Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - I. Findestedet og fundets historie / Description of the place and mode of the discovery
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Den omtalte slette strækker sig opad mod nord med
næsten umerkelig stigning, vider sig lidt efter lidt ud til
en anselig brede, og begrænses af de højder, som til-
høre dels det nysnævnte Freberg og dels en flerhed af
gaarde med navnet Gokstad. Ordet udtales paa stedet
med aabent o eller som Gaakstad og hed oprindelig
Gaukstadir, der, som det vil sees, er sammensat af gaukr
(en gjøg) og stadr plur. stadir (et bosted eller en gaard).
Allerede henimod slutningen af det 14de hundredeaar viser
det sig*), at der var flere gaarde med dette navn, og
for tiden knytter navnet sig til 12 forskjellige gaard-
parter med en samlet matrikelskyld af næsten 25 skyld-
daler. Men fra først af var det hele udentvil kun én
gaard, og denne maatte i henhold til den nævnte skyld
have været temmelig betydelig og meget større end nogen
anden gaard i prestegjeldet. Rigtignok er den nuværende
prestegaard (Sande) skyldsat for nær 31 daler, men dette
er kun fremkommet derved, at mange forskjellige jord-
stykker lidt efter lidt ere forbundne med den oprindelige
gaard.
Omtrent midt paa den omtalte træløse flade findes
nu kun en eneste jordhaug (paa kortet merket med en
sort cirkel), og det er denne, som her nærmest kommer
til at beskjæftige os. Den ligger omtrent 1 kilom. i n.
n. v. for bunden af Midttjorden og ca. 38 m. nordenfor
den vej, der gaar tvers over Sletten omtrent fra V.—9.
Haugen tilhører nu to forskjellige parter af nedre Gokstad,
men for en menneskealder siden havde den endnu en
tredje ejer.
I alle fald i de seneste hundrede aar har haugen
gaaet under navnet Kongshaugen, fordi, som det hed,
«en konge med alle sine skatte skulde deri være begraven.
Paa deslige fortællinger kan der dog, som bekjendt, ikke
lægges nogen vegt, da de vistnok overalt kun hidrøre
fra senere tider og ere fremkomne ved enkelte personers
løse formodninger, uden at støtte sig til en gammel tra-
dition. Der er ogsaa mange hauger omkring i landet
med lignende navn, som have vist, at de skylde naturen
alene sin tilblivelse.
Imidlertid var det de omtalte fortællinger, som lok-
kede sønnerne paa den gaardpart, hvorunder størstedelen
af haugen henhører, til at paabegynde dens udgravning
strax efter nytaar 1880 og saaledes endnu mens jorden
var frosen. Heldigvis blev dog dette ikke ubekjendt for
direktionen i det antikvariske selskab, hvis formand jeg
*) H. J. HUITFELDT, Biskop Eysteins Jordebog p. 56, 71, 195.
The plain mentioned extends, almost imperceptibly
rising, towards the north and gradually widens into a
considerable breadth, bounded by the rocks belonging
partly to the farm mentioned (Freberg), and partly to
several other farms called Gokstad. This word is on the
spot pronounced with the open 0, consequently as Gawk-
stad, and was originally called Gaukstadir, which name
clearly originates from gaukr (a cuckoo) and søadr plur.
stadir (a dwelling or a farm). Already towards the end
of the 14th century*) we see that there were several
farms bearing this name, and at present there are no
fewer than 12 different smaller farms that all joined
together are assessed, in the rent roll of the country,
for a ground tax of 25 Species Dollars. But from the
beginning it was no doubt but one farm which, when
we consider the land-tax named, must have been a
very considerable property, much larger in fact than any
other farm in the whole parish. Certainly a land-tax of
31 Species Dollars is assessed on the present parsonage
(Sande), but that is only so, because many different
pieces of ground have by degrees been added to the
original farm.
About in the middle of the woodless plain mentio-
ned, there is now but one mound (marked on the map
with a black circle), that will first engage our attention.
It is situated about 1 kilom. N. N. W. of the inner end
of the Midtfiord, and about 38 m. north of the road
that crosses the plain almost from west to east. The
mound now belongs to two different parts of Lower
Gokstad, but a generation ago there was also a third
proprietor.
At any rate during the last centuries this mound
has always been named the King’s mound, because,
as people say, a King had been buried there with all
his treasures. It is however also a thing that is well
known, that no weight can be attached to tales of this
description, as they cer ainly everywhere have been in-
vented in later times and are but the product of loose
suppositions that have no foundation in old traditions
Similar names have alo throughout the country been
given to many other mounds that clearly only owe their
existence to nature.
It was however the old stories mentioned above,
that made the sons on the farm, to whom the greater
part of the hillock belonged, begin to dig into it shortly
after new-year 1880, and consequently when the ground
was still frozen. Most fortunately the Directors of the
Antiquarian Society whose president I am, learned this,
DDE
GREER ee eee
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