Table Of ContentExploitation of
outfield resources –
Joint Research at the University Museums of Norway
Svein Indrelid, Kari Loe Hjelle & Kathrine Stene (Editors)
Birgitta Berglund, Martin Callanan, Sigrid Hillern H. Kaland & Lars Stenvik (Co-editors)
Exploitation of outfield resources
– Joint Research at the University
Museums of Norway
Photos:
Wild reindeer exploitation –
photo: Svein Ulvund
Iron extraction –
photo: Gråfjellprosjektet,
Museum of Cultural History,
University of Oslo
Soapstone extraction –
photo: Øystein J. Jansen
Landscape exploitation and
transformation –
photo: Kathrine Stene
University of Bergen
University Museum of Bergen
www.uib.no/universitetsmuseet
MILJØMERKET
241 Trykksak 699
Index
Foreword 4
Wild reindeer exploitation
The hunting history – part of important know-how in the wild reindeer
management 9
Per Jordhøy & Runar Hole
New traces of wild reindeer hunting in the alpine areas in Northern Norway 19
Ingrid Sommerseth
Medieval reindeer trapping at the Hardangervidda mountain plateau 29
Svein Indrelid
Use of pitfall traps in wild reindeer hunting in the mountains of South West Norway:
The location, construction method and use of the hunting sites 37
Sveinung Bang-Andersen
Trapping pits for reindeer – a discussion on construction and dating 49
Jostein Bergstøl
Chronological patterns among archaeological finds from snow patches in Central
Norway 1914–2011 55
Martin Callanan
DNA from ancient reindeer antler as marker for transport routes and movement
of craftspeople, raw material and products in medieval Scandinavia 69
Knut H. Røed & Gitte Hansen
The medieval reindeer population (Rangifer tarandus) from the high mountain
plateau Hardangervidda, Southern Norway: work in progress 75
Liselotte M. Takken Beijersbergen
1
Iron extraction
The bloomery in Mid-Norway: A retrospective glance and foresight 85
Lars F. Stenvik
How did the natives of North Norway secure the supply of iron in the Iron Age? 99
Roger Jørgensen
Late Iron Age (ca. AD 6/700–1000) – a white spot in the iron extraction history? 107
Bernt Rundberget
Soapstone extraction
Soapstone in Northern Norway: Research status, production evidence and
quarry survey results 117
Stephen Wickler
Possibilities for a society analysis by means of soapstone – examples from
Helgeland, Northern Norway 129
Birgitta Berglund
The medieval quarries at Sparbu: A Central Norwegian “little sister” of the
Purbeck quarry landscape in England 141
Per Storemyr
From collection to quarry – Lyse Abbey’s role as soapstone supplier in
the Middle Ages 155
Alf Tore Hommedal
Provenancing soapstone – experiences from different geochemical methods 167
Øystein J. Jansen
Perspectives on the characterization of ancient soapstone quarries 175
Tom Heldal
2
Landscape exploitation and transformation
Resource exploitation and settlement in mountain areas in Southern Norway during
the Early Iron Age – an altered perception of landscape and landscape use? 191
Kathrine Stene
The outfields as a precondition for farming in the early historical period 203
Jan Anders Timberlid
Market places in “Mountain-land” – a research project on communication and
exchange of commodities in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages 215
Kjetil Loftsgarden
Contextualizing cup marks: An approach for a better dating and understanding
of their meaning and function 223
Trond Klungseth Lødøen
Osteological assemblages from rock shelters as source data for subsistence from
Bronze Age to the Middle Ages in Western Norway 231
Anne Karin Hufthammer
Open landscapes and the use of outfield resources through time
– methodological aspects and potential of pollen analysis 241
Kari Loe Hjelle
Authors 254
3
Foreword
This book contains papers presented at an interdisciplinary workshop held at The Norwegian
Institute in Rome 3–4 December 2012, entitled “Utmarksarkeologi i Norge” (Outfield
archaeology in Norway).
The workshop was arranged by the archaeological research project “Forskning i Fellesskap”
(Joint Research), which is a cooperative project between the five University Museums in
Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. The project runs from 2011 to 2015 and is
financed by The Research Council of Norway and the University Museums.
A principal objective of “Joint Research” is to strengthen the archaeological research
collaboration between the Norwegian University Museums, and also with the University
Departments other relevant research institutions, particularly within adjacent scientific fields.
A further aim is to establish and develop research networks within prioritised target areas.
The project has three research networks, each with representatives from all five museums:
Pioneer network – Agrarian network – Outfield network
The concept “utmark”, which in Scandinavian literature is normally translated as “outfield”,
lacks a corresponding denotation in English. The outfield comprises all uncultivated
land outside settlement areas and agricultural areas, i.e. lakes, bogs, forests, wasteland
and mountains. When agricultural areas and settlement areas are excluded, the outfield
comprises 96% of the land area in Norway.
The natural resources of the outfield have throughout the ages been of great importance in
the form of hunting, fishing, gathering, grazing, forestry and raw material exploitation. The
traces of such activities from prehistoric and medieval times are today cultural monuments
and sites. As such they are important research items, and outfield archaeology is a central
and extensive research theme at the University Museums.
The Outfield Research Network has four prioritised research themes:
Wild reindeer exploitation
Iron extraction
Soapstone extraction
Landscape exploitation and transformation
4
The workshop in Rome gathered 30 participants within archaeology, botany, osteology and
geology. The aim of the lectures was to give an overview of ongoing outfield research in
Norway.
This publication contains 23 of the 30 lectures presented at the workshop. It has been up
to the lecturers to decide the levels of presentation and popularisation of the individual
contributions. In the book, the lectures are largely presented in the version in which they
were delivered, in most cases with minor alterations, but with references to literature, and
the lectures held in Norwegian have been translated into English. Hopefully, the articles will
give a fairly representative overview of current outfield research in Norway within the four
prioritised research themes.
The first drafts of the manuscripts were reviewed by a committee consisting of Martin
Callanan, Trondheim (wild reindeer exploitation), Kari Loe Hjelle and Sigrid Hillern H.
Kaland, Bergen (landscape exploitation and transformation), Lars Stenvik, Trondheim (iron
extraction) and Birgitta Berglund, Trondheim (soapstone extraction).
The final editing was carried out by an editing committee at the University Museum of
Bergen: Svein Indrelid, Kari Loe Hjelle and Kathrine Stene. The articles have been translated
into English by Vedis Bjørndal. Beate Helle has been responsible for the layout and design.
Bergen, April 2015
Svein Indrelid
Coordinator for the outfield research network (2011 – 2014)
5
6
Wild reindeer exploitation
