Roman Import from the Barbarians of the North-Grave Goods and Building Practices

At the outmost edges of Barbaricum, the movements of the mighty Roman Empire were carefully observed. Around 150 BC in Denmark, a change in village structures appears, which suggests increased stratification in society. For example, villages with the presence of farms, which is significantly larger than the other surrounding farms, appear. A significant change is also noticeable in burial customs. Where previous Iron Age burials have been quite modest, graves with exquisite imported objects now appear. In the southern part of Denmark, trade centres emerge, and onto these localities, various objects from the Roman Empire were imported. These objects were distributed among the ruling class, and played an important part in sustaining power balances.Museum Skanderborg has conducted an excavation at a settlement from the Iron Age (1-150 AD), which in its outline and housebuilding exhibits features and symmetry that is highly unusual in Danish settlements from this period. In addition, a handful of very rich burials from the same period have been found, just a few hundred meters south of the settlement. These graves contain the traditional Danish Iron Age funerary element, which is locally made pottery in various shapes and sizes, but also imported Roman luxury items such as a bronze wine strainer set, glass beads and even a mirror.This presentation draws the headlines of the excavation results from the settlement and gives an introduction to the imported items from the graves. The results addresses these questions: Why does the settlement significantly differ from other settlements from the same period in time? Which types of items were imported and which signal values did the import have to convey?