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88 The Yiking Age in Denmark

Figurę 24 Reconstruction of ninth-century house from the central scttlemcnt at Hcdeby. (After Schietzel)

room. Ovens have also been found, but only in one case is thcre accommodation for animals. Unlike the south settlement, pit-houses are extremely few, and they are lightly—built structures.

The houses have no parallels in the rural settlements, although they may vaguely resemble the Trelleborg-type halls. It is tempting to see a connection between the light cheap construction and the specialised and, above all, morę transient functions of this site vis-a-vis the rural settlements. Furthermore it is elear that spacc was limited on the site, the brook was lined with planks, a Street is carried across a bridge and the houses stand close to each other, while garbage is piling up in the brook, between the fences and in the wclls.

Unfortunately it is only in the ninth century that we are able to disccrn such a detailed picture; the later deposits are less well preserved. Studying the spread of artefacts, however, cspecially ceramics and metal objects, it is elear that the early settlemcnt located by the brook only extendcd roughly as far as the later wali to the south-west, ncar the gravcyard of ehamber tombs.⁵⁷ In the tenth century the settlement obviously filled out the entire spacc within the wali. The ehamber tombs, for example, are superimposed by

rectangular pit-houses, perhaps on the same streets that divide the rows of tombs. The pit-houses are well-built. They havc posts in the comers too, unlike almost every rural pit-house, and are mostly supplied with fireplaces like the similar constructions on the somcwhat earlier south settlement.⁵⁸ The buildings have been re-newed several times, in each case on the same plot, which, in spite of the lack of fences here, reveals some planning of this peripheral area too.

Looking into the functions of the buildings, especially with an eye to craft production, there is no correlation between any variant of house, or any plot, and any specific activity.⁵⁹ Nor has any craft apparently been carried out only in a special part of the town; and the usual idea of a ‘craftsman’s district’ is therefore due to the limited size of the early excavations. Smali local clusters of refuse from specific activities do occur, but they move over time - as, for instance, the iron slag in the lower brook area. Surface registration of iron slag, however, all over the central site area, has revealed major concen-trations over about half a hectarc or morę, in some spaces next to the inner sidc of the town wali, where the settlement may have been less built-up. On the ‘macro-leyeF too, we should notę, there is no such thing as a specific craftsman’s quarter, as in some later medieval towns.

Iron-working has already been mentioned among the basie activities. Pottery-making is also recorded, for at least during the tenth century there were wheel-made vessels of a special Hedeby variant.⁶⁰ The bonę industry is common, especially the rich production of combs of antler; but weaving and working of leather were also substantial crafts. In addition, wood-working must have been an important activity, and on a smaller scalę we may mention the dressing of Rhinish quern-stones.

The luxury production of Hedeby comprises bronze and tin jewellery. For the ninth century most of the types were western, belonging to west Denmark and Norway, while in the tenth century south Scandinavian forms are common. During this century gold filigree working was also carried out, and the most costly trinkets of the age were madę. Occasionally bronze-decorated weapons were madę too. Glass and amber beads were also produced.

In itself the craft production indicates exchange and trade, and to that end a number of weights have been recorded. Local minting is known from the beginning of the ninth century onwards, but especially from the mid to late tenth century. The number of coins from the settlement, however, is very Iow, and by 1966 the local types were only represented by eight to ten specimcns from the habitation deposits, while seven came from the gravcs.^fJ1 The coin-series imitate Frankish and English motifs, especially the Dorestad coins of Charlemagne, but the Hedeby coins, at least in the ninth century, may only have circulated as coins at Hedeby, and not in the rest of Denmark or Scandinavia, where they usually occur as amulets. The