EASE Sweden 2006 Placement Report by Alan Dalton
We arrived at the town of Visby on Gotland Island on the afternoon of Sunday 25 June where we were met by Gustaf Svedjemo, a lecturer at Gotland University and Magdalena Fraser, a student and board member of Gotark, the university's archaeology society. We were taken to our accommodation, the Kanonen Hostel, located on the southern outskirts of Visby. Magdalena took us out for a meal during our first evening.
Our second day was spent getting acquainted with Visby's historical Old Town; Visby was once a major trading post in the Baltic Sea and was one of the most important towns of the Hanseatic League. Most of the medieval walls survive to impressive heights and in places bear testament to the town's turbulent past, such as the Danish invasions. Magdalena gave us a brief tour of some of the landmarks but mainly we concentrated on getting to know where shops and banking facilities were. We met Suk-Hi Cho at the university down by the harbour; she was responsible for making our arrangements during our placement. She took us on a tour of the university which was small but had a confident, modern feel to it. Magdalena then helped us to hire our bicycles which we would be using during the first four weeks of our placement.
On day three we began excavating. The first of the two sites we would be digging at was at a place called Ajvide, on the west coast of the island, about 50km south of Visby. We would cycle down to a rendezvous point in Visby and then driven to Ajvide by other local members of the excavation party. Ajvide is a settlement and cemetery site belonging to the Swedish Neolithic Pitted-Ware culture (c.3500-2300 BC) and was originally a coastal site but significant land rise means that the site is now several hundred metres from the present coastline. The site was originally a settlement but this was abandoned as the coast receded and subsequently became a grave field which cut through the settlement features; we were to be excavating the grave field area. The project at Ajvide has been ongoing since the early 1980s and is now run as a fieldwork learning programme for archaeology students and interested volunteers - some of whom have been digging there for a number of years and were able to offer advice from their previous experiences of the site.
We were introduced to the two site supervisors; Margareta Kristiansson, an osteologist from Gotland University; and Johan Norderäng, also from the university, who would be supervising the recording and measuring of finds and layers. We were put into the same trench with other Swedish archaeology students and we were each given 1m2 to excavate within this trench. A characteristic of almost all archaeological sites on Gotland is the shallowness of the cultural layers and at Ajvide the pattern tended to be that human remains were found about 20-30cm below the present ground surface. We would be excavating in 10cm layers and when each layer was excavated in our individual metre squares, we would catalogue our finds form each layer within that square. This involved sorting the finds into groups, counting and weighing them. A description of each layer within our entire trench then had to be completed as well as drawing a trench plan for each layer. Only finds deemed to be of special significance were measured in situ (e.g. human bone, large decorated pottery sherds), other finds (e.g. animal bone fragments) were to be placed into finds boxes for later cataloguing; dry sieving was used to retrieve small finds.
Four human skeletons had already been uncovered when we began to excavate, including the skeleton of an infant, so we were hopeful of finding a skeleton in our trench also. The first week in our trench was largely uneventful, lots of animal bone (particularly fish, seal and pig) and pottery fragments in the stony soil with occasional finds of decorated pottery, particularly the pitted-ware from which this Stone Age culture received its name. Some of us got to use the total station and we all helped in measuring finds within the trench and all contributed to the layer descriptions. The weekend was spent getting to know a bit more of Visby, relaxing at the beach and swimming in the Baltic Sea.
The second week of excavating in our trench produced some interesting finds; Charlotte (one of the UK students) and Ylva (a Swedish student) both found carved bones with a hole pierced through one end, these were believed to be fishing hooks. I also found the foot of a human skeleton protruding from the baulk of the trench. My square and the adjacent square had been producing a lot more decorated pottery sherds than elsewhere in the trench so it seemed that this was related to the human skeleton. Our trench was extended in order to uncover the rest of the skeleton, which was the 82nd grave to be discovered at the site since excavations began in the early 1980s. Although we did not manage to uncover the skeleton by the end of the week, we did reach the layer where it was expected to be within the extended area of the trench, so we could begin to excavate the skeleton during the third week. The second week also involved us being taken on a tour of the museum in Visby by Gunilla Hallin, the director of the excavation at Ajvide. This provided us with an insight into the artefacts we were finding and the culture that produced them. The weekend was spent exploring Visby further and watching the World Cup final with some Swedish students who were members of Gotark.
Our third and final week at Ajvide was largely taken up with the excavation and recording of the skeleton I found. All the students in our trench were involved in the excavation of this skeleton; the characteristics of the skeleton would suggest that it was a male adult. The only grave good found was a bone knife placed under the deceased's left forearm. After we had completed the excavation we then recorded, measured and drew a plan of the skeleton within the trench. We all took turns at measuring and drawing which was a valuable learning experience.
