Papers by Ragnar Orten Lie
Vestfoldminne, 2021
Aristocratic hunting has deep roots in Vestfold and can be traced back to Viking Age ship burials... more Aristocratic hunting has deep roots in Vestfold and can be traced back to Viking Age ship burials. Veidekonge was a good nickname for the kings of the Viking Age, and the hunt was integrated into the ideology of the aristocracy. Hunting as an arena of power was at its height in the Middle Ages, but also after the Reformation, hunting was used as an arena of power. Hunting was in itself also an everyday activity and it is only in a few cases that we can trace which hunting took place. For Larvik's part, there are several hints in both accounts and in the landscape.
A bear raid was carried out in Tjølling in 1722. A bear raid is a large and organized hunt and often started from noble and/or military leadership. The nobility had to protect the common people in war and in peacetime, and keeping the predator population down was part of this. At the same time, the fight against predators improved the incomes of the farms, which in turn provided a better tax base for the sheriff.
Noblemen like Ove Gjedde and the creation of the two counties in Vestfold deals with nobles who come from a Danish court who in the 17th century set up large hunting parks for par force hunting. A question then becomes to what extent a similar hunting landscape is introduced or attempted to be introduced in Vestfold? Gullkronen in Sem was planned as an "animal park" in the early 1700s, with avenues dividing the area into rectangular fields to facilitate the count's par force hunting. The Laurvig counts were also keen hunters. Ulrich Frederik Gyldenløve (1638-1704) planned a hunting park on Malmøya near Larvik, where he had fallow deer released in 1681. Gyldenløve also wanted to build a hunting park on Jomfruland, which together with all the islands in Kragerø's eastern archipelago was bought by the county in 1696. Otherwise similar features are seen in the country where there is nobility.
The best way to raise the status aspect of hunting was to regulate access to it. This happens partly through property rights, partly through legislation. Predator hunting also seems to have been organized around government farms in the late Middle Ages and in recent times and often had a military aspect.
Romsdal Sogelag , 2020
The blacksmith has been surrounded by mystery right up to recent times. In Norwegian folk traditi... more The blacksmith has been surrounded by mystery right up to recent times. In Norwegian folk tradition there are stories about how they got their knowledge from the dwarf blacksmiths in the mountains. Like the blacksmiths, caves were associated with notions of supernatural – and sub-Jewish – powers. Both when it comes to the blacksmiths and the caves, these are notions that go back a long way, but they also have continuity right up to the present day. Iron production, iron technology and the blacksmith's role in prehistory is a large thematic field with a number of studies nationally and internationally.
Based on archaeologically known finds of metallurgical activity, tradition and place names linked to the blacksmith, we have at least 29 caves tied to blacksmiths in Møre og Romsdal. The cave provides a fire-proof room, but mythology, legend, tradition and place names show that this can also have more complex explanations, and we see the blacksmith's use of caves in continuity over 2,000 years
Caves are best known as important discovery sites for traces of settlement from prehistory, but a number of graves and sacrificial finds from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in slabs. Caves had been used ritually and religiously for centuries and perhaps millennia before the blacksmith specialized parts of his business for these openings into the underground.
Dwarves were master blacksmiths and they lived primarily in rocks, and this directs the spotlight to the darkness and power in caves and caves, and blacksmiths who sought this source. In Møre and Romsdal in general and in Nesset in particular, there are many forge pits and caves where the blacksmith carried out his work, but was this just technology or was it also mythology and cosmology?
Vestfoldminne , 2021
In 2020, metal detectorist Henning Hansen made some discoveries on the farm Nes in Lågendalen, Ve... more In 2020, metal detectorist Henning Hansen made some discoveries on the farm Nes in Lågendalen, Vestfold. With the discovery of eleven dirhems, production waste and seven weights by the riverbank, we must ask the question whether there was also a small trading and production site at Nes in Viking times? In the summer of 1885, Nicolaysen excavated no less than 52 burial mounds on Nes. Most of the graves that contain datable material relate to the Late Iron Age, and the more precisely datable graves are from the Viking Age.
Archaeologists who have worked with Vestfold and Kaupang have all looked up and down Lågen, where heavy or bulky products such as iron, tar, glue, antlers, hides and grain could be transported from the interior to a vibrant trading center on the coast. Nes is well situated on such a transport route.
Concentration with ring swords, parts of a helmet, glass beads, boat graves, chamber graves, H-swords and weights excavated by Nicolaysen showed that all trade network parameters were present, and the new finds are now expanding the horizon. Along with the dirhems and weights in the area of trade and production, there was also part of an Irish buckle, silver wire and a silver knot ring, as well as a lot of coal and slag.
