Jes Wienberg

Four churches and a lighthouse—preservation, ‘creative dismantling’ or destruction

A presentation and discussion of the heritage dilemmas, which appear, when the medieval churches of Mårup, Rubjerg, Lyngby and Furreby and the modern lighthouse of Rubjerg Knude in Northern Jutland, Denmark, all are threatened by dunes, drifting sands and the North Sea. The churches of Rubjerg and Lyngby were taken down and rebuilt further inland in, respectively, 1904 and 1913–1914, while the church of Furreby is still functioning. The lighthouse is standing as a ruin waiting to be taken down around 2020. The church of Mårup was made redundant, when a new church was built further inland in Lønstrup in 1926–1928. A great dispute emerged on the future of Mårup, when it became threatened by increasing sea erosion in the 1980s. The church was investigated and partly taken down 2008 and 2011. The dispute on Mårup has been seen as a conflict between nature and culture, periphery and centre, experience and knowledge – preservation and destruction. First, to understand the debate the author introduces the concept ‘creative dismantling’; a concept in between preservation and destruction. Second, the author argues that the unspoken core of the dispute has been the assumed irrelevance of the church to the national canon of art and history by all disputants. The creative dismantling lifted the church into the canon thereby creating a new, but also problematic consensus.

Vikings go multi-media

The temporary exhibition ‘Viking’ was on show at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen from 22 June–17 November 2013, and will be on display in London from March–June 2014 and Berlin from September 2014–January 2015. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, titled Viking, edited by Gareth Williams, Peter Pentz & Matthias Wemhoff.

Nils Engberg, Anne Nørgaard Jørgensen, Jakob Kieffer-Olsen, Per Kristian Madsen & Christian Radtke (eds): Archaeology of Medieval Towns in the Baltic and North Sea Area

its environs. Hence, regarding the Hofstaðir farm as being one of the main high-status farms during the settlement period of Iceland, displaying an example of the Norse Viking longhouse as multifunctional in character, it can be stated that the research team successfully fulfilled their objectives. Therefore, the publication on the Hofstaðir excavations is an important contribution to archaeology in Iceland, regarding the empirical material gained through the excavation at the site, but also to the debate on ritual practices performed inside the different societies of the Norse Vikings. Similarly, as an input to the settlement history of Iceland, the research broadens considerably the knowledge on the coexistence between humans and nature in the previously unsettled Iceland. Correspondingly, the publication is rich in innovative ideas and interpretations of cosmological beliefs and rituals in general. Through its methods and theoretical approaching it will inevitably inspire scholars in their research on these topics.

Review of Engberg, Nils et al (eds) "Archaeology of Medieval Towns in the Baltic and North Sea Area" (Copenhagen 2009)

its environs. Hence, regarding the Hofstaðir farm as being one of the main high-status farms during the settlement period of Iceland, displaying an example of the Norse Viking longhouse as multifunctional in character, it can be stated that the research team successfully fulfilled their objectives. Therefore, the publication on the Hofstaðir excavations is an important contribution to archaeology in Iceland, regarding the empirical material gained through the excavation at the site, but also to the debate on ritual practices performed inside the different societies of the Norse Vikings. Similarly, as an input to the settlement history of Iceland, the research broadens considerably the knowledge on the coexistence between humans and nature in the previously unsettled Iceland. Correspondingly, the publication is rich in innovative ideas and interpretations of cosmological beliefs and rituals in general. Through its methods and theoretical approaching it will inevitably inspire scholars in their research on these topics.

Nils Engberg, Anne Nørgaard Jørgensen, Jakob Kieffer-Olsen, Per Kristian Madsen & Christian Radtke (eds): Archaeology of Medieval Towns in the Baltic and North Sea Area : Publications of the National Museum Studies in Archaeology & History 17. National Museum, Copenhagen, 2009. 218 pp., ISBN 978-87-7602-131-3

its environs. Hence, regarding the Hofstaðir farm as being one of the main high-status farms during the settlement period of Iceland, displaying an example of the Norse Viking longhouse as multifunctional in character, it can be stated that the research team successfully fulfilled their objectives. Therefore, the publication on the Hofstaðir excavations is an important contribution to archaeology in Iceland, regarding the empirical material gained through the excavation at the site, but also to the debate on ritual practices performed inside the different societies of the Norse Vikings. Similarly, as an input to the settlement history of Iceland, the research broadens considerably the knowledge on the coexistence between humans and nature in the previously unsettled Iceland. Correspondingly, the publication is rich in innovative ideas and interpretations of cosmological beliefs and rituals in general. Through its methods and theoretical approaching it will inevitably inspire scholars in their research on these topics.

