Books by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
PhD dissertation. The aim of the study is to approach the interplay between socio-political devel... more PhD dissertation. The aim of the study is to approach the interplay between socio-political development and the household as a social institution in south Norway in the period c. AD 350–900 through the perspective of cooking technology. Seemingly corresponding with the Early to Late Iron Age transition in the mid-6th century, culinary equipment in iron and soapstone succeeds a long-term focus on ceramics. This transitional period is a central research focus in the study.
The transition is pursued from a ground-up and long-term perspective on crafts and culinary practice anchored in detailed analyses of materials and artefacts. Assemblage thinking and the Communities of Practice framework provide valuable perspectives on the emergent qualities of entities, whether it be artefact types or social units.
The study establishes a relative chronology for the temporal selection of materials and artefact types, and demonstrates a sliding scale within the operational sequences of a meal: from an emphasis on serving in the Early Iron Age to cooking in the Late Iron Age. Macroscopic analyses and contextual studies of the artefact assemblage contribute to bridge the gap between ceramic, iron and soapstone technology and provide the basis for a new interpretive framework for iron and soapstone cooking equipment. When cooking equipment in iron turned up in the 7th and 8th centuries, it underlined the forging of new identities and connections with north-western Europe and especially central Sweden and the simultaneous development of local particularities. These developments are essential for the emergence of a soapstone industry in the Viking Age. The study further demonstrates that a collective cooking practice became increasingly private events during the Migration Period (c.AD 400-550). Changing the location for cooking, from large cooking-pit sites to private settlement sites, opened up for reorientation and discursive practice in the Merovingian Period as the meal changed character when food surfaced as a resource for leadership and underpinned the house with the hall as a social institution.
Papers by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
Control. A Story about Animal/Human domestication. Portal forlag., 2022
The deposition of human and animal skeletal parts in watery contexts was a recurrent phenomenon i... more The deposition of human and animal skeletal parts in watery contexts was a recurrent phenomenon in the Iron Age of Western Europe and Scandinavia (c. 500 BC-AD1000) and is frequently discussed within recent archaeological discourse. The aim of the paper is to present the material from Starene, a wetland site in Hedmark, Norway, and explore the relations between wetlands and deposited objects.
Environment, Archaeology and Landscape, 2021
In 2014, a geoarchaeological study was undertaken on two boreholes, reaching ~17.00 m below curre... more In 2014, a geoarchaeological study was undertaken on two boreholes, reaching ~17.00 m below current sea level, from the River Alna and Aker outlets into Oslo harbour at the head of Oslo Fjord, Norway. The study was prompted by development work which would make the area, situated just outside the waterfront of the medieval town of Oslo, inaccessible for the many decades to come. The aim was therefore to establish and explore the archaeological potential of the buried sediment stratigraphy. Analysis of the core revealed, contrary to expectation and sea level curve data, that no later than the latest Nordic Iron Age (ca 1000 AD– pre-Picea) there was evidence for deep water anaerobic sediments, overlain by shallow water river delta sediments. The latter, upwards, were increasingly rich in anthropogenic inclusions, with a topmost sample in fact of subaerial and Dark Earth-like character., with most radiocarbon dates showing an age of 1300-1400s AD. It can be suggested that the best explanation for these depth, sediment type and dates, was because of Alna River delta front slumping. We would like to suggest that this process occurred as a series of contemporary medieval delta sediment accumulations that first slumped sideways gently down-slope, before sliding more steeply downwards, into deep water, so as a result a whole set of similarly dated sediments became a vertical sequence. These medieval sediments in fact recorded probable pro-delta, delta front, channel, levee and marsh facies, which involved both shallow water and subaerial environments. Thus, the investigation indicates that sedimentation in the innermost reaches of the Oslo Fjord in the High and Late Middle Ages was massive, with potential effect on the harbour conditions. It also shows that the rapidly advancing river delta front offered good conditions for the rapid embedding and subsequent preservation of organic materials in clayey sediments. This would be beneficial even for the preservation of large organic objects like ship hulls which, as a result of slumping events, may be found even at deeper levels than where they originally sunk. Lastly, the study shows how worthwhile and useful off-site coring can be, for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstruction where few on-site deposits are preserved, even in the difficult drilling conditions of Oslo Harbour.
