Gudme: The Iron Age Settlement and Central Halls presents, describes and interprets the many finds and structures that have been comprised during the extended excavations at the central parts of the Gudme locality on southeast Funen, Denmark. Head of excavation Palle Østergaard Sørensen extracts, combines, classifies, dates and temporalizes the many finds and houses from the excavations Gudmehallerne, Gudme III, Gudme IV.
Since the 19th century the Gudme area has been known as one of the richest prehistoric localities in Scandinavia, and more than 1,000 roman coins, close to 600 fibulas as well as several small mask and animal figurines form part of the Gudme find assemblage. From AD 200 to AD 600 the site expanded rapidly and covered as much as one square kilometre comprising up to 50 farmsteads. At the individual farms, specialized craftsmanship can be found and the debris and tools of gold- and silversmiths as well as bronze casting is abundant – here, bronze fragments, often from statues, imported from the Roman Empire form a distinct category of finds – bearing witness to a flourishing and innovative world of craftsmanship, as well as an extensive trade network.
During this period the unique and monumental halls, with the largest being 47 m long and 10 m wide, dominated the hilltops east of Gudme lake. Just to the south a smaller building accompanied the large hall, and had been purposely demolished and rebuilt several times at the exact same spot. The unusually large entrances to the two adjoined buildings lead straight from one to the other, thus witnessing a duality of buildings that came to define the aristocratic localities throughout Scandinavia in the following 800 years. Hence, Gudme represents a starting point for a significant type of architectural ideal as well as a first generation of central places.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• I. Gudme – an introduction
  • I.1. Discoveries and excavations at Gudme 1833–1966
  • I.2. A new focus on Gudme and Lundeborg from 1982
    • I.2.1. Lundeborg
  • I.3. The Gudme-Lundeborg Project
    • I.3.1. Phase I
    • I.3.2. Phase II
• 1. The Gudme halls
  • 1.1. Introduction
  • 1.2. The Neolithic
  • 1.3. Late Bronze Age
  • 1.4. The Iron Age settlement
    • 1.4.1. Phase 1
    • 1.4.2. Phase 2
    • 1.4.3. Feature 556
    • 1.4.4. Phase 3
    • 1.4.5. House I – the great hall
    • 1.4.6. Phase 4
    • 1.4.7. Phase 5
    • 1.4.8. Phase 6
    • 1.4.9. Phase 7
    • 1.4.10. Phase 8 – farm 1
    • 1.4.11. Phase 8 – farm 2
    • 1.4.12. Phase 9 – farm 1
    • 1.4.13. Phase 9 – farm 2
  • 1.5. The finds
    • 1.5.1. Objects of gold and silver objects with gilded sheet fragments
    • 1.5.2. Objects of silver
    • 1.5.3. Coins
    • 1.5.4. Objects of bronze
    • 1.5.5. Objects of iron
    • 1.5.6. Ceramic material
    • 1.5.7. Glass
    • 1.5.8. Amber objects
    • 1.5.9. Precious stone
    • 1.5.10. Smithing waste
    • 1.5.11. Antler objects
  • 1.6. The halls of the Iron Age
    • 1.6.1. The Gudme halls
    • 1.6.2. Scandinavian sites with hall buildings
    • 1.6.3. Cult centres and royal residences
    • 1.6.4. Hall buildings
• 2. Gudme III
  • 2.1. The settlement
  • 2.2. The course of the excavation
    • 2.2.1. Excavation method
  • 2.3. The Late Bronze Age
  • 2.4. Pre-Roman Iron Age
  • 2.5. Settlement in the Late Roman and Germanic Iron Age, c. AD 200–750
    • 2.5.1. Phase 1 and 2 – farm 1
    • 2.5.2. Phase 2 – farm 2
    • 2.5.3. Phase 3 – farm 1
    • 2.5.4. Phase 3 – farm 2
    • 2.5.5. Phase 4 – farm 1
    • 2.5.6. Phase 4 – farm 2
    • 2.5.7. Phase 5 – farm 1
    • 2.5.8. Phase 5 – farm 2
    • 2.5.9. Phase 5 – farm 3
    • 2.5.10. Phase 5 – possible burials at farm 3
    • 2.5.11. Phase 6 – farm 1
    • 2.5.12. Phase 6 – farm 2
    • 2.5.13. Phase 6 – farm 3
    • 2.5.14. Phase 7 – farm 1
    • 2.5.15. Phase 7 – farm 2
    • 2.5.16. Phase 7 – farm 3
    • 2.5.17. Phase 8 – farm 1
    • 2.5.18. Phase 8 – farm 2
    • 2.5.19. Phase 8 – farm 3
    • 2.5.20. Phase 9 – farms 1 and 2
    • 2.5.21. Phase 9 – farm 3
    • 2.5.22. The end of the settlement
  • 2.6. The typological and chronological development of the houses
    • 2.6.1. The longhouse
    • 2.6.2. Small houses
  • 2.7. The finds
    • 2.7.1. Objects of gold and silver
    • 2.7.2. Coins
    • 2.7.3. Bronze objects
    • 2.7.4. Tools, fittings and other objects of iron
    • 2.7.5. The ceramic material (Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age see 2.3. and 2.4.)
