Exploitation of outfield resources – Joint Research at the University Museums of Norway Svein Indrelid, Kari Loe Hjelle & Kathrine Stene (Editors) Birgitta Berglund, Martin Callanan, Sigrid Hillern H. Kaland & Lars Stenvik (Co-editors) Exploitation of outfield resources – Joint Research at the University Museums of Norway Photos: Wild reindeer exploitation – photo: Svein Ulvund Iron extraction – photo: Gråfjellprosjektet, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo Soapstone extraction – photo: Øystein J. Jansen Landscape exploitation and transformation – photo: Kathrine Stene University of Bergen University Museum of Bergen www.uib.no/universitetsmuseet ØMERK ILJ ET M 2 41 9 69 Trykksak Index Foreword 4 Wild reindeer exploitation The hunting history – part of important know-how in the wild reindeer management 9 Per Jordhøy & Runar Hole New traces of wild reindeer hunting in the alpine areas in Northern Norway 19 Ingrid Sommerseth Medieval reindeer trapping at the Hardangervidda mountain plateau 29 Svein Indrelid Use of pitfall traps in wild reindeer hunting in the mountains of South West Norway: The location, construction method and use of the hunting sites 37 Sveinung Bang-Andersen Trapping pits for reindeer – a discussion on construction and dating 49 Jostein Bergstøl Chronological patterns among archaeological finds from snow patches in Central Norway 1914–2011 55 Martin Callanan DNA from ancient reindeer antler as marker for transport routes and movement of craftspeople, raw material and products in medieval Scandinavia 69 Knut H. Røed & Gitte Hansen The medieval reindeer population (Rangifer tarandus) from the high mountain plateau Hardangervidda, Southern Norway: work in progress 75 Liselotte M. Takken Beijersbergen 1 Iron extraction The bloomery in Mid-Norway: A retrospective glance and foresight 85 Lars F. Stenvik How did the natives of North Norway secure the supply of iron in the Iron Age? 99 Roger Jørgensen Late Iron Age (ca. AD 6/700–1000) – a white spot in the iron extraction history? 107 Bernt Rundberget Soapstone extraction Soapstone in Northern Norway: Research status, production evidence and quarry survey results 117 Stephen Wickler Possibilities for a society analysis by means of soapstone – examples from Helgeland, Northern Norway 129 Birgitta Berglund The medieval quarries at Sparbu: A Central Norwegian “little sister” of the Purbeck quarry landscape in England 141 Per Storemyr From collection to quarry – Lyse Abbey’s role as soapstone supplier in the Middle Ages 155 Alf Tore Hommedal Provenancing soapstone – experiences from different geochemical methods 167 Øystein J. Jansen Perspectives on the characterization of ancient soapstone quarries 175 Tom Heldal 2 Landscape exploitation and transformation Resource exploitation and settlement in mountain areas in Southern Norway during the Early Iron Age – an altered perception of landscape and landscape use? 191 Kathrine Stene The outfields as a precondition for farming in the early historical period 203 Jan Anders Timberlid Market places in “Mountain-land” – a research project on communication and exchange of commodities in the Viking Age and the Middle Ages 215 Kjetil Loftsgarden Contextualizing cup marks: An approach for a better dating and understanding of their meaning and function 223 Trond Klungseth Lødøen Osteological assemblages from rock shelters as source data for subsistence from Bronze Age to the Middle Ages in Western Norway 231 Anne Karin Hufthammer Open landscapes and the use of outfield resources through time – methodological aspects and potential of pollen analysis 241 Kari Loe Hjelle Authors 254 3 Foreword This book contains papers presented at an interdisciplinary workshop held at The Norwegian Institute in Rome 3–4 December 2012, entitled “Utmarksarkeologi i Norge” (Outfield archaeology in Norway). The workshop was arranged by the archaeological research project “Forskning i Fellesskap” (Joint Research), which is a cooperative project between the five University Museums in Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. The project runs from 2011 to 2015 and is financed by The Research Council of Norway and the University Museums. A principal objective of “Joint Research” is to strengthen the archaeological research collaboration between the Norwegian University Museums, and also with the University Departments other relevant research institutions, particularly within adjacent scientific fields. A further aim is to establish and develop research networks within prioritised target areas. The project has three research networks, each with representatives from all five museums: Pioneer network – Agrarian network – Outfield network The concept “utmark”, which in Scandinavian literature is normally translated as “outfield”, lacks