Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T03:19:45.741Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Networks and nodal points: the emergence of towns in early Viking Age Scandinavia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Søren M. Sindbæk
Søren M. Sindbæk*
Affiliation:
*Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics, University of Aarhus, Denmark (Email: [email protected])
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Did towns return to early medieval Europe through political leadership or economic expansion? This paper turns the spotlight on a particular group of actors, the long-distance traders, and finds that they stimulated proto-towns of a special kind among the Vikings. While social and economic changes, and aristocratic advantage, were widespread, it was the largely self-directed actions of these intrepid merchants which created what the author calls ‘the nodal points.’ One can think of many other periods and parts of the world in which this type of non-political initiative may well have proved pivotal.

Keywords

urbanismtownsnetwork theoryVikingsearly medieval Europetrademerchantsceramics
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 311 , 1 March 2007 , pp. 119 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

References

Ambrosiani, B. 2002. Osten und Westen im Ostseehandel zur Wikingerzeit, in Brandt, K., Müller-Wille, M. & Radtke, C. (ed.) Haithabu und die frühe Stadtentwicklung im nördlichen Europa: 339–48. Neümunster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Ambrosiani, B., Arrhenius, B., Danielsson, K., Kylberg, O. & Werner, G. (ed.). 1973. Birka. Svarta jordens hamnområde. Arkeologisk undersökning 1970-1971. Riksantikvarieämbetet, Rapport C1. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Ambrosiani, B. & Clarke, H.. 1991. Towns in the Viking Age. Leicester: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Andersson, E. 2003. Tools for Textile Production from Birka and Hedeby. Birka Studies 8. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Barabási, A.-L. & Albert, R.. 1999. Emergence of Scaling in Random Networks. Science 286: 509–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bencard, M., Jørgensen, Lise Bender & Madsen, Helge Brinch (ed.). 1981-2004. Ribe excavations 1970-76, Vol. 1-3. Esbjerg: Sydjysk Universitetsforlag. Vol. 4-5. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.Google Scholar
Birkedahl, P. 2000. Sebbersund – en handelsplads med trækirke ved Limfjorden – forbindelser til Norge, in Karmøy Kommune (ed.) Havn og handel i 1000 år. Karmøyseminaret 1997: 31–40. Stavanger: Dreyer Bok.Google Scholar
Birkedahl, P. & Johansen, E.. 2000. The Eastern Limfjord in the Germanic Iron Age and the Viking Period. Internal Structures and External Relations. Acta Archaeologica 71: 25–33.Google Scholar
Blinkhorn, P. 1999. Of cabbages and kings: production, trade, and consumption in middle-Saxon England, in Anderton, M. (ed.) Anglo-Saxon trading centres: beyond the Emporia: 4–23. Glasgow: Cruithne Press.Google Scholar
Brather, S. 1996. Feldberger Keramik und frühe Slawen. Studien zur nordwestslawischen Keramik der Karolingerzeit (Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie 34). Bonn.Google Scholar
Brown, D. H. 2003. Bound by Tradition: A study of pottery in Anglo-Saxon England, in Griffiths, D., Reynolds, A. & Semple, S. (ed.) Boundaries in Early Medieval Britain (Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 12): 21–7. Oxford: Oxford University School of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Callmer, J. 1984. Recent work at Åhus. Offa 41: 63–75.Google Scholar
Callmer, J. 1994. Urbanization in Scandinavia and the Baltic region c . AD 700-1100, in Ambrosiani, B. & Clarke, H. (ed.) Developments around the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age. Birka Studies 3: 50–90. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Callmer, J. 2002. North-European trading centres and the Early Medieval craftsman. Craftsmen at Åhus, north-eastern Scania, Sweden c. AD 750-850. Uppåkrastudier 6 (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Ser. in 8° no. 39): 133–58. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksell. Google Scholar
