Finding a place for old things: The role of pre-Norse features in constructing Norse conceptual landscapes in the Scottish Isles
(2020) ARKM21 20201Archaeology
- Abstract
- The Viking Age saw the colonisation of most of the isles of Scotland by settlers from Norway. These newcomers brought their own customs, practices and perceptions to the Isles, maintaining close links with the Scandinavian world. However, these islands had already experienced millennia of anthropogenic change by the time of Norse settlement, and generations of previous inhabitants had populated their landscapes with impressive monuments. This thesis examines how the intersection of Norse practices and perceptions with the physical agency of the remains of the past influenced the shaping of the Norse landscape in Scotland. It emphasises the role of perception and memory in influencing landscape use, as well as exploring the agency of... (More)
- The Viking Age saw the colonisation of most of the isles of Scotland by settlers from Norway. These newcomers brought their own customs, practices and perceptions to the Isles, maintaining close links with the Scandinavian world. However, these islands had already experienced millennia of anthropogenic change by the time of Norse settlement, and generations of previous inhabitants had populated their landscapes with impressive monuments. This thesis examines how the intersection of Norse practices and perceptions with the physical agency of the remains of the past influenced the shaping of the Norse landscape in Scotland. It emphasises the role of perception and memory in influencing landscape use, as well as exploring the agency of landscape features in prompting interaction and conceptualisation through monumentality. Two study areas are used to provide contrasting examples of Norse reuse – the islands and eastern coastline of Loch Ròg, Lewis, in the Western Isles, and the Isle of Rousay and its associated area in the Orkney Isles. A holistic approach is used in the investigation of both study areas, using a combination of historical, archaeological, geographical and toponymic evidence to create a broad picture of the prehistoric landscape and Norse interactions within that landscape. A corpus of relevant sites in both study areas was produced, and topographic maps of both regions were populated with points representing these sites; these maps were used to conduct large scale spatial analysis to investigate broad settlement trends, as well as forming the backdrop for local analysis. The results from these analyses are discussed in regards to previous work done on reuse in the past. Overall, it is demonstrated that direct Norse interaction with pre-Norse landscape features was selective and largely focused on Iron Age settlement remains, with older features being avoided for reuse but becoming important conceptual parts of the landscape. These patterns are interpreted as stemming from an interplay of functionalistic concerns with Norse perceptions and beliefs and the need to conceptualise the landscape within the Norse worldview. The specific reuse of Iron Age settlements is linked to similar practices in Norway, adapted to deal with the differing historical and cultural contexts of the colonised areas. Evidence for differing patterns of reuse between the study areas is linked to the different landscape histories of the Western and Northern Isles. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9036139
- author
- Clarke, Jake LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ARKM21 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Iron Age, Viking Age, Scotland, Picts, Norse, Norway, Orkney Isles, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Lewis, Rousay, landscape archaeology, GIS, perception, memory, monuments, postmodern archaeology
- language
- English
- id
- 9036139
- date added to LUP
- 2021-10-01 10:48:39
- date last changed
- 2021-10-01 10:48:39
@misc{9036139,
abstract = {{The Viking Age saw the colonisation of most of the isles of Scotland by settlers from Norway. These newcomers brought their own customs, practices and perceptions to the Isles, maintaining close links with the Scandinavian world. However, these islands had already experienced millennia of anthropogenic change by the time of Norse settlement, and generations of previous inhabitants had populated their landscapes with impressive monuments. This thesis examines how the intersection of Norse practices and perceptions with the physical agency of the remains of the past influenced the shaping of the Norse landscape in Scotland. It emphasises the role of perception and memory in influencing landscape use, as well as exploring the agency of landscape features in prompting interaction and conceptualisation through monumentality. Two study areas are used to provide contrasting examples of Norse reuse – the islands and eastern coastline of Loch Ròg, Lewis, in the Western Isles, and the Isle of Rousay and its associated area in the Orkney Isles. A holistic approach is used in the investigation of both study areas, using a combination of historical, archaeological, geographical and toponymic evidence to create a broad picture of the prehistoric landscape and Norse interactions within that landscape. A corpus of relevant sites in both study areas was produced, and topographic maps of both regions were populated with points representing these sites; these maps were used to conduct large scale spatial analysis to investigate broad settlement trends, as well as forming the backdrop for local analysis. The results from these analyses are discussed in regards to previous work done on reuse in the past. Overall, it is demonstrated that direct Norse interaction with pre-Norse landscape features was selective and largely focused on Iron Age settlement remains, with older features being avoided for reuse but becoming important conceptual parts of the landscape. These patterns are interpreted as stemming from an interplay of functionalistic concerns with Norse perceptions and beliefs and the need to conceptualise the landscape within the Norse worldview. The specific reuse of Iron Age settlements is linked to similar practices in Norway, adapted to deal with the differing historical and cultural contexts of the colonised areas. Evidence for differing patterns of reuse between the study areas is linked to the different landscape histories of the Western and Northern Isles.}},
author = {{Clarke, Jake}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Finding a place for old things: The role of pre-Norse features in constructing Norse conceptual landscapes in the Scottish Isles}},
year = {{2020}},
}