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 Arctic University Museum at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. Her research interest focus is on hunter-gatherer knowledge acquisition and transmission, specifically on prehistoric technology transmission and resource management including human–animal socialities. She initiated the LARM project, and 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 northern 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: 23 Nov 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.30727. May 2018

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