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BEYOND THE ROMAN EMPIRE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN GUDME ON FUNEN, DENMARK
Author(s) -
RANDSBORG KLAVS
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.1990.tb00376.x
Subject(s) - settlement (finance) , archaeology , human settlement , danish , roman empire , history , ancient history , geography , linguistics , philosophy , world wide web , computer science , payment
Summary. More than one hundred years ago in the Gudme area on Funen, Denmark, Frederik Sehested carried out probably the earliest regional survey in world archaeology. This was subsequently published in two magnificent volumes. Today the Gudme‐area is the focus of the main research project of Danish archaeology, investigating a truly massive ‘royal’ settlement of some two hundred hectares near Gudme with the adjacent emporium at Lundeborg on the nearby coast of the Greater Belt. The settlements, cemeteries, and hoards of precious metals of the region date in the main from 200–600 A.D., the late Roman and migration periods of European history. The royal settlement is seemingly made up of farms with longhouses of ordinary type, but with very rich finds, including many Roman and Frankish imports, and remains of luxury crafts. The emporium antedates the well‐known Carolingian and Viking establishments by several centuries and was founded when Roman cities still flourished, e.g., in the Rhinelands.