This chapter addresses socio-political structure and change through the examination of spatial and temporal differences in the deposition of brooches in burial contexts and aspects of burial practices. Diachronic sub-regions within Rogaland and parts of southern Hordaland are inferred, enabling a further address of the trajectories within sub-regions and how they interrelate in ongoing socio-political processes. The paradox of observed concurrent processes of homogenisation and upsurges of local or regional particularities is addressed through the theoretical framework of globalisation. Within the study area, the sub-regions of Jaeren and the Outer coast/Karmsund appear most defined throughout the period AD 200-1000. Here, quite different trajectories are observed, indicating a parallel development of different practices and sub-regional identities.

At least 36 graves are known from Avaldsnes headland and the immediately adjacent islets and islands. These include two monumental mounds, a raised stones monument, four stone packings, and 15 mounds or cairns that have been identified based on morphological traits across the headland; written sources account for one additional eradicated mound with a raised stone. Several of the monuments contained multiple burials. In addition, four stray finds likely representing graves have not been securely connected to known monuments. Most of these graves have not been the objective of professional excavations, although some documentation is preserved from the 19th-century excavation in Flaghaug. Nine of the graves of various forms were excavated or superficially examined professionally in the 20th century, in addition to the limited excavations of the remains of Flaghaug and Kjellerhaug grave mounds by Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project in 2011-12. The aim of the Flaghaug investigation was to obtain information on its construction and to assess the potential for recovery of artefacts from the remains. The details of the individual secondary burials in Flaghaug are published by Frans-Arne Stylegar and Håkon Reiersen in this volume. The aim of the investigation of Kjellerhaug was to reveal the construction details and stratigraphic relations of the mound as well as to recover datable material in order to obtain a more precise date for the monument. Although the excavations were limited in scope, they succeeded in providing datings of the monuments, along with insights into the landscape and the monuments' history. This chapter also provides an overview of all recorded graves and grave finds at Avaldsnes, which forms the basis for discussing the development of the ritual landscape at Avaldsnes and its relation to the contemporary settlement. The large number of grave monuments at Avaldsnes demonstrates the site's importance in terms of ritual activity and demarcation of social status in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The large grave mounds and the raised-stone monument held a special position, in part due to their clear visibility to people sailing through the strait.

This chapter describes and discusses three identified and one possible prehistoric building at Avaldsnes, alongside an overview of the settlement's organisational layout during various periods of prehistory. The buildings vary in age, size, and function; all these aspects are discussed. Each building is treated in its own section, with an initial description that clarifies the building's essential construction elements, followed by discussion of its possible functions. The poor preservation of the buildings, particularly in Area 1, complicates the interpretation, as aspects of their construction and functions remain unknown. The archaeological features are the main material for the discussion, supplemented by macrofossil and micromorphology analyses, osteology, soil chemistry, and artefacts. The excavations, coupled with previous surveys at Avaldsnes, indicate a settlement that existed over a long period of time, during which the site's organisation became increasingly fixed and the site's various functions increasingly localised in specific areas.The excavation plan for the Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project was conducted with the stated aim of examining those elements that might elucidate the settlement's social status, as well as identifying possible reorganisations of the settlement that could imply changes in social status. The fragmentary building remains uncovered were difficult to interpret, but a tentative assessment from the stated perspective is still plausible.Prior to the excavations of the current project, no complete prehistoric buildings were known at the Avaldsnes headland, although postholes and other construction remains had been identified in Areas 1-6 and on the Kongshaug ridge in the course of surveys carried out by the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger in the period 1992-2006 (Bauer and Østmo, Ch. 5:68-70). As previous investigations were limited to surveying, most of construction remains were documented only superficially, and only a small selection were radiocarbon dated or dated by stratigraphic relations. As such, the 2011-12 excavations provided a wealth of new information in terms of the chronology, spatial distribution, and function of the features excavated. Some of the areas surveyed earlier were not included in the excavation areas of the Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project, leaving unknown the character of these settlement remains, particularly the features at Kongshaug. This elevated ridge running northsouth for approximately 200 meters near the western border of Area 2 was dominated by grave monuments of various forms and dates (Østmo and Bauer, Ch. 12:243-5), most prominently a large stone packing in the southern end containing at least two graves. This grave monument was built over a group of postholes and cooking pits. The grave monument is believed to date from late Site Period (SP) II or early SP III, while the settlement traces must therefore predate this (Hafsaas 2005:12-17; 2006:22-3). It is unknown whether these postholes were components of dwellings or merely fences or other mi...

The traces of human presence at Avaldsnes date back to the Mesolithic; the character and extent of human impact on the site have varied through the many intervening millennia to present. The few scattered Stone Age artefacts that have been retrieved in Iron Age contexts supply scant information on the nature of the earliest human presence. Gradually, however, towards the Bronze Age, and increasingly through the Iron, Viking, and Middle Ages, the preserved remains consist of artefacts and as well as remains of buildings, graves, and deposits, revealing far more detailed information regarding the character of activities taking place at the Avaldsnes headland. To describe an overall phasing of the site, we have identified significant changes in these activities that define the transition from one phase to another. The result of the phasing is the identification of seven site periods (SP I-VII) that span the late Neolithic to c. AD 1900. This chapter serves as an introduction to the 2011-12 Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project excavations, presenting an overview of the excavation results and underlining the main contexts and findings that define the seven site periods and the transitions between them.

A stone construction, 2.2-3.7 metres wide, about 30 metres long, 0.3-0.6 metres high, and probably built in the 7th century, was discovered on the edge of the Avaldsnes settlement plateau. It probably represents the remains of the foundations for a wooden palisade. Its original extent is unknown, and some stones were likely removed over the centuries for reuse in fences and buildings. The construction's parallel rows of stones and the scatter of stones between them, as well its position atop a steep slope on the edge of the plateau, are comparable with the low stone walls or ramparts of 3rd-6th-century fortifications elsewhere on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Around 400 such fortifications are known in Norway, in Sweden more than 1000. While there are possible exceptions such as Halsstein in Trøndelag, only rarely do Norwegian fortifications appear to have been permanently settled. The Avaldsnes fortification represents another possible exception, indicating that the phenomenon of hilltop settlement and enclosed farms is not restricted to continental Europe and Sweden. Material for comparison is provided by approximately 40 Iron Age settled fortifications that have been found in Sweden, especially in the Mälar region, most of which were abandoned by the mid-6th century, and therefore pre-date the Avaldsnes palisade. Nonetheless, a few sites in the Östergötland show continued use into the late Iron Age and the construction of the 8th-century Birka fortifications, though approximately a century younger than A20, provides a late Iron Age parallel. As part of a palisade that contributed to defence of the settlement, the stone construction served a functional purpose; it also would have contributed to Avaldsnes' monumental façade towards the Karmsund Strait, and may have met other demands such as enclosure, demarcation, and the like. The main problem in identifying the precise nature of the Avaldsnes construction is the uncertainty regarding its original extent. Its defensive capacity would be limited if it provided only an incomplete enclosure of the area, leaving other parts of the headland easily accessible to attackers. This chapter describes the physical remains of the stone construction and considers the validity of the suggested interpretations as a palisade foundation with function similar to those at hilltop settlements otherwise found in Sweden and in Germanic areas close to the Roman Limes.