Callmer, J. 2003. Wayland. An Essay on Craft Production in the Early and High Middle Ages in Scandinavia. Uppåkrastudier 7 (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Ser. in 8° no. 40): 337–61. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Carlsson, D. 1991. Harbours and trading places on Gotland AD 600-1000, in Crumlin-Pedersen, O. (ed.) Aspects of maritime Scandinavia AD 200-1200 (Proceedings of the Nordic Seminar on Maritime Aspects of Archaeology): 145–58. Roskilde: The Viking Ship Museum.Google Scholar
Carlsson, D. 1999. “Ridanäs” – Vikingahamnen i Fröjel. Visby: ArkeoDok.Google Scholar
Crumlin-Pedersen, O. 1999. Ships as indicators of trade in Northern Europe 600-1200, in Bill, J. (ed.) Maritime Topography and the Medieval Town: 11–20. København: Nationalmuseet.Google Scholar
Ericson-Borggren, T. 1993. Åhus 42:84 m. fl. Åhus sn. Fornlämning 35. Skåne. Kristianstads Läns Museum Rapport 1993: 12. Kristianstad.Google Scholar
Feveile, C. (ed.) 2006. Det ældste Ribe. Udgravninger på nordsiden af Ribe Å 1984-2000 (Ribe Studier bd 1.1 & 1.2). Aarhus: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.Google Scholar
Feveile, C. & Jensen, S.. 2000. Ribe in the 8th and 9th century. A Contribution to the Archaeological Chronology of North Western Europe. Acta Archaeologica 71: 9–24.Google Scholar
Filipowiak, W. 1993. Die Häfen von Wollin im 9. – 14. Jahrhundert, in Gläser, M. (ed.) Archäologie des Mittelalters und Bauforschung im Hanseraum: 261–9.Google Scholar
Herrmann, J. 2005. Ralswiek auf Rügen. Die slawisch-wikingischen Siedlungen und deren Hinterland. Teil III – Die Funde aus der Hauptsiedlung (Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns 37). Schwerin: Archäologisches Landesmuseum für Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Google Scholar
Hjárthner-Holdar, E., Lamm, K. & Magnus, B.. 2002. Metalworking and Central Places. Uppåkrastudier 6 (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Ser. in 8° no. 39): 159–83. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Hodges, R. 1982. Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade AD 600-1000. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Hodges, R. 2000. Towns and Trade in the age of Charlemagne. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Hohenberg, P. M. & Lees, L. H.. 1996. The Making of Urban Europe 1000-1994. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jagodziński, M. & Kasprzycka, M.. 1991. The early medieval craft and commercial centre at Janów Pomorski near Elblᶏg on the South Baltic Coast. Antiquity 65: 696–715.Google Scholar
Jankuhn, H. 1956. Haithabu. Ein Handelsplatz der Wikingerzeit. (3., ergänzte Auflage). Neumünster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Jankuhn, H., Schietzel, Kurt & Reichstein, Hans (ed.). 1984. Archäologische und naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen an ländlichen und frühstädtlichen Siedlungen im Deutschen Küstengebiet vom 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis zum 11. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Bd. II: Handelsplätze des frühen und hohen Mittelalters. Weinheim: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.Google Scholar
Janssen, W. 1987. Die Importkeramik von Haithabu (Die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 9). Neümunster: Karl Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Jöns, H., Lüth, F. & Müller-Wille, M.. 1997. Ausgrabungen auf dem frühgeschichtlichen Seehandelsplatz von Groß Strömkendorf, Kr. Nordwestmecklenburg. Germania 75: 193–221.Google Scholar
Jöns, H. In press. Ports and emporia in the region – the south coast (from Heðeby to Usedom/Wolin), in Englert, A. (ed.) Wulfstan's Voyage. The Baltic Sea region in the early Viking Age as seen from shipboard. Roskilde: Viking Ship Museum.Google Scholar
Kirpichnikov, A. N. 1985. Rannesrednevekovaya Ladoga (itogi arkheologicheskikh issledovanij). Srednevekovaya Ladoga: 3–26. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
