DOI Artikel:
Madsen, Per Kristian: Medieval ploughing marks in Ribe
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49001#0038
MEDIEVAL PLOUGHING MARKS
IN RIBE
By
Per Kristian Madsen
In the summer of 1977 a number of ar-
chaeological investigations were carried out
in the medieval town of Ribe, South-West-
ern Jutland (fig. 1). The excavations took
place in a part of the town-area (fig. 2) which
hitherto had not been investigated ar-
chaeologically, in order to gain information
about the medieval layers and their extent.1
Written sources tell that the medieval
cathedral school, a church and some rather
significant houses were situated somewhere
in the area. Today only one late-medieval
stone house is left together with buildings of
the 16th and later centuries. The sources tell
about a rather well-founded life in this part
of the medieval town and we had reason to
believe, that the finds would correspond to
this picture.
In most of the trenches which were dug
(fig. 2, Nos. 1-4), no traces of medieval ac-
tivities were found at all. Only in three
trenches (fig. 2, No. 5-7) were medieval de-
posit layers of 1-2 metres in thickness lo-
cated, but with no traces of buildings of any
sort. By extending trench No. 5 a find of
ploughing marks occurred in the bottom-
layer and it was proved that the marks could
not be older than about the year 1200. These
ploughing marks and their dating are here
discussed in more detail.2
The main section
Trench No. 5 was extended northwards to
an area of 5,5x4,0 metres and contained a
block of deposit layers, approximately 2,5
metres thick. On the north main section
(fig. 3) a zone of post-medieval waste-pits
can be seen at the top of the section. Under-
neath - from layer EW to ECL - follows a
group of mineralised deposit layers. Accord-
ing to the ceramics found in these layers we
can place the deposit of ECL to a time not
earlier than the beginning of the 14th cen-
tury, while the youngest layers have been
formed in the Renaissance period (Madsen
1978, 30ff).
Under these layers came another group of
layers, ECN to EC7E. They could be traced
all over the excavated area and did not con-
tain any small finds at all, nor did they show
any marks of activity on their surfaces. The
layers have probably been laid out as a filling
up of the area - perhaps only a local one.
The layer ECN like the overlying ECL,
consisted of clay covering a considerable
layer of sandy mould, ECO. Beneath this
followed two homogeneous clay layers,
ECZ and ECzE which covered almost the
whole surface of the trench, only disturbed
by a few pits. Together these layers sealed
the following layer EC0, which, consisting
of sandy clay with a depth of 10-15 cms, lay
directly on the subsoil-sand ECA. The sub-
soil was reached in about 2,00 metres over
sea level probably representing the top of a
quite extensive inland dune. This dune could
IN RIBE
By
Per Kristian Madsen
In the summer of 1977 a number of ar-
chaeological investigations were carried out
in the medieval town of Ribe, South-West-
ern Jutland (fig. 1). The excavations took
place in a part of the town-area (fig. 2) which
hitherto had not been investigated ar-
chaeologically, in order to gain information
about the medieval layers and their extent.1
Written sources tell that the medieval
cathedral school, a church and some rather
significant houses were situated somewhere
in the area. Today only one late-medieval
stone house is left together with buildings of
the 16th and later centuries. The sources tell
about a rather well-founded life in this part
of the medieval town and we had reason to
believe, that the finds would correspond to
this picture.
In most of the trenches which were dug
(fig. 2, Nos. 1-4), no traces of medieval ac-
tivities were found at all. Only in three
trenches (fig. 2, No. 5-7) were medieval de-
posit layers of 1-2 metres in thickness lo-
cated, but with no traces of buildings of any
sort. By extending trench No. 5 a find of
ploughing marks occurred in the bottom-
layer and it was proved that the marks could
not be older than about the year 1200. These
ploughing marks and their dating are here
discussed in more detail.2
The main section
Trench No. 5 was extended northwards to
an area of 5,5x4,0 metres and contained a
block of deposit layers, approximately 2,5
metres thick. On the north main section
(fig. 3) a zone of post-medieval waste-pits
can be seen at the top of the section. Under-
neath - from layer EW to ECL - follows a
group of mineralised deposit layers. Accord-
ing to the ceramics found in these layers we
can place the deposit of ECL to a time not
earlier than the beginning of the 14th cen-
tury, while the youngest layers have been
formed in the Renaissance period (Madsen
1978, 30ff).
Under these layers came another group of
layers, ECN to EC7E. They could be traced
all over the excavated area and did not con-
tain any small finds at all, nor did they show
any marks of activity on their surfaces. The
layers have probably been laid out as a filling
up of the area - perhaps only a local one.
The layer ECN like the overlying ECL,
consisted of clay covering a considerable
layer of sandy mould, ECO. Beneath this
followed two homogeneous clay layers,
ECZ and ECzE which covered almost the
whole surface of the trench, only disturbed
by a few pits. Together these layers sealed
the following layer EC0, which, consisting
of sandy clay with a depth of 10-15 cms, lay
directly on the subsoil-sand ECA. The sub-
soil was reached in about 2,00 metres over
sea level probably representing the top of a
quite extensive inland dune. This dune could