| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 Reconstructed houses in the area of the old settlement | |
 Interactive map of Hedeby | |
| Location | Busdorf,Schleswig-Holstein,Germany |
| Part of | Archaeological Border Complex of Hedeby and theDanevirke |
| Criteria | Cultural: (iii), (iv) |
| Reference | 1553 |
| Inscription | 2018 (42ndSession) |
| Coordinates | 54°29′28″N9°33′55″E / 54.49111°N 9.56528°E /54.49111; 9.56528 |
  Hedeby Location of Hedeby in Germany  Hedeby Hedeby (Schleswig-Holstein) Show map of Schleswig-Holstein | |
Hedeby (Danish pronunciation:[ˈhe̝ːðəˌpyˀ],Old Norse:Heiðabýr,German:Haithabu) was an importantDanishViking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of theJutland Peninsula, now in theSchleswig-Flensburg district ofSchleswig-Holstein,Germany. Around 965, chroniclerIbrahim ibn Yaqub visited Hedeby and described it as "a very large city at the very end of theworld's ocean."[1]
Due to its unique position between theFrankish Empire and the Danish Kingdom, the settlement developed as a trading centre at the head of a narrow, navigable inlet known as theSchlei, which connects to theBaltic Sea.[2] The location was favorable because there is a short portage of less than 15 km to theTreene River, which flows into theEider with itsNorth Sea estuary, making it a convenient place where goods and ships could be pulled on acorduroy road overland for an almost uninterrupted seaway between the Baltic and the North Sea and avoid a dangerous and time-consuming circumnavigation of Jutland, providing Hedeby with a role similar to laterLübeck. Hedeby was the second largest Nordic town during the Viking Age, afterUppåkra in present-day southern Sweden.[citation needed] The city ofSchleswig was later founded on the other side of the Schlei. Hedeby was abandoned after its destruction in 1066.
Hedeby was rediscovered in the late 19th century and excavations began in 1900. TheHedeby Viking Museum was opened next to the site in 1985. Because of its historical importance during the Viking Age and exceptional preservation, Hedeby and the nearby defensive earthworks of theDanevirke were inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List in 2018.[3]
Hedeby is mentioned inHans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Marsh King's Daughter".
Since 2018, Hedeby has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[4]
The Old Norse nameHeiða-býr simply translates to "heath-settlement" (heiðr "heath" andbýr = "yard; settlement, village, town"). The name is recorded in numerous spelling variants.[5]
Sources from the 9th and 10th century AD also attest to the namesSliesthorp andSliaswich (cf.-thorp vs.-wich), and the town ofSchleswig still exists 3 km north of Hedeby.[11] However,Æthelweard claimed in his Latin translation of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle that the Saxons usedSlesuuic and the DanesHaithaby to refer to the same town.[12][13]
Hedeby is first mentioned in the Frankish chronicles ofEinhard (804), who was in the service ofCharlemagne, as a place Charlemagne stayed in the summer of 804, at the end of theSaxon Wars. In 808 the Danish kingGodfred (Lat. Godofredus) destroyed a competingSlav trade centre namedReric, and it is recorded in the Frankish chronicles that he resettled the merchants from there to Hedeby. This may have provided the initial impetus for the town to further develop.[14]
The same sources record that Godfred strengthened theDanevirke, an earthen wall that stretched across the south of the Jutland peninsula. The Danevirke joined the defensive walls of Hedeby to form an east–west barrier across the peninsula, from the marshes in the west to the Schlei inlet leading into the Baltic in the east.
