Hand Querns in South-Western Norway and the Corresponding Crop Plant Assemblages: Introduction

Prøsch-Danielsen, Lisbeth; Soltvedt, Eli-Christine

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0390.2011.00423.x

Cited by 21 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…So far, no cereal grains have been dated to the end of the Early Bronze Age (1300-1200 cal BC) in Eastern Norway. In Southwest Norway, emmer/spelt is more common in the Bronze Age (Soltvedt et al 2007;Prøsch-Danielsen and Soltvedt 2011). The cereal grains found in the rock shelter (Nordby 52, Table 2) were 14 C-dated to the Late Bronze Age (1200-500 cal BC).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8) ribwort plantain (P. lanceolata) pollen and increasing graminoids together with apophytes in zone 7A (c. 900-400 cal BC) reveal there was an opening up of the landscape at this time due to agricultural activities. Naked barley, hulled barley and emmer are all reported from Østfold and Rogaland in Late Bronze Age (1200-500 cal BC) (Soltvedt 1999;Bårdseth and Sandvik 2010;Prøsch-Danielsen and Soltvedt 2011). The counties of Vestfold, Østfold and Rogaland in Norway are at the same latitude as Vestfold and are comparable in terms of cultural course of events.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold, Southeast Norway, as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

Soltvedt

Henningsmoen

2014

Environmental Archaeology

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This paper presents and interprets two data sets from Vestfold, Southeast Norway: the pollen record is from a small lake basin, isolated from the sea in Mid Mesolithic (8100-6400 cal BC), and with a record of sediment deposition up to recent time. Charred plant remains from six settlement sites ranging in date from the Late Neolithic (2400-1800 cal BC) to the Merovingian Period (cal AD 570-800). Soil from archaeological contexts that was recovered from several prehistoric settlement features (two-and three-aisled houses, a rock shelter and a pit) has also been investigated. The number and concentrations of identifiable charred macro remains are low from all features except one, but the records contribute to the interpretation of agriculture and wild plant use. Carbonised cereals dated to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age are reported from a two-aisled house. Naked barley was the main cereal identified and a few weed seeds were found with the cereal grains. In a rock shelter nearby, cereals and seeds of flax were found, demonstrating cultivation in the Late Bronze Age. Pollen of ribwort plantain recorded in lake deposits in Nordbytjern, 0·5 km to the southwest, also indicates agricultural activity in the southern part of Vestfold during the Late Bronze Age. Archaeobotanical samples from Early Iron Age houses contained low concentrations of carbonised cereal remains, mainly hulled barley, but also wheat and oat. Seeds/fruits of weeds, plants of moist/wet habitats and grasses increase in abundance from the end of Roman Period. The high concentration of hulled barley found in a pit at the site of Ringdal 13 confirms that hulled barley was a cereal used in the Iron Age. Throughout the Iron Age, cereal pollen has a continuous curve in the Nordbytjern pollen diagram, demonstrating the significance of cereal cultivation in Vestfold. Flax was also cultivated in the vicinity of and probably processed in Nordbytjern. Large numbers of rush seeds and sedge nutlets indicate a possible involvement in basketry and cordage making and/or as animal fodder.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold, Southeast Norway, as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

Soltvedt

Henningsmoen

2014

Environmental Archaeology

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“…These have not as yet been properly analysed. The material from the remaining 27 houses, containing samples with more than ten charred grains or fragments of grain found in each house have been analysed by Prøsch-Danielsen and Soltvedt (2011). Table 1 shows the time and species distribution of this material, which consists of 13 172 grains or fragments of grains.…”

Section: The Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Naked barley constitutes nearly 90 % of the deposit in the posthole in house 32B, while hulled barley makes up 97 % of the cereals in the house 90 posthole. The large amount of nearly single-species seeds makes it likely that they derive from intentional deposits, probably of a sacrificial nature (Bakkevig 1991, Prøsch-Danielsen & Soltvedt 2011. House 32B also contained smaller amounts of cereals in other postholes, probably deriving from various activities in the house.…”

Section: The Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pit did not appear to have a structural link to house 59, and was dated to 1280-1120 BC, based on a combination date of five charred seeds, dated individually -placing the pit firmly in Period III. An analysis of 332 seeds determined to species (Bakkevig 1991, Prøsch-Danielsen & Soltvedt 2011 shows that wheat (Triticum) is present in 25 % of the cereals, compared to 10 % or less in the two older samples, while barley (Hordeum) constitutes 75 %. Like in house 32B in Period II, naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var.…”

