Greipstad: Settlement history of the central farm of the northernmost Norse community during the Iron Ages K.-D.

Photographic, geo-radar and magnetometric surveys reveal possible or probable archaeological features suggesting that the farm Greipstad, at the southern edge of Kvaløya c . 37 km SW of the city of Tromsø, was a district centre in northernmost Norway during the investigated period c . AD 350-900. Pollen diagrams and radiocarbon dates from Greipstad indicate that an important settlement was initiated about 1700 14 C yr BP (AD 260-420), probably after a short agricultural depression period. A change in the settlement occurred about 1540 14 C yr BP ( c . AD 550), after which the farm centre was moved closer to the sea and shifted from a western to an eastern exposition. An agricultural depression period, which may have included farm abandonment, took place after a decline starting about AD 900. A new and marked expansion occurred between 830 - 90 and 705 - 95 14 C yr BP ( c . AD 1100-1380, probably about AD 1200). Local variations in the agricultural impact, and the ecological and historical context of Greipstad during the Norse Iron Ages, are discussed. The site is of national and international interest primarily because it may be the home place of the first Norwegian historical person, Ottar of Hålogaland.