Medieval Christian bog bodies from Norway

1 Medieval, Christian bog bodies from Norway Introduction (Fig.2) Guddal is a small village in Western Norway, accessible to the North Sea by rivers and streams. In the wetland outside the church, several exceptionally wellpreserved bodies were found between the years 1903 and 1970. New dendrochronological analyses reveal that the material is dateable to the 11th – 13th centuries AD, which is the earliest period of Christianity in Norway.1 None of these bodies from Guddal were collected or studied, but some wooden material and textiles have been assembled and numerous graves remain in situ. The bog burials are difficult to understand, different from all other Christian burials. I will here give a presentation of the situation in Guddal, after which I will discuss possible interpretations against the backdrop of cultural traditions and Christian legislation. Christian Bog burials in Guddal (Fig.3) The medieval church in Guddal was probably located at the same site as today: on a small, rocky hill, centrally located in the parish. A medieval altar stone (mensa) is found in the post-reformation church, and three stone crosses of ‘medieval’ type, albeit difficult to date, are found in the cemetery surrounding the church. 2 (Fig.4) The area surrounding the church hill is relatively flat and exposed to seasonal flooding from river and lakes. Because the moor south of the church was so boggy, it was always surrounded by a fence to prevent people or cattle from walking onto it. (Fig.5) Open water was still observed on the moor 1 Nordeide and Thun, in press. P. A. Munch, Pavelige Nuntiers Regnskabs- og Dagböger, førte under Tiende-Opkrævningen i Norden 12821334 Christiania, 1864 : 134; Helleland 1901, og senere Fagerland (1977), synes å tolke dette som at Guddal kirke var anneks under Sande kirken, noe som ikke kan være riktig. 2 2 during the summer of 1970, and as the flora consisted of bog plants, it was always wet.3 While enlarging the churchyard into the boggy area in Guddal in 1903, six or seven coffins were found “in which the bodies where almost un-disturbed, so every detail of the person could be observed.” In one of the coffins “a young woman with long, red hair” was observed. Such a body is called a ‘Bog body proper’, in contrast to a ‘bog skeleton’, where only bone is preserved.4 A ‘bog body proper’ is the result of the anaerobic conditions in the bog, but the bodies in Guddal decomposed quickly when they were brought to the surface.5 (Fig.6) A wooden cross was frequently placed on the chest of the body, and hazel wands were also frequent. Coffins observed in the bog had no iron nails, but were hold together by wooden pegs and withies. Coffins were of various kinds; some were well made, some very rough and made of re-used planks or were not complete.6 (Fig.7) A baby was buried in a hollowed trunk, and some bodies were buried without a coffin or were wrapped only in textiles. At least three coffins were observed on top of each other, and coffins were recorded over large areas of the bog. From observations and assembled objects, it is clear that the bog was a cemetery for adults as well as a number of children (many of whom were newborn). The character of the burials leaves no doubt; they were burials by and for Christians. The variations observed also appear among other medieval burials. The wood from the Guddal graves is exceptionally well preserved; the use of tools could still be traced in detail. The dating evidence suggests that the bog cemetery was used in the period from the 11th century to c. 1300, perhaps even longer. (Fig.8) 3 Riksantikvarens arkiv (heretter RA). Håkon Christie, Guddal kirke. Funn av graver syd for kirkegården, Innberetning, august 1970. 4 Wijnand van der Sanden, Through nature to eternity. The bog bodies of northwest Europe Amsterdam, 1996, 18-20. 5 Katalognr B7965. 6 UiB. Brev til A. W. Brøgger fra O. Guddal, Guddal 26/12-1906. 3 The wet conditions were troublesome for burials in the 20th century, and at least one coffin was lowered into water. Also in the 20th century, the boggy churchyard ground was improved. In the Middle Ages the ground would have been even more waterlogged. Village people who knew the bog supposed it was only possible to bury people in the bog by placing the coffin on the surface, and it would sink in. Why did they choose such a place to bury their dead? Early Christianity and the tradition of bog burials in Norway Major parts of Norway were Christianised during the 11th century and Norway eventually had an archbishopric of its own in 1152/53 (Nidaros). As part of Christianity, Norway was subject to Canon law, reflected in homilies and the Gulathing Codex to which Guddal was subjected until 1274. Any guidelines for Christian rituals in Guddal at the time are found in these sources. According to the homilies, a body should be brought to Church and buried on the fenced-in churchyard. In Gulathing Codex the instruction is further on to bury them in sacred ground, except criminals and suicides who should be buried at the high water mark. Even if it does not say so in particular, people of Gulathing lawdistrict would probably also have to bury unbaptized persons outside the cemetery, as in other districts.7 Besides, it was strictly