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Geatland

General Urbs ₄ Featured August 20 , 2009

Land of heroes

Contents

History of Geatland -- View

The Land of The Geats -- View

The Funnelbeaker Culture -- View

Beowulf -- View

Things to do in Geatland -- View

Credits -- View

History of Geatland

Historically, Geatland was a land in the south of modern day Sweden which was made up of petty kingdoms called in old Norse "Gautar" by the inhabitants. It is generally agreed that these were the same as the Geatas, the people of the epic hero Beowulf.

These western and eastern provinces respectively, were once independent rival petty kingdoms with a long line of Geatish kings. A number of the Norse Sagas discuss the lives and events of some of these Geatish Kings and references can be found in the Hervarar saga, Ynglinga saga, Volsunga saga and Gautreks saga, not to mention Beowulf and a number of other texts. Ptolemaios in the 2nd century AD and Jordanes in the 6th century in his Getica "The Origin and Deeds of the Goths", also mention the Geats as a people.

The Land of The Geats

The "land of the Geats" derives from "Gotaland" which replaced the old Götland in the 15th century. The change was probably made to distinguish the wider region it denoted from the traditional Geat heartland in Västergötland and Östergötland, but was later extended to adjoining districts.

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The Funnelbeaker Culture

The history of Geatland is complex and contains some mythic elements intermingled with medieval historical information as well as having a history going back to at least the late Neolithic period of Europe. The inhabitants back then were known as the Funnelbeaker culture or Trichterbecher culture (German), circa 4000 BC–2700 BC and Geatland was the northern range of this culture which also encompased Denmark, Poland, The Netherlands and Germany.

Funnelbeaker pottery

They were hunter gatherers who also farmed and domesticated animals. It was dominated by animal husbandry of sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, but there was also hunting and fishing. Primitive strains of wheat and barley were also grown on small patches of land which were fast depleted and kept the population moving around at short distances. There is also evidence of some limited mining including trade in copper axes, daggers and flintstone, although the culture had largely flint based technology. Stone battle axes were mostly used while their European cousins were using copper based implements.

Pitted Ware pottery shard

The Funnelbeaker culture marks the appearance of megalithic tombs and dolmens at the coasts of the Baltic and of the North sea and they also constructed large cult centres surrounded by pales, earthworks and moats. There is a rich hoard of Funnelbeaker finds to be found from objects sacrificed into streams and lakes as part of their religious practices with over 10,000 flint axes found to date.

Contemporary with the Funnelbeakers were the Pitted Ware Culture (circa 3200 BC– ca 2300 BC) another neolithic Hunter-gatherer culture which overlapped and succeeded the Funnelbeakers. Archeological remains of their pottery shards are well known for the pits and horizontal lines in their design. Hence the name assigned to that culture.

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Beowulf

The best known story to come out of Geatish folklore history relates to the tale of Beowulf (circa 8th Century AD and written in England) who traveled to the land of the Danes to rid the land and King Hrothgar of the menace of Grendel and his mother. Later on, Beowulf was said to reign over the Geats as king for 50 years and go on to fight a dragon which brought about his death in his old age. His successor was said to be Wiglaf, his brave cousin. Although there are mythological elements to the tale, it does contain some historical references to actual people and events.