EXCAVATION AND GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH
SINCE 2005In 2005 new smaller-scale excavations started to verify the results and interpretations of
the geophysical research. The existence of pit-houses in the higher, sandy areas was
attested and hundreds of soil samples for further geophysical analyses were collected.
Careful excavation and sieving of the spoil revealed a burnt-down pit-house in an
excellent state of preservation (Figure 8. 2. 6 ) and thousands of small finds dating from
the second half of the tenth century to the mid-eleventh century. The high magneticism
is due to a younger oven built in the house’s debris. The research over the coming years
intends to develop new methods in modelling geophysical data and collecting strati-
graphically excavated settlement remains. Especially for the late tenth and the eleventh
centuries, our knowledge of Hedeby’s position and role in the international trading
systems has enlarged considerably due to systematic metal-detection (Figures 8. 2. 2 and
8. 2. 3 ) and the new excavations, thus the supposed decline of the emporium around 1000
can now be doubted ( Jankuhn 1986 : 222 f.; Hill 2001 : 107 ).
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–– chapter 8 ( 2 ): Hedeby: an outline of its research history––