STTTI.ETNENT SITE III OF I.INNAAI.USTEFROM ARffATOI.OGICAT (OIIIIPI.EX OT KTAVA

Marge K0NSA, Volter IANG and loaro IOOIATDTartu Ahkool (Uniuersity ofTanu), Lossi 3, Tartu 51003, Eesti (Estonia)

margek@ut.ee, ulang@ut.ee, tormao.u6ilill@email.ee

The settlement Site III of Linnaaluste was discovered 100 m north of the Keavahill-fort in spring 2oo2 dwing the routine field investigations carried out in con-nection with the project Keava - Hand of the sun (see r_ang et al.,thisvolume,Fig. l).The site is situated on a low (2.5 mhigh) ridge used as a pasture today andlocated 200 m northeast of the northernmost top of Site I of Linnaaluste, and500 m south of the recently discovered hill-fort II.To the west of the ridge therewas once a low and wet area that is now meliorated - it is called Verevainu@'Ieadow of Blood).The vere-toponym is often interpreted as an indication of nat-ural iron ore @auringson 1995, 63),and maybe numerous finds of iron slag fromthe opposite side of this meadow (at the N$/ edge of Site I of Unnaaluste) clear-ly indicate the use of this iron by the dwellers of Linnaaluste.

The cultural layet of Site III was discovered on an area 100 x 40 m (Fig. l).Thetrial pits dug prior to the excavations proved that the thickness of the culturallayer might vary between ca 2o and more than 70 cm in this area, and the thick_est layer is to be found at the western part of the ridge. It seemed that the areaused once for the habitation had never been cultivated and, therefore, the cultur-al layer is relatively well pre-served and not mixed or dis-turbed by later activities. Somepotsherds gathered from thetrial pits indicated a Viking Agedate. As this relatively small sitewas situated close to the hill-fort we wefe excavating butbeing, at the same time, natural-ly separated from settlementSite I, a question about its func-tion arose. Could it be inter-pfeted ns a pafi of an ordinaryvillage or did it have any specif-ic purpose in connection withthe hill-fort, for example a kindof a fore-fort? It was also impor- Fig. 1.tant to examine the sequence Joon 1.

Settlement Site III of linnaaluste.Iinnaaluste III asulakobt.

5l

o 2sm \

Morge Konso, Volter long ond louro Looloid

of the site deposits and its correlation with settlement Site I of Linnaaluste thatwas investigated in 2001 and dated from the Pre-Viking to theVikingAges (Konsa

et al. ZOOZ).To clarify these questions the archaeological eircavations of the sitewere carried out by opening two trenches.

IINNAALUSTE lll: I

The first area of excavation covering 15 m'was situated on the northern anduppermost part of the settlemeflt area.As indicated by the excavations, theresearch areahappened to be in a peripheral zone without permanent buildings.The cultural layer was thin, being 2O-4O cm on the average. In the northern partof the excavation afea the natural limestone bedrock became visible dready at adepth of 15 cm.The cultural layer was thicker in the southern part of the studyarea, where also a 70 cm deep pit for household refuse was discovered.The pitwas 180 cm wide and extended up to 35 cm into the original ground;it containedsherds of hand-made pottery of theVikingAge, pieces of clay daub, and fragmentsof animal bone.In addition, some fragments of crucibles for casting metal were

Fig. 2. Remains of tbe constructions in tbe excauation area of Linnaaluste III: 1. Vi.ewfrom N.Joon 2. Konstruktsioonide jcirinused Linnaaluste III: 1 kaeuandis. Vaade p6biast.

52

Seillemenl Sile lll of linnoolush from

also found.The only stone structufe was a small (1 m in diameter) pile of stones,which were partly burned, discovered in the westem part of the excavation area(Ftg. 2).Interesting was an afea measured 170 x 100 cm in the southeastefn partof the excavation: there were a number of pieces of clay daub and burned clay.This structure with pieces of burnt clay had been slightly deepened into the origi-nal ground; it was oval in shape and made of branches covered with clay.However, the exact nature and function of this structure is unclear. Due to lack ofcharcoal, the atea could not be interpreted as an ordinary clay oven.It was prob-ably somehow connected with bronze casting.

