| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Hennius, Andreas, phd, 1871-, et al.
(författare)
-
Late Iron Age Whaling in Scandinavia
- 2023
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. - : Springer. - 1057-2414 .- 1095-9270. ; 18:1, s. 1-22
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of marine mammal bone as a raw material in the manufacturing of gaming pieces in the Scandinavian late Iron Age has been observed and discussed in recent years. New empirical studies have created a chronology as well as a typology showing how the design of the gaming pieces is tightly connected to different choices of raw material; from antler in the Roman and Migration periods, to whale bone in the sixth century, and walrus in the tenth century. Macroscopic examination can, however, rarely go beyond determining that the material is ‘cetacean bone’. The following article presents the taxonomic identifications of 68 samples of whale bone gaming pieces, determined using Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry analysis. The results demonstrate the consistent use of bones from Balaenidae sp. most probably the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). This paper presents strong evidence for active, large-scale hunting of whales in Scandinavia, starting in the sixth century. The manufacture of gaming pieces was probably not the driver for the hunt, but merely a by-product that has survived in the archaeological record. Of greater importance were probably baleen, meat, and blubber that could be rendered into oil. This oil might have been an additional trading product in the far-reaching trade networks that were developing during the period. This study supports previous studies suggesting that Iron Age and medieval trade and resource exploitation had a much more severe influence on ecosystems than previously expected. It adds additional insights into anthropogenic impact on mammal populations in prehistory.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Hennius, Andreas
(författare)
-
Outlanders? : Resource colonisation, raw material exploitation and networks in Middle Iron Age Sweden
- 2021
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Middle Iron Age, around 300–650 CE, was characterised by extensive transformations across many aspects of society in the area of present-day Sweden. Within the central agricultural regions of the southern parts of the country, these changes are evident in a re-organisation of the settlements, renewed burial practices, the building of large-scale monuments, as well as increased militarisation, social stratification and an increase in imported objects. This thesis addresses an additional aspect of Middle Iron Age societal change, namely an increase in the utilisation of raw materials and resources from forested and coastal landscapes situated beyond the settled farm. These non-agrarian landscapes are commonly referred to as the outlands. In previous research, the increased utilisation of the outlands has in general been understood as part of a Viking Age expansion.The case studies of the thesis suggest that the outlands saw an intensified resource colonisation already during the Middle Iron Age, and that a similar explanatory model can be used to accommodate the parallel developments that appear in the agrarian landscapes as well as the in the outlands. The resource colonisation contributed to a surplus production that seems to have exceeded the needs of ordinary households, along with serially produced items, distributed along far-reaching trade networks in exchange of exotic commodities. The thesis argues that these networks should be interpreted as part of systems connecting distant regions, ranging from the Far East to Arctic Scandinavia. The discussions of the cases studies illustrate interplay between different groups of people – producers and consumers, hunters and farmers – in different parts of the landscape, and how they generated complex, social and economic relations and interdependencies. This in turn resulted in specific cultural patterns in the border area between the boreal forest in the north and the agrarian region in the south. The main contribution of the study is that it highlights how the main elements of outland exploitation, such as mass production and trade in valuable non-agrarian resources, can be dated earlier than has been previously thought. Moreover, the thesis argues that outland resource colonisation was an important driving force for the societal developments that took place during the Middle Iron Age, and is crucial for our understanding of later time periods.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
