Court Sites of Arctic Norway: Remains of Thing Sites and Representations of Political Consolidation Processes in the Northern Germanic World during the First Millennium ad?

Abstract

The court sites situated in the coastal areas of Norway have been the theme of discussion in several publications, including Norwegian Archaeological Review. So far, however, none of the authors has succeeded in gaining overwhelming support for their interpretation. Based on case studies of North Norwegian court sites and comparisons with Icelandic evidence, this paper endorses a long-standing, but still widely disregarded, interpretation suggesting that court sites represent thing sites. It is furthermore suggested that the established variation in age and use periods, number of house foundations and layout of court sites indicate consolidation processes similar to, although chronologically different from, processes presumably taking place across Northern Europe during the first millennium ad.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank Bjørn Myhre, Stephen Wickler, Adnan Icagic, two anonymous reviewers and the editors for assistance and helpful suggestions in the process of completing the paper. Errors and insufficiencies in this final version are, however, entirely my responsibility.