Complexity and dynamics: Settlement and landscape from the Bronze Age to the Renaissance in the Nordic Countries (1700 BC–AD 1600)

How did people organize their settlements in later prehistoric societies? How do architecture, spatial organization, land divisions, and landscape use relate to different modes of social organization? The papers in this book contribute to a greater understanding of the complexity and dynamics of settlement and landscape organization in the Nordic countries from the Late Bronze Age to the Renaissance. Among the topics addressed is the notion of the wandering settlements as the standard settlement pattern across southern Scandinavia in the last millennium BC. This idea is nuanced by in-depth regional studies. Up-to-date methodological and theoretical insights are employed to shed light on over-arching patterns of demography and the interaction between humans and the natural world, as well as on technological adaptation and innovation. Contributions to the book explore the nature of the relationships between settlements: both symmetrical relationships, between neighbouring farmsteads, and asymmetrical relationships, between farmsteads representing different levels in a social hierarchy. Spatial and temporal relations between communities of the living and the dead are also discussed. This book provides a comprehensive update on current research and methodologies in settlement archaeology in the Nordic countries. It is intended for students, archaeologists, and the interested reader working with settlements, landscape use, and social organization.

Table of Contents:
Settlement organization in Iron Age Scandinavia and beyond. Traditions, terminologies, regionalities and methodologies Marie Ødegaard and Ingrid Ystgaard   Early Iron Age village formation in Jutland, Denmark Niels Haue   Settlement structure and landscape use in Southwest Norway in the last millennium BC Trond Meling   Madla Sør in Rogaland, Southwest Norway – a settlement with long continuity? Satu Lindell   Maintaining boundaries: Early Iron Age settlement dynamics and spatial organisation at Dilling in Southeast Norway Marie Ødegaard, Lars Erik Gjerpe and Linnea Syversætre Johannessen   “The 207 BC Dust Veil Event” and the advent of iron reaping tools in Scandinavia Lars Erik Gjerpe   Uncovering population dynamics in Southeast Norway from 1300 BC to AD 800 using summed radiocarbon probability distributions Kjetil Loftsgarden and Steinar Solheim   Plant remains as sources to cultural history in Southeast Norway Karoline Kjesrud, Luka Natassja Olsen, Irene Teixidor-Toneu, Jade J. Sandstedt, Anneleen Kool and Linda Christiansen   Social dynamics at the Augland ceramic workshop: The introduction of soapstone in paste recipes from the Roman Iron Age and early Migration Period in southernmost Norway Christian Løchsen Rødsrud and Per Ditlef Fredriksen   Activities and community organization in Roman Iron Age Vik, Ørland, Central Norway Ingrid Ystgaard   Old Uppsala, Eastern Sweden: Framing an Iron Age tributary society Per Frölund   Burial – settlement relations at Forsandmoen, Southwest Norway Barbro Dahl   The elite settlement at Ströja, Eastern Sweden, AD 450–1000 Björn Hjulström and Marta Lindeberg   Development of the medieval villages in Southern Finland Tuuli T. Heinonen   Anebjerg – A rural farm from the 17th century: Considerations on Renaissance building traditions in Denmark and what can be expected beyond the Middle Ages Louise Søndergaard

About the Author :
Marie Ødegaard is an associate professor at the Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, with a focus on Iron Age and medieval archaeology. Research interests include settlement archaeology, assembly sites and state formation processes. She is currently project leader of Viking Beacons – militarism in northern Europe, granted by the Research Council Norway (2021-2025). Ingrid Ystgaard is an associate professor at the Department of Historical and Classical studies at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science. Her research interests include social dynamics, hierarchies, mobility, and warfare in the Iron Age. Between 2015 and 2019 she directed the excavations at Ørland Main Air Base for the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, NTNU University Museum.