Life and Death in 3rd Century Vorbasse, vol. I-II

Through three generations during a period of the Late Roman Iron Age, some of the people who lived in the settlement at Vorbasse were buried at the four cemeteries. There is one cemetery with richly furnished burials (Vorbasse I), one with a little less richly furnished burials (Vorbasse II), and two with simply furnished burials (Vorbasse III and IV). The four cemeteries were in use with overlap from the middle of C1b until the end of C2 or the very beginning of C3, largely corresponding to most of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th centuries AD. The location of the cemeteries and the pottery from the graves allow an estimation of which farmsteads the cemeteries belonged to. Vorbasse represents a rare opportunity in Danish archaeology to gain a unique insight into the connection between specific farmsteads in the village and the residents’ cemeteries. The diversity and multiplicity of the grave goods clearly reflect the social layers within the settlement, their relations, as well as the different elite networks which existed across large distances in the Late Roman Iron Age. This publication of the cemetery evidence is the first of four volumes covering the entire Vorbasse complex.

Through three generations during a period of the Late Roman Iron Age, some of the people who lived in the settlement at Vorbasse were buried at the four cemeteries. There is one cemetery with richly furnished burials (Vorbasse I), one with a little less richly furnished burials (Vorbasse II), and two with simply furnished burials (Vorbasse III and IV). The four cemeteries were in use with overlap from the middle of C1b until the end of C2 or the very beginning of C3, largely corresponding to most of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th centuries AD. The location of the cemeteries and the pottery from the graves allow an estimation of which farmsteads the cemeteries belonged to. Vorbasse represents a rare opportunity in Danish archaeology to gain a unique insight into the connection between specific farmsteads in the village and the residents’ cemeteries. The diversity and multiplicity of the grave goods clearly reflect the social layers within the settlement, their relations, as well as the different elite networks which existed across large distances in the Late Roman Iron Age. This publication of the cemetery evidence is the first of four volumes covering the entire Vorbasse complex.