En modell for organiseringen av landskapet i østnorske dalstrøk i middelalder og historisk tid

Sammendrag

It is the later years recorded and excavated extensive traces of activities like iron production, hunting and farming in areas, which today are forests and mountains. This paper discusses how these monuments are distributed in the landscape and how they relate to the historically known organization of the landscape. Geographically, the article is limited to the inner parts of Eastern Norway, with emphasis on Hedmark and Oppland counties, and given a temporal limitation to the medieval and historic times. Landownership in the outland in historic times is studied by the use of written sources like laws, diplomas and court records. The article puts forward a model for how the landscape was organized, with a split in in two, with the valley side as the area for farming and related activities, and the higher lying land as the area for hunting, shieling and iron production. This model is discussed based on four specific valley sides with clearance cairns fields.