Viking

At the threshold of the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act: Classifying Stray Finds of Annular Brooches from the Medieval and Modern Period

Mats Skare — 2023-11-17

The annular brooch makes up one of the most prevalent brooch types from the medieval period in Europe. Moreover, its use and production in Norway last well into the modern period. This has resulted in a quandary. The Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act labels all artefacts older than AD 1537 as state property (1650 for coins). With a few exceptions, everything younger may be acquired by the finder. But how is this to be decided for stray finds of annular brooches? How can these be dated?

While their morphology remains consistent throughout the almost 1000 years of production, two points of departure for future study are suggested: decorative features and alloy compositions. Charting these will provide crucial baselines. However, the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act only applying to artefacts from before AD 1537, and the division’s ramifications on cultural heritage management, continue to strain the study of enduring artefact types.

Kinsarvik – the town that never was

Kjetil Loftsgarden — 2023-11-17

In the High Middle Ages Kinsarvik in Hardanger was ideally situated as a hub, where iron and other outfield resources flowed from the eastern inland regions to the more populous coastal areas to the west. Archaeological finds, building remains, written sources and previous investigations show Kinsarvik as an urban marketplace, with production and regional and interregional trade, as well as a place with administrative and political functions. Comparable to the more well-known marketplace Kaupanger in Sogn.

The location, as well as finds and structures, indicates that non-agrarian resources from the mountainous settlements to the east were a major foundation for Kinsarvik as a marketplace. A consequence being that, from the late 13th century, when there is a significant decrease in iron production and other outfield resources, Kinsarvik as an urban marketplace looses much of its basis for existence and gradually goes out of use.

Horse, deer, cow or goat! What types of leather were used for shoes in Borgund, Sunnmøre, in the late Viking Age / early Medieval Periods?

Heidi Albertinesdatter Haugene — 2023-11-17

Leather types and tanning technique used on shoes during the late Viking Age / early Medieval Periods in Norway, are addressed with 139 shoes from the deserted town Borgund in Sunnmøre, western Norway, as a case. Shoe-leather is species identified through hair follicle pattern interpretation and ZooMS analysis. Tanning technique is assessed visually. The study shows that the Borgund-shoes were made of leather from domesticated animals, predominantly from cow (Bos taurus), but also horse (Equus caballus), goat- (Capra circus) and tentatively sheep (Ovis aries) was used. Furthermore, raw tanned leather was used for both soles and shoe uppers in Borgund. Borgund’s strong preference for leather made of cattle has parallels in both Danish and English contemporary urban contexts, whereas horse leather is not previously identified as shoe-leather in contemporary Norse-sphere urban contexts. For future research an atlas of Viking Age / Medieval hair follicle patterns based on archaeological leather finds is presented.

An early Viking-age non-ferrous metal workshop at Sømme close to Hafrsfjord

Trond Meling — 2023-11-17

In Norway, Viking-age non-ferrous metal working is primarily related to trading sites like Kaupang in Vestfold. The remains of a workshop at Sømme in Rogaland demonstrates, however, that this kind of craft also took place within agrarian contexts in this period. Findings from the workshop reveal that the smiths worked with different kind of metals, used various techniques and were highly skilled. It is argued that the region must have been an important nodal point for long distance connections, especially to the British Isles, and that the metalworkers got their raw materials through these connections. Shortly after 900 AD the workshop was abandoned. At the same time, Harald Fairhair gained control of the western part of Norway, and there was a sudden disappearance of Insular objects in the region. A new political order and the lack of raw materials could be major reasons for the abandonment of the workshop.

Doarrás – a new area with rock carvings in Alta

Jan Magne Gjerde — 2023-11-17

The paper discusses three newly found panels with rock carvings in Alta, Northern Norway. They were discovered at Doarrás (Kongsvika), an area with no previously known rock art. The new site is located outside well-established UNESCO World Heritage rock art areas, which are considered to be of national and international value. The Alta rock art has been researched extensively, and the new site at Doarrás complements and enrich the already established knowledge. The rocks and the figures are discussed and related to previously suggested dating and their relation to the shoreline. Further, the motifs stylistic similarities are compared to figures at the already known sites in Alta. The paper also addresses the importance of rock art surveying for both research and heritage management.

