KRÄKLINGBO KÄRRMANS

During summer excavations 2024 and 2025 we carried out the "Viking farm project", with the aim of investigating the connection between the different phases of Gotland's farms. In particular we tried to shed light on the past of the Kärrmans farm in Kräklingbo parish, on the eastern side of Gotland.

Investigations of the Kärrmans farm in Kräklingbo parish began in the summer of 2024 and continued in 2025. We know from written sources that the farm lay deserted for 60 years, approximately between 1558 and 1618, and when the farm was once taken up after this long period of abandonment, the settlement was established in a completely different place than where it had been previously located, that is, to the location the farm has today and where it was located when the oldest map was drawn up in 1700.

The archaeological trial investigation 1992-93
In connection with a devastating forest fire that raged around Torsburgen in Kräklingbo parish in 1992, a number of fire barriers were excavated by machine around the parish to prevent the fire from spreading further. One of these fire barriers passed fairly straight through the property of Kärrman's farm.

During an archaeological follow-up of excavated fire roads in the same year, it was found that in this case the fire road had partly touched a settlement from the Late Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages.

In the first stage, the area was searched with a metal detector, during which about 20 objects were found. Among the objects are a square fitting with runestone ornamentation, a lead sling pulley and an animal head-shaped buckle, all objects that should be considered to belong to the later part of the Viking Age.

A Roman denarius from the early Roman Iron Age was also found.

During the excavation a pair of well-preserved stone-covered postholes of a shape that indicates that they were posts for houses were discovered. In the western part, the remains of an iron furnace with large quantities of slag were discovered. The area adjacent to the furnace contained a fairly abundant amount of objects and it was assumed that there had been some kind of building here, probably a forge.

2024

The 2024 summer's archaeological field investigations were concentrated on the western part of the settlement area, called L1976:1927 in the National Antiquities register. The purpose of the investigations was primarily to document the initial stage of activity in the area as part of the understanding of the history of the farm. As time and possibilities allowed, it was also planned to have part of the settlement site in the eastern part investigated in order to prove or reject the hypothesis that it was an internal relocation of the houses during the early Middle Ages.

The questions that were considered particularly important to answer at this stage can be summarized as follows;
• When was the farm established on the site?
• When did the activity on the site cease?
• What types of buildings can be distinguished and how were they constructed?
• What were the living conditions on the farm?
• The central question to be answered is whether the investigated settlement can be seen as a chronological part in the history of the Kärrmans farm?

The first summer's investigations at Kärrmans concerned the western part of the settlement area. This part of the traces of settlement were interpreted as being the western part of the visible traces, where the younger part (interpreted as the later part of the Middle Ages) is found in the eastern part of the settlement area. The western part is also relatively close to the empty field and the traces from the Viking Age that were found during the investigation in 1992. The excavations were thus concentrated on three house remains that could be seen to a greater or lesser extent on the ground surface before the investigation. One of the houses in particular, a relatively large building of about 11 x 6 meters, was clearly visible in the ground as a clear elevation with a clear row of sills along the eastern long side. The other two houses that were affected were not quite as clearly visible. We came to name the three houses as house 1, 2 and 3.

In several places in the house, remains of both planks and sills could be noted, especially in the northernmost room (the vestibule) where the sill between the two rooms was clearly visible. These were also dated with 14C. A sample from the sill between the two rooms was dated to 897–1031 AD with 95.4% probability, most likely within the period 990–1024 AD. The floor plank was dated to 899–1113 AD with 95.4% probability, most likely 994–1022 AD.

The most frequent material was the large number of iron objects, not least horseshoe stitches, horseshoes, nails and some iron tools such as chisels, knives, a fine hammer. It can be noted that the proportion of iron was significantly higher than what is usually found.
Another material that appeared with a number of objects was worked bones, i.e. parts of combs, needles, animal figures for a knife sheath and some semi-finished products.

Some finds from the 2024's excavation

For a detailed description of house 1, 2, 3, it is possible to read the 2024 Report, at the bottom of this page.

To try to follow up on the tracks in the area near the old fire barrier, 4 smaller trenches were dug starting from weak tracks in the ground surface of larger stones. 

The trenches was dug to the bedrock. The finds and bone material were relatively large. Among other things, there was a lot of glass of various kinds, both flat glass and curved, as well as pottery where several shards had a clear prehistoric character.
An interesting material was slag that occurred in a relatively large extent and to a significantly higher degree than in the houses or in connection with them.

