The mirage and the hillfort. Iron Age landscape and material culture on Stora Karlsö

Abstract

The island of Stora Karlsö, off the west coast ofGotland, is well known for its Stone Age history, as illustrated by the thick cultural deposits inside the cave of Stora Förvar. The Bronze and Iron Age history ofthe island is less well known, however. This article draws attention ro the special material culture of lron Age Stora Karlsö in the form of material objects, graves, remains of houses, a work-shop, and presumed landing-places/boathouses. A cultural layer in the North-ern Harbour was found ro contain gold and silver objects, melted bronze, a crucible, weights and ceramics. This cultural layer has been interpreted as the foundation of a house constructed in the building tradition known from Central and Northern Sweden. The finds resemble the specialized milieux of the Late Roman/Migration Period hillforts in Central Sweden. Stora Karlsö may have been inhabited in the Late Iron Age by bonded rather than free people. The absence of any visible Late Iron Age graves, the existence of a workshop in the cave mouth for producing Viking Age jewellery, and the rotary querns are interpreted as signs ofthis. Finally, the qualities of the landscape on the island are discussed, including a mirage effect that might have linked it to the Gotlandic creation myth.