Early Economy and Settlement in Northern Europe - Pioneering, Resource Use, Coping with Change - Hans Peter Blankholm

Early Economy and Settlement in Northern Europe - Pioneering, Resource Use, Coping with Change - Hans Peter Blankholm

Large Mesolithic House – Pits at Tønsnes, Coastal Northern Norway: Evidence of a Winter Aggregation Site?

Early Economy and Settlement in Northern Europe - Pioneering, Resource Use, Coping with Change - Hans Peter Blankholm

Jan Magne Gjerde [+-]
Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research
Jan Magne Gjerde is Researcher in Archaeology at the High North Department in Tromsø at NIKU (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research). Gjerde has a PhD in Stone Age rock art of Fennoscandia with extensive fieldwork in Finland, Norway, NW-Russia and Sweden. Gjerde has in the last years published several papers on Fennoscandian Stone Age rock art. He also led the large-scale Stone Age excavations at Tønsnes, Northern Norway in 2011 and 2012. Gjerde is currently working on the project “Stone Age Demographics: Multi-scale exploration of population variation and dynamics” (2017-2021) funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
Marianne Skandfer [+-]
Tromsø Museum – The University Museum, UIT - The Arctic University of Norway
Marianne Skandfer is Professor of Archaeology at The University Museum and Academy of Arts at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. Her research focuses on hunter-gatherer knowledge acquisition and transmission, specifically prehistoric technology transmission and resource management, including human-animal socialities. She has published several papers on, among other subjects, early ceramic technology, material culture and identity, and human-animal relations in northern, prehistoric, hunter-gatherer societies. She is currently primary investigator in a project looking at demography and settlement in Stone Age North Norway.

Description

In 2008-2012 rescue excavations undertaken in conjunction with preparations for a new industrial harbour revealed Stone Age settlements at Tønsnes, Tromsø, in a number hitherto unparalleled in this part of northern Norway. The earliest settlements date to Preboreal times. Most surprisingly was the finding of five house-pits dating to between c.8000 and 7000 BP (c. 7000 and 6000 cal. BC), i.e., within the last part of the Pioneer phase as defined in this volume. The house-pits are much larger than generally seen among Middle Mesolithic houses in Scandinavia, and display variation, but also clear similarities to the latter in dwelling - landscape-relations, in layout (semi-subterranean floor areas, wall-banks and a lack of hearths) and in settlement practices (indoor vs. outdoor activities). Based on this new material we discuss seasonality in mobility and residency in Early Stone Age/Mesolithic northern Norway.

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Citation

Gjerde, Jan Magne; Skandfer, Marianne. Large Mesolithic House – Pits at Tønsnes, Coastal Northern Norway: Evidence of a Winter Aggregation Site?. Early Economy and Settlement in Northern Europe - Pioneering, Resource Use, Coping with Change. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 59-76 May 2018. ISBN 9781781795170. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=30727. Date accessed: 26 Apr 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.30727. May 2018

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