Supporting Data for: The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia

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Loftsgarden, Kjetil; Iversen, Frode, 2024, "Supporting Data for: The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia", https://doi.org/10.18710/4MOQ4H, DataverseNO, V1

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Description	Database of 6,771 dated Iron Age burials from South Norway This study examines population dynamics in South Norway during the Iron Age, focusing on the mid-6th century crisis and its aftermath. Analysis of nearly 7,000 dated burials reveals a substantial decline of over 75 per cent post-6th century compared with the preceding period. Set against other archaeological data, this indicates a decline in the population of South Norway. The period of societal turmoil and decline may have started earlier, but was likely catalysed by the volcanic eruptions of 536 and 540 CE and the following colder period, and possible also by plague pandemics. The ramifications of the mid-6th century crisis were exacerbated by the population increase in the preceding periods, where the population may have been nearing its regional carrying capacity. Although devastating, the 6th century crisis may also have opened up new possibilities for those who made it through, perhaps initiating a brief period of relative social and economic equality, similar to the initial consequences of the Black Death. Contrasting with the 6th century, South Norway’s Viking Age saw ample burials, attributed to factors including a warmer climate, advanced agriculture, surplus production, trade expansion and increased slavery. The shift highlights complex interactions between environmental, economic and social factors in the shaping of population dynamics in Iron Age South Norway.
Subject	Arts and Humanities
Keyword	Archaeology, Iron Age, Scandinavia, Burial data, Viking Age, Artefacts
Related Publication	Loftsgarden, K. & Iversen, F. (In prep) The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia. Norwegian Archaeological Review.
License/Data Use Agreement	CC0 1.0

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	00_README.txt Plain Text - 6.4 KB Published Apr 30, 2024 16 Downloads MD5: 49e80859d1489ae92d9931454e8b686c Read me file to the dataset, Supporting Data for: The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia	Preview "00_README.txt" Access File File Access Public Download Options Plain Text Download Metadata Data File Citation EndNote XML RIS BibTeX
	2024-04-30_Loftsgarden_Iversen_Iron_Age_burial_data.csv Comma Separated Values - 114.7 MB Published Apr 30, 2024 27 Downloads MD5: 401cb7dac9a65ef00db5071d4119d8b7 Dataset of 6,771 dated Iron Age burials from South Norway	Preview "2024-04-30_Loftsgarden_Iversen_Iron_Age_burial_data.csv" Access File File Access Public Download Options Comma Separated Values Download Metadata Data File Citation EndNote XML RIS BibTeX