Agrarian Life of The North 200 BC-AD1000. Studies in rural settlement and farming in Norway., 2016
This article seeks to explore to what extent food practices were altered with the establishment o... more This article seeks to explore to what extent food practices were altered with the establishment of a new social structure in the Late Iron Age, specifically in relation to an assumed abandonment of open air-cooking pit sites and changes in cooking utensils in the late 6 th century AD. In the Late Iron Age, new types of kitchen utensils, such as roasting spits, frying pans and various types of vessels appear in the grave material. New ways of handling waste may also be visible from the Viking Age onwards. These changes are discussed with reference to theories of commensality and feasting, and with regards to a newly excavated site at Guåker in Stange, Hedmark.
Arkeologiske undersøkelser 2003-2004. Varia 77, 2009
Early in summer of 2004 an excavation area of about 4792 m² was surface stripped at the farm Fos... more Early in summer of 2004 an excavation area of about 4792 m² was surface stripped at the farm Foss in Sørum municipality. A cemetery of 10 ring ditches of ploughed out burial mounds was recovered together with about 182 cooking pits. The radiocarbon datings are from around 780 BC to 1240 AD. The cooking pits have been used from Younger Bronze Age period to the Merovingian/Viking periods. Few of the pits overlapped one another, and some of them were reused several times. Some of the cooking pits had a small pit beside itself. The site was organized after a distinct pattern: the cooking pits in a semicircle surrounding an area almost empty of traces. The ring ditches representing burial mounds were placed outside the semicircle of cooking pits. The ring ditches had an outer diameter from 9,5 to 18 m. Inside some of the ditches, remnants of soil/filling from the mound and some burials were preserved. 9 cremation burials were documented, and 3 of them were located outside the ring ditches. Of the graves were two urns, three possible cremation patches, one cremation pit, one burial placed in a ring ditch, and one grave consisting of a small concentration of burnt bones and artifacts together with charcoal. The artifacts from the burials consist of decorated pottery, decorated bone objects and combs, iron needles and glassbeads. Analysis of the bone material indicates one young individual, two double burials, and one possible adult woman. Bones from the ring ditches and the cooking pits consist mainly of animal bones, but some human bones were also identified.
The graves are dated from Pre-Roman Iron Age up to the Migration period. The cooking pit activities pre-date the cemetery and continues into the period following the youngest grave.
Journal of Wetland Archaeology, 2018
This paper publishes an assemblage of human- and animal remains from Starene, a wetland site in H... more This paper publishes an assemblage of human- and animal remains from Starene, a wetland site in Hedmark, south-east Norway, dating to the early and late Iron Age. The site is situated within a district with six previous finds of fragmented bog skeletons. The Starene site provided new information on this group of finds and also revealed animal remains, which have brought new insight to the multi-period nature of the depositional sites. This paper draws on some of the initial results from Starene and a comparison with the earlier find contexts from the district. An initial review of the site is followed by a discussion concerning the treatment and selection of human and animal remains. Additional comparative material will be included to give further insight to the practice of deposition. 50 free downloads https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NazHjtaG2dtiE6kGq5KZ/full
Viking, 2015
This article explores the Early Iron Age household through a biographical perspective on the rela... more This article explores the Early Iron Age household through a biographical perspective on the relationship between the longhouse and its inhabitants. The source material is a farmstead located in Askim in the county of Østfold dated to the Pre-Roman Iron Age (BC 500–1). This farmstead consisted of two separate buildings, where one of the buildings seems to have functioned as a dwelling for several generations. This does not, however, coincide with the overall house material from Norway and South Scandinavia, where the trend is buildings that last for one generation only. This is probably due to the tradition of property being handled in a collective manner and partitioned upon marriage then being remerged in the event of death. A key point in the analysis is how the experience of architecture and space has social implications. Architectural change brings forth changes in movement and practice in the house as well as alterations, which can reflect major transformations in the social organization of society.
Landskap» har etter hvert blitt et velkjent begrep innen arkeologisk forskning, om enn innholdet ... more Landskap» har etter hvert blitt et velkjent begrep innen arkeologisk forskning, om enn innholdet i selve begrepet enkelte ganger kan oppfattes som både diffust og svevende. Noe av årsaken til dette skyldes nok at teoriene om landskap, slik de gjerne fremstilles og anvendes av forskere som blant andre Christopher Tilley (1994), fremstår som svaert subjektive, lite etterprøvbare og kun anvendelige på spesielt utvalgte deler av det arkeologiske materialet. Fenomenologiske perspektiver, blant annet gjennom Martin Heideggers teorier om «å bebo» («to dwell»), har medført at menneskets opplevelse og erfaring av landskapet har blitt vektlagt. Uten tvil har slike innfallsvinkler bidratt til mange nye og interessante tolkninger av det arkeologiske materialet. Teoriene eier likevel rom for videreutvikling og nyansering. Det bør vaere et mål at tolkningene ikke blir for subjektive, men at de kan etterprøves og dermed i større grad kan vaere gjenstand for faglig diskusjon.
