Towards a Refined Chronology of Prehistoric Pitfall Hunting in Sweden

• Published in: European Journal of Archaeology
• Main Author: Hennius, Andreas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia 2020
• Subjects: Vendel/Viking period; northern Scandinavia; trapping pit system; Kernel Density Estimation (KDE); outland resource exploitation; trade networks; Archaeology; Arkeologi; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-428304; https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2020.8

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.