Dates

2017-08-21/2017-08-25

Address

Joannishus 1:2 Hjortsberga, sn Ronneby Kommun Blekinge län

Institutions

Lund University (Sweden)
Blekinge Museum (Sweden)

Responsibles

Henriksson, Mikael
Nilsson, Björn

Participants

Svensson, Andreas
Dell'Unto, Nicolò
Ekengren, Fredrik
Hansson, Martin
Löfving, Axel
Gustin, Ingrid
Derudas, Paola
Helgesson, Bertil
Ericson, Tyra


Summary

This report concerns the excavation activities carried out at Västra Vång in trench A during the excavation campaign 2017.


Trench A is a rectangular elongated trench with a North-South orientation located on the top of the hill at Västra Vång. It has a 7x1 meters dimension. Excavation activities started with the removal of the topsoil, context 1001.





After removal of the topsoil, contexts 1004 and 1005 were identified.

Layer 1004, a silt layer in the northern part of the trench, has been interpreted as an infill between stone packing (contexts 1016 and 1017).





In the southeastern part of the trench, it was excavated context 1006, silty sand fill with humus, interpreted as the top-fill of a pit or top part of a single pit fill.
The pit was not fully excavated in 2017.  It presumably cuts context 1013, but it needs to be established by fully exposing 1013 and excavating the pit containing 1006.

Westside to context 1006 was excavated context 1007, sand humus, with few burnt bones and copper-alloy fragments; this context was interpreted as a root disturbance.

Westside to context 1007, it was highlighted and excavated a  patch of fine san, context 1012,  interpreted as small patch of a levelling layer.





In the northern part of the trench, context 1016  was exposed,  interpreted as part of larger stone construction discovered in 2012/2013 composed of fist-sized stones with humus soil mixed in. It appeared to be very similar to context 1017, a context exposed in season 2013 and partially excavated in 2017. Two stones from the north border of the stone packing were removed for geo-sampling, whereas the context was truncated to investigate the stratigraphy through a section. The context continues in both east and west part of the trench.

In the southern part of the trench, context 1013,  a sooty layer in the southern part of the trench, was identified as the context exposed to extract some artefacts in 2013; it was only partially exposed in 2017 and not excavated.

Northside of context 1013, it was excavated context 1022 , a yellowish silty layer very compact and with brown patches, was interpreted as a possible floor layer distinguish in two phases: the first phase (under layer 1013) included finds 41,42, the second one on top of 1013 is probably a second floor or a "repatched" floor.

Context 1019, located southside context 1013, is a gravely thin layer composed of the moraine, stone and sand, interpreted as a small levelling layer.





Layer 1005, a silty sand layer located in the southern part of the trench,  proved to be very important since the beginning: several valuable finds have been retrieved in it.
The excavation of context 1005  allowed to retrieve several gold artefacts, mostly in the form of foil figurines (A5,  A9, A15, A16A18A20A25, A28 and A35) spirals (A6 and A29) a droplet (A20), and a ring (A14).

 

The context continues beyond the trench limits in all directions.

This richness in the artifacts lets to hypotize, for this context, a connection to cult activities that need to be further investigated in future research.





South of context 1017 is located context 1021. It is a light brown, silty layer that was only partially excavated; the layer was recognized as the result of a test pit.

Context 1024 is a smaller sub-circular cut located in the southern part of the trench. It is a pit, the result of previous years extraction of a bronze mask. It was filled by 1005 with finds of glass and gold foil figurines.





In the northern part of the trench, between stone pack 1016, 1017, it was identified context 1020: it was cleaned but not excavated. It might be the top of the storey layer.

Context 1025, is a silty sand layer extending in the southern part of trench A, below 1024. The layer, not excavated in 2017, is possibly extending further north. This should be verified by future investigations.















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VV2017_TrA_eoe
VV20170821_TrA
VV2017 context 1001 Trench A
VV20170822_3_TrA
VV2017 context 1004
VV2017 find A001
VV20170822_3_TrA
VV2017 context 1006
VV2017 context 1007
VV2017 context 1012
VV20170823_A
VV2017 context 1013
VV2017 context 1016
VV2017 context 1017
VV2017 context 1019
VV2017 context 1022
VV2017_TrA_eoe
VV2017 context 1005
VV2017 find A005
VV2017 find A013
VV2017 find A014
VV2017 find A015
VV2017 find A016
VV2017 find A019
VV2017 find A020
VV2017 find A021
VV2017 find A023
VV2017 find A024
VV2017 find A027
VV2017 find A028
VV2017 find A029
VV2017 find A030
VV2017 find A031
VV2017 find A032
VV2017 find A033
VV2017 find A034
VV2017 find A035
VV2017 find A036
VV2017 find A038
VV2017 find A039
VV2017 find A040
VV2017_TrA_eoe
VV2017 context 1021
VV2017 context 1024
VV2017_TrA_eoe
VV2017 context 1020
VV2017 context 1025
VV2017 find A008
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The hill at Västra Vång
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The hill of Västra Vång
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Top view of the investigation area
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The team
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VV2017_TA_matrix