Dietary diversity and moderate mobility – isotope evidence from Scanian Battle Axe Culture burials

Origin of the sandy terraces at Grundset, Elverum, South-Eastern Norway. Evidence from archaeological soil micromorphology

Abstract

Sandy terraces developed in poor eolian sands have been discovered in the Glomma river valley, Hedmark, south-eastern Norway, during the last two decades. These are of a specific morphological type which has not been found elsewhere in Norway. Some of them have been excavated and dated, stimulating an intense debate among Norwegian archaeologists as to whether they are of natural or anthropogenic origin, and whether or not they were used for agriculture. One of these sandy terraces was investigated using conventional radiocarbon dating, morphological descriptions, pollen analysis and soil micromorphology in connection with archaeological excavations. The pollen results were rather poor, but the micromorphology analysis, combined with radiocarbon dating, was able to reveal that the terrace had developed under strong anthropogenic impact since c. AD 400–560 (1595±80 BP). The sandy soils had probably been improved and used for cultivation, interrupted by lengthy fallow periods or abandonment. Soil improvement seems to have been intensified from c. AD 1025–1220 (925±75 BP) onwards, possibly for cultivating crops with growth requirements that matched these soil properties.