scholarly journals Ferd og frakt over fjell og vidde

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Kjetil Loftsgarden
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Surplus Production ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Law Texts

This study demonstrates how routes over mountain plateaus and passes connected farms, hamlets and regions. The routes enabled wide social and economic networks and were a prerequisite for regional surplus production in the Norwegian inland areas from the Viking Age.Iron, furs, skins and antlers were among the important commodities for farmers in the mountain and valley regions. These resources were exchanged for goods from the coastal areas, and it is likely that the purpose for much of the traffic over the mountains was trade. Medieval law texts and later historical sources indicate that the bulk of the traffic over mountains took place during the summer. The commodities were transported on packhorses or by foot.Using archaeological sites and findings, as well as place-names and historical sources, I have mapped the main mountain trails in South Norway. The historical significance of these communication routes are indicated by large burial sites, some consisting of hundreds of burial mounds, at the foot of several mountain crossings. These sites are testament to the great importance and value of communication and transportation across mountains passes – and its control – well before the extensive regional surplus production from the last half the Viking Age.

scholarly journals The Warrior and the Cat: A Re-Evaluation of the Roles of Domestic Cats in Viking Age Scandinavia

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (27) ◽  
pp. 213-245
Author(s):  
Matthias Toplak
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Cat ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Domestic Cats ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Old Irish ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Law Texts

The role of cats in Viking Age society is little investigated and has been dominated by uncritical adoptions of medieval mythology. Based on literary sources, the domestic cat is often linked to cultic spheres of female sorcery. Yet the archaeological evidence indicates an ambivalent situation. Cat bones from many trading centres show cut marks from skinning and highlight the value of cat fur. In contrast, the occurrence of cats in male burials points rather to a function as exotic and prestigious pets. The influence of Old Norse mythology on the traditional interpretation of cats as cultic companions therefore needs critical reconsideration. For this, a broad range of literary and historical sources – from Old Norse literature to Old Irish law texts – will be analysed and confronted with the archaeological evidence for domestic cats in Viking Age Scandinavia. The results will be discussed on a broader theoretical approach, involving concepts such as agency, and embedded in current research on human-animal-relations in order to achieve a more nuanced perspective on the roles and functions of cats in day-to-day reality as well as in the burial context.

Secular geomagnetic field variations in Bulgarian lands during Classical Age and Late Antiquity – new archaeomagnetic data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kostadinova-Avramova ◽  
Petar Dimitrov ◽  
Andrei Kosterov ◽  
Mary Kovacheva
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
National Science ◽  
Basic Research Grant ◽  
National Science Fund ◽  
Research Grant

<p>Numerous historical sources and archaeological monuments attest the age of Antiquity in Bulgaria – from both the early Roman period (I – III c.) and Late Antiquity (IV – VI c.). Owing to systematic archaeological excavations, lasting more than 100 years, plenty of information has been accumulated concerning not only all aspects and manifestations of its material culture, but also their evolution and chronology.  This in turn allows for interdisciplinary fields such as archaeomagnetism to progress.</p><p>There are many archaeomagnetically studied archaeological structures from the Antiquity. The results included in the Bulgarian database form 74 reference points. However, only 20 of them are full-vector determinations because 70 % of the investigated materials are bricks. Hence, the secular variation of declination is poorly constrained within the considered period. Moreover, the reuse of bricks in the constructions occurred quite often (especially in the Late Antiquity) providing for possible errors in archaeological dating. In addition, stronger effects of magnetic anisotropy and cooling rate are usually expected for bricks than for hearths, domestic ovens, production kilns or burnt dwelling remains (there are no results from pottery in the Bulgarian dataset) and both factors are not evaluated for most of the older results. All this can explain the contradictions observed between some of the experimental results juxtaposed over the absolute time scale. In an attempt to clarify these contradictions 13 baked clay structures from eight archaeological sites were archaeomagnetically studied producing seven new directional and eight new intensity data. The samples collected possess variable magnetic properties suggesting differences in clay sources and/or firing conditions. Magnetically soft minerals prevail in seven structures but in the remaining six, abundant HCSLT phase is detected. The success rate of archaeointensity determination experiments vary from 49 to 100 %. It appears that samples containing HCSLT phase always produces good araeointensity results unlike those with the dominant presence of soft carriers.</p><p>The new reference points are compared with the present compilation of Bulgarian archaeomagnetic dataset and with the data from the neighboring countries.</p><p> </p><p>This study is supported by the grant KP-06-Russia-10 from the Bulgarian National Science Fund and Russian Foundation of the Basic Research grant 19-55-18006.</p>

scholarly journals Bienes De Consumo Cotidiano, Cultura Material E Identidad A Lo Largo Del Camino Real En El Norte De México

