Nidarneset før Nidaros

Trondheims landskaps- og bosetningshistorie i perioden 500 f.Kr.-1000 e.Kr.

Sammendrag

This article presents and discusses the range of prehistoric archaeological material derived from excavations in the medieval town of Trondheim. The town grew up on Nidarneset, a low-lying peninsula located at the point where the River Nid enters Trondheim Fjord. It became the site of Nidaros kaupang during the 10th century, but recent archaeological finds document the presence of an agrarian settlement since the early Pre-Roman Iron Age at c. 1500 BC. The Iron Age population lived in a natural environment created by combined formation processes throughout the period, including isostatic recovery, alluvial deposition and a landslide which covered part of the peninsula with a thick body of clay. The archaeological material is presented in the context of this dynamic process, demonstrating the close interaction of natural processes and human actors in the formation and use of the landscape. The settlement history is discussed in the wider context of local and regional developments during the Iron Age. The article’s chief aim is to provide for the first time a comprehensive overview of the settlement history of Nidarneset throughout the Iron Age, and to offer some tentative suggestions regarding how this may have contributed to the context in which the urban centre emerged.