Kirpichnikov, A. N. 1997. Rannesrednevekovaya Ladoga po dannym istoriko-arkheologicheskikh issledovanij, in Kirpichnikov, A. N. & Nosov, E. N. (ed.) Drevnosti Povolkhov'ya: 5–25. St. Petersburg: RAN IIMK.Google Scholar
Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McCormick, M. 2001. Origins of the European economy: communications and commerce AD 300-900. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. N. 2002. Bejsebakken, a central site near Aalborg in Northern Jutland, in Hårdh, B. & Larsson, L. (ed.) Central Places in the Migration and Merovingian Periods. Papers from the 52nd Sachensymposium, Lund, August 2001. Uppåkrastudier 6 (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Ser. in 8° no. 39): 197–213. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksell. Google Scholar
Näsman, U. 2000. Exchange and politics: the eighth-early ninth century in Denmark, in Wickham, C. & Hansen, I. Lyse (ed.) The long eighth century. Production, distribution and demand. The transformation of the Roman World 11: 35–68. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Ohlsson, T. 1976. The Löddeköpinge Investigations I. The Settlement at Vikhögsvägen. Meddelanden från Lunds universitets historiska museum 1975–1976, New series vol. 1: 58–161.Google Scholar
Palmer, B. 2003. The Hinterlands of Three Southern English Emporia: Some Common Themes, in Pestell, T. & Ulmschneider, K. (ed.) Markets in Early Medieval Europe. Trading and ‘Productive’ sites, 650-850: 48–60. Macclesfield: Windgather.Google Scholar
Sanke, M. 2001. Gelbe Irdenware, in Lüdtke, H. & Schietzel, K. (ed.) Handbuch zur mittelalterlichen Keramik in Nordeuropa. bd. 1: 271–428. Neümunster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Sawyer, P. H. 1978. Wics, Kings and Vikings, in Andersson, T. & Sandred, K. I. (ed.) The Vikings. Proceedings of the Symposium of the Faculties of Arts of Uppsala University June 6-9 1977: 23–31. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Schoknecht, U. 1977. Menzlin. Ein frühgeschichtlicher Handelsplatz an der Peene. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften.Google Scholar
Schön, V. 1995. Die Mühlsteine von Haithabu und Schleswig (Berichte über die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 31). Neümunster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Sindbæk, S. M. 2005. Ruter og rutinisering. Vikingetidens fjernhandel i Nordeuropa. With English summary. Copenhagen: Multivers.Google Scholar
Sindbæk, S. M. 2006. Viking Age Wolin and Baltic Sea Trade. Proposals, Refusals, and Engagements, in Hansen, T. K. Møller & Pedersen, K. Buck (ed.) Across the Western Baltic. Proceedings from an archaeological conference in Vordingborg: 267–82. Vordingborg: Sydsjællands Museum.Google Scholar
Skre, D & Pilø, L.. In press. Excavations and surveys at Kaupang and Huseby 1998-2003. Background and results. Århus: Aarhus University Press.Google Scholar
Stanisåwski, B. 2000. Ceramika typu Fresendorf w badaniach nad wczesno redniowieczn ceramikᶏ słowiańskᶏ. Materiały Zachodniopomorskie 46: 125–56.Google Scholar
Steppuhn, P. 1998. Die Glasfunde von Haithabu. Berichte über die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 32. Neumünster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Svanberg, F. & Söderberg, B.. 2000. Porten til Skåne: Löddeköpinge under järnålder och medeltid. Arkeologiska studier kring Borgeby och Löddeköpinge 2; Riksantikvarieämbetet, Arkeologiska undersökningar 32. Lund: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Ulriksen, J. 1998. Anløbspladser. Besejling og bebyggelse i Danmark mellem 200 og 1100 e.Kr. Roskilde: Vikingeskibshallen.Google Scholar
Verhulst, A. E. 2002. The Carolingian Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Warnke, D. 1993. Rostock-Dierkow – ein Wirtschaftszentrum des 8./9. Jahrhunderts an der Unterwarnow. Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters 20 (1992): 63–80.Google Scholar
Wietrzichowski, F. 1993. Untersuchungen zu dem Anfang des frühmittelalterlichen Seehandels im südlichen Ostseeraum unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Grabungsergebnisse von Groß Strömkendorf (Wismarer Stud. Archäologie und Geschichte 3). Wismar: Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Wismar.Google Scholar