Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen

Based on a review of the environmental and archaeological records for Jaeren, southwest Norway, it is proposed that a transition to an agro-pastoral economy and society took place around the Middle to Late Neolithic transition (2400-2350 BC), and this led to a rapid definition of the cultural landscapes. This mode of society evolved in the following decades and centuries. One of the characteristic features found in the landscape at this time is that the whole territory was drawn into social and ritual life, locally leading to a zonation of the landscape, with distinct differences in the economic, social and cultural expressions in the resulting zones. Monumental and ritual manifestations are located in the open, grass-and heath-dominated coastal zone, whilst zones of variably intensive grain cultivation are located on suitable Quaternary deposits. The zones evolved in response to a sustained economic practice involving continuously expanding grazing, intensification of cereal production and access to channels of communication. Variations in exploitation pressure, production and economic strategy reflect a suite of environmental parameters. Thus, activity zones largely correlate with physical landscape properties, apparently reflecting both an adaptive aspect in the economy and patterns of comprehensive resource exploitation across the zones, e.g. combining cereal production, transhumant pastoralism, hunting and access to maritime bottlenecks. A proposed model of the social and economic organisation and interaction in the Jaeren region is based on the distributions of several categories of archaeological finds. It defines a number of interdependent zones within a unified, but composite economy, with crosscutting activities and mobility patterns. This approach is an alternative to existing models of hierarchy within limited territories. The landscape zonation in Jaeren is similar to the general situation in the western Scandinavian region, including Jutland, Denmark, and thus the introduction of the agro-pastoral farm to Jaeren was dependent on externally supplied impulses. 2

... Approximately 20 boat axes have been found (Fig. 6). Some of these seem to be Figure 6 Boataxe from MN II found in region B. Photo: A˚ ge Pedersen, AmS Figure 4 A flint axe and part of a flint axe from the EN in Rogaland, south-western Norway. Photo: Terje Tveit, AmS ...

In 1977, the first Nordic Bronze Age symposium was held at Isegran, Østfold, Norway. In 2017, the 40th anniversary of the symposium series will be celebrated, this time in Oslo. Recent years has seen a trend towards disparate discourses, either focusing on small-scale or large-scale, southern or northern narratives of Bronze Age Scandinavia. In this call for papers, we encourage perspectives on the multi-scaled and contrasting Bronze Age, and the diversity and connections between e.g. landscapes, technologies, social practices and materialities. From the snow patches of the Scandinavian Mountains to the fertile agricultural areas of south Scandinavia, along the paths to the upland pastures to the open sea lanes, from the monumental mounds to the mundane finds; we invite papers exploring the contrasts and connections that formed the Nordic Bronze Age.

The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant research on rural settlement and farming from the Late Neolithic through the Early Medieval Period in Norway. It deals with the impact of climate change, plague and the AD 536-7 volcanic event and some of the earliest farms north of the Arctic Circle. It provides new perspectives and archaeological evidence for the Viking age farm of Norway, differences in regional settlement structures of agrarian societies, the relation between houses and graves in the Iron Age, and varying food practices as indicators of societal change.

The publication is part of the Joint Research Program (Forskning i fellesskap) conducted by the University Museums of Norway and co-funded by The Research Council of Norway.

This work is not my work but that of professor Grete Lillehammer. It has contributions from a number of authors including me mainly on the research policy at the Museum of Archaeology that I developed with the museum between 2008 and 2012.

The book is a historical survey of the interrelationships between cultural management, heritage
research, and knowledge production of the archaeological heritage carried out firstly
by Stavanger Museum and later by Museum of Archaeology, in Rogaland County,
Southwestern Norway from 1877 and onwards. The overview is initiated on basis of
a status report and research program instructed by Riksantikvaren – Directorate for
Cultural Heritage of Norway – in 2006. The Museum of Archaeology merged with the
University of Stavanger in 2009. The analysis looks into the background, development,
and consequence of changes in the national law and management system of the Norwegian
archaeological heritage in the region, the establishment of interdisciplinary links between
archaeology, natural science and conservation, and the application of regional strategic
research programs. A focus is set particularly on the period 1975–2009, and on the
advancement, use and output of interdisciplinary methods carried out at the museum. A
status report presents current knowledge gaps, strategic research plans and programs.