Njotarøy, 2021
An area with forge pits from the Iron and Middle Ages is located in a bay near Buerstad in Færder... more An area with forge pits from the Iron and Middle Ages is located in a bay near Buerstad in Færder municipality, Vestfold. Have ships been built and repaired here in the Iron and Middle Ages?
The pits are interpreted as open forges designed and built in the simplest possible way to solve a task. Instead of setting up a building, one chooses to dig a working pit and place the hearth on the edge of the pit. After the forge goes out of use, it is filled again with local pulp, slag and coal from the forge and abandoned. A few decades or a hundred years later, they choose to build a new pit forge in almost the same place. A possible explanation for this pattern could be that people build or repair boats in the bay.
Viking, Sep 10, 2017
Er de alle løsfunn? Metallsøkfunn og potensialet for bevart kontekst under pløyelaget
Open Archaeology, Oct 14, 2016
Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as lon... more Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as long as one has the landowner's permission, and complies with the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act. As in other countries, the relationship between private metal detecting and archaeology is complex. The perspectives and experiences of archaeologists and heritage management representatives in regard to what challenges and positive effects that arise from private metal detecting varies greatly. With this article we wish to address various sides of the relationship openly.
Primitive tider, Dec 10, 2021
Vestfoldminne, 2023
I skipsgrava fra Oseberg ble det funnet fire sleder, en enkel arbeidsslede og tre rikt dekorerte ... more I skipsgrava fra Oseberg ble det funnet fire sleder, en enkel arbeidsslede og tre rikt dekorerte praktsleder. Også flere av de andre skipsgravene fra vikingtiden viste seg å inneholde slede(r): Gokstad, Borre, Tune og Storhaug/Karmøy (Marstrander 1986). Et fragment av de vevde revlene som ble funnet i gravkammeret i Osebergskipet, forestiller en hest som trekker en slede. Sleden ser ut til å vaere utstyrt med en dyrehodestolpe, kanskje også en rangle, og trekksnor(er) som går fra sleden i retning hesten. Under et teppe på sleden stikker et par føtter ut og lar oss forstå at i hvert fall noe av sledens rolle i gravritualet har vaert å transportere den døde til gravstedet (Androshuk 2005). Med slede til grava Allerede Nicolay Nicolaysen tolket sleden i Gokstadskipet på denne måten (Nicolaysen 1882:69). I lys av senere norsk tradisjon burde ikke dette vaere overraskende. Hjulredskap kom sent i bruk i Norge. Den første kjerreveien ble ikke bygd før i 1620-årene, og gikk fra
Viking
A legend tells the dramatic and colourful story of the farmer Sveinung the Cruel and how he kille... more A legend tells the dramatic and colourful story of the farmer Sveinung the Cruel and how he killed a dwarf (in Norwegian tusse/dverg) named Fegge in his smithy at the farm Heggtveit in Kviteseid, Norway. In the story the smithy is positioned below the hill Smiuberget (lit. Smithy Hill). During an excavation in 2020, a relatively well-preserved smithy from the 13th century was excavated at the place described in the legend. The discovery offered a unique opportunity to explore the complex and dynamic relationship between the rich record of Norwegian folklore, excavated “reality” and the history of place names. Because of this complexity, the authors argue that to seek the “real” roots of the legend is a difficult and maybe also a meaningless task. Rather, they argue that the history of Fegge`s death and other legends are valuable sources to immaterial aspects of the region’s Medieval and Renaissance metal crafting.
Viking, 2017
Er de alle løsfunn? Metallsøkfunn og potensialet for bevart kontekst under pløyelaget
Open Archaeology, 2016
Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as lon... more Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as long as one has the landowner‘s permission, and complies with the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act. As in other countries, the relationship between private metal detecting and archaeology is complex. The perspectives and experiences of archaeologists and heritage management representatives in regard to what challenges and positive effects that arise from private metal detecting varies greatly. With this article we wish to address various sides of the relationship openly.
