site of
Illerup Ådal
Illerup Ådal (English: ''Illerup River-valley'') is a river valley and archeological site located near Skanderborg in East Jutland, Denmark.
Archaeological discoveries
According to Forte, Oram, and Pedersen, "The Illerup Ådal site is one of ...
is the best evidence for what are taken to be the sacrifice and destruction of the weapons and equipment captured from enemy soldiers (at Illerup, soldiers rather than tribesmen because a certain uniformity of equipment suggests professional organisation). The anoxic conditions of the mud or peat at the bottom of the lakes or bogs preserved many of such sacrificed artifacts in good, or excellent condition.
Among the offerings at Illerup are also items belonging to the personal equipment of members of the defeated army. Combs made from reindeer and moose bones together with the finds of Roman coins could indicate that the army originated from northern
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
and was on its way home from plunder or auxiliary service in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
when it met its fate at Illerup.
Bogs are known to preserve
bog bodies
A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between and the Second World War. Fischer ...
and
bog butter but no human bodies are known to accompany the weapon sacrifices. The main Illerup deposition, besides weapons, includes gold, silver, spear shafts, shield boards, ropes, cords, leather, textiles tools, wooden vessels, spoons, beads, four horses and a cow.
Dendrochronology of the shield boards shows that the deposition was soon after 205 AD, yet the last coin was minted in 187/8 AD. The shield bosses are taken, in the book, to represent three levels of hierarchy in the small army. The ordinary soldiers were represented by 350 iron bosses. The next level up had 30 bronze bosses and six bronze or iron bosses with gilded pressed foil. Above these, there were 5–6 silver shield bosses. Some Illerup objects have
runes
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
similar to those on the
Vimose inscriptions
Finds from Vimose (), on the island of Funen, Denmark, include some of the oldest datable Elder Futhark runic inscriptions in early Proto-Norse or late Proto-Germanic from the 2nd to 3rd century in the Scandinavian Iron Age and were written in t ...
.
Other sites
A good number of deposit sites were in use for many centuries, with remains from several different sacrificial events, and they often includes many other types of offerings, such as animals, humans, boats, jewellery and food. The weapon sacrifices from the Roman Iron Age times usually dates from the period 200–500 AD, but earlier ones from the pre-Roman Iron Age are also known, such as the
Hjortspring boat
The Hjortspring boat ( da, Hjortspringbåden) is a vessel designed as a large canoe, from the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. It was built circa 400–300 BC. The hull and remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1921–1922 from the bog of ''H ...
offering form around 350 BC, where more than 50 shields, 11 single-edged swords and 169 spearheads accompanied the boat.
The weapons were often burnt, broken or bent before deposition. The surviving boats were sunk in the lakes though other boats are known simply from clumps of burnt rivets. The Illerup deposit is known to have had at least three sacrificial events in the period around 200-500 AD. The bogs and lakes used appear to be surrounded by cultivated fields.
Roman Iron Age weapon deposits in Scandinavia allow for some changes in Germanic warfare to be monitored, e.g. the change from single edged swords at Hjortspring to double edged swords at Illerup. From grave finds of arrow heads, bows were significant war weapons in the Germanic area from about 200 AD. South of Denmark these are typically leaf shaped. In Denmark they are thinner and designed to penetrate the rings of mail armour. This change of weaponry is assumed to account for the Illerup shields having a layer of gut stretched over the surface. Besides keeping the shields dry, experiments show the shields much more resistant to splitting and penetration by arrows.
The rarest find from these sacrifices is a complete coat of mail armor. Reconstruction shows it to have had 20–23,000 rings and weighed just under 10 kg.
Perhaps even more interesting are the
scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. As well, rifles may be stored in a scabbard by horse riders. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring carbine rifles and lever-action rifles on the ...
s. A number have been recovered. Two of the more decorative from
Nydam
The Nydam Mose, also known as Nydam Bog, is an archaeological site located at Øster Sottrup, a town located in Sundeved, eight kilometres from Sønderborg, Denmark.
History
In the Iron Age, the site of the bog was a sacred place, where the wea ...
, one from the third century and one from the fifth
had fur lining on the inside. We can reasonably speculate that this fur was oily and designed to keep the blade absolutely free from rust. The further speculation is that a pristine appearance of the blade would only have been so highly valued for
pattern-welded blades.
Classic sites includes
Illerup Ådal
Illerup Ådal (English: ''Illerup River-valley'') is a river valley and archeological site located near Skanderborg in East Jutland, Denmark.
Archaeological discoveries
According to Forte, Oram, and Pedersen, "The Illerup Ådal site is one of ...
and
Kragehul.
Sources
*
* ed. Linda Boye (2011): ''The Iron Age on Zealand - Status and Perspectives'', The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries
Notes and references
{{reflist
Iron Age Europe
Archaeology of Denmark
Scandinavian archaeology
Germanic archaeological artifacts