Hans Andersson, Gitte Hansen and Ingvild Øye (eds): De første 200 årene – nytt blikk på 27 skandinaviske middelalderbyer.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridges since the heyday of the large urban projects of the 1970s and 1980s – the Medieval Towns projects of Sweden, Denmark and Finland. There have been plenty of excavations in many towns since then and also numerous publications, without, however, changing the main lines of interpretation. Following and inspired by the dissertation by Gitte Hansen, ‘Bergen c. 800–c. 1170. The emergence of a town’ (2005), her opponent at the dissertation Hans Andersson, the earlier leader of the Swedish Town project, the new doctor Gitte Hansen and her supervisor Ingvild Øye decided to arrange a seminar about the first 200 years of the Scandinavian medieval towns. The aim was to find common traits and to compare early urbanisation. The seminar in Bergen in 2006 resulted rather rapidly in a publication. De første 200 årene (The first 200 years) begins with a joint introduction by the three editors explaining the background and aims of the seminar. After this follow twenty-four articles. The articles are arranged according to present-day nations: Norway – Gitte Hansen on Bergen, Arne J. Larsen on Borgund in Sunnmøre, Christoffer Knagenhjelm onKaupanger in Sogn, Petter B.Molaug onOslo, Eli Ulriksen on Tønsberg, Brit Solli on Veøya in Romsdal and Reidar Bertelsen on Vågar; Denmark – Lennart S. Madsen on Haderslev, Hoda El-Sharnouby and Lene Høst-Madsen on Copenhagen, Jakob Kieffer-Olsen on Ribe, Jens Ulriksen on Roskilde, Jesper Hjermind on Viborg, Stig BergmannMøller on Ålborg andHans Skov on Århus; Sweden – Kristina Carlsson on Kungahälla, Lödöse and Skara, Göran Tagesson on Linköping, Conny Johansson Hervén on Lund, Joakim Thomasson on Malmö, Mats Anglert and Stefan Larsson on Malmö, Ystad, Trelleborg and Lund, Sten Tesch on Sigtuna, Rikard Hedvall on Skänninge and Johan Anund on Uppsala; Finland – Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen on Turku/Åbo; Russia – Aleksandr Saksa and Taavitsainen again onViipuri/Viborg/Vyborg.Thepublication is rounded off with comments from town planner Vibeke Dalgas and reflections on the content by one of the editors, Hans Andersson. All in all there are twenty-seven articles on twenty-seven medieval towns. The volume is comprehensive, with plenty of information and new knowledge, and there is an abundance of relevant references and to some minor degree also theory and debate. However, to be frank, the conference publication is too compact in information and number of pages with rather a small typesize for reading from beginning to end in one go, which, as a reviewer, I did. I would recommend the reader to pick out single articles of special interest to read or use. The articles are very different in both form and content as is also the archaeology of the twenty-seven towns. Some articles present excavations and constructions in great detail with measurements as in an excavations report (these are not my favourites) and others try to present new overall interpretation (my favourites). Most of the articles present interesting news on recent observations and interpretation. Not by accident, towns with a long tradition of archaeology are often the key locations inbringingurbanarchaeology forward. Urban archaeology is normally a one-to-one relation in publications even when many people are in fact involved in the digs. The paradigm is one author and one town. A few articles deviate from this pattern as they are written by several authors or concern several towns, e.g. Carlsson on the towns in western Sweden and Anglert and Larsson on four Scanian towns. This article and also the article by Thomasson on Malmö are among the more theoretically ambitious contributions. Finally, the article by Taavitsainen on Turko/ Åbo deviates by being consciously – and refreshingly – polemical or critical in relation to other researchers and their interpretations.

Review of Andersson, Hans et al (eds) "De første 200 årene – nytt blik på 27 skandinaviske middelalderbyer" (Bergen 2008)