Romsdal Sogelag, 2016
The island of Orta or Orten in Sandøy municipality (Møre og Romsdal, western Norway), only around... more The island of Orta or Orten in Sandøy municipality (Møre og Romsdal, western Norway), only around a square kilometre in area, is dominated by marshes and heather with some significant rocky outcrops (Figs. 11a-b). Today, the island is rich with birdlife and the name Orta, following Rygh’s “Norwegian farm names”, is the same as “Urter”, being the name of the small island Utsira in south-western Norway, to be explained by the Old Norwegian “urptir”, which means “laying sites”, i.e. places where lots of seabirds nest (RYGH 1908, 310). In 1908, farmers found the remains of a hut in Orta/Orten while digging in marshland on the island. The upper part of the cabin was found ca. 40-50 cm down in the marsh, but the floor level lay at ca. 1.8 metres depth. The parish priest, Saxlund, carried out an excavation in the same year (SAXLUND 1909; LIE 2012, 53). The remains formed an angle, and it was assumed that the cabin was built in two phases, with a used area of ca. 2 x 4 metres. There were no traces of a hearth in the cabin and only a few finds, including two bits of a leather shoe with an estimated dating to the period from ca. 900-1200 AD (LARSEN 1970; RINGSTAD 2002, 60). The findings might be considered an indication for bird-catching in the Norwegian Viking Age or early post 1000s, in the form of a “sunken falconry hut”.
Dating the Orta- and the Harøy Hut
Several boxes of timber collected from the Orta Hut are stored at NTNU, University Museum (T9093). One stick that is presumed to come from the wall was dated to 2965–2845 BP, giving a calibrated dating of 1015– 895 BC. To delineate the later phase it was decided to use timber planks which Saxlund presumed to originate from the collapsed roof of the hut. The type of wood was identified as Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The calibrated age of the timber was found to be 930–785 BP, placing the late phase when the Orta Hut was in use to AD 1020–1165.
The Harøy Hut was excavated by Saxlund in 1907. Timber was found 2,5- 3 meter down in the marsh and is dated to 4840-4625 BP
According to the most recent research, bird-catching, as well as advanced catching sites, date back to the first millennium AD, owing to radiocarbon-datings of wooden samples from actual catching sites which point towards a period of use from 200-1200 AD (SYLVESTER 2012, cf. LIE 2012). If Norwegian peasants mastered bird-catching in general, it would come as a surprise if this did not include birds of prey. Catching with nets, used mainly for seabirds, as is recorded over large areas of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, would also give a secondary catch of birds of prey that ended up in the nets while they were being used (CUMMINGS 1998:196).
Neither the Harøy Hut nor the Orta Hut had hearths, and were unlikely to have been used as a permanent residence; they are situated at sites which would have made them ideal as hides for bird trappers; both are situated on coastal islands with a rich birdlife, close to fresh water, shallow sandbanks, and fenlands where many types of birds might be trapped. The absence of a hearth and the rough construction are good indicators that the Harøy Hut and the Orta Hut were hides used in bird trapping.
So far, the best documented archaeological traces of falconry from the Norwegian Viking Age (800–... more So far, the best documented archaeological traces of falconry from the Norwegian Viking Age (800–1050 AD) come from the ship burial at Gokstad, dated to about 900 AD. Written Sources indicate that falcon-catching was also established in Norway in that period. From the Middle Ages (1050–1537 AD), bones from goshawks and sparrowhawks have been discovered in the cities of Bergen, Konghelle and Oslo. In addition, a falcon hood, a glove and bones of birds of prey were found at
the archbishop’s seat in Trondheim. According to royal diplomas, the Norwegian kings of the 12th to 14th centuries played an important role in falcon-catching in Norway and Iceland. Gyrfalcons were
status gifts to kings in their gift-exchange network but there was also a considerable free market for birds of prey. The church was a major actor in the falcon trade too. When the Norwegian King Håkon
VI died in 1380, Norway and Denmark were eventually united under the Danish monarchy. Without a king or a nobility to engage in falconry, the skill seems to have disappeared from Norway but the
catch continued. The latter is first and foremost associated with cabins whose inhabitants, with the help of decoys/bait, caught falcons. According to Edvard Barth’s excavations, such constructions in the
high mountains date back to the 16th century. In that period of time, falcon-catching reappeared in written sources and the Dutch were at the forefront. In the course of the second half of the 18th century,
interest in falconry declined among the royal courts of Europe and, in 1784, catching in Norway came to a halt. In 1833, a bounty was placed on birds of prey in Norway. The once highly-desired status
symbols were now seen as rats with wings, and they were to be killed by any available means. Many species were driven towards extinction before they received protection in 1971.
Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as lo... more Metal detecting has become a popular hobby in Norway. The use of metal detectors is legal, as long as one has the landowner‘s permission, and complies with the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act. As in other
countries, the relationship between private metal detecting and archaeology is complex. The perspectives and experiences of archaeologists and heritage management representatives in regard to what challenges and positive effects that arise from private metal detecting varies greatly. With this article we wish to address various sides of the relationship openly.
Articles by Ragnar Orten Lie
In Vestfold County we have since 2013 seen a marked rise in metal detecting finds being delivered... more In Vestfold County we have since 2013 seen a marked rise in metal detecting finds being delivered to the county archaeologists by amateur detectorists. These finds are a source of both joy and grief for archaeologists all over Norway. Should we see these finds as noncontextual random finds or do they relate to a more complex situation over which we simply do not have full insight? In this article we discuss the possibilities of investigating sites with clusters of metal detecting finds with geophysical prospection. Two case studies in Vestfold County are presented, both of which have provided clusters of metal finds, and we compare the results from the metal detecting with results from geophysical prospection. By doing so our aim is to contribute to further discussion of the possibilities of preserved archaeological contexts under the plow soil.
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Papers by Ragnar Orten Lie
A bear raid was carried out in Tjølling in 1722. A bear raid is a large and organized hunt and often started from noble and/or military leadership. The nobility had to protect the common people in war and in peacetime, and keeping the predator population down was part of this. At the same time, the fight against predators improved the incomes of the farms, which in turn provided a better tax base for the sheriff.
Noblemen like Ove Gjedde and the creation of the two counties in Vestfold deals with nobles who come from a Danish court who in the 17th century set up large hunting parks for par force hunting. A question then becomes to what extent a similar hunting landscape is introduced or attempted to be introduced in Vestfold? Gullkronen in Sem was planned as an "animal park" in the early 1700s, with avenues dividing the area into rectangular fields to facilitate the count's par force hunting. The Laurvig counts were also keen hunters. Ulrich Frederik Gyldenløve (1638-1704) planned a hunting park on Malmøya near Larvik, where he had fallow deer released in 1681. Gyldenløve also wanted to build a hunting park on Jomfruland, which together with all the islands in Kragerø's eastern archipelago was bought by the county in 1696. Otherwise similar features are seen in the country where there is nobility.
The best way to raise the status aspect of hunting was to regulate access to it. This happens partly through property rights, partly through legislation. Predator hunting also seems to have been organized around government farms in the late Middle Ages and in recent times and often had a military aspect.
Based on archaeologically known finds of metallurgical activity, tradition and place names linked to the blacksmith, we have at least 29 caves tied to blacksmiths in Møre og Romsdal. The cave provides a fire-proof room, but mythology, legend, tradition and place names show that this can also have more complex explanations, and we see the blacksmith's use of caves in continuity over 2,000 years
Caves are best known as important discovery sites for traces of settlement from prehistory, but a number of graves and sacrificial finds from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in slabs. Caves had been used ritually and religiously for centuries and perhaps millennia before the blacksmith specialized parts of his business for these openings into the underground.
Dwarves were master blacksmiths and they lived primarily in rocks, and this directs the spotlight to the darkness and power in caves and caves, and blacksmiths who sought this source. In Møre and Romsdal in general and in Nesset in particular, there are many forge pits and caves where the blacksmith carried out his work, but was this just technology or was it also mythology and cosmology?
Archaeologists who have worked with Vestfold and Kaupang have all looked up and down Lågen, where heavy or bulky products such as iron, tar, glue, antlers, hides and grain could be transported from the interior to a vibrant trading center on the coast. Nes is well situated on such a transport route.
Concentration with ring swords, parts of a helmet, glass beads, boat graves, chamber graves, H-swords and weights excavated by Nicolaysen showed that all trade network parameters were present, and the new finds are now expanding the horizon. Along with the dirhems and weights in the area of trade and production, there was also part of an Irish buckle, silver wire and a silver knot ring, as well as a lot of coal and slag.
The pits are interpreted as open forges designed and built in the simplest possible way to solve a task. Instead of setting up a building, one chooses to dig a working pit and place the hearth on the edge of the pit. After the forge goes out of use, it is filled again with local pulp, slag and coal from the forge and abandoned. A few decades or a hundred years later, they choose to build a new pit forge in almost the same place. A possible explanation for this pattern could be that people build or repair boats in the bay.
Dating the Orta- and the Harøy Hut
Several boxes of timber collected from the Orta Hut are stored at NTNU, University Museum (T9093). One stick that is presumed to come from the wall was dated to 2965–2845 BP, giving a calibrated dating of 1015– 895 BC. To delineate the later phase it was decided to use timber planks which Saxlund presumed to originate from the collapsed roof of the hut. The type of wood was identified as Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The calibrated age of the timber was found to be 930–785 BP, placing the late phase when the Orta Hut was in use to AD 1020–1165.
