A Place for the Heathlands

Danish archaeological articles frequently use analysed plant material from archaeological samples as indications of imports. This is especially the case when they discuss sites dated to the medieval period and later, when foreign trade became increasingly common. Typically, these articles’ focus on imported plants has been on plant material, mainly plant foods, that were imported from distant regions, in contrast to locally exploited plants. Although recognising distant trade is indeed very important, the distinction between distant plant material as trade goods and native plants as signs of local exploitation has unfortunately resulted in the regional trade in plant material being a largely neglected field of research.

This paper aims to approach the subject of local plant trade by discussing plant finds from the medieval and early modern town of Aalborg, which is well-investigated from an archaeobotanical standpoint, and by comparing these finds to what is documented in the local historic records.

Aalborg, located in northern Jutland, has been an important Danish town and, later, city, since medieval times, and has probably been surrounded by a large rural hinterland since prehistoric times (fig. 1).^{1 ( 1 )}
Jensen 2020a, 25; Jensen 2020b, 75; Linaa 2020, 11; Ørnbjerg 2020, 39–40. This upland included heathland and other grazing areas.^{2 ( 2 )}
Haue 2012, 288–302; Jensen 2020a, 25; Linaa 2020, 11; Ørnbjerg 2020, 41. Thus, this paper will focus on the presence of heather in the archaeobotanical samples in Aalborg as a likely example of imports from the local hinterland.

First, it must be mentioned that in some cases, heather was traded over relatively large distances in Denmark, at least in more recent times.^{3 ( 3 )}
See Brøndegaard 1979, 332–344 and further down in this article. However, the historic sources suggest that heather was mainly a more locally-exploited resource, especially further back in time.^{4 ( 4 )}
Brøndegaard 1979, 332–344. Thus, the presence of large and consistent amounts of heather in an urban setting such as Aalborg is interpreted in this paper as a probable indicator of local interaction between the town and the surrounding upland.

Over time, a relatively large number of plant-material analyses have been carried out in the area covered by modern day Aalborg and its immediate surroundings, which date to both prehistoric and historic times. A few of these date to the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age,^{5 ( 5 )}
Jensen 2007. but the period from the Early Iron Age until about the 17^th century is uniquely well-covered, from an archaeobotanical standpoint.^{6 ( 6 )}
Hammers 2009; Harild and Robinson 2002; Henriksen & Robinson 1996; Henriksen et al 2009; Jensen in press; Jensen 2020b; Jensen 2022; Jensen & Mikkelsen 2019; Moltsen 2010; Vanhanen 2010. In many samples from various time periods, stems or other parts of plants identified as heather (Calluna vulgaris) or belonging to the heather family (Ericaceae) are recurring elements.^{7 ( 7 )}
Henriksen et al 2009, 252; Jensen 2020b; Jensen in press; Jensen and Mikkelsen 2019, 234–235; Moltsen 2010; Vanhanen 2010. This indicates that heather and plant material from heathlands was probably commonly exploited in the Aalborg area, at least since the Early Iron Age, and until relatively recently. Historically, heather is known to have been used in Denmark for a number of different purposes, including fuel, animal fodder, building material, animal bedding, pavement covering in courtyards and so on. It was also sometimes combined with animal dung and used as fertiliser. Thus, there were many good reasons to bring heather into settlements and towns, and the historic records indicate that heather was frequently harvested and used as a trade commodity, especially in later historic periods.^{8 ( 8 )}
Behre 1976, Brøndegaard 1979, 332–344; Gormsen 2025, this publication.

