Dendrochronological Dating of Bronze Age Oak Coffins

169

III. THE OAK COFFINS

The oak coffins are, as a rule, fairly well preserved.
After excavation, a number of them were treated with
linseed oil in order to stabilise the surface of the wood
( Jensen et al. 1995), whereas others were merely
allowed to dry out. The greatest problem when taking
samples for tree-ring measurement is that the coffins
are large and unmanageable; as a rule it takes several
people to move them. In order to produce surfaces
suitable for tree-ring measurement the coffins have,

in the great majority of cases, been sawn through in

one or more places. Only exceptionally have core
samples been taken or measuring surfaces prepared in
situ directly on the surface of the coffins. The longest
series of tree rings is usually found at the coffin gables
where the wood is often preserved all the way, or
almost all the way, to the pith. The great majority
of coffins have therefore been sawn through and
measured at one of the gable ends. Conversely, the

Fig. 2. Location of the 28 burial mounds with oak coffins that have not been investigated dendrochronologically (UI). The numbers refer to
section B of the catalogue.

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last (i.e. youngest) tree ring can occur anywhere on

the outer surface of the coffin. If there is no sapwood
preserved on the coffin it can be exceptionally difficult
to determine the location of this last preserved tree
ring. In these cases, in order to avoid unnecessary
damage, an extra sample was normally only taken
if there was a significant probability of there being
a greater number of tree rings present than at the
coffins gable ends. On coffins lacking sapwood it
is therefore possible that a few more tree rings may
be preserved elsewhere on the outer surface than in
the measured sample. If sapwood is preserved on
the coffin this can normally be recognised by the
pale colour of the wood, in which case an extra
sample, comprising both heartwood and sapwood,
was normally taken. In a very few instances, in order
to avoid damaging the coffin, counts of sapwood
rings were solely made in situ directly on the coffin,
or measurements of tree-ring width carried out on
loose (e.g. broken-off) pieces of sapwood from the
coffin. In some cases the coffins are now in the form
of several sometimes many fragments, in which
case measurements have often been made on several
of the fragments, partly to ensure that they originate
from the same coffin and partly to find the longest
series of tree rings.
Samples taken during the German investigations
have, if possible, been re-used in the Danish study. In
some cases the coffins had been restored subsequent
to the German investigations, in which case they
have, as a rule, been sawn through again along the
old saw lines. In other instances, the previously sawnoff samples still lay alongside the coffin. In addition to
the samples re-used from the German investigations,
an additional sample was, as already mentioned, often taken during the Danish investigations if sapwood
was preserved elsewhere on the coffin.
The Danish investigations comprise 30 completely or partially preserved oak coffins from 22 burial
mounds (the wood fragments from 19. Snder nlev sb. 20 grave 8 and the outer and inner coffins
from both 5. Guldhj grave A and from 10. Muld-

hj are each counted as one coffin). The history of

the individual coffins their discovery, excavation,
subsequent treatment and dendrochronological investigation - is described in detail in section A of the
catalogue. In section B, an overview is given of the
coffins that have been damaged, have disappeared
or are in such a poor state of preservation that the
tree rings could not be measured. The location of the
burial mounds described in the catalogue is shown in
Figs. 1 and 2.
As is apparent from the catalogue, it was assumed
at the start of the Danish investigations that an
oak coffin from UI 22. Toppehj at Bolderslev
and one or two coffins from UI 23. Tvillingehj at
ster Gasse were still in existence, as it is stated in
the literature that these are kept at the museum at
Gottorp Castle (Aner & Kersten 1981; Jensen 1998).
The investigations have, however, shown that these
coffins were probably lost already in the 19th century.
The coffin at the Gottorp Museum, presumed to be
that from UI 22. Toppehj, is in reality the coffin from
8. Maasbll at Flensburg. The latter is no longer at the
museum in Flensburg, such as it should be according
to Aner & Kersten (1978).
The investigations have also shown that
descriptions of the oak coffins given in the literature
are in some cases incomplete or incorrect. For the
coffin from 1. Kong Arrildshj it has, consequently,
been established that several wood fragments which
the excavators assumed to be fragments of the coffin
lid (Aner & Kersten 1978) are in reality loose planks
that must have lain on top of the coffin. When writing
about coffin B from 5. Guldhj, Boye (1896:77)
describes two holes cut into the base of the coffin, 21
cm from the root end and 13.4 cm from the root
end, respectively. In reality, there are two holes in
the base, on in each end of the coffin. Concerning the
coffin from 16. Store Kongehj, Boye (1896) and later
accounts do not describe the three rectangular holes
that have been cut into the coffin base or the clear
axe marks which are preserved on the inner surface
of (especially) the coffin base.