What does it look like when a society changes radically its way of looking at the world? Culture is a living entity that evolves in long stretches and quick jolts. Some trends can be invisible, because they develop over decades, while others occur as major breakthroughs that suddenly cut deep trenches between generations or completely change the conversations a society has with itself. To understand our cultural heritage, we must be able to understand these fluctuations over time. We must be able to see both the slow changes and the sudden ones. This also applies to one of the most fundamental changes in the history of Scandinavia: the transition from paganism to Christianity in the late Viking Age. Until now, we mostly track this shift in the long term, seeing it as a gradual and relatively peaceful adaptation over decades. But new scientific dating methods can give us a glimpse of attitudes changing more quickly, and of a culture changing at a pace similar to what we know from our own day. What were life and death like during perhaps one of the greatest periods of societal upheaval that Denmark has ever known?
The answer can be found by examining a very tangible rupture that affected all levels of society: c. 950-1100, the pre-Christian burial grounds that had been in use for decades or even centuries were abandoned, while new cemeteries were established, most often in connection with the earliest churches. The latest advances in radiocarbon dating are now able to follow developments at very short intervals for this period. This project will process, date and present largely unpublished burial data in a region where Christianity seems to have made a particularly tangible entry. In this way, we will be able to establish a timeline for religious change and trace its impact on all social groups. This will open up new ways of understanding the past for both researchers and the wider public – the rapid social changes we are experiencing today may not be as “historical” as we usually think.
“Samfundsbrud” will gain new knowledge about the societal impact of religious change in Denmark in the late Viking Age, by measuring the pace of change in one of its most important expressions, namely rituals related to death. The transformation of the mortuary landscape and the evolution of burial practices are key to achieving this goal, as they synthesize multiple issues surrounding intergenerational relations, religion and land ownership, and the relationship between the living and the dead. Archaeological traces from pre-Christian burial grounds and Christian cemeteries allow for a broad social view that, unlike written sources, is not only tied to the elite. These traces are formed from materials that, with the latest advances in radiocarbon dating, are datable, allowing the results to be put into perspective in their broader historical context. This opens up a new, broad conversation not just about understanding Denmark’s cultural heritage, but about the active research into the introduction of Christianity throughout Scandinavia.
The analytical part of the project is based on the study of selected burial grounds in North and East Jutland, which belong to the archaeological area of responsibility of four museums. The majority were originally investigated as developer-led excavations, but have been processed and published to varying degrees. For this reason, they have not yet been drawn into discussions about religious change with the importance they deserve. The choice of these sites is further justified by their respective cultural-historical landscapes, which count other markers for early Christianity (rune stones, church institutions in the early cities). Some sites show stronger pre-Christian features than others, which are more ambiguous, while others are clearly Christian. A few also indicate site continuity from one religion to the next, and all seem, based on current dating, to belong to the broad period c. 900-1100.
