stratigraphy up to 2 metres ( Jankuhn 1936 , 1943 ). Archaeological research and interest
have been focused for decades in this area. The investigations were continued in 1962 by
Torsten Capelle and by Kurt Schietzel from 1963 to 1969 (Capelle 1965 ; Schietzel
1969 : 10 – 59 ; 1981 ). The excavated settlement structures form the basis of our know-
ledge of Hedeby and its layout in the Viking Age (Schietzel 1981 , 1984 ; Jankuhn 1986 :
95 – 100 plan 2 ; Clarke and Ambrosiani 1991 : 138 – 41 ). Only c. 5 per cent of the area
inside the semicircular rampart has been excavated to date, and only a small part has
been analysed and published intensively (Schietzel 1981 : 21 ; Radtke 1999 : 364 ). Most
of the preserved wooden remains date to the ninth century; for the upper layers no wood
preservation could be found. Only a well with a terminus post of ad 1020 possesses the
youngest dendrochronological date from Schietzel’s settlement excavations (Eckstein
1976 ; Schietzel 1981 : 68 f.).
To the north, lying on the south-eastern slopes of the hill fort, remains of graves
destroyed in the nineteenth century and a settlement pit have been found ( Jankuhn
1986 : 80 , 87 ; Arents 1992 vol. 1 : 14 – 18 ). In the south rampart remains of inhumation
and cremation burials have led to large-scale excavations over several years since 1957.
Klaus Raddatz, Heiko Steuer and Konrad Weidemann investigated 890 uncovered
burials making up a large part of a huge biritual cemetery. In the eastern area near the
coastline Raddatz and Steuer also excavated parts of an older settlement. Only the
structures of the settlement were published by Steuer; the cemetery hasn’t been
published yet in detail (Steuer 1974 , 1984 : 192 – 4 ; Jankuhn 1986 : 100 – 2 ; Arents 1992
vol. 1 : 44 – 53 ).
Underwater research from 1953 onwards has found its preliminary culmination in
the harbour excavation from 1979 to 1980 , when parts of the jetties were excavated,
dating from the middle of the ninth century onwards (Kramer 1999 ; Radtke 1999 : 370 ;
Kalmring 2006 ). In the harbour a lot of different objects and waste were deposited. In
front of the jetties also a large warship, measuring about 30 m in length, was recovered.
It was dated dendrochronologically to c. 982. Besides, we know of three other ship-
wrecks in front of Hedeby: a huge cargo-vessel of the so-called ‘Knorr’-type (t.p. about
1025 ), a smaller boat of Nordic tradition (t.p. about 965 ) and a barge dating to the
twelfth century (Crumlin-Pedersen 1997 ).
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL
INVESTIGATIONSAnother important contribution to the Hedeby research is provided by systematic
archaeological prospection. During the 1960 s K. Schietzel conducted a systematic field
survey inside the semicircular rampart. The materials collected consist mainly of pottery
and soapstone sherds, iron slags, and production waste in metal and glass, and this has
contributed much to our understanding of the whole settlement complex (Schietzel
1981 : 21 f. map 23 ). Since 2003 systematic metal-detector surveys have been carried out
with the assistance of the Bornholmske Amatørarkæologer and a German amateur group
of metal-detectorists from Schleswig-Holstein. From five campaigns about 9 , 700 metal
finds were collected and measured precisely with a D-GPS system (Figure 8. 2. 2 )
(Hilberg forthcoming). Most of the relevant material dates to Hedeby’s younger phases,
coming from the disturbed or destroyed upper layers of the emporium. From the area
of the southern settlement no materials of pre-Viking Age date could be collected.
–– chapter 8 ( 2 ): Hedeby: an outline of its research history––