TY - JOUR

T1 - Wiggle-match dating the fortification of Køge

AU - Daly, Aoife

AU - Bork-pedersen, Karen

PY - 2018/12/5

Y1 - 2018/12/5

N2 - During archaeological fieldwork in the eastern part of the coastal city of Køge, situated on the east coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark, remains of a rampart were found and, due to the lack of suitable material for dating via the more traditional dendrochronology, wiggle-match dating was conducted. This paper aims to present the method used, not often performed within the Danish field of archaeology, and to discuss the result and the prospects it provides for medieval and renaissance archaeology, in situations where there is an absence of dateable dendro-samples or for dating of non-oak samples combined with dendrochronological dating.Having unearthed the rampart remains, a major objective of the excavation became answering the question: Are the ramparts found those that were built during the short Swedish occupation of the town in 1658? And could the C14 dating method provide us with a sufficient level of precision to answer this question? The results turned out to be much more complicated. They show us that the ramparts found belonged to the medieval fortification of the town and have a long history of renewal and repair, allowing us to map the long life of the town despite the limitations of the small 'key-hole' style excavations. Applying this method more extensively on small-wood remains in forthcoming excavations will perhaps help us to finally identify that elusive Swedishfortification.

AB - During archaeological fieldwork in the eastern part of the coastal city of Køge, situated on the east coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark, remains of a rampart were found and, due to the lack of suitable material for dating via the more traditional dendrochronology, wiggle-match dating was conducted. This paper aims to present the method used, not often performed within the Danish field of archaeology, and to discuss the result and the prospects it provides for medieval and renaissance archaeology, in situations where there is an absence of dateable dendro-samples or for dating of non-oak samples combined with dendrochronological dating.Having unearthed the rampart remains, a major objective of the excavation became answering the question: Are the ramparts found those that were built during the short Swedish occupation of the town in 1658? And could the C14 dating method provide us with a sufficient level of precision to answer this question? The results turned out to be much more complicated. They show us that the ramparts found belonged to the medieval fortification of the town and have a long history of renewal and repair, allowing us to map the long life of the town despite the limitations of the small 'key-hole' style excavations. Applying this method more extensively on small-wood remains in forthcoming excavations will perhaps help us to finally identify that elusive Swedishfortification.

U2 - 10.1080/21662282.2018.1551980

DO - 10.1080/21662282.2018.1551980

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - Danish Journal of Archaeology

JF - Danish Journal of Archaeology

SN - 2166-2282

IS - 2

ER -