No structures in the shafts to any more extensive degree could be noted except for a possible posthole in trench 7 and a posthole in shaft 5. The latter consisted of a shallow pit in the bedrock partly surrounded by larger stones and with well-preserved wooden material. A 14C sample from the post remains gave a surprisingly early dating, i.e. late migration period (428–572 AD with 95.4% probability, most likely 437–561 AD). The post is probably linked to activities at the iron furnace and gives a hint that the activity at the site can be traced back to the 6th century.

At the end of the excavation, we still lacked a certain dating for the period from the middle of the 5th century to the late Viking Age, what we call the Vendel period. However, interestingly enough, we have a post that is from the early 5th century, probably belonging to some facility connected to the iron furnace we came to investigate in 1992. One can undoubtedly regret that we did not take a 14C sample from the iron furnace!
We also did not have any dating from the later part of the Middle Ages, that is, from the 13th century to the 16th century. As the hypothesis is, this settlement is located in the eastern part of the settlement area.

These questions made the fundaments for the 2025 excavation.

2025

The central questions that were intended to be answered during the summer 2025 were linked to the results of the investigations at the site in 2024. It was largely about shedding light on the scope of the activities, timing and house constructions within the settlement area L1976:1927, i.e. the same area as the previous year. More specifically, the aim was to shed light on the following central questions:

1. The origin of the settlement in the western part of the settlement area, i.e. in connection with the 2024 and 1992 investigations.The aim was to find remains and finds that could verify or reject the hypothesis that the settlements here have origins in the Vendel period.
2. In the eastern part of the settlement area there are remains of houses that were interpreted to be from the Middle Ages and the hypothesis was that this was the site of the farmstead until around 1580 when, according to official records, it was destroyed and rebuilt about 60 years later, but then established on the site where the farmstead is located today and at the end of the 17th century. Here, the building that was considered to be the youngest on the site was examined.
3. The third part involved examining all or parts of an area adjacent to a probable house foundation (L2023:8191) based on the extensive metal deposits that could be found with the help of a metal detector. The hypothesis was that the site could possibly house a forge with a connection to the Viking Age settlement examined in 2024.

The first week's archaeological investigations thus concerned the question of a possible forge/workshop in the far west in an area that is low-lying and partly water-retaining during parts of the year. The trenches were laid out in such a way that the house foundation was largely investigated.
The house foundation consisted of a single sill row of grey stones along the southern long side.

The northern long side, like the western short side, were more indistinct and clearly affected in later times by the apparent disappearance of stone from the boundaries. 
The finds in the house were very few. They were small pieces of iron in the form of nails, pins etc., usually of late date. There was also a relatively large amount of glass from late times, including part of a liquor bottle with a preserved cap from the beginning of the 20th century. Bones were also found in small quantities throughout the excavation area. The objects of older date that were considered to belong to the house foundation consisted only of a knife and a possible iron arrowhead.

The original hypothesis about the area was that it could be a workshop area connected to the farm during the Early Iron Age, which was based on the numerous metal outcrops that could be detected during a metal detection in April 2025 and that it is a fairly low-lying area with water nearby. The results do not quite clearly reflect that hypothesis. Most of the outcrops noted during the detection were from this “garbage dump” of burned material from a late period (late 19th century-early 20th century judging by the material). However, there is a house foundation at the site that is probably from an older period (Viking period?) And in addition, the find of a weight plumb, a probable arrowhead and a couple of bronze melts that possibly indicate that there was some form of metal workshop in the area after all. 

The purpose of this year's investigations in the area of the 1992 fire barrier was to more clearly verify or reject the idea that this is the location of the farm during the Late Iron Age. Previous loose finds point to this being the case, as do the postholes found in previous test investigations.
The focus of the investigations here was carried out in the form of a three-meter wide and 22-meter long trench, expanded in the eastern part by 10 m2, and two trenches adjacent to the site of last year's posthole and the iron furnace investigated in 1992. 

Several remains emerged from the structures. In the long, narrow shaft, the western part contained relatively small amounts of bones or other objects and no structures. However, it turned out that in the eastern part there were four larger postholes with wooden remains in all of them. The postholes appeared as areas about 0.8 meters in size, cut down to about 20 cm in the rock and in some cases still surrounded by supporting stones. Most of the supporting stones were probably erased by agricultural activities, which is why few of them remained.

