Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden
Among the most prominent prehistoric features in the boreal forests of northern Sweden are trapping pits or pitfalls used for hunting elk and/or reindeer. Even if often ascribed to the Viking Age and its trade in furs and other animal products, the chronology of these features has long been a matter...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S146195712000008X |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/eaa.2020.8 2024-03-24T09:04:09+00:00 Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden Hennius, Andreas 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S146195712000008X en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ European Journal of Archaeology volume 23, issue 4, page 530-546 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 Archeology Archeology journal-article 2020 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8 2024-02-26T15:35:11Z Among the most prominent prehistoric features in the boreal forests of northern Sweden are trapping pits or pitfalls used for hunting elk and/or reindeer. Even if often ascribed to the Viking Age and its trade in furs and other animal products, the chronology of these features has long been a matter of debate. In this article, a database of 370 dated radiocarbon samples from excavated pitfalls has been compiled and analysed using Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) modelling to create the most elaborate chronology of Swedish trapping pit systems so far. The analysis shows that the most intensive period of construction of trapping pits was in the centuries before the Viking period. This challenges previous interpretations of Viking Age resource exploitation but is in line with several other recently published studies concerned with resource exploitation, non-agrarian production, and trade connecting northern Scandinavia with inter-regional trade networks. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Cambridge University Press European Journal of Archaeology 23 4 530 546 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Archeology Archeology |
spellingShingle |
Archeology Archeology Hennius, Andreas Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
topic_facet |
Archeology Archeology |
description |
Among the most prominent prehistoric features in the boreal forests of northern Sweden are trapping pits or pitfalls used for hunting elk and/or reindeer. Even if often ascribed to the Viking Age and its trade in furs and other animal products, the chronology of these features has long been a matter of debate. In this article, a database of 370 dated radiocarbon samples from excavated pitfalls has been compiled and analysed using Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) modelling to create the most elaborate chronology of Swedish trapping pit systems so far. The analysis shows that the most intensive period of construction of trapping pits was in the centuries before the Viking period. This challenges previous interpretations of Viking Age resource exploitation but is in line with several other recently published studies concerned with resource exploitation, non-agrarian production, and trade connecting northern Scandinavia with inter-regional trade networks. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hennius, Andreas |
author_facet |
Hennius, Andreas |
author_sort |
Hennius, Andreas |
title |
Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
title_short |
Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
title_full |
Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
title_fullStr |
Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden |
title_sort |
towards a refined chronology of prehistoric pitfall hunting in sweden |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S146195712000008X |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_source |
European Journal of Archaeology volume 23, issue 4, page 530-546 ISSN 1461-9571 1741-2722 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8 |
container_title |
European Journal of Archaeology |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
530 |
op_container_end_page |
546 |
_version_ |
1794405210540474368 |