The town itself was surrounded on its three landward sides (north, west, and south) by earthworks. At the end of the 9th century the northern and southern parts of the town were abandoned for the central section. Later a 9-metre (29-ft) high semi-circular wall was erected to guard the western approaches to the town. On the eastern side, the town was bordered by the innermost part of the Schlei inlet and the bay ofHaddebyer Noor.
| based on Elsner[15] | |
| 793 | Viking raid onLindisfarne – traditional date for the beginning of theViking Age. |
| 804 | First mention of Hedeby |
| 808 | Destruction ofReric and migration of tradespeople to Hedeby |
| c. 850 | Construction of a church at Hedeby |
| 886 | TheDanelaw is established inEngland, following Viking invasion |
| 911 | The Vikings settle inNormandy |
| 948 | Hedeby becomes a bishopric |
| 965 | Visit ofAl-Tartushi to Hedeby |
| 974 | Hedeby falls to theHoly Roman Empire |
| 983 | Hedeby returns to Danish control |
| c. 1000 | The VikingLeif Erikson exploresVinland, probably in Newfoundland |
| 1016–1042 | Danish kings rule in England |
| 1050 | The Norwegian KingHarald Hardrada destroys Hedeby |
| 1066 | Final destruction of Hedeby by a Slavic army. |
| 1066 | Traditional end of theViking Age |
Hedeby became a principal marketplace because of its geographical location on the major trade routes between theFrankish Empire andScandinavia (north-south), and between theBaltic and theNorth Sea (east-west). Between 800 and 1000 the growing economic power of theVikings led to its dramatic expansion as a major trading centre. Along withBirka andSchleswig, Hedeby's prominence as a major international trading hub served as a foundation of theHanseatic League that would emerge by the 12th century.[16]
Hedeby played an important role in the international Viking slave trade between Europe and Byzantines as well as the Islamic world.[17] People taken captive during the Viking raids across Eastern Europe could be sold toMoorish Spain via theDublin slave trade[18] or transported to Hedeby orBrännö in Scandinavia and from there via theVolga trade route to Russia, where Slavic slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silverdirham and silk, which have been found inBirka,Wollin andDublin;[19] initially this trade route between Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate passedvia the Khazar Kaghanate,[20] but from the early 10th-century onward it wentvia Volga Bulgaria and from there by caravan toKhwarazm, to theSamanid slave market in Central Asia and finally via Iran tothe Abbasid Caliphate.[21]
The following indicates the importance achieved by the town:
A Swedish dynasty founded byOlof the Brash is said to have ruled Hedeby during the last decades of the 9th century and the first part of the 10th century. This was told toAdam of Bremen by the Danish kingSweyn Estridsson, and it is supported by threerunestones found in Denmark. Two of them were raised by the mother of Olof's grandsonSigtrygg Gnupasson. The third runestone, discovered in 1796, is from Hedeby, theStone of Eric (Swedish:Erikstenen). It is inscribed withNorwegian-Swedish runes. It is, however, possible that Danes also occasionally wrote with this version of theyounger futhark.
Life was short and crowded in Hedeby. The small houses were clustered tightly together in a grid, with the east–west streets leading down to jetties in the harbour.[22]
While Hedeby primarily served as a trade emporium, archaeological evidence demonstrates that it had produced many goods locally. Discovery and analysis of excavated artifacts reveal that tools such as spindle whorls, spindle rods, loom weights, and bone needles were standardized products. The distribution of these various tools demonstrates that there was a wide range of textiles produced at Hedeby, ranging from coarse fabric for sailcloth and outer-garments, to fine worsted wool fabric for higher quality clothes.[23] More than 340,000 pieces related to comb making, tools for working leather, remains of ironworking and goldsmithing, and mercury from fire gilding were also found.[24] There was also evidence found for the presence of a glass furnace active in the site from the period of 850 to 900. A total of 7,700 decorative beads have been unearthed in Hedeby, although it is likely that a small percentage of those were produced in situ.[25] The presence of these artifacts at the site indicate that Hedeby had a robust local economy that produced a wide variety of goods, likely for domestic use and for trade at the sites markets.[26]
Analysis of some of Hedeby’s burial sites provide evidence for the existence of an aristocracy. Graves that are lavishly furnished with jewelry, commodities, weapons and armor set apart from more humble inhumation sites indicate an established degree of stratification among Hedeby’s society.[27]
