Viking-Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia

Description

The Viking Age was a period of profound change in Scandinavia. As kingdoms were established, Christianity became the encompassing ideological and cosmological framework and towns were formed. This book examines a central backdrop to these changes: the economic transformation of West Scandinavia. With a focus on the development of intensive and organized use of woodlands and alpine regions and domestic raw materials, together with the increasing standardization of products intended for long-distance trade, the volume sheds light on the emergence of a strong interconnectedness between remote rural areas and central markets. "Viking-Age Transformations" explores the connection between legal and economic practice, as the rural economy and monetary system developed in conjunction with nascent state power and the legal system. Thematically, the book is organized into sections addressing the nature and extent of trade in both marginal and centralized areas; production and the social, legal and economic aspects of exploiting natural resources and distributing products; and the various markets and sites of trade and consumption. A theoretically informed and empirically grounded collection that reveals the manner in which relationships of production and consumption transformed Scandinavian society with their influence on the legal and fiscal division of the landscape, this volume will appeal to scholars of archaeology, the history of trade and Viking studies. Preface and acknowledgements vii Abbreviations x List of contributors xi 1. Viking-Age economic transformations: the West-Scandinavian case 1 DAGFINN SKRE PART I Trade and traders 29 2. Approaching trade in pre-state and early state societies 31 EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND 3. The use of silver as a medium of exchange in Jämtland, c. 875–1050 42 OLOF HOLM 4. Domestic and exotic materials in early medieval Norwegian towns: an archaeological perspective on production, procurement and consumption 59 GITTE HANSEN 5. The price of justice and administration of coinage 95 FRODE IVERSEN AND SVEIN H. GULLBEKK PART II Production and resources 109 6. The extensive iron production in Norway in the tenth to thirteenth century: a regional perspective 111 OLE TVEITEN AND KJETIL LOFTSGARDEN 7. Viking-period non-ferrous metalworking and urban commodity production 124 UNN PEDERSEN 8. Soapstone vessels and quernstones as commodities in the Viking Age and Middle Ages 139 IRENE BAUG 9. The Uplands: the deepest of forests and the highest of mountains – resource exploitation and landscape management in the Viking Age and early Middle Ages in southern Norway 160 KATHRINE STENE AND VIVIAN WANGEN PART III Sites of trade 189 10. A view from the valley: Langeid in Setesdal, South Norway – a Viking-Age trade station along a mercantile highway 191 ZANETTE T. GLØRSTAD AND CAMILLA CECILIE WENN 11. Heimdalsjordet: trade, production and communication 212 JAN BILL AND CHRISTIAN LØCHSEN RØDSRUD 12 The 'skeid' and other assemblies in the Norwegian 'Mountain Land' 232 KJETIL LOFTSGARDEN, MORTEN RAMSTAD AND FRANS-ARNE STYLEGAR 13. The urban hinterland: interaction and law-areas in Viking and medieval Norway 250 FRODE IVERSEN Index 277