The Biocultural Heritage of Outland Use : Commodity Production in the Rural Edges of Scandinavia

• Main Authors: Svensson, Eva, Lindholm, Karl-Johan
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Arkeologi 2022
• Subjects: biocultural heritage; outland use; market; rural edge; bloomery iron production; pitfall hunting; shieling; Archaeology; Arkeologi; Alces alces
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-495502

Results from new methods for tracing provenience of objects and raw materials show that there have been networks of trade connecting the boreal forests of inland Scandinavia to central agricultur-al regions in spite of long geographical distances. As there is no information in written documents, we suggest that biocultural heritage, derived from the entangled socio-ecological processes of niche construction and landscape domestication, is the main source for studying the commodity production in these rural edges of inland Scandinavia. Biocultural heritage includes place names, diverse archaeological sites, shaped biophysical elements of the landscape, such as responses in vegetation and soils, species composition, fauna and biodiversity. This paper is examining two well studied forested areas of inland Scandinavia where commodity production was performed in the Viking Age and medieval to Early Modern times (ca. 800–1700 AD); Dalby in northern Värm-land and Ängersjö with neighbouring areas in northwest Hälsningland/south Härjedalen. Agrarian settlement colonisation, by freeholding peas-ants, in the early to middle Iron Age (ca. 500 AD or a bit earlier) was based on an innovation package of farm-shieling-outland use, and on versatile and cooperative working systems. It was also a question of resource colonisation, with commodities such as furs, attracting settlers. Three types of outland uses are examined: pit-fall hunting, bloomery iron production and shiel-ings (seasonally used sites for grazing livestock). In Dalby there was intensive pitfall hunting and bloomery iron production in the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages (ca. 800–1250 AD), resulting in a surplus production for trade of iron and elk (Alces alces) related products such as antler. When the markets for these products were lost, the peasants instead expanded the use of shielings in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern times. In the Ängersjö-area shielings and bloomery iron production were expanded in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern times. Iron ...