The trade and production of beads was tied to a robust fashion within Hedeby. Beads made of varying materials such as carnelian, rock crystal, amber, jet, silver, brass, bronze, and mosaic glass have been found in the harbor excavation sites, burials, and throughout the settlement. Dating of these finds reveals that there was a change in style roughly every 10–35 years within the settlement.[28]
Al-Tartushi, a late 10th-century traveller fromal-Andalus, provides one of the most colourful and often quoted descriptions of life in Hedeby. Al-Tartushi was fromCordoba inSpain, which had a significantly more wealthy and comfortable lifestyle than Hedeby. While Hedeby may have been significant by Scandinavian standards, Al-Tartushi was unimpressed:
The town was sacked in 1050 by KingHarald Hardrada of Norway during a conflict with KingSweyn II of Denmark. He set the town on fire by sending several burning ships into the harbour, the charred remains of which were found at the bottom of the Schlei during recent excavations. An unnamed Norwegianskald in Harald's army, quoted bySnorri Sturluson, describes the sack as follows:
In 1066 the town wassacked and burned byWest Slavs.[30] Following the destruction, Hedeby was slowly abandoned. People moved across theSchleiinlet, which separates the two peninsulas ofAngeln andSchwansen, to the growing town ofSchleswig. Hedeby’s royal tolls and levies were transferred to the town by the monarchy.[31]
After the settlement was abandoned, rising waters contributed to the complete disappearance of all visible structures on the site. It was even forgotten where the settlement had been. This proved to be fortunate for later archaeological work at the site.
The exact location of the site was rediscovered bySophus Muller in 1897. Archaeological work began at the site in 1900 after the rediscovery of the settlement with small-scale excavations byJohanna Mestorf. Excavations were conducted for the next 15 years, and additionally in 1921. These early efforts would result in over 350 small trenches being dug, and the discovery of a burial site within the rampart dating from earlier in the site's history, they were led by Wilhelm Splieth and Friedrich Norr.[32]
Further excavations were carried out between 1930 and 1939 by Nazi Germany’sAhnenerbe, the pseudoscientific organization within the SS underHerbert Jankuhn.[33] The results of Jankuhn’s discoveries were never published in detail. What has been published shows that this period saw the digging of several trial trenches, discovering a group of ten chamber burials, a cremation burial site, and two inhumation graves.[34]
Excavation in 1956 found more inhumation and cremation burials south of the rampart, which prompted many large-scale excavations. Klaus Raddatz,Heiko Steuer, and Konrad Weidemann investigated much of the cemetery site at that time, but their findings have not been published in detail.[35]
In 1963, Torsten Capelle and Kurt Schietzel conducted further work on the site, they were the source of the youngest find at the site, with an excavated well dated to 1020 A.D. by dendrochronology.[36]
Archaeological work on the site was productive for two main reasons: that the site had never been built on since its destruction some 840 years earlier, and that the permanently waterlogged ground had preserved wood and other perishable materials. The embankments surrounding the settlement were excavated, and the harbour was partially dredged, during which the wrecks of multipleViking ships were discovered, including theHedeby 1. Despite all this work, only 5% of the settlement (and only 1% of the harbour) has as yet been investigated.
The most important finds resulting from the excavations are now on display in the adjoiningHedeby Viking Museum.
Work has continued on the site since the earlier projects.
In 2002 a large scale geophysical project was started by teams from Marburg, Munich and Vienna. Over the course of three weeks, a total of ca 29 ha in and around the semi-circular rampart were analysed usingFluxgate,Caesium magnetometer and ground-penetrating radar.[37]
Further work continued in 2003 when theArchäolgisches Landesmuseum began a metal detector survey with the help of theBornholmske Amatørarkaologer and a group from Schleswig-Holstein. Throughout their work, 11,500 metal finds were collected and catalogued with a D-GPS system.[38]
In 2005 an ambitious archaeological reconstruction program was initiated on the original site. Based on the results of archaeological analyses, exact copies of some of the original Viking houses have been built.
| History |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Expansion |
| ||
| Paganism andmythology | |||
| Cosmology | |||
| Rituals and worship | |||
| Society | |||
| Events | |||
| Sources | |||
| Settlements | |||
![[1]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.arild-hauge.com%2farild-hauge%2fde-rune-haddeby1-b.jpg){kind=link}