Why Hundorp? New light on the Gudbrandr ruler site

Ingar M. Gundersen — 2023-11-17

Hundorp is considered one of the most important Viking Age sites in inland Eastern Norway. However, our knowledge of the site is blurred by a mix of fact, fiction, and folklore, and little is known regarding its development and role in the overall power dynamics of the time. In this article, we present a whole new body of antiquarian, geophysical, and archaeological proxies, including the latest pagan burial documented so far in the region, and discuss its relevance in the wider socio-political picture. We argue that its role as an assembly site might go back to the Roman Iron Age, and that monumental burials continued right up to Christianization in the early 11th century. As the site lacks rich finds assemblages, Hundorp contrasts other contemporary power centres, and may have held other functions that are best understood within a wider framework of trade and power relations in the Late Iron Age.

Farm – royal residence – bishop’s palace: traces of settlement and power on the cathedral plateau in Trondheim during the Iron Age and medieval period

Christopher McLees — 2023-11-17

This article describes and discusses archaeological traces of a ‘landscape of power’ on the cathedral plateau in Trondheim; in particular, traces of the saga-mentioned Viking-Age farm and structures from the early medieval period linked to emerging institutions of royal and ecclesiastical power. Remains of the first bishop's palace have been identified near the site of King Olav the Gentle’s Christ Church, as well as traces of the medieval royal residence that King Harald Hardrada reputedly established in the same area in the mid-11th century. Adopting a long-term perspective, the article describes the materialities of elite power networks and practices which formed this important place on the Nidarnes peninsula during the Norwegian Iron Age and the early medieval period and discusses them in the context of changes and developments in topography and social organisation.

The enigmatic and versatile cupmark - cupmark sites as boundary and property markers in Iron Age Rogaland

Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen — 2023-11-17

This article focuses on the various uses of cupmarks in Iron Age Rogaland. While in the Bronze Age cupmarks are associated with communal activity and were used in connection with rituals, Iron Age usage shifts towards the family and clan. They are cut into exposed bedrock, boulders and loose stones. Within the farm's infield, they can appear in the house itself, at the edge of fields, in fence systems and in cairns. In these contexts, the cupmarks can be interpreted as The Evil Eye, protecting the farm and acting as a deterrent to intruders. In some cases, their strength is reinforced with several parallel rows of marks. There are also simple rows that may indicate property boundaries between different farms and common areas. These are often found on the border between infield and outfield. Cupmarks at coastal sites may have warned outsiders against trespassing on private land.

Hai på menyen

Leif Inge Åstveit — 2023-11-17

In 2021 the University Museum of Bergen conducted an archaeological excavation at the Middle Neolithic (3500–2700 BC) site Nerlandsøy at Sunnmøre. The most surprising find was 154 teeth from Porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) imbedded in culture layers. Teeth from this species have been found in three other sites infrom North-Western Norway, however in much lesser number than on Nerlandsøy. In this paper the shark teeth are interpreted as a hitherto unknown part of the increasing big game hunting taking place in the Middle Neolithic. The hunting activity is reflected both in the material culture, as well as in the rock art, in the region and is believed to be an important part of the social dynamics of the society.

Årsrapport Norsk arkeologisk selskap

Thomas Kjær — 2023-11-17

Årsrapport og regnskap for Norsk arkeologisk selskap 2022.

Norsk Arkeologisk Selskaps høsttur til Trondheim 22. – 26. september 2022

Sonja V. Robøle — 2023-11-17

Reisebeskrivelse fra Norsk Arkeologisk Selskaps høsttur til Trondheim 22. – 26. september 2022.

Norsk Arkeologisk Selskaps vårtur til Vestfold 13.–15. mai 2022

Sonja V. Robøle — 2023-11-17

Reisebeskrivelse fra Norsk Arkeologisk Selskaps vårtur til Vestfold 13.–15. mai 2022.

Minneord om Mari Høgestøl (1954–2023)

Ole Madsen — 2023-11-17

Minneord om Mari Høgestøl (1954–2023).

Gi oss et publikumsvennlig Vikingtidsmuseum

Marianne Vedeler — 2023-11-17

Bokanmeldelse av Hein B. Bjerck: Archaeology at home. Notes on Things, Life and Time. Equinox 2022

Astrid Nyland — 2023-11-17

Bokanmeldelse av Hein B. Bjerck:

Archaeology at home. Notes on Things, Life

and Time. Equinox 2022