When examining the post hole found in 1992, it was noted that the supporting stones formed a clear square (indicating that it was a square post) with a northeast-southwest direction, a direction that would be consistent with a house wall from this post towards the northeast in line with the interpreted image of the house's extent. The house would be about 10 x 5 meters in size, which is in line with corresponding houses in, for example, Fjäle or Vallstena, albeit somewhat narrower.

Wood from three of the post holes within the adjacent shafts 5 and 12 has been 14C-dated. The wood in site was dated to  AD 1012-1041, and the second sample most likely to AD 882 - AD 888 and the third to AD 1081-1153. In other words, Viking Age and earliest Middle Ages, which is completely in line with the large house investigated the previous year. 

In trench 3 there was a larger hearth pit with a thick layer of brittle stone in a clear depression in the bedrock. The hearth was surrounded by a reddish-yellow sand layer. The hearth, about 15–20 cm deep, contained large amounts of charcoal in addition to brittle stone. A 14C analysis of the charcoal from the hearth gave with 95.4% certainty the value BC 39 - AD 199, the most probable dating is AD 25-AD 84, early Roman Iron Age. The hearth is literally almost 1,000 years older than the house foundations in the area and has nothing to do with the later settlement.

The Medieval manor

In the eastern part of the settlement area there are traces of several buildings and also a well that is now filled in and should be connected to the medieval houses. The investigations here concentrated on the building that has been interpreted as the manor house, since the edge of the house's sill frame was visible on the ground surface, and there appeared to be a stove along one of the long walls. The ground plan appeared to show great similarities with the medieval dwelling houses in Fjäle in Ala, dated to the 12th to 14th centuries.

The building was 12 x 6 meters in an east-west direction and was probably rebuilt at some point. The entrance should have originally been on the western short side with the living area to the east with a larger stove in the northwest corner of this. The house thus appears to have been expanded to the west, whereby this room has become larger at the same time as the entrance has been moved to the northern long wall. Here, on a width of about 1.3 meters, there are two large limestone stones standing on edge, marking the entrance to the house. The technique of having erected limestone slabs at an entrance is recognizable in many medieval houses on Gotland.

The finds consisted primarily of pottery and simple iron objects. The pottery was mainly of glazed medieval types, especially red earthenware. But there was also some black ware and also coarse ware with a thin rim of an older character. Datatable evidence consists primarily of the 20 coins that were found. These are 13 Wisby bracteates, four herb pots (Gote) and one indeterminate coin. They can be dated to the period from the 13th to the 15th century. In addition, two coins from the 18th century were found that can be seen as lost coins with no connection to the house itself.

Furthermore, several glass beads and also a rosary bead made of bone were found. Some of the more unusual objects were a well-preserved dice made of horn, part of a probable stylus made of bone/horn and a sling pulley made of bone. In addition to the finds, 14C analyses complete the picture regarding the dating of the building. Two samples have been analysed. In one case, it is from a floorboard in shaft 8 which gave the value most likely AD 1120 - AD 1220. The other sample was on charcoal from a pit just outside the house in the northwest corner within shaft 10. This gave AD 1059 - 1157. Both samples indicate the early Middle Ages, which is in good agreement with the dating of the houses examined in 2024. Some of the objects, for example part of the pottery and also the handle of a key, also point to the same time. The image can be interpreted as meaning that the settlement moved during the course of the 12th century, from the location of the houses surveyed in 2024 to this location to the east of the settlement area.

Some finds from the 2025's excavation

Conclusions

The two years of investigations of the farm environment have shown a settlement from the Early Iron Age up to the Middle Ages, divided into two sub-areas within the settlement area. Further east, there is the Early Iron Age settlement. No investigations of it have been carried out, but given the well-substantiated dating of this type of house, it is very likely that this settlement is the origin of Kärrman's farm (however, there is certainly an even older history behind the Iron Age farm, which is however unclear). In other words, we can follow the history of the farm from the Roman Iron Age up to the present.

Kärrmans farm (and Ekeskogs) is an excellent example of the continuity of the Gotland landscape. The story also reflects the relocation that took place during the mid-6th century and which also links to a new type of house, that is, wooden houses in the partition wall technique with either wall posts dug into the ground or wall posts standing on a sill of limestone or grey stones. The results from the investigations at Kärrmans are completely in line with the excavations in Fjäle in Ala and also house structures from the late Viking Age–early Middle Ages found in Vallstena and elsewhere.