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

Version 1.0

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

Learn about Data Citation Standards.

Contact Owner

Dataset Metrics

14 Downloads

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

Filter by

	1 to 2 of 2 Files	Download
	00_README.txt Plain Text - 6.4 KB Published Apr 30, 2024 8 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 6 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

Dataset Terms

License/Data Use Agreement

Our Community Norms as well as good scientific practices expect that proper credit is given via citation. Please use the data citation shown on the dataset page.

Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. CC0 1.0

Restricted Files + Terms of Access

Dataset Version	Summary	Contributors	Published on
No records found.

Edit File

This file has already been deleted (or replaced) in the current version. It may not be edited.

Restrict Access

Restricting limits access to published files. People who want to use the restricted files can request access by default. If you disable request access, you must add information about access to the Terms of Access field.

Learn about restricting files and dataset access in the User Guide.

Request Access

Enable access request

You must enable request access or add terms of access to restrict file access.

Terms of Access for Restricted Files

Save Changes

Edit Embargo

The selected file or files have already been published. Contact an administrator to change the embargo date or reason of the file or files.

Edit Retention Period

The selected file or files have already been published. Contact an administrator to change the retention period date or reason of the file or files.

Delete Files

The file will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.

Files will not be removed from previously published versions of the dataset.

Select File(s)

Please select one or more files.

Share Dataset

Share this dataset on your favorite social media networks.

Continue

Dataset Citations

Citations for this dataset are retrieved from Crossref via DataCite using Make Data Count standards. For more information about dataset metrics, please refer to the User Guide.

Sorry, no citations were found.

Inaccessible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired or the files can only be transferred via Globus.

You may request access to any restricted file(s) by clicking the Request Access button.

Ineligible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be transferred because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired or the files are not Globus accessible.

You may request access to any restricted file(s) by clicking the Request Access button.

Download Options

The files selected are too large to download as a ZIP.

You can select individual files that are below the 4.7 GB download limit from the files table, or use the Data Access API for programmatic access to the files.

Select File(s)

Please select a file or files to be downloaded.

Inaccessible Files Selected

The selected file(s) may not be downloaded because you have not been granted access or the file(s) have a retention period that has expired.

Click Continue to download the files you have access to download.

Ineligible Files Selected

Some file(s) cannot be transferred. (They are restricted, embargoed, with an expired retention period, or not Globus accessible.)

Click Continue to transfer the elligible files.

Delete Dataset

Are you sure you want to delete this dataset and all of its files? You cannot undelete this dataset.

Delete Draft Version

Are you sure you want to delete this draft version? Files will be reverted to the most recently published version. You cannot undelete this draft.

Unpublished Dataset Private URL

Private URL can only be used with unpublished versions of datasets.

Unpublished Dataset Private URL

Are you sure you want to disable the Private URL? If you have shared the Private URL with others they will no longer be able to use it to access your unpublished dataset.

Delete Files

The file(s) will be deleted after you click on the Delete button.

Files will not be removed from previously published versions of the dataset.

Compute

This dataset contains restricted files you may not compute on because you have not been granted access.

Deaccession Dataset

Are you sure you want to deaccession? This is permanent and the selected version(s) will no longer be viewable by the public.

Deaccession Dataset

Are you sure you want to deaccession this dataset? This is permanent an it will no longer be viewable by the public.

Version Differences Details

Please select two versions to view the differences.

Version Differences Details

Version:
Last Updated:

Select File(s)

Please select a file or files for access request.

Select File(s)

Embargoed files cannot be accessed. Please select an unembargoed file or files for your access request.

Edit Tags

Select existing file tags or create new tags to describe your files. Each file can have more than one tag.

Request Access

You need to Log In to request access.

Dataset Terms

Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to request access to files in this dataset.

This dataset is made available under the following terms. Please confirm and/or complete the information needed below in order to continue.

License/Data Use Agreement

Our Community Norms as well as good scientific practices expect that proper credit is given via citation. Please use the data citation shown on the dataset page.

Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. CC0 1.0

Preview Guestbook

Upon downloading files the guestbook asks for the following information.

Guestbook Name

Collected Data

Account Information

Package File Download

Use the Download URL in a Wget command or a download manager to download this package file. Download via web browser is not recommended. User Guide - Downloading a Dataverse Package via URL

Download URL

https://dataverse.no/api/access/datafile/

Compute Batch

Clear Batch

Dataset	Persistent Identifier	Change Compute Batch

Compute Batch

Submit for Review

You will not be able to make changes to this dataset while it is in review.

Publish Dataset

Are you sure you want to republish this dataset?

Select if this is a minor or major version update.

Minor Release (1.1)

Major Release (2.0)

Publish Dataset

This dataset cannot be published until University of Oslo is published by its administrator.

Publish Dataset

This dataset cannot be published until University of Oslo and DataverseNO are published.

Return to Author

Return this dataset to contributor for modification.