Finds (TU 7lL4: l-5I2) were sparse and consisteil mostly of pottery.Altogether539 sherds of hand-made pots were found; some of them were decorated withlines or had a carinate shape. Orny 2.5 % of potsherds were decorated.The insidesurface of some of the potsherds found from the pit for household refuses wascovered with ofganic carbonized matter.

Fig.3. Remains of tbe stone constnrc-tion in tbe excauation area of linna-aluste III: 2. View from west.Joon J. Kiuiuare jririnused LinnaalusteIII: 2 kaeuandis. Vaade lcicinest.

. UNNAATUSTE tll:2

In the second trench (5 x I m) made intothe western part of the site, 17 m southwestfrom the first excavation area, the characterof the cultural layer was completely diffe-rent from the lattir. The thickness of thecultural layet reached there L.20 m.Beneath the uppefmost erosion layerGO-4O cm) there 'was a 2j-5O cm thickblack layer extremely rich in charcoal, andunder that was a settlement layer (15 cmthick). The black layer with charcoal con-tained microscopic pieces of iron, indicat-ing that we probably were dealing withremains of an ancient smithy (peets 1991,97).Iton slag also occurred in small num-bers (216.6 g).

At a depth of 60 cm, a structure consistingof burnt stones was discovered in the west-ern part of the trench Grg. 3). This wasprobably a pafi of an oven built after or at

53

Morge Konso, Volter long ond louro looloid

Fig. 4. Pendantmadefromeagle's claw GA 1115: 188).Joon 4. Kotkakiltinisest ripats.

SUINMARY

rhe end of the period of the smithy. A portion ofthis structure remained outside the excavationatea.

Finds from the trench (TU 1115: L-238) consistmostly of pottery (584 fngments) and are charac-teristic of the Pre-Viking and Viking Ages. Only afew potsherds (5.5 Y)wete decorated:simple hori-zontalhnes,zigzag and cord impressions wefe pre-sent.In addition, some awls or burins of bone anda pendant made of an eagle claw were also found(Fig. 4).The rest of the material consists of burnedand unburned animal bones and pieces of slag.

The archaeological investigations clearly indicated that Site III of Linnaalustebelongs to the Pre-Viking andVikingAges (ca 8'h-11'h centuries) being contem-porary with settlement site I but not with the hill-fort I. Data collected with theexcavations indicate that this part of the settlement site was connected withmetal working (a smithy and a place for bronze casting). Due to the danger of fire,this place was located at some distance from the rest of the site.

References

Konsa, M., Lang, V., Lainemurd, I. & Vaab, H.2OO2. Archaeological excavations at settlementsite I of Linnaaluste. - AVE, 2001, 74-81.

Lang, V., TVauri, A. & Saimre, T., this volume. New results from the hill-fort of Keava, pp.+z->v.

I-auringson, A. 1995. Eesti raua radadel, Tallinn.

Peets, J. 1991. Eesti rauast muinasaial. - MT, 1., 92-1.00.

54

Sefilemenl Sife lll of linnooluste from orchoeologicd

tI N NMIUSTE I I I A5 U IA|(O }|T KEAllA ARHEOIOOG I tIS ES |(OIiPI.TI(S ISItorge KANifr,lhlter MNG ia toura LlllAtD

Keava linnusest 100 m p6hja pool paiknev Linnaaluste III asulakoht avastati 2Oo2. aasta kevadel.Linnamie talu kirdepoolseima heinamaa vdikesele k6rgendikule jiinv 10o m x 4O m suurune asu-lalaik jnnb Linnaaluste I asulakoha p6hjatipust 200 m kirdesse jaKeava tr linnusest 5Oo m l6unasse(oon. 1). Otsustades prooviaukude p6hjal, oli asulakoha piires kultuurkihi paksus 20-7O cm ning olik6ige intentensiivsem kdrgendiku llineservas. Kuna linnusele kiiilaltki liihedal paiknev asulalaik olivdike ning looduslikult eraldatud Linnaaluste I asulakohast, siis tekkis kiisimus, milline v6iks ollaselle viikeasula iseloom: kas tegemist on n.<i. tavalise kilakohaga v6i oli sellel mingi linnusega seGtud eriline otstarve, nditeks kas seal v6is olla eelkaitsepost? Asulakoha iseloomu ning ajalise kuulu-vuse vdljaselgitamiseks avati kaks kaevandit.

