Relationship between Fields, banks and farmstead at an early Iron Age site in Northern Denmark

Ancient Celtic fields are still visible as banks and lynchets in many landscapes in Northwestern Europe today. Comparably little is known about the relationship between Celtic fields and the dwellings of the people farming these fields. Excavations of a pre-roman Iron Age field system near Aalborg, Northern Denmark, revealed the remains of a farmstead (longhouse) and fields covered by drift sand. The site is located on raised late Holocene marine foreland with very homogeneous sandy soil. This provided an excellent opportunity to study prehistoric manuring practices and spatial relationships between fields and the farmstead. Archaeological excavation, soil geochemistry, particle size analysis, macrofossils and radiocarbon dating were combined to establish a chronology and land-use history of the site. The results showed that the farmstead was established around 400 BCE, while drift sand covered the fields around or shortly after 200 BCE. The investigation revealed ard marks covering most of the excavated area, while field boundaries delimited at least six fields. The longhouse was located between two field boundaries. Particle size analysis of marine sandy plough-layer revealed that earthy material had been added from adjacent uphill areas, while a field bank was a mixture of the plough layers from its two adjacent fields. However, all results suggested a limited input of plant nutrient, manure and earthy material taking the century long farming into account. The excavated fields may hence represent a short lived expansion of fields into more marginal and naturally less fertile land. The size of the farmstead was nevertheless comparable to other longhouses found in contemporary villages in the area, suggesting that the nutrient-poor soil did not necessarily mean poor living conditions for the inhabitants.