Xihmai ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Fournier Garcí­a ◽  
Bridget M. Zavala Moynahan
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Camino Real ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Royal Road ◽  
Life Consumption

Resumen A lo largo del Camino Real los habitantes usaron la cultura material - incluyendo objetos de uso cotidiano destinados a la preparación, almacenamiento y servicio de alimentos- para construir y reafirmar aspectos identitarios. En este ensayo, derivado de nuestras investigaciones concluidas en 2013, consideramos patrones de consumo de estos objetos desde el siglo XVIII hasta inicios del XX reflejados en inventarios de bienes de la época y contextos arqueológicos de la Nueva Vizcaya colonial (hoy Durango y Chihuahua). Contrastamos entre las vajillas que emplearon las personas con alto poder adquisitivo y los de uso entre el común de la gente, según los registros documentales y los contextos arqueológicos con diversas funciones y temporalidades registrados en el valle del Rí­o Sextí­n, Durango.   Palabras clave: Nueva Vizcaya, Camino Real, consumo cotidiano, haciendas, identidad Abstract   The residents along the Royal Road used material culture, including everyday life objects related to the preparation, storage and serving of foods, to construct and reaffirm aspects of their social identity and status. In this article, based on our research finished in 2013, we consider their consumption as reflected in 18th to 20th century documents and archaeological contexts from southern New Biscay (modern-day Durango and Chihuahua). We compare ceramic goods used by individuals with high economic standing with those employed by commoners, as registered in historical sources and data from archaeological sites with diverse functions and temporalities, recorded in the Sextí­n valley, Durango. Keywords: New Biscay, Royal Road, everyday life consumption, haciendas, identity

scholarly journals The Culture of the Sakas of Semirechye: Contemporary State and Current Issues of Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-35
Author(s):  
Ernar A. Estemesov
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Funeral Rites ◽  
The Third ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Second Category

Purpose. The article describes the history and analysis of the main issues in the study of archaeological sites of the Saka period in Semirechye. They are presented by three main types on this territory: burial and memorial complexes, settlements and hoards. The first type of monuments includes numerous burial mounds, where the elite burials of “royal” type and ordinary burials are located. Both social groups are combined by the unity of funeral rites, and the main differences are the complexity of architecture, memorial practices, and richness of burial equipment in the “royal” type burial mounds. The second category of monuments is presented by the settlements that are mostly small in size. The constructions like half dugouts were discovered on them, which gave a rich ceramic material. The third type of monuments of the Saka period in Semirechye includes numerous hoards of bronze items. Some of them are represented by the cult objects (sacrificial tables, lamps and cauldrons) that mark the places of worship. A significant percentage of the hoards contain items of weapons, horse equipment and household purposes and, apparently, serve as offerings to the spirits. However, despite the considerable progress in the study of the Saka monuments of the Semirechye Region, the main problem is their cultural attribution at this time. Some researchers suggest that the independent Saka archaeological culture was formed and developed on the territory of Semirechye in the Early Iron Age, while others believe that the Saka monuments of this region belong to the broader historical and cultural community that also covers the neighboring regions of Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang. Results Another important issue in the study of the Saka sites of Semirechye is to clarify the chronology of burial and memorial complexes. Up to now, the significant database of radiocarbon dates has been accumulated, which allows us to consider the chronological positions of a wide range of monuments in a new way. It was of great importance to obtain such dates from several burials of Karatuma necropolis, which showed that it belonged to the Saka period, since burial monuments of this appearance are traditionally dated back to the Wusun period. Conclusion. The necessity of solution of these problems is an urgent task for further research of burial and settlement objects of the Saka period in this region.