On the Friday of our third week Gunilla Hallin arranged a tour of some of the sites of archaeological interest on Gotland. All the participants of the Ajvide excavation went on this interesting tour. We started by seeing some stone ship burials for which the island is noted, these were at a place called Sproge and belonged to the Swedish Late Bronze Age (1100-500 BC). This was followed by a visit to the church in Garda which was notable for its paintings and decoration in the Byzantine-style. Then we saw building remains and fossilised features in the landscape at Visne dating to the Roman Iron Age (AD 1-400). After this we went to see the impressive Torsburgen, the largest Iron Age hill fort in Northern Europe, this was in use between AD 200-400; the stone ramparts still survive to impressive heights and the circuit encompasses a considerable distance. Finally we visited some of the famous Gotlandic picture stones at Buttle; these were commonplace in the Early Viking to Early Christian periods with their motifs and narratives changing from pagan to Christian themes accordingly. During the weekend we went to Vikingabyn, a reconstruction of a Viking settlement where traditional crafts were performed and in which we were able to participate.
The fourth week would see us move onto our next excavation site at Västergarn, again on the west coast, about 30km south of Visby. Västergarn developed as a Late Viking port with the earliest evidence dating to the 10th century. The harbour developed as the more established port at nearby Paviken declined due to land rise making it inaccessible for the cog ships of traders. After the conversion to Christianity a Romanesque stone church was built - probably replacing an earlier wooden church though no evidence had been found for this structure. The stone Romanesque church was abandoned in the 12th century and a Gothic church replaced it, uniquely for the island however, the Gothic church was not constructed over the site of the Romanesque church but adjacent to it, to the south. A new churchyard was also created and the cemetery belonging to the Romanesque church was also abandoned. However, by the mid-13th century the harbour at Västergarn had fallen into decline as Visby gained pre-eminence as the major port before being completely abandoned as, like Paviken, it too fell victim to land rise. Västergarn is now a small village but the Gothic church is still in use today and the ruins of the Romanesque church survive as grassed over earthworks alongside.
Excavations the previous year attempted to locate the northern boundary of the Romanesque churchyard. A human skeleton was found about 30m to the north of the abandoned church but no church boundary was identified in this area. Large quantities of iron slag and iron nails were found in the trenches nearby and to the south of this skeleton, suggesting that the cemetery may not have extended this far, Jörn Staecker's interpretation being that this may be evidence for blacksmiths' works adjacent to the cemetery and this skeleton may have been a criminal or a suicide, thus preventing burial within the churchyard. The trenches for this year's excavation would try to locate the cemetery boundary to the west and to the north (but closer to the ruined church than the previous year's trenches), it was hoped that the boundary may survive as a ditch, wall foundations or as a robbed-out wall. The cemetery of the later church prevented any attempt to locate the southern boundary. Trenches would also be opened in a horse paddock about 50m to the west of the church in an attempt to locate a possible Late Viking cemetery where human remains had been found a number of years previously. The trenches were to be divided into metre squares with one excavator allotted to each square and responsible for the recording and bagging of all finds within that square, we would also draw any features in the trench plans and draw the profiles. Finds were to be measured in using a total station and dry sieving was used to retrieve smaller finds - it was proposed that wet sieving would also be used but the director was prevented from doing this due to water restrictions imposed as a result of the lack of rainfall in previous weeks.
For transport to Västergarn we were supplied with a minibus, for which I was the driver. The minibus was also to be used by some students from Belarus who were also digging at Västergarn and who would arrive for the beginning of our fifth week.
The UK students were divided between two trenches; Charlotte, Hannah and Maria in one trench; Primrose and I in another and we were teamed up with other students from various countries. Our trenches were to the north of the ruined church and immediately the trenches began to produce large quantities of iron slag, pieces of metalwork and charcoal, suggesting that this area was used by blacksmiths. Charlotte, Hannah and Maria also found horse bones, which upon further excavation revealed itself to be a complete articulated horse skeleton.
That weekend we, along with some members of Gotark, met up with the students from Belarus who would be staying at our hostel. We gave the Belarusians a tour of Visby to familiarise them with the town and the university buildings. On the Sunday we all took the minibus to the small island of Fårö, just off the northern tip of Gotland. Several members of Gotark and other students from the Västergarn dig also went. En route to Fårö we stopped off at an open-air ethnographic museum at a place called Bunge; there were several excellent examples of the types of wooden houses and farm buildings that once existed on Gotland. After crossing to the island on the free ferry we picnicked at a place called Digerhuvud which looked out onto the rock formations in the sea for which Fårö is famous. We also spent some time relaxing at a beach and swimming in the Baltic Sea.
The Belarusians joined the excavation at the beginning of our fifth week. Charlotte, Hannah and Maria found a human skeleton in their trench which probably belonged to the Romanesque churchyard. They were to find two other graves in their trench; the horse skeleton was higher up within the layers and so was probably buried after the churchyard was abandoned. There was very little evidence for any Viking cemetery in the horse paddock, however, some evidence for possible structures was forthcoming, but of uncertain date. The trench in which Primrose and I were excavating produced only sterile sand once we had gone down through the layer of blacksmith activity. Some wooden logs and planking were discovered but these turned out to be covering an electricity cable; some disarticulated human remains were found alongside and it seems that these represent the reburial of a skeleton disturbed by the cutting of the trench necessary to lay the electricity cable. After recording the trench profiles we closed the trench down and opened a new one slightly further north in an attempt to find any evidence for the church boundary.
