Posts: 828 Location: Nykøbing Falster, Denmark
Mon 06 Mar, 2017 10:00 am
Indications for the first
Late Iron Age/Early Viking Age tower discovered in Jutland, Denmark.
15 km west of Viborg a settlement with post holes indicating a perhaps
~10 meter high structure as part of a settlement "
Toftum Næs" was discovered in 2014.
It seems to be a tower that marks the entrance into an enclosed space where you also find a hall all part of a settlement.
It was actually built in 700's AD and the site was active until 1000 AD.
NB: The article goes into explanation that the site was built by "slaves" and the tower construction was raised so the chieftain could keep an eye on the working slaves.
"
The tower construction was probably built by a chieftain who wanted to watch over his workers, says PhD student Torben Trier Christiansen"
Source:
http://sciencenordic.com/%E2%80%9Cviking-towe...ed-denmark
A) I find it pretty hard to believe that construction of great halls was done by foreign slaves or even domestic thralls, since
construction of these monumental wood buildings demands extreme degree of expertise and knowledge. The pyramids were not build by slaves either, but perhaps this myth is still prevalent in some circles?
B) Furthermore the
idea that you would construct a 10 meter tower to supervise is preposterous in my opinion, when you can assign men to keep eye(s) on the workers. Does the chieftain not have better things to do, like politics and ruling?
Furthermore "thralls" in the viking world are not exactly "slaves" in the modern understanding by more like "indentured servants". Thralls are all those people that cannot provide for their own subsistence and doesn't own land (legally having no kin); so basically those who need to have salaries from the person they work for and was owned as such [though we have basically no clue for 700'S AD laws in Denmark].
Though they later did own their own possessions and had their own money (they would have to rent land) and could buy eventually their own freedom (or be released before that).
Also you have varying social status of thralls just as you had in the Roman empire with some actually being rich and powerful. The Bryti (stewards) of royal farms would qualify as thralls in the viking world.
Some vikings were engage in slave TRADE. That doesn't all all mean they captured slaves abroad and brought them back home to Scandinavia. What's the point to bring someone from another place in Europe to an area, where they have no clue about anything (not even language so you can't give them orders and even a different religion)?
Slaves are useful in huge agricultural plantations - like Roman villas - but that is not likely the case for late Iron Age Scandinavia that is way more based on cattle farming. Only important crop is barley for brewing. You don't have the need for a lot of thralls.
In 700's AD you basically only have villages in Denmark - Ribe as the first town in Denmark is created 704 AD and Fysing (a forerunner to Hedeby) also at some time in the 700's. I really don't see any need for "real slaves" in Scandinavia as compared with moving them from one location abroad to another location abroad where you have an actual marked for it?
Anyways at 700's AD we are before any real evidence of Scandinavians doing international slave trade.
Vikings were later engaged in slave trade in for instance the Irish sea -> selling Irish slaves to Welsh magnates and Welsh slaves to Irish magnates back and forth. Here it makes sense as the people are broadly within the same culture.
So what is this tower structure?
My guess would be a Seidr-tower for a Vǫlva and if this is the case it is a spectacular discovery.
Already Tacitus describes the prophet-woman
Veleda of the germanic Bructerii tribe as
living in a tower. In the sagas the Vǫlva is seated on a raised platform when performing. A tower of 10 meters height with a platform inside would make an excellent seat for such a woman connected with the chieftain ruling the site; just as Veleda was connected with the Romanized Batavian Gaius Julies Civilis.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veleda
The tower seems to be part of an enclosure connected with a hall also inside the enclosure.
This enclosure seems to indicate a sacredness of some kind (at least for the possible rituals taking place in them), it's clearly not for keeping animals in.
[ Linked Image ]
Source:
http://sciencenordic.com/%E2%80%9Cviking-towe...ed-denmark
The Danish articles shows more of the coin findings and other things. This site is clearly rich.
See:
http://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/danmarks-f...aer-viborg