Dankirke: Nyt lys over centralpladsernes locus classicus

In six campaigns from 1965 to 1970, the National Museum in Copenhagen excavated 3000 m2 on a field called Dankirke in Vester Vedsted parish, 6 kilometers south of Ribe. The finds and features were spectacular and gave a hitherto unseen insight into the surprisingly rich material culture on an elite site in Iron Age Southern Scandinavia. Dankirke played an important role in the archaeological debate about Iron Age society until the 1980’s but was to be overshadowed by first the discovery of Gudme on Funen and later Tissø on Zealand. So far, only short papers about Dankirke have come out and the vast collection of finds are unknown to almost all researchers.
In 2015 Sydvestjyske Museer imported the entire finds database from the National Museum including photos into our own system thereby gaining access to a material comprising 1,5 tons of pottery, 52 fibulae, 37 roman denari, 1037 glass beads, 1257 glass vessel sherds, 9 arrow heads, 10 spear heads 47 knives and 13 7th-8th C. coins. In addition, the archaeological features have been analyzed including at least three burnt down hall buildings. The paper presents the site and argues that Dankirke was an elite residence with activities centered on cultic activities and feasting spanning the entire first half of the first millennium.