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. It is suggested that Avaldsnes was a prominent base for sea kings that operated along the West-Scandinavian coast in the first millennium AD. The martial competence developed through the centuries in the sea-king environment was the basis of the Vikings' military success in the 9th–10th centuries. Dagfinn Skre, Preface v Abbreviations xiii Section A. Scholarly Background 1. Dagfinn Skre, Rethinking Avaldsnes and Kormt 3 2. Dagfinn Skre, Exploring Avaldsnes 1540–2005 11 3. Else Mundal, Avaldsnes and Kormt in Old Norse Written Sources 35 4. Dagfinn Skre, The Avaldsnes Royal Manor Project’s Research Plan and Excavation Objectives 53 Section B. Excavation Results 2011–12 5. Egil Lindhart Bauer and Mari Arentz Østmo, Excavations and Surveys 1985–2012 65 6. Mari Arentz Østmo and Egil Lindhart Bauer, Site Periods and Key Contexts 83 7. Mari Arentz Østmo and Egil Lindhart Bauer, The Prehistoric Settlement and Buildings 103 8. Egil Lindhart Bauer and Mari Arentz Østmo, Prehistoric Agriculture 137 9. Mari Arentz Østmo, The Production Area 157 10. Egil Lindhart Bauer, Two Iron Age Boathouses 183 11. Mari Arentz Østmo, A Late Iron Age Palisade Facing the Karmsund Strait 209 12. Mari Arentz Østmo and Egil Lindhart Bauer, Grave Monuments at Avaldsnes 227 13. Egil Lindhart Bauer, Political and Ritual Aspects of Cooking Pits 253 14. Egil Lindhart Bauer, The High Medieval Royal Manor 277 15. Egil Lindhart Bauer, The Post-Medieval Rectory 309 Section C. Scientific Analyses 2011–12 16. Arne Anderson Stamnes and Egil Lindhart Bauer, Geophysical Surveys 327 17. Richard I. Macphail and Johan Linderholm, Microstratigraphy (Soil Micromorphology and Microchemistry, Soil Chemistry, and Magnetic Susceptibility) 379 18. Rebecca J. S. Cannell, Paul N. Cheetham and Kate Welham, Geochemical analysis using portable X-ray fluorescence 421 19. Rachel Ballantyne, Stella Macheridis, Emma Lightfoot, and Alice Williams, Biological Remains 455 Section D. Specialist Studies 20. Mari Arentz Østmo, Artefacts from the 2011–12 Excavations 513 21. Elna Siv Kristoffersen and Åsa Dahlin Hauken, Migration Period Pottery from Avaldsnes: A Study of Shards from Bucket-shaped Pots 527 22. Frans-Arne H. Stylegar and Håkon Reiersen, The Flaghaug Burials 551 23. Dagfinn Skre, The Raised Stones 639 24. Stefan Brink, Avaldsnes, Kormt and Rogaland. A Toponymy and Landscape Survey 665 25. Torun Zachrisson, Depositional Traditions in Iron Age Kormt 687 26. Frode Iversen, Emerging Kingship in the 8th Century? New Datings of three Courtyard Sites in Rogaland 721 Section E. Avaldsnes: a Sea-Kings' Manor 27. Dagfinn Skre, Aristocratic Presence along the Karmsund Strait 2000 BC–AD 1368 749 28. Dagfinn Skre, The Warrior Manor 765 29. Dagfinn Skre, Sea Kings on the Norðvegr 781 References. Appendices References 803 Appendix I: The ARM Project Council, Advisory Group, Staff, and Authors 861 Appendix II: Radiocarbon Dates 867