Kommunikationens landskap : En studie av kommunikation i två gotländska socknar

Sammanfattning: In this paper, two parishes on Gotland have been the focus for intense study regarding the organisation and formation of local communications networks. The parishes of Buttle and Fröjel have been studied to see if it is possible to say anything about local communication during the 6th century, a task that earlier research has shown to be difficult. The parishes represent two different types of landscapes, one costal and one inland. The paper has also asked questions about how the development and quality of the roads and communications networks have changed over time. It also discuss how the topographical- and cultural landscape has influenced the organisation of the communications network. The following questions are asked in this paper; 1. How was local communication (communications between the farmstead, its economic resources and its connections to the larger communications network) in the parishes organised? 2. What can be said about the communications networks development and quality through time? 3. How was the topographical- and cultural landscape organisation connected to the communications network?   The main methodology used in the paper is the retrogressive methodology used to recreate a possible 6th century communications network. This methodology utilises and studies the relationship between the earliest known communications network, registered in the 18th century maps, together with Iron Age sites registered, in the FMIS database, as well as topographical and geological maps to recreate a possible 6th century communications network. The analysis shows that it is hard to grasp the local communications during the 6th century. The local communications only emerge when the local roads merge with the regional ones. In many cases, the local roads were probably not much more than paths in the edges of the fields or only identified by the use of known landmarks. The investigation also shows that the regional (and local) roads were situated closer to the 6th century settlements than previously thought. It is also shown that the development of the road network has steadily lead to a more refined and rationalised network. The largest changes can be related to the 19th century laga skifte and to the later introduction of motor vehicles. Before the 19th century the situation is quite stable, only some minor changes during the 18th century can be seen until you reach the beginning of the middle ages. The major changes probably relate to changes in the landscape organisation in relation to the introduction of Christianity. However, it might also relate to the expansion of cultivated land and the resulting changes of settlement patterns. The investigation also shows that the topographical landscape on Gotland provides little hindrance for the organisation of the landscape. Instead, it feels very much like an artificial landscape where borders and organisation are created by humans, rather than by natural landscape formations. The borders in this case are created by the use of graves and their location in the landscape.