Under storkökets golv : Arkeologisk undersökning i Gamla Skogsby september och oktomber 2021

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

This report presents the results from an archaeological excavation in 2021 of an Iron Age house foundation at Gamla Skogsby, Öland, Sweden. The investigated area is rich in prehistoric remains, not least from the mid-Iron Age and the Migration Period which is the period of concern here (c. AD 400–550). The excavation was a direct continuation of the one conducted in the previous year, and concerns the same trench as that opened in 2020 (Papmehl-Dufay 2021). The house investigated is part of a large farm, just next to an exceptionally large building usually regarded as a cheiftains hall. The excavations in 2019 and 2020 resulted in a wealth of finds of animal bones, pottery and other categories, indicating that the house has been used among other things for preparation of large quantities of food associated with feasting. The numerous finds especially during the 2020 excavation were time-consuming to recover, and the 2021 excavation therefore focussed on finishing the investigation of trench opened in the previous year. The excavation in 2021 thus concerned the lowermost part of the main occupation layer in the building, including a number of large postholes and other features interpreted as parts of the house construction. Furthermore, layers and sunken features were documented that are stratigraphically older than the building, possibly representing earlier phases of settlement at the site. Although severely damaged and difficult to understand with any certainity, the patterns of postholes and stone features underneath the investigates house foundation could represent an earlier building oriented in a slightly different direction. The age of this hypothetic earlier building is difficult to estimate, but based on some of the finds and the suggested presence of a stone wall, the Roman Iron Age is suggested. Among the finds from the 2021 excavation, animal bones predominate while the amounts of pottery are modest especially in relation to the situation the year before. Yet another context of seemingly ritual deposits of sheep bone was found, strengthening the image of the house as loaded with ritual significance possibly related to food and meat. Only a few more notable artefacts were recovered, including two amber beads and a bone pin. Furthermore, a large whetstone was recovered as well as several more smaller whetstones, accompanying numerous artefacts of the same category from previous years. In previous excavations, evidence for fire has been abundantly documented. This was notices also in the 2021 excavation, although it was now clearly demonstrated that this evidence is concentrated to the uppermost part of the stratigraphy. Also, the radiocarbon dates suggest that the house was affected by fire at least twice, the earliest of which most probably occurred in the 5th century and the latter in the early/mid 6th century. These are interesting results, especially in relation to the Gamla Skogsby vs Sandby borg hypothesis, which suggests that the residents at the main farm at Gamla Skogsby could have been involved in some way in the massacre at Sandby borg. The excavation team consisted of students from two different courses, as well as teachers and researchers from Linnaeus university and archaeologist from Kalmar County museum and Bohusläns museum. Participant researcher Cornelius Holtorf pursued a specific reflective agenda throughout the fieldwork, termed ”An Archaeology of Growth and Regeneration”, elaborated and discussed in detail in Bilaga 1. The excavation at Gamla Skogsby in 2021 was successful in finishing the trench opened in 2020. However, the extent of the house towards the west is still an open question, hopefully this will be answered in the coming campaign at the site in 2022.