Identification and delineation of settlement space functions in the south Scandinavian Iron Age : theoretical perspectives and practical approaches

• This article presents an overview of methods used in south Scandinavian ar-chaeology for identification and delineation of settlement space functions. The overview includes commonly utilised archaeological approaches, such as arte-fact distribution studies and inferences based on assessment of house and set-tlement morphologies, as well as archaeobotanical, geochemical and geophysi-cal approaches to functional analysis. The theoretical potential and limitations of each presented functional parameter are outlined and thereafter applied and compared using material from five case study sites in east-central Jutland, Hal-land and Bohuslän. The presentation of the site of Gedved Vest in east-central Jutland also incorporates a comparison of two common approaches to geo-chemical sampling: 1) sampling and analysis of soil retrieved from feature fills, and 2) horizontal sampling of soil from the interface between the topsoil (A/Ap) and the subsoil (C) - horizons along a pre-determined grid.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

settlement archaeology

Iron Age

longhouses

functionality of space

multiproxy analysis

phosphate analysis

plant macrofossil analysis

magnetic susceptibility

soil organic matter

artefact distribution

house architecture

settlement structure

Archaeology

arkeologi

Arkeologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)