Section: House Sequences 8 Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bronze Age and Early Iron Age house and settlement development at Forsandmoen, south-western Norway

Løken¹

2021

AmS-Skrifter

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The ambition of this monograph is to analyse a limited number of topics regarding house types and thus social and economic change from the extensive material that came out of the archaeological excavation that took place at Forsandmoen (“Forsand plain”), Forsand municipality, Rogaland, Norway during the decade 1980–1990, as well as the years 1992, 1995 and 2007. The excavation was organised as an interdisciplinaryresearch project within archaeology, botany (palynological analysis from bogs and soils, macrofossil analysis) and phosphate analysis, conducted by staff from the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger (as it was called until 2009, now part of the University of Stavanger). A large phosphate survey project had demarcaded a 20 ha settlement area, among which 9 ha were excavated using mechanical topsoil stripping to expose thehabitation traces at the top of the glaciofluvial outwash plain of Forsandmoen. A total of 248 houses could be identified by archaeological excavations, distributed among 17 house types. In addition, 26 partly excavated houses could not be classified into a type. The extensive house material comprises three types of longhouses, of which there are as many as 30–40 in number, as well as four other longhouse types, of which there are only 2–7 in number. There were nine other house types, comprising partly small dwelling houses and partly storage houses, of which there were 3–10 in number. Lastly, there are 63 of the smallest storage house, consisting of only four postholes in a square shape. A collection of 264 radiocarbon dates demonstrated that the settlement was established in the last part of the 15th century BC and faded out during the 7th–8th century AD, encompassing the Nordic Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. As a number of houses comprising four of the house types were excavated with the same methods in the same area by the same staff, it is a major goal of this monograph to analyse thoroughly the different featuresof the houses (postholes, wall remains, entrances, ditches, hearths, house-structure, find-distribution) and how they were combined and changed into the different house types through time. House material from different Norwegian areas as well as Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands is included in comparative analyses to reveal connections within the Nordic area. Special attention has been given to theinterpretation of the location of activity areas in the dwelling and byre sections in the houses, as well as the life expectancy of the two main longhouse types. Based on these analyses, I have presented a synthesis in 13 phases of the development of the settlement from Bronze Age Period II to the Merovingian Period. This analysis shows that, from a restricted settlement consisting of one or two small farms in the Early BronzeAge, it increases slightly throughout the Late Bronze Age to 2–3 solitary farms to a significantly larger settlement consisting of 3–4 larger farms in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From the beginning of the early Roman Iron Age, the settlement seems to increase to 8–9 even larger farms, and through the late Roman Iron Age, the settlement increases to 12–13 such farms, of which 6–7 farms are located so close together that they would seem to be a nucleated or village settlement. In the beginning of the Migration Period, there were 16–17 farms, each consisting of a dwelling/byre longhouse and a workshop, agglomerated in an area of 300 x 200 m where the farms are arranged in four E–W oriented rows. In addition, two farms were situated 140 m NE of the main settlement. At the transition to the Merovingian Period, radiocarbon dates show that all but two of the farms were suddenly abandoned. At the end of that period, the Forsandmoen settlement was completely abandoned. The abandonment could have been caused by a combination of circumstances such as overexploitation in agriculture, colder climate, the Plague of Justinian or the collapse of the redistributive chiefdom system due to the breakdown of the Roman Empire. The abrupt abandonment also coincides with a huge volcanic eruption or cosmic event that clouded the sun around the whole globe in AD 536–537. It is argued that the climatic effect on the agriculture at this latitude could induce such a serious famine that the settlement, in combination with the other possible causes, was virtually laid waste during the ensuing cold decade AD 537–546.

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Prehistoric agriculture in western Norway – Evidence for shifting and permanent cultivation based on botanical investigations from archaeological sites

Hand Querns in South-Western Norway and the Corresponding Crop Plant Assemblages: Introduction

Cited by 21 publications

References 17 publications

Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold, Southeast Norway, as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold, Southeast Norway, as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

Bronze Age and Early Iron Age house and settlement development at Forsandmoen, south-western Norway

Prehistoric agriculture in western Norway – Evidence for shifting and permanent cultivation based on botanical investigations from archaeological sites

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