The Harøy Hut was excavated by Saxlund in 1907. Timber was found 2,5- 3 meter down in the marsh and is dated to 4840-4625 BP
According to the most recent research, bird-catching, as well as advanced catching sites, date back to the first millennium AD, owing to radiocarbon-datings of wooden samples from actual catching sites which point towards a period of use from 200-1200 AD (SYLVESTER 2012, cf. LIE 2012). If Norwegian peasants mastered bird-catching in general, it would come as a surprise if this did not include birds of prey. Catching with nets, used mainly for seabirds, as is recorded over large areas of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, would also give a secondary catch of birds of prey that ended up in the nets while they were being used (CUMMINGS 1998:196).
Neither the Harøy Hut nor the Orta Hut had hearths, and were unlikely to have been used as a permanent residence; they are situated at sites which would have made them ideal as hides for bird trappers; both are situated on coastal islands with a rich birdlife, close to fresh water, shallow sandbanks, and fenlands where many types of birds might be trapped. The absence of a hearth and the rough construction are good indicators that the Harøy Hut and the Orta Hut were hides used in bird trapping.
the archbishop’s seat in Trondheim. According to royal diplomas, the Norwegian kings of the 12th to 14th centuries played an important role in falcon-catching in Norway and Iceland. Gyrfalcons were
status gifts to kings in their gift-exchange network but there was also a considerable free market for birds of prey. The church was a major actor in the falcon trade too. When the Norwegian King Håkon
VI died in 1380, Norway and Denmark were eventually united under the Danish monarchy. Without a king or a nobility to engage in falconry, the skill seems to have disappeared from Norway but the
catch continued. The latter is first and foremost associated with cabins whose inhabitants, with the help of decoys/bait, caught falcons. According to Edvard Barth’s excavations, such constructions in the
high mountains date back to the 16th century. In that period of time, falcon-catching reappeared in written sources and the Dutch were at the forefront. In the course of the second half of the 18th century,
interest in falconry declined among the royal courts of Europe and, in 1784, catching in Norway came to a halt. In 1833, a bounty was placed on birds of prey in Norway. The once highly-desired status
symbols were now seen as rats with wings, and they were to be killed by any available means. Many species were driven towards extinction before they received protection in 1971.
countries, the relationship between private metal detecting and archaeology is complex. The perspectives and experiences of archaeologists and heritage management representatives in regard to what challenges and positive effects that arise from private metal detecting varies greatly. With this article we wish to address various sides of the relationship openly.
Articles by Ragnar Orten Lie
A bear raid was carried out in Tjølling in 1722. A bear raid is a large and organized hunt and often started from noble and/or military leadership. The nobility had to protect the common people in war and in peacetime, and keeping the predator population down was part of this. At the same time, the fight against predators improved the incomes of the farms, which in turn provided a better tax base for the sheriff.
Noblemen like Ove Gjedde and the creation of the two counties in Vestfold deals with nobles who come from a Danish court who in the 17th century set up large hunting parks for par force hunting. A question then becomes to what extent a similar hunting landscape is introduced or attempted to be introduced in Vestfold? Gullkronen in Sem was planned as an "animal park" in the early 1700s, with avenues dividing the area into rectangular fields to facilitate the count's par force hunting. The Laurvig counts were also keen hunters. Ulrich Frederik Gyldenløve (1638-1704) planned a hunting park on Malmøya near Larvik, where he had fallow deer released in 1681. Gyldenløve also wanted to build a hunting park on Jomfruland, which together with all the islands in Kragerø's eastern archipelago was bought by the county in 1696. Otherwise similar features are seen in the country where there is nobility.
The best way to raise the status aspect of hunting was to regulate access to it. This happens partly through property rights, partly through legislation. Predator hunting also seems to have been organized around government farms in the late Middle Ages and in recent times and often had a military aspect.
Based on archaeologically known finds of metallurgical activity, tradition and place names linked to the blacksmith, we have at least 29 caves tied to blacksmiths in Møre og Romsdal. The cave provides a fire-proof room, but mythology, legend, tradition and place names show that this can also have more complex explanations, and we see the blacksmith's use of caves in continuity over 2,000 years
Caves are best known as important discovery sites for traces of settlement from prehistory, but a number of graves and sacrificial finds from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages have also been found in slabs. Caves had been used ritually and religiously for centuries and perhaps millennia before the blacksmith specialized parts of his business for these openings into the underground.
