The Poetics of Power and Violence in Roman Iron Age Denmark

Violence as a phenomenon is a complex, intricate network of biopsychosocial, cultural, and environmental systems. Attempting to decipher how violence influences specific communities requires we embed our understanding of that network of systems within our knowledge of that community. This chapter assesses the influence of power and violence within the Roman Iron Age (0–400 AD) community in Denmark by analyzing trauma in 373 skeletons from the Danish island of Sjælland. By framing the bioarchaeological, archaeological, and historical evidence for violence within a lens of poetics, this study anchors the evidence within that network of systems and build a deeper understanding of the complexity of violence in Roman Iron Age Denmark.