The Emergence of Reindeer Herding in Northern Norway 1: Improvisations on Two Scales
Archaeological Perspectives on Hunter-Gatherer Landscapes and Resource Management in Interior North Norway - Marianne Skandfer
Bryan C. Hood [+]
UiT - the Arctic University of Norway
Description
The chapter begins with a short discussion of previous ethnological and historical interpretations of the emergence of reindeer herding in northern Fennoscandia and Circumpolar Eurasia, with emphasis on the former. This is followed by an outline of post-World War II anthropological discourse regarding the social context of herding relations. Then comes an overview of archaeological interpretations of the process in northern Fennoscandia (see also Aronsson 1991; Storli 1996; Hansen and Olsen 2004: 96–103, 203–14; 2014: 82–93, 195–206; Andersen 2005a; Sommerseth 2011). I then turn to a discussion of variation in reindeer practices and lay out what I mean by small-scale herding characterized as hunting-embedded herding and transport-affordance herding. This is followed by ethnographic illustrations. I then consider the potential archaeological signatures of pastoralism and hunting-embedded herding, asking whether it is empirically possible to detect the latter organization in the archaeological record. Finally, I consider the conditions under which one might expect to see the emergence of small- and large-scale herding in northern Norway.