A lot of water has flowed under the bridges since the heyday of the large urban projects of the 1970s and 1980s – the Medieval Towns projects of Sweden, Denmark and Finland. There have been plenty of excavations in many towns since then and also numerous publications, without, however, changing the main lines of interpretation. Following and inspired by the dissertation by Gitte Hansen, ‘Bergen c. 800–c. 1170. The emergence of a town’ (2005), her opponent at the dissertation Hans Andersson, the earlier leader of the Swedish Town project, the new doctor Gitte Hansen and her supervisor Ingvild Øye decided to arrange a seminar about the first 200 years of the Scandinavian medieval towns. The aim was to find common traits and to compare early urbanisation. The seminar in Bergen in 2006 resulted rather rapidly in a publication. De første 200 årene (The first 200 years) begins with a joint introduction by the three editors explaining the background and aims of the seminar. After this follow twenty-four articles. The articles are arranged according to present-day nations: Norway – Gitte Hansen on Bergen, Arne J. Larsen on Borgund in Sunnmøre, Christoffer Knagenhjelm onKaupanger in Sogn, Petter B.Molaug onOslo, Eli Ulriksen on Tønsberg, Brit Solli on Veøya in Romsdal and Reidar Bertelsen on Vågar; Denmark – Lennart S. Madsen on Haderslev, Hoda El-Sharnouby and Lene Høst-Madsen on Copenhagen, Jakob Kieffer-Olsen on Ribe, Jens Ulriksen on Roskilde, Jesper Hjermind on Viborg, Stig BergmannMøller on Ålborg andHans Skov on Århus; Sweden – Kristina Carlsson on Kungahälla, Lödöse and Skara, Göran Tagesson on Linköping, Conny Johansson Hervén on Lund, Joakim Thomasson on Malmö, Mats Anglert and Stefan Larsson on Malmö, Ystad, Trelleborg and Lund, Sten Tesch on Sigtuna, Rikard Hedvall on Skänninge and Johan Anund on Uppsala; Finland – Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen on Turku/Åbo; Russia – Aleksandr Saksa and Taavitsainen again onViipuri/Viborg/Vyborg.Thepublication is rounded off with comments from town planner Vibeke Dalgas and reflections on the content by one of the editors, Hans Andersson. All in all there are twenty-seven articles on twenty-seven medieval towns. The volume is comprehensive, with plenty of information and new knowledge, and there is an abundance of relevant references and to some minor degree also theory and debate. However, to be frank, the conference publication is too compact in information and number of pages with rather a small typesize for reading from beginning to end in one go, which, as a reviewer, I did. I would recommend the reader to pick out single articles of special interest to read or use. The articles are very different in both form and content as is also the archaeology of the twenty-seven towns. Some articles present excavations and constructions in great detail with measurements as in an excavations report (these are not my favourites) and others try to present new overall interpretation (my favourites). Most of the articles present interesting news on recent observations and interpretation. Not by accident, towns with a long tradition of archaeology are often the key locations inbringingurbanarchaeology forward. Urban archaeology is normally a one-to-one relation in publications even when many people are in fact involved in the digs. The paradigm is one author and one town. A few articles deviate from this pattern as they are written by several authors or concern several towns, e.g. Carlsson on the towns in western Sweden and Anglert and Larsson on four Scanian towns. This article and also the article by Thomasson on Malmö are among the more theoretically ambitious contributions. Finally, the article by Taavitsainen on Turko/ Åbo deviates by being consciously – and refreshingly – polemical or critical in relation to other researchers and their interpretations.

The Birth of Oslo - from Harald to Harald and back again

Determining the age and origin of towns is an important part of archaeology and history. Numerous archaeological finds and documents have been used to point out the time of the foundation of towns. In recent years dendrochronology has also been useful in supplying precise dates. Early and preferably exact dates are received with gratitude, because the town, or rather the town government, tends to prefer the town to be as old as possible, by preference to be the oldest in the country. In many cases archaeology has been able to provide a town with a new and earlier date. The town of Lund celebrated its 950year jubilee in 1970, but after new investigations it celebrated its millennial jubilee in 1990. In the same way Oslo celebrated its 900-year jubilee in 1950 and its millennial jubilee in 2000. However, in Tønsberg, ‘the oldest town in Norway’, a mention of a market town around 870 in the saga of Harald Finehair (Hårfagre) has not been confirmed by archaeology; and the town seems to belong to the end of the 11th century. The millennial jubilee in 1971 was contradicted in vain by archaeologists at the jubilee excavation. Since then much effort has been dedicated to finding a predecessor to medieval Tønsberg either at the same locality or in the neighbourhood – a settlement, a farm, market place or town, to confirm the early date of the 870s (cf. Nilsen 1976:63–92, Lindh 1988, Brendalsmo 1994). Thus the date and origin of towns outlines the relationship between archaeology and history, between excavations and archives, between artefacts and texts. It is a complex of problems on which much has been written. However, regarding towns and the prestige connected with their age and origin, the rule is that whatever the type of source in question, the oldest date always has the greatest impact on opinion. For a long time it was an established fact that Oslo was founded around 1050 on the initiative of King Harald Hardruler (Hardråde). Snorre Sturlason wrote in the saga of Harald Hardruler: ‘King Harald had a town put up east in Oslo, and there heComments on Saebjorg Walaker Nordeide & Steinar Gulliksen: First Generation Christians, Second Generation Radiocarbon Dates, an article in Norwegian Archaeological Review 40, no 1 (2007).