Avaldsnes - A Sea-Kings' Manor in First-Millennium Western Scandinavia

Description

The Royal manor Avaldsnes in southwest Norway holds a rich history testified by 13th century sagas and exceptional graves from the first millennium AD. In 2011–12 the settlement was excavated. In this first book from the project crucial results from an international team of 23 scholars are published. The chapters cover a wide array of topics ranging from building-remains and scientific analyses of finds to landownership and ritual manifestations. Preface Table of content Abbreviations Section A. Scholarly Background 1. Rethinking Avaldsnes and Kormt 2. Exploring Avaldsnes 1540–2005 3. Avaldsnes and Kormt in Old Norse Written Sources 4. The Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project’s Research Plan and Excavation Objectives Section B. Excavation Results 2011–12 5 Excavations and Surveys 1985-2012 6. Site Periods and Key Contexts 7. The Prehistoric Settlement and Buildings 8 Prehistoric Agriculture 9. The Production Area 10. Two Iron Age Boathouses 11. A Late Iron Age Palisade Facing the Karmsund Strait 12. Grave Monuments at Avaldsnes 13. Political and Ritual Aspects of Cooking Pits 14. The High Medieval Royal Manor 15. The Post-Medieval Rectory Section C Scientific Analyses 2011–12 16. Geophysical Surveys 17. Microstratigraphy (Soil Micromorphology and Microchemistry, Soil Chemistry, and Magnetic Susceptibility) 18. Geochemical analysis using portable X-ray fluorescence 19 Biological Remains Section D Specialist Studies 20. Artefacts from the 2011–12 Excavations 21. Migration Period Pottery from Avaldsnes: A Study of Shards from Bucket-shaped Pots 22. The Flaghaug Burials 23. The Raised Stones 24. Avaldsnes, Kormt and Rogaland. A Toponymy and Landscape Survey 25. Depositional Traditions in Iron Age Kormt 26. Emerging Kingship in the 8th Century? New Datings of three Courtyard Sites in Rogaland Section E Avaldsnes: a Sea-Kings’ Manor 27. Aristocratic Presence along the Karmsund Strait 2000 BC–AD 1368 28. The Warrior Manor 29. Sea Kings on the Norðvegr References Appendices References Appendix I: The ARM Project Council, Advisory Group, Staff, and Authors Appendix II: Radiocarbon dates