Citation Metadata

Persistent Identifier	doi:10.18710/4MOQ4H
Publication Date	2024-04-30
Title	Supporting Data for: The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia
Author	Loftsgarden, Kjetil (University of Oslo) - ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0739-3084 Iversen, Frode (University of Oslo)
Point of Contact	Use email button above to contact. Kjetil Loftsgarden (University of Oslo)
Description	Database of 6,771 dated Iron Age burials from South Norway This study examines population dynamics in South Norway during the Iron Age, focusing on the mid-6th century crisis and its aftermath. Analysis of nearly 7,000 dated burials reveals a substantial decline of over 75 per cent post-6th century compared with the preceding period. Set against other archaeological data, this indicates a decline in the population of South Norway. The period of societal turmoil and decline may have started earlier, but was likely catalysed by the volcanic eruptions of 536 and 540 CE and the following colder period, and possible also by plague pandemics. The ramifications of the mid-6th century crisis were exacerbated by the population increase in the preceding periods, where the population may have been nearing its regional carrying capacity. Although devastating, the 6th century crisis may also have opened up new possibilities for those who made it through, perhaps initiating a brief period of relative social and economic equality, similar to the initial consequences of the Black Death. Contrasting with the 6th century, South Norway’s Viking Age saw ample burials, attributed to factors including a warmer climate, advanced agriculture, surplus production, trade expansion and increased slavery. The shift highlights complex interactions between environmental, economic and social factors in the shaping of population dynamics in Iron Age South Norway.
Subject	Arts and Humanities
Keyword	Archaeology Iron Age Scandinavia Burial data Viking Age Artefacts
Related Publication	Loftsgarden, K. & Iversen, F. (In prep) The impact of the 6th century crisis – exploring burials as a proxy for population dynamics in Iron Age Scandinavia. Norwegian Archaeological Review.
Language	English; Norwegian
Producer	Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo (MCH, UiO) https://www.khm.uio.no/english/index.html
Contributor	Research Group : Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
Funding Information	The Norwegian Research Council (NRC)/University of Oslo Toppforsk project VIKINGS: grant no. 275191
Distributor	University of Oslo (UiO) https://dataverse.no/dataverse/uio
Depositor	Loftsgarden, Kjetil
Deposit Date	2024-04-25
Time Period	Start Date: 200 ; End Date: 1000
Date of Collection	Start Date: 2019-10-01 ; End Date: 2023-11-28
Data Type	Archeological data; Burials
Related Material	The data were corrected using the following research: Bemmann, J., and G. Hahne. 1995. Waffenführende Grabinventare der jüngeren römischen Kaiserzeit und Völkerwanderungszeit in Skandinavien. Studie zur zeitlichen Ordnung anband der norwegischen Funde, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission(75), 283—653 Bøe, J. 1926. Norsk gravguld fra ældre jernalder. in, Bergens museums aarbok : avhandlinger og aarsberetning, 1–102. Engevik, A. 2008. Bucket-shaped pots : style, chronology and regional diversity in Norway in the late Roman and migration periods Oxford: Archaeopress. Forseth, L. 1993. Vikingtid i Østfold og Vestfold : en kildekritisk granskning av regionale forskjeller i gravfunnene, (Master), University of Oslo. Glørstad, H. 2010. Housing and hunting : technological reproduction in the Late Mesolithic Nøstvet region of eastern Norway and western Sweden. Gudesen, H. G. 1980. Merovingertiden i Øst-Norge: kronologi, kulturmønstre og tradisjonsforløp Oslo: Universitetets Oldsaksamling. Hauken, Å. D. 2005. The Westland cauldrons in Norway. In. Stavanger, Arkeologisk museum i Stavanger. Holand, I. 2001. Sustaining life : vessel import to Norway in the first millennium AD: Arkeologisk museum i Stavanger. Holck, P. 1986. Cremated bones – a medical-anthropological study of an archaeological material on cremation burials Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo. Kaland, S. H. H. 1972. Studier i øvre Telemarks vikingtid, Universitets Oldsaksamling Årbok, 1969, 67–215. Kristoffersen, S. 2000. Sverd og spenne: Høyskoleforlaget. Kristoffersen, S., and B. Magnus. 2010. Spannformete kar - Utvikling og variasjon Stavanger: Arkeologisk museum, Universitetet i Stavanger. Larsen, J. H. 1978. Utskyldriket : arkeologisk drøfting av en historisk hypotese, (mag.art.), University of Oslo. Martens, I., et al. 2021. Viking Age Swords from Telemark, Norway : An Integrated Technical and Archaeological Investigation. In. Cappelen Damm. Pedersen, E. A. 1989. Jernalderbosetningen på Hadeland : en arkeologisk-geografisk analyse Oslo. Petersen, J. 1919. De Norske Vikingesverd. En typologisk-kronologisk studie over vikingetidens vaaben Kristiania. Petersen, J. 1951. Vikingetidens redskaper Oslo: Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo. Petersen, J. 1955. Vikingetidens smykker i Norge Stavanger: Stavanger museum. Pilø, L. 2005. Bosted - urgård - enkeltgård : en analyse av premissene i den norske bosetningshistoriske forskningstradisjon på bakgrunn av bebyggelsesarkeologisk feltarbeid på Hedemarken, (dr. art.), Universitetet i Oslo. Rødsrud, C. L., and I. M. Røstad. 2020. Hedmarkens merovingertid i et fugleperspektiv. in C. L. Rødsrud and A. Mjærum eds., Ingen vei utenom: Arkeologiske undersøkelser i forbindelse med etablering av ny rv. 3/25 i Løten og Elverum kommuner, Innlandet Oslo: Cappelen Damm akademisk, 175–186. Rønne, O. 1999. Rogalands merovingertid: perspektiver på en funnfattig periode, (Hovedfag), Universitetet i Oslo. Røstad, I. M. 2016. Smykkenes språk : smykker og identitetsforhandlinger i Skandinavia ca. 400-650/700 e.Kr, (PhD), Universitetet i Oslo, Det humanistiske fakultet, Institutt for arkeologi, konservering og historie. Samdal, M. 2000. Amuletter - Gjenstander med amulettkarakter i vestnorske graver i tidsrommet 350-1000 e.Kr (Master), Universitetet i Bergen. Straume, E. 1987. Gläser mit Facettenschliff aus skandinavischen Gräbern des 4. und 5. Jahrhunderts n.Chr Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Ystgaard, I. 2014. Krigens praksis. Organisert voldsbruk og materiell kultur i Midt-Norge ca. 100-900 e.Kr. , (PhD), NTNU. Aannestad, H. L. 2015. Transformasjoner. Omforming og bruk av importerte gjenstander i vikingtid, (Ph.D.), University of Oslo.
Data Source	The Museum of Cultural History – University of Oslo, The Museum of Archaeology – University of Stavanger and the University Museum of Bergen have digitised their archaeological artefacts and samples in the Unimus open access database (https://www.unimus.no/portal), from which we have exported all finds categorised as originating from burials. We have also supplemented this data with information from the closed production databases at each museum

Geospatial Metadata

Geographic Coverage	Norway, South-Norway
Geographic Unit	Decimal Degrees
Geographic Bounding Box	4.44 12.24 62.37 57.7

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