The Pre-Roman Iron Age in Norway

In Glørstad, A.Z. and K. Loftsgarden (ed.) Viking-Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia, 2017

The authors present and discuss two segregated metal workshop sites at the Hunn burial ground in Østfold, south-east Norway, and address topics like the scale and character of the production and the cultural context of the finds. One of these sites, the Midtfeltet site, repre- sents one of the most extensive Bronze Age metallurgical workshops in Scandinavia. The site is located in a region that has yielded comparatively few bronze artefacts, and illustrates a paradoxical trend in Norwegian Bronze Age archaeology: the dislocation between production of bronze objects and their final deposition. The Bronze Age workshops and monuments at Hunn are situated in an area with a Late Neolithic history, which after the Bronze Age continued to be used for burials and rituals. Hunn is situated by a natural harbor, and has good conditions for embarking inland on rivers and documented prehistoric tracks. Occurrences of unalloyed copper in a Bronze Age context may be considered an indication of trade in raw metals, which is also indicated by residues on crucibles at other central workshop sites in Scandinavia. Hunn was very probably, with its two workshop areas and signs of specialized production of, among other things, preforms, a regional center or aggregation site for craft production and exchange. A high degree of overlap between Nordic metalworking sites in terms of metallurgical know-how, refractory technology and artefact typology, but also sym- bolic decoration, is noted. This is indicative of ambulat- ing, specialized metalworkers who had the aggregation site as their primary arena. A link to the Baltic is seen in the locally manufactured Lausitz-inspired pottery and an early cremation burial at Midtfeltet. The article focusses on the results of small-scale excavation campaigns at Midtfeltet in 1996–2006, covering an area of altogether c. 400 m2. The site produced a substantial amount of clay refractories, metalworking debris, flint, animal bone and pottery, 14C-dated to c. 1300–700 BC. Keywords: Bronze Age; south-east Norway; metal produc- tion; refractory finds; cross-craft technologies; exchange networks; maritime trade

Primitive Tider, 2024

This article explores ceramic production in southwestern Norway during the Roman Iron Age and Migration Period. Large amounts of pottery from these periods have earlier been found in southwestern Norway, despite the abundance of pottery from this period, few traces of pottery workshops have been confirmed in the archaeological record. This paper aims to address this gap in research by exploring a recently excavated ceramic workshop at Ogna in Jæren, Rogaland. The findings from this site offer valuable insights into the spatial arrangements and temporal changes of Iron Age ceramic production in southwestern Norway during the early Iron Age.

Antiquity, 2012

LOTTE HEDEAGER. Iron Age myth and materiality: an archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000. xxx+286 pages, 93 illustrations. 2011. Abingdon: Routledge; 978-0-415-60602-8 hardback £80; 978-0-203-82971-4 e-book; 978-0-415-60604-2 paperback £24.99. FRANDS HERSCHEND. The Early Iron Age in South Scandinavia: social order in settlement and landscape (Uppsala University Occasional Papers in Archaeology 46). 450 pages, 124 colour & b&w illustrations. 2009. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet; 978-91-506-2117-4 hardback.

Inter Ambo Maria 2, ed by I. Kkrapunov & F.-A. Stylegar, 2013

Regionality, in the specific archaeological sense of the spatial distribution of differences in material culture, has not been a central concern for Iron Age specialists in Norway for several decades. But with its varied topography, its mountains, fjords, rivers and lakes, the country is an obvious place to look for such differences. In the present paper, I have turned my attention to burial customs. As one would expect, there is a myriad of local and regional rites to be found, and some traits might occur all over Norway, and indeed over the whole Germanic area. However, some of these ritual traditions might be limited to a single farm, or even to a single family in some cases, while others are probably associated with distinct tribes or other larger groups. But then there are some ritual traditions which cover substantially larger areas than nature-given settlement districts, but still have a rather limited distribution. I have tried to show that these larger areas concur with the major regions met with in later, written sources dealing with the origins of the Medieval kingdom of Norway.

Unpublished PhD thesis, 2023

The point of departure for this study is a single crystal of the mineral galena, from which lead and silver can be produced. The crystal was unearthed during archaeological investigations of a 12th–13th century context in Oslo, Norway. Galena is relatively common in the geological Oslo Region, stretching from Hamar and Lake Mjøsa in the north to the Langesund fjord in the south. However, up until now there has been no confirmed evidence for the mining of rock mineral deposits in Norway before the end of the 15th century. Thus, the overarching question for the present study is whether there is evidence for the exploitation of galena and the production of metallic lead or silver during the Middle Ages in eastern Norway. In this study, methods from the natural sciences were combined with traditional archaeological artefact investigations to study lead and silver objects from the region. By lead isotope analysis and elemental analysis, the geological origin of the metals was discussed. The analyses revealed a large general spread in isotopic compositions and elemental compositions, which show that a variety of different metals and alloys were used during the Middle Ages. However, a significant group of artefacts of pure lead have a specific isotopic composition close to ore material from the Oslo Region. The analyses have made probable that galena was mined, and metallic lead produced in or close to the Old Town of Oslo in the period AD 1125–1325. The production was initiated by the end of the 12th century at the latest. Furthermore, objects of local lead were distributed regionally, and to some extent mixed with imported lead. The analyses suggest that the exploited galena ore was located in the central part of the geological Oslo Region. No galena deposits are registered in the Old Town of Oslo itself, but bedrock registrations show that local deposits may have existed in the lowland area around Oslo. It is argued that galena was smelted in simple hearths to produce pure and soft metallic lead. There is thus far no indication that silver was extracted from this specific ore. Furthermore, it is argued that locally produced lead was used to craft a specific type of lead spindle whorl with a ribbed collar. When investigated by 3D scanning, several of the spindle whorls show identical features and could therefore have been cast in the same mould. It is suggested that the ribbed spindle whorls were produced within an urban household or craft centre in the Old Town of Oslo. This study has thus deepened our understanding of the medieval society, the utilisation of local resources, and technical advances, during the Middle Ages in Norway.

2018

Recent archaeological excavations in Rogaland have revealed several cases of Late Iron Age (LIA) burials overlying Early Iron Age (EIA) buildings. In spite of a growing interest in the transition between the EIA and the LIA, there has been a tendency to treat burials and buildings separately, limiting discussions of the relationship between the two. The superimposition of burials over older buildings, understood as references to the past, can be seen as a characteristic pattern in the Scandinavian Viking Period. Presenting new sites, alongside a few well-known older excavations, and discussing common traits amongst them, I hope to develop new insights into Iron Age society. The most frequent burial-building combination is Viking burials associated with buildings from the Late Roman Iron Age/Migration Period. This may indicate that expansion in the period AD 150–550 played a special role in the Viking Period, and that the placing of Viking burials on Late Roman/Migration Period house...

ISBN 978 1 78491 158 4 ISBN 978 1 78491 159 1 (e-Pdf)

Norwegian Archaeological Review, 2003

Trends in archaeological research in iron production during the 100 years that this topic has been studied in Scandinavia are highlighted in this article. In some periods there has been a relatively high level of activity among iron production researchers; in other periods the interest has tended to wane. Why should this be so and to what extent have theoretical trends in archaeology influenced this field? From a European perspective, Sweden and Norway are uniquely placed for studies of ancient iron technology because the remains of iron production in these countries are situated in remote areas. They are preserved because there has been no activity in the forests and mountain regions to disturb them since the production sites were vacated hundreds and thousands of years ago.