TY - JOUR
T1 - Mansion on the Hill -A Monumental Late Neolithic House at Vinge, Zealand, Denmark
AU - Winther Johannsen, Jens
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - This paper presents the results of an excavation of the remains of a large, Late Neolithic two-aisled house in the northeastern part of Zealand, Denmark. The house shows a strong resemblance to the well-known Fosie-houses, but is almost three times as large as these structures. It is suggested that the building housed a Late Neolithic family, their farmhands and their livestock. Furthermore, the house’s monumentality signalled the power and wealth of its inhabitant(s) and is thus a clear indicator of the presence of an elite in the Scandinavian Late Neolithic society. The house is contemporaneous with the flourishing Únětice-centre in the Thuringia/Saxony-Anhalt region, from where copper and bronze were imported to Scandinavia. Although rooted in a Scandinavian building tradition, the Vinge house was probably influenced by the building of monumental houses in that area. The interactions with the Continent were likely based on a surplus in the Scandinavian Late Neolithic society generated by changes in agricultural strategies. These changes are reflected to some degree in the material from Vinge.
AB - This paper presents the results of an excavation of the remains of a large, Late Neolithic two-aisled house in the northeastern part of Zealand, Denmark. The house shows a strong resemblance to the well-known Fosie-houses, but is almost three times as large as these structures. It is suggested that the building housed a Late Neolithic family, their farmhands and their livestock. Furthermore, the house’s monumentality signalled the power and wealth of its inhabitant(s) and is thus a clear indicator of the presence of an elite in the Scandinavian Late Neolithic society. The house is contemporaneous with the flourishing Únětice-centre in the Thuringia/Saxony-Anhalt region, from where copper and bronze were imported to Scandinavia. Although rooted in a Scandinavian building tradition, the Vinge house was probably influenced by the building of monumental houses in that area. The interactions with the Continent were likely based on a surplus in the Scandinavian Late Neolithic society generated by changes in agricultural strategies. These changes are reflected to some degree in the material from Vinge.
U2 - 10.12766/jna.2017.1
DO - 10.12766/jna.2017.1
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2197-649X
VL - 19 (2017)
JO - Journal of Neolithic Archaeology
JF - Journal of Neolithic Archaeology
ER -