Nýjar rannsóknir í fornleifafræði: The Iron Age demography

Kjetil Loftsgarden (Universitetet i Oslo) heldur fyrirlesturinn „The Iron Age demography – burials as a proxy for exploring population dynamics and the 6th century crisis in Western Scandinavia“ í fyrirlestraröðinni Nýjar rannsóknir í íslenskri fornleifafræði. 

Fyrirlesturinn verður haldinn í streymi á Zoom og fer fram á ensku. 

Nýjar rannsóknir í íslenskri fornleifafræði er fyrirlestraröð Félags fornleifafræðinga, námsbrautar í fornleifafræði við HÍ og Þjóðminjasafns Íslands. Smellið hér til að kynna ykkur dagskrá vormisseris 2024.

Um fyrirlesturinn 

The Iron Age demography – burials as a proxy for exploring population dynamics and the 6th century crisis in Western Scandinavia.

It is often stated that abrupt changes in climate following large volcanic eruptions had severe societal impacts; yet, owing to a scarcity of sources, these are seldom explicitly defined or quantified. This includes prehistoric demographic patterns, which have long remained hidden. However, the availability of large archaeological data sets and new tools and methods has given us the opportunity to look behind the veil of the past and uncover the demography of the Iron Age in Scandinavia.

Our database of close to 7,000 dated burials offer a unique proxy of the long-term ebb and flow of the population size in Western Scandinavia. A central finding is the substantial decline in the period following the 6th century, with over 75 percent less burials than the preceding centuries. We argue that this reflects an extended period of turmoil and decline lasting for several generations, accelerated by the volcanic eruptions of 536 and 541 CE and the following colder period, and possible also by plague pandemics.