CHANGES IN URBAN HOUSEHOLDS IN AD 950-1150 TRONDHEIM, NORWAY

A large excavation in the city of Trondheim, Norway in 1973-1985 uncovered hundreds of early urban houses (c. AD 900-1350). The city layout, buildings and finds have been analysed in several ways, gaining an impression of the organisation of the city, economy, trade, and what early urban life might have been like. However, the central question of how the inhabitants of the city were affected by the large-scale societal changes that occurred during the turn of the century, and how this is visible in the settlement’s archaeological material, has not yet been addressed. My hypothesis is that society on a small scale reflects society on a larger scale; that people were deeply affected by the political, social and religious changes that took place during the long 11th century, consequently altering their lifestyle and thereby immediate surroundings in order to adapt to the changing trends and norms within society. The household level is regarded as the smallest building block of society, and it is well suited to bridge the gap in middle-range theory. This is where we have the possibility of studying direct responses to large-scale changes in society by looking at the material record. For this presentation, households from AD 950-1150 Trondheim were examined in order to explore changes in households and household organisation throughout this period. A high definition approach was applied in order to investigate the archaeological material on this small scale. Several types of methods, specifically aimed at pointing out changes on the household level, were applied on the households, such as spatial analysis (spatial organisation, access, size etc.), functional interpretations, and contextual analysis of small finds and samples. The following interpretation aims to show the impact of large-scale changes on the inhabitants of this early Norwegian city.
Author(s): Mokkelbost, Marte (University of Bergen)

Видео CHANGES IN URBAN HOUSEHOLDS IN AD 950-1150 TRONDHEIM, NORWAY канала European Association of Archaeologists