En senvikingatida storgård i Hjärup, Skåne : nya analysresultat

Hjärup in Scania is near both the immense 1st millennium AD settlement of Uppåkra and the Medieval town of Lund. Excavations here have revealed a manorial farm active from AD 950–1050. Thirteen buildings belonged to it,of which the largest measured 42 by 8 metres. A Viking Period building tradition can be seen to mix with subsequent buildingtypes. There are indications of a divided residential area, the western part being used for public display and the eastern one for housing, food preparation and stock holding. A large plot of land named Tåfter, "the tofts"on an early map belonged to the farm. Spectacular smallfinds include Urnes brooches, a rare birdbrooch, a large pendant replicating a coin of Svend Estridsen, balance scales and a weight and a silver coin reflect associations with an upper social elite and alliances with the Danish kingdom, which seem to have been accentuated after AD 1000. Some finds have military connotations. A "post-Jelling" runestone, probably belonging to this farm, speaks about Navne who raised the stone after his brother Toke, who participated in a Viking raid to the west and died there. Toke may have been given the estate in gratitude by a Danish king for having accompanied him to England on raids. The estate was reorganised and divided into several ordinary farms in the mid-11th century. This was probably the genesis of the Medieval village of Hjärup