2 Intraregional Diversity. Approaching Changes in Political Topographies in South-Western Norway Through Burials with Brooches, AD 200–1000
Mari Arentz Østmo 2 Intraregional Diversity. Approaching Changes in Political Topographies in South-western Norway through Burials with Brooches, AD 200–1000 This chapter addresses socio-political structure and change through the examination of spatial and temporal differences in the deposition of brooches in burial contexts and aspects of burial practices. Diachronic sub-regions within Rogaland and parts of southern Hordaland are inferred, enabling a further address of the trajectories within sub-regions and how they interrelate in ongo- ing socio-political processes. The paradox of observed concurrent processes of homogenisation and upsurges of local or regional particularities is addressed through the theoretical framework of globalisation. Within the study area, the sub-regions of Jæren and the Outer coast/Karmsund appear most defined throughout the period AD 200–1000. Here, quite different trajectories are observed, indicating a parallel development of different practices and sub-regional identities. 2.1 Introduction Throughout the Iron Age, dress accessories included brooches, clasps, and pins that held garments together while simultaneously adding decorative and communi- cative elements to the dress. While the functional aspects of brooches are persis- tent, their form and ornamentation vary greatly within the first millennium AD; the typologies of brooches thus constitute a major contribution to the development of Iron Age chronology (Klæsøe 1999:89; Kristoffersen 2000:67; Lillehammer 1996; Røstad 2016a). As such, the brooches deposited in burials provide an exceptional opportunity to address both spatial and temporal variations in burial practices, and furthermore in the social groups that performed those rituals. Regionality, defined as the spatial dimension of cultural differences (Gammeltoft and Sindbæk 2008:7), is here approached on a microscale, focusing on intra-regional diversity in the selective and context-specific use of a particular part of material cul- ture, namely the brooches.
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