    • 2.7.6. Glass
    • 2.7.7. Amber
    • 2.7.8. Wood
    • 2.7.9. Smithing waste
    • 2.7.10. Quern stone and whetstone
  • 2.8. The hoards from Gudme III
    • 2.8.1. The hoard of Roman siliquae
    • 2.8.2. The hacksilver hoard
    • 2.8.3. The hoard containing gold sheet
  • 2.9. The development of Gudme III – original landscape, wetland and settlement
    • 2.9.1. The development of the farms at Gudme III – production and prosperity
• 3. Gudme IV
  • 3.1. The settlement
  • 3.2. The excavation
  • 3.3. Pre-Roman Iron Age
  • 3.4. The settlement from the Late Roman Iron Age, Germanic Iron Age and Early Viking Age, c. AD 250–850
    • 3.4.1. Phase 1 – farm 1
    • 3.4.2. Phase 2 – farm 1
    • 3.4.3. Phase 2 – farm 2
    • 3.4.4. Phase 3 – farm 1
    • 3.4.5. Phase 3 – farm 2
    • 3.4.6. Phase 4 – farm 1
    • 3.4.7. Phase 4 – farm 2
    • 3.4.8. Phase 5 – farm 1
    • 3.4.9. Phase 5 – farm 2
    • 3.4.10. Phase 6 – farm 1
    • 3.4.11. Phase 6 – farm 2
    • 3.4.12. Phase 7 – farm 1
    • 3.4.13. Phase 7 – farm 2
    • 3.4.14. Phase 8 – farm 1
    • 3.4.15. Phase 8 – farm 2
    • 3.4.16. Phase 9 – farm 1
    • 3.4.17. Phase 10 – farm 1
    • 3.4.18. Phase 11 – farm 1
    • 3.4.19. Phase 12 – farm 1
    • 3.4.20. The end of the settlement
  • 3.5. The finds from Gudme IV
    • 3.5.1. Objects of gold and silver
    • 3.5.2. Coins
    • 3.5.3. Bronze brooches (with Karsten K. Michaelsen)
    • 3.5.4. Bronze objects
    • 3.5.5. Tools and other iron objects
    • 3.5.6. The ceramic material
    • 3.5.7. Glass
    • 3.5.8. Beads of glass and amber
    • 3.5.9. Antler
    • 3.5.10. Remains from metal smithing
    • 3.5.11. Quern and whetstone
  • 3.6. The coin hoard from Gudme IV
    • 3.6.1. The Viking hoard from Gudme IV east
  • 3.7. The development of the settlement and its relation to the wetlands
    • 3.7.1. The development of the houses at Gudme IV compared with Gudme III
• 4. The house typology at Gudme and in the rest of the Danish area
  • 4.1. The house typology in the Gudme area
    • 4.1.1. Houses with a straight course of roof-bearing posts
    • 4.1.2. Houses with a curved course of roof-bearing posts
    • 4.1.3. Houses from the rest of the Gudme area
    • 4.1.4. The decline in the size of the longhouses at Gudme in the 5th century – a sign of crisis in society?
  • 4.2. Houses and farmsteads from the rest of the Danish area
    • 4.2.1. Houses on Funen
    • 4.2.2. Houses in East Denmark
    • 4.2.3. East Danish house chronology
    • 4.2.4. Houses in Jutland
  • 4.3. Gudme after 25 years
• Abbreviations and general information
• Bibliography