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Trapping reindeer in South Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Edvard K. Barth
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Extract

Very soon after the ice withdrew from the higher levels of the Scandinavian Peninsula the vegetation invaded. Even up to at least 1,100–1,20 m above sea-level the pine forest was in existence about 8,500 years ago (Barth et al., 1980).

Radiocarbon datings from human sites in the high mountains of southern Norway also go back 8,500 years BP (Moe et al., 1978, Bang-Andersen & Kjos-Hanssen, 1979). It seems probable that the reindeer has been ‘the only possible resource that can explain man's presence in the highlands during the Early Mesolithic’ (Moe et al., 1978). There is little doubt that for groups of people in the Norwegian mountains, reindeer was the most important food during thousands of years (Barth 1981a).

Type
Articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 220 , July 1983 , pp. 109 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1983

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Footnotes

Dr Barth, for some 40 years one of Norway's best-known naturalists, has always had a special interest in conservation. Trained as a zoologist (he is to be found at the Zoological Museum, Oslo 5), he has, during the last 15 years, pioneered the study into the remains of old constructions for trapping reindeer and elk in Norway. Here he gives us a glimpse of what he has termed ‘hunting archaeology’.

References

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