English translation and revision: John Hines.
In this third volume deriving from the excavations of the Viking town of Kaupang of 2000-2003, a range of artefacts is presented along with a discussion of the town's inhabitants: their origins, activities and trading connexions. The main categories of artefact are metal jewellery and ornaments, gemstones, vessel glass, pottery, finds of soapstone, whetstones and textile-production equipment. The artefacts are described and dated, and their areas of origin discussed. The volume is lavishly illustrated. An exceptional wealth and diversity of artefacts distinguishes sites such as Kaupang from all other types of site in the Viking World. Above all, they reflect the fact that a large population of some 400-600 people lived closely together in the town, engaged in a comprehensive range of production and trade. The stratigraphically distinct layers from the first half of the 9th century allow us to put precise dates to the finds, and to the buildings and evidence of activities associated with them.
Author(s): Dagfinn Skre (ed.)
Series: Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series, 3. Norske Oldfunn, 24
Publisher: Aarhus University Press
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 484
1. Dagfinn Skre
Introduction 13
2. Lars Pilø, Dagfinn Skre / Introduction to the Site 17
Part I. Jewellery and Ornamentation 27
3. Birgitta Hårdh / Scandinavian Metalwork 29
4. Egon Wamers / Continental and Insular Metalwork 65
5. James Graham-Campbell / Pins and Penannular Brooches 99
6. Heid Gjøstein Resi / Amber and Jet 107
7. Unn Plahter / Analyses of Jet-like Objects 129
8. Heid Gjøstein Resi / Gemstones: Cornelian, Rock Crystal, Amethyst, Fluorspar and Garnet 143
Part II. Tools and Utensils 167
9. Bjarne Gaut / Vessel Glass and Evidence of Glassworking 169
10. Lars Pilø / The Pottery 281
11. Alan Vince / Characterisation Studies of Pottery, Industrial Ceramics and Fired Clay 305
12. Irene Baug / Soapstone Finds 312
13. Ingvild Øye / Textile-production Equipment 339
14. Heid Gjøstein Resi / Whetstones, Grindstones, Touchstones and Smoothers 373
Part III. Town and Inhabitants 395
15. Dagfinn Skre / The Inhabitants: Activities 397
16. Dagfinn Skre / The Inhabitants: Origins and Trading Connexions 417
17. Dagfinn Skre / Kaupang: between East and West; between North and South 443
Abbreviations 451
References 453
List of Authors 483
