Hunting Pit Systems as Landscape Domestication: Large-Scale Hunting in the Arctic Regions of Sweden

Abstract

Hunting pits are common archaeological features in northern landscapes, mainly researched from a morphological perspective, as dateable material is scarce. This has resulted in a limited and generalized understanding of hunting pits. While human land use in non-agrarian settings is often subtle, it can still be understood in terms of distribution and management by using relational approaches that address spatial organization and the nature of land use. This study, based on extensive field surveys and GIS analyses and guided by the concept of landscape domestication, has identified the characteristics of approximately 1500 previously unrecorded hunting pits in the Arctic region of Sweden. It examines how hunting pit systems, their selective spatial distribution, and strategic arrangement can be seen as expressions of landscape domestication. The author concludes that, through profound knowledge and deliberate resource management, communities invested in the landscape, generating dense spatial and temporal manifestations in the form of hunting pits. These systems reflect an elaborate hunting technique involving the whole landscape.