Dwarves were master blacksmiths and they lived primarily in rocks, and this directs the spotlight to the darkness and power in caves and caves, and blacksmiths who sought this source. In Møre and Romsdal in general and in Nesset in particular, there are many forge pits and caves where the blacksmith carried out his work, but was this just technology or was it also mythology and cosmology?
Archaeologists who have worked with Vestfold and Kaupang have all looked up and down Lågen, where heavy or bulky products such as iron, tar, glue, antlers, hides and grain could be transported from the interior to a vibrant trading center on the coast. Nes is well situated on such a transport route.
Concentration with ring swords, parts of a helmet, glass beads, boat graves, chamber graves, H-swords and weights excavated by Nicolaysen showed that all trade network parameters were present, and the new finds are now expanding the horizon. Along with the dirhems and weights in the area of trade and production, there was also part of an Irish buckle, silver wire and a silver knot ring, as well as a lot of coal and slag.
The pits are interpreted as open forges designed and built in the simplest possible way to solve a task. Instead of setting up a building, one chooses to dig a working pit and place the hearth on the edge of the pit. After the forge goes out of use, it is filled again with local pulp, slag and coal from the forge and abandoned. A few decades or a hundred years later, they choose to build a new pit forge in almost the same place. A possible explanation for this pattern could be that people build or repair boats in the bay.
Dating the Orta- and the Harøy Hut
Several boxes of timber collected from the Orta Hut are stored at NTNU, University Museum (T9093). One stick that is presumed to come from the wall was dated to 2965–2845 BP, giving a calibrated dating of 1015– 895 BC. To delineate the later phase it was decided to use timber planks which Saxlund presumed to originate from the collapsed roof of the hut. The type of wood was identified as Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The calibrated age of the timber was found to be 930–785 BP, placing the late phase when the Orta Hut was in use to AD 1020–1165.
The Harøy Hut was excavated by Saxlund in 1907. Timber was found 2,5- 3 meter down in the marsh and is dated to 4840-4625 BP
According to the most recent research, bird-catching, as well as advanced catching sites, date back to the first millennium AD, owing to radiocarbon-datings of wooden samples from actual catching sites which point towards a period of use from 200-1200 AD (SYLVESTER 2012, cf. LIE 2012). If Norwegian peasants mastered bird-catching in general, it would come as a surprise if this did not include birds of prey. Catching with nets, used mainly for seabirds, as is recorded over large areas of Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, would also give a secondary catch of birds of prey that ended up in the nets while they were being used (CUMMINGS 1998:196).
Neither the Harøy Hut nor the Orta Hut had hearths, and were unlikely to have been used as a permanent residence; they are situated at sites which would have made them ideal as hides for bird trappers; both are situated on coastal islands with a rich birdlife, close to fresh water, shallow sandbanks, and fenlands where many types of birds might be trapped. The absence of a hearth and the rough construction are good indicators that the Harøy Hut and the Orta Hut were hides used in bird trapping.
the archbishop’s seat in Trondheim. According to royal diplomas, the Norwegian kings of the 12th to 14th centuries played an important role in falcon-catching in Norway and Iceland. Gyrfalcons were
status gifts to kings in their gift-exchange network but there was also a considerable free market for birds of prey. The church was a major actor in the falcon trade too. When the Norwegian King Håkon
VI died in 1380, Norway and Denmark were eventually united under the Danish monarchy. Without a king or a nobility to engage in falconry, the skill seems to have disappeared from Norway but the
catch continued. The latter is first and foremost associated with cabins whose inhabitants, with the help of decoys/bait, caught falcons. According to Edvard Barth’s excavations, such constructions in the
high mountains date back to the 16th century. In that period of time, falcon-catching reappeared in written sources and the Dutch were at the forefront. In the course of the second half of the 18th century,
interest in falconry declined among the royal courts of Europe and, in 1784, catching in Norway came to a halt. In 1833, a bounty was placed on birds of prey in Norway. The once highly-desired status
symbols were now seen as rats with wings, and they were to be killed by any available means. Many species were driven towards extinction before they received protection in 1971.
countries, the relationship between private metal detecting and archaeology is complex. The perspectives and experiences of archaeologists and heritage management representatives in regard to what challenges and positive effects that arise from private metal detecting varies greatly. With this article we wish to address various sides of the relationship openly.