Mötesplatser i fångstmarken : en rumslig studie av praktiker och kontaktnätverk i norra Mellanskandinavien under järnåldern

Sammanfattning: Outlying forest and mountain areas in the inland of middle and north Scandinavia have for a long time been seen as marginal areas of little importance to the main Scandinavian historical narrative. However, in recent time, the importance of the outland has increasingly been in the focus of archaeological research. It has been suggested by several scholars that the emergence of centralized power structures in various parts of Scandinavia during the mid Iron Age can be explained by an extensive trade of resources like antler, bone, and iron. However, much is still unknown about the broader context of these activities and the people that performed them. The aim of this study is to analyse the character of these activities and exchange networks in a study area consisting of areas on both sides of the present Swedish-Norwegian border. This is done by analysing the pattern of archaeological remains in the outland and how they relate to landscape characteristics like topography, water courses and sediment types. The main archaeological remains studied are graves, pitfalls for moose and reindeer hunting and iron working sites. The results show the use of graves as territorial markers in the landscape and the existence of central places in the outland, possibly used for trade and social activities. The study also suggests that the relations between people from the hunter-gatherer and the agrarian communities changed during the late Iron Age, which is indicated by a dislocation of graves further up in the valleys to the north.