t INNAAIUSTE l l l : I

15 m' suurune kaevand rajati asulakoha p6hjaossa. Kaevamistel selgus, et uuritav ala j?ii asula peri-feersesse tsooni, kus kultuurkiht oli keskmiselt 2o-4o cm paks.Ttisedama kultuurkitriga ldunaosasavastati looduslikku pinda siivendatud 180 x 35 cm suurune majapidamis v6i jiidtmeauk. Lohu kgl-tuurkihist leiti savin6ukilde viikingiaegsetest anumatest, savitihendeid ning loomaluid, lisaks veeliiksikuid katkendeid metallivalamisel kasutatud savitiiglils5l. Ainsa kivistruktuuri moodustas I mldbim66duga osaliselt p6lenud kive sisaldav kivikuhelik kaevandi liineosas (oon.2). Huvitav oli170 x 100 cm m66tmetega ovaalse kujuga ala kaevandi kaguosas, mis sisaldas arvukalt savitihen-deid.Jnljed savitihenditel osutavad mingile saviga kaetud vitstest ehitusele. Srietiikikeste puudumineei v6imalda seda t6lgendada saviahjuna ning vdimalik, et sellel kohal oli mingi metallivalamisega seo-tud otstarve.Vahene leiumaterjal CfO 1114: l-512) koosnes valdavalt keraamikast: leiti 539 kildukisitsi vormitud n6udest, millest m6nel oli joonornament ning mille hulgas esines iiLksikuid kilde kanivendiga ndudest. ornamendiga kildude hulk moodustades vaid 2,6% keraamrka koguan'ust.

LINNAALUSTE l l l : 2-Teises, asula lidneossa rajatud kaevandis (5 x I m) oli kultuurkihi iseloom hoopis erinev. Kultuurkihipaksus ulatus siin kuni 120 cm. Kuni 4O cm paksuse erosioonikihi all oh 25-60 cm s<ierohket kul-tuurkihti, mis oli ladestunud 15 cm paksusele tumepruunile asulakihile.Asulakihi peale kuhjunudscjekiht sisaldas rohkelt rauatagi laaste, mis osutab, et tegemist v6iks olla muistse sepikoja asemega.Kultuurkihi tilaosas, tdnapievasest maapinnast 60 cm siigavusel, avastati peale,,sepikoja perioodi"vdi selle eksisteerimise viimasel etapil rajatud koldeaseme jiiinused (joon.3). Kultuurkihisi kogutudleiuaines gU rrt5: l-238> koosneb valdavalt eel- ja viikingiaegsest keraamikast e<okku lS4 kilOu).Yaid 5'5o/o kildudest olid kaunistatud joon-, siksak- ning iihel killul nddrornamendiga. Lisaks leiti paarluust voolitud naasklit v6i teravikku ning kotkakiii.inisest ripats (oon. 4). ilejniinud leiumaterjalimoodustavad loomaluud ning 5lakitii'kid.

Uurimistulemused osutasid, et Linnaaluste III asulakoht kuulub eelviikingi- ja viikingiaega (g.-ll.saj.) ning on seega samaaegne Linnaluste I asulakoha, kuid mitte Keava I linnuse kasutusperioodiga.Kaevamistega saadud informatsioon lubab oletada, et Linnaaluste III asulakoha niol v6iks ollategemist p6hiasulast @innaaluste I) eemal paiknenud, tisnagi tuleohtliku metallitocitsooniga, kusv6is olla sepikoda ning kus on tegeletud pronksivalamisega.

55