Hus och gård i Hälsingland : en studie av agrar bebyggelse och bebyggelseutveckling i norra Hälsingland Kr.f.-600 e.Kr

Sammanfattning: The subject of this dissertation is the sedentary agrarian settlement in northern Hälsingland and how it developed during the period AD 1-600.The study is based on a body of archaeological source material comprising archaeological remains and finds which can be linked to the sedentary agrarian economy. This material was complemented with five archaeologi cal excavations of Iron Age farms in the parishes of Forsa, Hälsingtuna and Jättendal.At around 400 BC-AD 1 sedentary agrarian settlements were established on a small scale in the coastal districts of Hälsingland and Medelpad. The number of farms was initially limited but grew substantially during the Early Iron Age.The development of the sedentary settlement in northern Hälsingland is best explained by a hypothesis that the number of farms rose continuosly until around AD 600. A very large proportion of farms can be assumed to have been established during the Migration Period; thereafter a considerable decline in the number of farms takes place.The economy of the farms was based on cattle-breeding and cultivation. The main crop was barley, which was grown in heavily manured fields. The fields were ploughed with ards and they were cleared of stones. The determining factor in the choice of location of the farms was the wetlands, which provided a large proportion of the fodder needed for the cattle. The role of hunting, fishing and trapping was marginal in the case of most farms.The farm site (Sw. gårdstomt), i.e. the area within which graves and houses are found, was smaller than 1,8 hectares in size and in most cases smaller than one hectare. The graves, which are usually round mounds (Sw. högar) and round turf-covered stone settings (Sw. övertorvade stensättningar), were built in the vicinity of the houses. Only a proportion of the population were given a burial in a visible grave monument.The main house on the farm was a multi-functional three-aisled wattle-and-daub construction with living quarters, space for cattle and storage space. On the farm site there would also be 1-2 smaller buildings. Some of the houses were built on specially constructed terraces. The larger houses had daubed inner and outer walls, the latter clad with birch-bark on the outside. Usually one or two hearths are found in these houses, one of which is a clay hearth. The larger houses probably had an inner roof, in the living quarters often lined with clay.In the dissertation attention is drawn to the similarities between the Early Iron Age houses in Central Norrland and contemporary houses in the mid-Nordic area. The three-aisled house changes during the course of the Iron Age. At the end of the Viking Period laft construction (Sw. knuttimring) is introduced in the buildings in which people lived in the Nordic area. From then on the laft technique was to predominate in the settlement areas in the coniferous regions in the Nordic countries. Older methods of construction with wattle walls continue to be found, however, into the Middle Ages (AD 1050-1500).