forbidden to bury people in mounds or cairns. There are no other comments regarding the quality of the cemetery.The priest was required to chant according to the burial ritual and to place the body in the grave. If the priest was not present when the body was buried, he was to make a hole in the grave upon arrival, pour water in and sing, as he would have done at the burial. It may be far-fetched to compare a bog with the high-water mark, but they could both be seen as liminal places. Karin Sanders describes a bog as liminal: “ “There is something fundamentally contradictory about bogs. They are solid and soft, firm and malleable, alluring and dry; they are deep, dark 7 Frostatingsloven, Kristendomsbolken, Kap. 3; Eidsivatingsloven, Kristenretten, kap.2 og 6; Eldre Borgartingslov, Kristendomsbolken Kap. 1. 4 and dangerous; but they are also mysterious, alluring, and seductive. Neither water nor land, bogs are liminal spaces, thresholds between surfaces and depths, ambiguous sites of origin.”8 (Fig.9) And so are the bog bodies: “If the bogs are slippery, the bodies in them are doubly so.”9 She compares the finding of bog bodies proper with a new birth, or the bog as nature’s own dark room, when a body re-appears as it once disappeared into the bog, with its appearance intact.10 Understood as a liminal place, the bog could be used for criminals and the unbaptized. If not legislation, the use of a bog for Christian burials could perhaps be explained by old, non-Christian traditions. Although most ‘Bog bodies proper’ are found in northern Europe, they have also been found on Crete and in Russia, and they may be from 11,000 to 100 years old.11 In Scandinavia, we know best the two early Iron Age men from Tollund and Grauballe in Denmark,12 but a few bodies are also found from other places and other times, and some may be relevant to compare with the burials in Guddal. In Norway we know fourteen bog bodies – all are skeletons, and all except one are prehistoric. The exception is most likely female, buried in a bog at Andøya, 67 cm under the surface and dated AD 970 – 1160 (2 sigma), with an 85% chance that the date is within the period AD 970 – 1050. The body was covered by birch bark, and was lying on a furskin of reindeer placed on top of birch twigs. She was probably not Christian. In addition to the bog bodies, some skeletons found at the shore of the lake Jølstravatnet are worth mentioning. Parts of six skeletons were found, all disturbed by the foundation of a later medieval castle, dated between cal. AD 1005 – 1155 and cal. AD 1020 – 1160. Five of them were adult or near adult males, and if Christian, they were probably buried 8 K. Sanders, Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination, Chicago 2009: 7. Ibid: 8. 10 Ibid: 24-25. 11 Karin Sanders, Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination Chicago, 2009, 2,footnote 4. 12 P. V. Glob, Mosefolket : jernalderens mennesker bevaret i 2000 år København, 1965; K. Nielsen, Etikk og godt bevarte menneskelige levninger: etiske aspekter ved utstilling av og forskning på grønlandske mumier og danske moselik, Hovedfag, Universitetet i Tromsø 2002: 11. 9 5 outside of any churchyard. There were no traces of injuries, they all looked healthy, there were no grave goods observed. Even if this was not a bog, the area is, like in Guddal, exposed to flooding. The men may have been killed in battle and buried like criminals in accordance with the Gulathing law, but they may equally have been non-Christians. In Sweden, a 20-25 year old male ‘bog body proper’ is found in Bocksten dated to the 14th century. The man was pinned to the ground by three poles and he seems to have been executed. In Denmark a male bog body proper was found at Kragelund, dated c. mid 11th to 14th century, and similarly a man was found in Moselund and a few more men found in the bog in Rønbjerg, both in Ginding municipality. Only one of the latter is dated with any certainty to the Middle Ages. None of the above seem to be similar to the cemetery in Guddal, where women, men and children were buried in numbers, found in proper graves, and beyond doubt buried as Christians. It looks like individuals ended their life in a bog more often in Denmark than in the rest of Scandinavia, but in spite of extensive digging for peat and soil in Scandinavia, the few finds of bodies in bogs in Norway and beyond suggests it was unusual to bury people in bogs. Old traditions are not likely to explain the bog cemetery in Guddal. The Guddal case is unique in Scandinavia with respect to the number of bog bodies at one site, as well as to the historic context – a medieval, Christian society. Discussion (Fig.10) Burials in a bog must have been extremely difficult from a practical point of view. Why and how could they possibly use such a wet place for burials? Whatever reason they had, forming a unique case, they are strange compared to all other communities. Based on the extensive use of re-used wood in coffins, it has been suggested that the bog burials could be explained by some kind of emergency situation, for instance a plague like the Black Death in the middle of 6 14th century. But the place was used for a lengthy period and many burials in spite of difficulties, which disproves this theory. This rather demonstrates