Vikings

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy L. Wicker
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
The North ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
America South

The Viking Age spans the period from approximately 750 to 1100 ce in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The name “Viking” is used to refer to the inhabitants of Scandinavia and its colonies during the early medieval period, even though the name originally most likely referred only to sea-pirates from Scandinavia. Much of the research on the Vikings has focused on three great narratives of the Viking Age: expansion through raids, trade, and settlement; the beginnings of political unification of the three Scandinavian nations; and the Christianization of these kingdoms. The Viking incursions into the British Isles began late in the 8th century, and in the 9th century, Vikings pushed farther west to the North Atlantic and North America, south along the coast of the European continent, and east to Russia and the East and beyond, even into Central Asia. By the 12th century, Scandinavia is Christianized and the Viking Age is over. This list of works focuses on Material Culture and the Historical Sources—Western Europe of the Viking Age rather than the medieval literature (12th and 13th centuries) of Scandinavia and Iceland, except for brief mention of Eddic literature that may contain information from earlier times and has been influential for the study of the Vikings.

scholarly journals Burial Mounds, Ard Marks, and Memory: A Case Study from the Early Iron Age at Bamble, Telemark, Norway

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-226
Author(s):  
Christian Løchsen Rødsrud
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Field System ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
Point Of Departure

The point of departure for this article is the excavation of two burial mounds and a trackway system in Bamble, Telemark, Norway. One of the mounds overlay ard marks, which led to speculation as to whether the site was ritually ploughed or whether it contained the remains of an old field system. Analysis of the archaeometric data indicated that the first mound was related to a field system, while the second was constructed 500–600 years later. The first mound was probably built to demonstrate the presence of a kin and its social norms, while these norms were renegotiated when the second mound was raised in the Viking Age. This article emphasizes that the ritual and profane aspects were closely related: mound building can be a ritualized practice intended to legitimize ownership and status by the reuse of domestic sites in the landscape. Further examples from Scandinavia indicate that this is a common, but somewhat overlooked, practice.

A Rethink on the Origine of Songgungni Culture

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-125
Author(s):  
Jaeho Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Paddy Field ◽  
Family System ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Shandong Peninsula ◽  
Surplus Production ◽  
Ceramic Art ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
The Difference

Songgungni Culture, formed in the late Bronze Age of Korean peninsula, is characterized by the increased power of chieftains, uses of bronzeware, and constructions of huge burial mounds known as Guhoekmyo. The discussion on the difference of Songgungni Culture from previous cultural forms has been divided into the view to see it as foreign influences and that to see it derived from the previous local cultures. The author suggested the latter view first in 1992 but the findings accumulated since then lead us to rethink the origin of Songgungni Culture from a perspective that conjoins these two oft-conflicting views. The Zhou Dynasty and paddy field agrarian culture in the lower area of the Yangtze River influenced the formation of Songgungni Culture given the following findings. First, the Zhou Dynasty’s ceramic art called Beating Technique was discovered in Songgungni Culture with other artifacts such as weights made of stone, bottom parts of Chinese earthenware, and the jar coffins indicating the existence of ascribed status. Second, the excavations of paddy fields, Yunnan- style kilns, independent pillar structures, flask-shaped storage holes, and pestles suggest the propagation of the paddy field rice culture of the lower Yangtze along the coastline of the Shandong Peninsula. Under these foreign influences, Songguk-ri type potteries and other creative agricultural tools were produced. The differentiation of the previous joint family system into the nuclear produced lots of downsized dwelling areas which characterize Songguk-ri culture. And the innovation in the yielding capacity made possible by paddy fields also shows an aspect of Chiefdom settled into this area during the time. The surplus production of this period was not enough to advance towards the autonomous production of bronzeware. The increased size of chieftains’ tombs did not contain enough burial goods. Given the aforementioned findings, Songgungni Culture could be understood as an early stage of Chiefdom, just getting out of the state of fragmented society.

scholarly journals EXCAVATIONS OF KASTYKI BARROW CEMETERY IN THE VILIYA UPPER REACHES IN 1973

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
M. A. Plavinski ◽  
M. I. Stsiapanava
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
The West ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
New Research ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Village