a corresponding denotation in English. The outfield comprises all uncultivated land outside settlement areas and agricultural areas, i.e. lakes, bogs, forests, wasteland and mountains. When agricultural areas and settlement areas are excluded, the outfield comprises 96% of the land area in Norway. The natural resources of the outfield have throughout the ages been of great importance in the form of hunting, fishing, gathering, grazing, forestry and raw material exploitation. The traces of such activities from prehistoric and medieval times are today cultural monuments and sites. As such they are important research items, and outfield archaeology is a central and extensive research theme at the University Museums. The Outfield Research Network has four prioritised research themes: Wild reindeer exploitation Iron extraction Soapstone extraction Landscape exploitation and transformation 4 The workshop in Rome gathered 30 participants within archaeology, botany, osteology and geology. The aim of the lectures was to give an overview of ongoing outfield research in Norway. This publication contains 23 of the 30 lectures presented at the workshop. It has been up to the lecturers to decide the levels of presentation and popularisation of the individual contributions. In the book, the lectures are largely presented in the version in which they were delivered, in most cases with minor alterations, but with references to literature, and the lectures held in Norwegian have been translated into English. Hopefully, the articles will give a fairly representative overview of current outfield research in Norway within the four prioritised research themes. The first drafts of the manuscripts were reviewed by a committee consisting of Martin Callanan, Trondheim (wild reindeer exploitation), Kari Loe Hjelle and Sigrid Hillern H. Kaland, Bergen (landscape exploitation and transformation), Lars Stenvik, Trondheim (iron extraction) and Birgitta Berglund, Trondheim (soapstone extraction). The final editing was carried out by an editing committee at the University Museum of Bergen: Svein Indrelid, Kari Loe Hjelle and Kathrine Stene. The articles have been translated into English by Vedis Bjørndal. Beate Helle has been responsible for the layout and design. Bergen, April 2015 Svein Indrelid Coordinator for the outfield research network (2011 – 2014) 5 6 Wild reindeer exploitation Wild reindeer exploitation Per Jordhøy & Runar Hole The hunting history – part of important know-how in the wild reindeer management Per Jordhøy & Runar Hole Abstract The Dovre–Rondane population has been isolated The understanding of the dynamics in the in a separate refugium since the late Ice Age. Besides wild reindeer range use bows and arrows, and more recently firearms, A set of different data points out that most reindeer have been hunted in a variety of ways down of the central mountain areas have been used the ages, not least using pitfalls and systems of fences by the wild reindeer in one or several periods which led the animals into traps, off precipices, through a long total cycle (rotation of usage). or into lakes and rivers. The wild reindeer is an Bulls use the peripheral areas (peninsulas) important barometer for measuring environmental most. However, they are not gregarious, often condition in northern regions. The systems of ancient occurring either solitarily or in small groups, reindeer pitfalls, traps and connecting settlements in and their presence is often overseen – while the region are very extensive and diverse. In Dovre– the huge breeding aggregations which are Rondane they indicate an original and extensive generally found in the more central parts of regional migration between the winter grazing the mountain areas are more easy to locate. grounds far inland and summer grazing range in Thus, it is important to avoid “downgrading” the westernmost coastal mountains. Most trapping the peripheral (including alpine peninsulas) systems proved larger and more varied than previous of the wild reindeer range. Such ranges work had shown. count also as important buffer zones in more marginal situations. These are central aspects Introduction in understanding reindeer land use in an Norway has a particular responsibility for ecological perspective. conserving wild reindeer in Europe. More than 90% of the European wild reindeer The main threat: Habitat fragmentation population is found within 23 more or less In the past, the Dovre–Rondane mountain distinct populations in southern Norway. area was a more or less continuous habitat for a large reindeer herd. In the last 100 years, Of these populations there are few herds man has changed the habitat gradually, of original wild mountain reindeer left, through construction and other disturbances. because