that the bog as cemetery was of special importance. Was the moor used as a cemetery for practical, religious or social reasons? From a practical point of view, it could be lack of space in the churchyard. (Fig.10b). However, the size of the churchyard until ca. 1903 seems appropriate compared to the size of parish and the average size of other medieval churchyards. Social considerations could be relevant; it is observed that people from lower levels of society were buried further from the church than richer peoples, except the small children.13 But why would they bury so many people in the moor just because they were poor, when nobody else did? Left with religious / legal considerations, the bog could have been sacred ground and part of the ordinary churchyard. This is unlikely, as it would be difficult for the priest to perform the compulsary rituals at the grave side: for instance, it would serve little purpose to pour holy water into the grave, as the grave was probably filled with water already! The alternative is that the bog was outside the churchyard; the place for burials of criminals, suicides and the unbaptized, although it should ordinarily have been at high water mark. The bog, regarded as a liminal location, could function as high water mark in areas far from sea, as also for the waterfront at the lake in Jølster. Christian execution cemeteries in Anglo-Saxon England were similarly given a liminal location at borders, or at mounds, at hill forts or linear earthworks.14 Prehistoric burials have similarly often been interpreted as drownings, suicides, sacrifices or as penalties, the latter based on observations of injuries. But no such observations were made in Guddal. Even if no bodies are analysed, the descriptions do not fit an execution cemetery. The many babies are 13 S. Hamre, Burial practices in early Christian Norway. An osteoarchaeological study into differences and similaritites between four burial assemblages. PhD, Universitetet i Bergen 2011: 210. 14 A. Reynolds, Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs, i J. Blair and H. Hamerow (eds.), Medieval History and Archaeology, New York 2009: 155 – 157. 7 particularly hard to understand in such a context: elsewhere in early Christian Norway, babies were buried as close as possible to the wall of the church, receiving holy water from the roof of the church; in Iceland they were grouped around the chancel.15 Extensive use of emergency baptism should provide most babies a Christian grave as for other babies. (Fig. 10c) Last, but not least, the observation of three coffins on top of each other and the extensive area used for burials indicate that the number of criminal or unbaptised people were more numerous than others in this village. This seems unlikely. Conclusion Wherever Christians lived in the Middle Ages, they had heaven above their head, hell under their feet, and Rome was the centre for Latin Christianity.16 From this perspective, Norway in general and Guddal in particular must have been at the edge of the world. But the centralisation of the church in the Middle Ages may have been overestimated: Peter Brown argues: “I can find no other way to communicate the nature of a Christianity whose principal feature, whose interest to the historian, and perhaps, whose creativity itself, resided in its very diversity.”17 This is currently as close as we come to a conclusion regarding the bog cemetery in Guddal. This bog cemetery is an example of local variation which is difficult to explain from current knowledge. The material raises more questions than it does answers. Concluding remarks Wijnan van der Sanden wrote: “Bog bodies are wonderful finds, but unfortunately they were discovered far too early. […] the future will not bring many new 15 Steinunn Kristjánsdótir in press: Becoming Christian. The Christianisation of Iceland and the early Christian church site at Thorarinssathir in Seythisfjorthur, East Iceland. 16 P. Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000, 2nd ed., Oxford 2003: 14. 17 Ibid: 17. 8 discoveries. So the only way of finding out more about the bog bodies is by studying the old finds more extensively.”18 In Guddal we have this unexpected, fortunate situation. Further investigations are needed and could be extremely rewarding. Beyond doubt, the cemetery could provide detailed information about a medieval village that no other sources could: DNA and isotopes could tell us about the biological composition of the populations and their geographical background; we could see social structure reflected through material evidence. We could analyse diet, dress customs and hair styles, demography, physical health and so on. But the bog was always a challenge: 1. In the Middle Ages, burials must have been performed under extremely difficult circumstances, practical as well as in regards to ecclesiastical and royal authorities. 2. Farmers who later tried to obtain peat or soil from the bog, had to contend with water as well as the discovery of well-preserved bodies. 3. Future investigations would face problems too: the water is a friend for preservation, but an enemy of excavation. In addition, excavation would raise a number of ethical problems. Do we really wish to investigate? Would we be allowed to? 18 Wijnand van der Sanden, :180.