The complex of archaeological monuments near the village Kastyki of the Viliejka district of the Minsk region consists of an Old Rus’ barrow cemetery and an open settlement, which functioned from the late Neolithic period to the third quarter of the 1st millennium AD. The complex of archaeological sites under the question is located in the eastern part of the village Kastyki in the upper reaches of the Vilija, on its right bank, 2.5 km from the confluence of the Servač River into Vilija River. For the first time, studies at Kastyki were carried out by K. Tyszkiewicz in 1856, when he excavated here one partially destroyed mound, containing neither traces of burial nor burial goods. In 1973, J. Zviaruha conducted a study of the barrow cemetery in Kastyki and excavated here 7 burial mounds. This article is devoted to the publication of materials from the Kastyki barrow cemetery, which took place in 1973 under the direction of J. Zviaruha. The focus is on rethinking the results of the 1973 excavations in the light of new research conducted in 2016 and 2018. The analysis of materials from the excavation of the burial mound, carried out in 1973, suggests that the necropolis functioned during the middle of the 11th—12th centuries. It belonged to a group of residents of the Polatsk land, who made burials according to the rites of inhumation on the basis of burial mounds, with their heads directed to the west. This, in turn, suggests that the members of the Old Rus’ community, which left the necropolis in Kastyki, had a certain understanding of the Christian burial rites.

scholarly journals Studies of Paleometallic Era Burial Monuments on the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Islands

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Elena Solov'eva ◽  
Irina Gnezdilova ◽  
Anastasiya Nesterkina ◽  
Aleksandr Solov'ev
Keyword(s):  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Burial Mound ◽  
Central Japan ◽  
Similar Images ◽  
Burial Mounds ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Comparative Study ◽  
Japanese Islands

The study is focused on the cultural contacts between the population of the Korean Peninsula and that of the Japanese islands during the Paleometallic Era based on the materials of the mound-type burial monuments. The time span under study corresponds to Yayoi and Kofun periods in Japan and the Three Kingdoms period in Korea. Field studies of archaeological sites in the Republic of Korea and Japan allow identifying the shapes of barrow mounds characteristic of the Japanese islands solely as well as those found in both territories. In recent years, fragments of clay figures similar to the Japanese Haniva have been discovered at the monuments located on the Korean Peninsula. The comparative study of plot-figure ceramics allowed identifying similar images and plots: dwelling structures, boats, birds, deer, etc. The wooden intra-grave structures – wells and composite coffins used for burials – were found analogous. The use of wood for burials in ancient Japan has been attributed to the influence of migrants from the Korean Peninsula. The excavations of the Kyo-dong Songhyo-dong burial mound in the south of the Korean Peninsula have revealed traces of contacts with the population of the Japanese islands. The Kyo-dong Songhyo-dong burial ground belongs to the Japanese Senzuka burial monuments, which are burial mounds comprising hundreds or thousands of small circular mounds closely adjoi­ning each other. The similar sites found in central Japan and in the south of the Korean Peninsula attest to the close relationships between the two territories.

scholarly journals Russian Archaeology in Palestine

2019 ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Леонид Беляев ◽  
Leonid Belyaev
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Scientific Heritage ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

The paper summarizes the findings of the historiographic and archaeological fieldwork focused on the preservation and development of the scientific heritage of the Russian scientists of the 19th — early 20th centuries in the area of the Syro-Palestinian region that most closely matches the concept of the “Holy Land”. The author identifies three core directions of development in the Russian archaeology: field study of the traces of the Russian pilgrims, scientists, representatives of the government and the Orthodox Church; study of antiquities in some Russian areas; insights into the heritage of the 19th — early 20th centuries as historical sources with its further inclusion in the system of modern scientific knowledge. The paper describes the findings obtained to date (including the interim results of excavations in Jericho, the scientific interpretation of a number of artefacts from the collection of Antonin Kapustin, the first catalogues of archaeological sites in the Russian areas). The author focuses on expanding fieldwork, classifying and attributing antiquities, launching them in circulation at the level of modern science, creating a monograph on the history of the Russian studies in the 19th — early 20th centuries.

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