IMC 2011: Sessions
Session 322: Authority and Social Differentiation in the Medieval Far North
Monday 11 July 2011, 16.30-18.00
| Sponsor: | Creating the New North Research Programme, Universitetet i Tromsø |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet |
| Moderator/Chair: | Richard Holt, Institutt for historie og religionsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitetet |
| Paper 322-a | Fashionable Fishermen: The Archaeology of Rich and Poor in North-Norwegian Fishing Villages (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Archaeology - Sites, Economics - Trade |
| Paper 322-b | Social Differentiation among the Sami Hunters and Fishermen of North-Norway (Language: English) Index terms: Anthropology, Archaeology - Artefacts, Archaeology - General, Economics - Trade |
| Abstract | In Norway, a pattern of authority based upon local chieftains, rather than landowning aristocrats, long persisted and influenced the nature of developing monarchical power. The north had an economy which was not primarily agricultural. The Norse population lived largely by fishing, and the later medieval growth of coastal settlements dependent entirely on stockfish sales to the European market was a distinctive feature. Archaeology reveals patterns of social differentiation within those settlements. The export income of the Church, from the sale of the fish it received in land rents and tithes, paid for an impressive array of imported devotional art to decorate local churches. The Sami population throughout the Middle Ages based their economy on hunting; even so social differences developed. |