Djurhållning och betesdrift : Djur, människor och landskap i västra Östergötland under yngre bronsålder och äldre järnålder

Sammanfattning: This thesis focuses on animal husbandry and organised grazing in western Östergötland during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The primary aim is to investigate how animal husbandry was organised from a practical perspective. The thesis consists of a series of analyses of different source-material groups that illuminate various aspects of prehistoric animal husbandry. Only a small number of the archaeologically investigated three-aisled longhouses had a byre area. The livestock were mainly kept outdoors, in winter as well as in summer. The animal bones from settlements show that more beef was consumed and more horses were found at high-status settlements than at those of lower status. From the period 1000 BC–BC there are isolated hearths and hearth groups in central Östergötland that previously could not be connected to a specific archaeological context. In the author’s opinion, these sites represent bases in a system of well-organised grazing. It was here that shepherds and animals rested, ate and drank, and probably also overnighted. Many of the sites were used repeatedly during the entire period in question. In this landscape there are stone fence systems which show a strong connection to the settlement structure formed during the Late Iron Age, and parts of the systems seem to be medieval. They may also have elements from the Early Iron Age. The distribution of graves from the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age coincides with the stone fence systems. A special type of site that has one or two graves, with particular kinds of superstructures, is linked to these areas. In historical time these areas comprised the central production grounds for animal husbandry, and it seems that the areas functioned as central grazing grounds as far back as the Late Bronze Age.