During our final full weekend on Gotland we took a ferry from Klintehamn out to Stora Karlsö, a tiny island a few kilometres off the west coast of Gotland. This island has archaeological remains running unbroken from the Bronze Age into modern times; human activity there was mainly involved with seal hunting. The island is a nature reserve for seabirds and is actually the second oldest nature reserve in the world - only Yellowstone in the USA is older. We were taken on a tour of the island, most of which can be walked round in a few hours and there were some spectacular views from the cliff edges of the seabirds and the sea. We also went to a party arranged by Gotark which included a barbecue (one of several we had during the six weeks) and all the students from the Västergarn dig attended.
During week six Charlotte, Hannah and Maria began to record and remove the human remains in their trench. The new trench Primrose and I were excavating followed the same pattern as our previous trench - a layer of iron slag overlying sterile sand, although Primrose did find a coin minted in 1805 in the upper layers. The fact that the boundary was proving elusive and time was running out was becoming increasingly frustrating; having recorded the profiles of this trench, we closed it down. There was now very little time left, so the team Primrose and I were in opened an exploratory trench in the horse paddock to try and find any evidence for the Viking cemetery. There were some interesting layers of burning represented by charcoal and ash, plus some cremated bones but nothing that could be interpreted as human remains with any certainty. Apart from a lightning conductor in our trench the only unusual feature was an articulated chicken skeleton which appeared to have been buried recently!
Time had run out and so all trenches were recorded and back-filled. It was frustrating that the objectives of this excavation were unfulfilled although the opportunity to excavate human remains and be involved in the setting out, excavating and recording of several trenches was an invaluable experience in improving my skills as an archaeologist in the field. Jörn Staecker was hopeful of securing increased funding in order to undertake a full geophysical survey of the site prior to the next digging season in order to eliminate some of the frustrations that arose.
For our final evening in Visby, Suk-Hi Cho had arranged for us to attend a classical music concert in the semi-open ruins of St. Nicolai church. It was a very atmospheric setting with the sun setting behind the musicians and bathing us through the ruined church windows.
The six weeks we spent on Gotland was an enormously enjoyable and educational experience. To be able to dig on two sites of different periods and characteristics was an excellent opportunity to improve our fieldwork skills, we received first-rate guidance from our supervisors. We discovered that Swedish excavation techniques are extremely similar to the UK which undoubtedly helped us to integrate into the excavations alongside the other Swedish students. I particularly enjoyed the Västergarn dig, despite the frustration of not finding what we were looking for. We felt that we were an intrinsic part of the excavation, this was largely thanks to the director of this dig, Jörn Staecker. He would often approach us as we were excavating and asked us questions about our trenches and what our interpretations of our discoveries were. This was a superb experience as it made us think about what was happening and this really helped us to understand not only what was happening in our trenches but with regards to the entire site as well. He was also very impressed with our abilities, professionalism and standard of work - this was his first experience of running an excavation involving UK students so we were delighted to have created such a favourable impression.
We found the people on Gotland extremely friendly and we were made to feel very welcome. All the students and archaeologists we were involved with were warm to us and we really felt at home. The Ajvide dig was interesting in that we had the opportunity to meet native Gotlandic people - most of the Swedish students at Västergarn were from the Swedish mainland - and they provided a fascinating and often humorous insight into the light-hearted 'us and them' mentality between Gotlanders and Swedes. The opportunity to meet archaeology students from other countries was also interesting as it provided insights into differing excavation methods and practises.
So many people helped us out and we made many friends. The Swedish students were fun to be with; the language barrier often proved a problem with the students from Belarus but they were generous and friendly people - we would have liked to have known them for longer. We have so many people to thank for making our stay a worthwhile and enjoyable experience. We have Jörn Staecker, Gunilla Hallin and Suk-Hi Cho to thank for the organisation and arrangements; we have Margareta Kristiansson, Johan Norderäng and Alexander Andreeff to thank for their supervisory roles and anecdotes at Ajvide and Västergarn. Ylva Alriksson, a student from Stockholm, helped us enormously during the Ajvide excavation and became a firm friend of ours. We really appreciated the effort made by Gotark to make us feel welcome with numerous barbecues and festivities, we thank Calle Hällström and Johnny May (particularly regarding the Belarusians) for their roles. The two people we have to thank most are Andreas Ström (president of Gotark) and Magdalena Fraser. They really helped us more than they could have been expected to; the care, hospitality and generosity they afforded us was exceptional. We appreciated their efforts so much and they are friends that we cannot thank enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of Gotland Island and I would recommend the opportunity of excavating there to other students. It is a fabulous place.
Figure 1 Medieval walls of Visby's Old Town
Figure 2 Excavating at Ajvide
Figure 3 The human skeleton we excavated at Ajvide
Figure 4 UK students at Ajvide: Hannah, Maria, Alan, Primrose and Charlotte
Figure 5 Our skeleton with detail of the bone knife grave good
Figure 6 A skeleton from one of our trenches at Västergarn
Figure 7 One of the trenches at Västergarn
Figure 8 Horse helping to dig our exploratory trench in the horse paddock
Figure 9 A trench at Västergarn