One archaeobotanical analysis carried out in Aalborg, from the late medieval and early modern site of Vesterbro 68, reveals an abundant amount of heather remains, and therefore is suitable for this study of heathland exploitation. Three plant samples were investigated from Vesterbro 68, which was situated in the western part of the town when the samples studied were originally deposited (fig. 1).^{9 ( 9 )}
Jensen 2020b. Two of the samples were archaeologically dated to 1450–1536 CE, and came from probable garden soil belonging to the Catholic monastery of the Holy Ghost in the area; the third sample, which dated to 1536–1575 CE, probably came from a refuse or animal faeces layer. The youngest sample was probably primarily related to the secular hospital that succeeded the Catholic monastery after the Danish reformation, but the analysed material found within it may also have partly derived from other households in the vicinity.^{10 ( 10 )}
Jensen 2020b, 80–81. All three samples subjected to archaeobotanical analysis contained a combination of many and varied elements. These included animal bones, leather, bronze fragments, charcoal, and a broad array of cultivated and wild plant species, which included heather, especially heather stems, which were present in various amounts in all three samples.^{11 ( 11 )}
Jensen 2020b, 79–83. The general interpretations of the samples were that they probably reflect the plants that grew in the area, combined with assorted household waste, and animal and perhaps human faeces, which probably indicates fertiliser, to some extent.^{12 ( 12 )}
Jensen 2020b, 80–83. Thus, to a high degree, the archaeobotanical interpretations supported the archaeological interpretations of the sample sites.

The archaeobotanical finds of heather in the samples from Vesterbro 68 and Aalborg, in general, are supported by historic records that mention various forms of local exploitation of heather. One such example, related to Vesterbro 68, involves the village of Sørup, which is situated about 20 kilometres south of Aalborg. Here, the sources state that in late medieval and early modern times, the villagers had to provide heather to both the Monastery of the Holy Ghost and the hospital that succeeded it, which owned the village and its surrounding lands.^{13 ( 13 )}
Værnfeld 1948. On the one hand, this example reveals a correspondence between historic sources and archaeobotanical finds; on the other hand, it also shows that although heather came from Aalborg’s hinterland, in some cases it was transported over some distance, in this case about 20 kilometres.^{14 ( 14 )}
Værnfelt 1948.

A 17^th century historic source that on several occasions mentions heather import to Aalborg, including to the hospital in Vesterbro 68, is found in the court records from the Aalborg Byting (town council).^{15 ( 15 )}
The notes about court cases that mention heather are from the digitalised version of the Aalborg Byting (town council) Assembly court records from 1625–1701 from the internet page: www.protokoller.dk. Records found here mention several instances in 1636 where the hospital forbade heather harvesting on their heathlands, both in the beforementioned Sørup, but also in the Hasseris area, which at this time was located right outside the town. One other case, also from Hasseris, concerns a specific resident of the area, Niels Pedersen, who, on the 10^th of February 1634 was recorded as owing the hospital a debt of grain and eight loads of heather.^{16 ( 16 )}
The notes about court cases that mention heather are from the digitalised version of the Aalborg Byting (town council) Assembly court records from 1625–1701 from the internet page: www.protokoller.dk. On the third of March 1634, the name ‘Niels Pedersen’ appears once again. This time, however, he is registered as a former resident of Hasseris now living in Aalborg, and with a debt to the hospital of seven loads of heather.^{17 ( 17 )}
The notes about court cases that mention heather are from the digitalised version of the Aalborg Byting (town council) Assembly court records from 1625–1701 from the internet page: www.protokoller.dk In the absence of proof, it may be concluded that the later-mentioned Niels Pedersen is probably the same as the former, and that therefore, the court records provide a minor insight into the history of one indebted heather provider from Aalborg’s immediate hinterland.

Whether Pedersen was forced to move from Hasseris to Aalborg because of his debt is unknown. However, what may be said of the records concerning him is that in addition to more generally informing us about heather imports, they also provide evidence of how in some cases, heather imports may have involved the short-distance migration of heather providers between hinterland and town. In the absence of a direct connection between historic sources and archaeobotanical finds, the records of heather imports to the Vesterbro 68 area also show how much archaeobotanical interpretations of specific sites may benefit from the inclusion of local historic records.