Scandinavia was inflicted by a range of turmoil in the sixth century AD, including sudden, large-scale climatic change. Correlating with this event was a reorientation of ritual life, from deposition of artefacts made of gold to the construction of massive mounds made from earth, stones, and timber. What caused this change from artefact deposition to monument construction, and how did these changes in ritual life affect ideas of the individual and the community in Iron-Age Scandinavia?
This dissertation observes that the golden artefacts of the late Early Iron Age were small enough to be held in a hand. The artefacts could potentially be deposited by one single person, on behalf of a larger audience or in secret. By comparison, the monumental mounds of the Late Iron Age could only be made by long-lasting, close cooperation from hundreds of people or more. The turn from deposition of gold and other luxuries to the construction of monumental mounds was thus arguably a shift from a form of ritual emphasising individual traits such as wealth and individual ritual power, to a form of ritual emphasising mass participation. From this perspective, the monuments of sixth-century Scandinavia are interpreted as signalling a desire for unity and solidarity, possibly in response to climatic deterioration and other turmoil.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: To be anncounced.
Time and place: Tuesday 17 November, 10:15 AM, Gamle festsal
Zoom webinar
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Evaluation committee
- Professor Tom Moore, Durham University (first opponent)
- Associate Professor Ingrid Ystgaard, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology (second opponent)
- Professor Søren Handberg, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Associate Professor Knut Ivar Austvoll, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Julie Lund, University of Oslo
- Sarah Semple, Durham University
- Terje Gansum, NIKU The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research