Sjøreiser og stedsidentitet. Jæren/Lista i bronsealder og eldre jernalder. OAS 8., 2007
Heidarheim. Lokalhistorie fra Hedrum., 2007
Articles by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
Nicolay arkeologisk tidsskrift, 2015
Edited books by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
by Frode Iversen, Håkan Petersson, Kristin Armstrong Oma, Arne Anderson Stamnes, Christian Løchsen Rødsrud, Barbro Dahl, Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen, Geir Grønnesby, Trond Meling, Christin E. Jensen, Johan Arntzen, Lars Erik Gjerpe, Even Bjørdal, Raymond Sauvage, Marte Mokkelbost, Kari Loe Hjelle, Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen, and Sean D Denham The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant rese... more The 14 articles presented in this publication represent some of the latest and most relevant research on rural settlement and farming from the Late Neolithic through the Early Medieval Period in Norway. It deals with the impact of climate change, plague and the AD 536-7 volcanic event and some of the earliest farms north of the Arctic Circle. It provides new perspectives and archaeological evidence for the Viking age farm of Norway, differences in regional settlement structures of agrarian societies, the relation between houses and graves in the Iron Age, and varying food practices as indicators of societal change.
The publication is part of the Joint Research Program (Forskning i fellesskap) conducted by the University Museums of Norway and co-funded by The Research Council of Norway.
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Books by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
The transition is pursued from a ground-up and long-term perspective on crafts and culinary practice anchored in detailed analyses of materials and artefacts. Assemblage thinking and the Communities of Practice framework provide valuable perspectives on the emergent qualities of entities, whether it be artefact types or social units.
The study establishes a relative chronology for the temporal selection of materials and artefact types, and demonstrates a sliding scale within the operational sequences of a meal: from an emphasis on serving in the Early Iron Age to cooking in the Late Iron Age. Macroscopic analyses and contextual studies of the artefact assemblage contribute to bridge the gap between ceramic, iron and soapstone technology and provide the basis for a new interpretive framework for iron and soapstone cooking equipment. When cooking equipment in iron turned up in the 7th and 8th centuries, it underlined the forging of new identities and connections with north-western Europe and especially central Sweden and the simultaneous development of local particularities. These developments are essential for the emergence of a soapstone industry in the Viking Age. The study further demonstrates that a collective cooking practice became increasingly private events during the Migration Period (c.AD 400-550). Changing the location for cooking, from large cooking-pit sites to private settlement sites, opened up for reorientation and discursive practice in the Merovingian Period as the meal changed character when food surfaced as a resource for leadership and underpinned the house with the hall as a social institution.
Papers by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
The graves are dated from Pre-Roman Iron Age up to the Migration period. The cooking pit activities pre-date the cemetery and continues into the period following the youngest grave.
Articles by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
Edited books by Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen
The publication is part of the Joint Research Program (Forskning i fellesskap) conducted by the University Museums of Norway and co-funded by The Research Council of Norway.
The transition is pursued from a ground-up and long-term perspective on crafts and culinary practice anchored in detailed analyses of materials and artefacts. Assemblage thinking and the Communities of Practice framework provide valuable perspectives on the emergent qualities of entities, whether it be artefact types or social units.
The study establishes a relative chronology for the temporal selection of materials and artefact types, and demonstrates a sliding scale within the operational sequences of a meal: from an emphasis on serving in the Early Iron Age to cooking in the Late Iron Age. Macroscopic analyses and contextual studies of the artefact assemblage contribute to bridge the gap between ceramic, iron and soapstone technology and provide the basis for a new interpretive framework for iron and soapstone cooking equipment. When cooking equipment in iron turned up in the 7th and 8th centuries, it underlined the forging of new identities and connections with north-western Europe and especially central Sweden and the simultaneous development of local particularities. These developments are essential for the emergence of a soapstone industry in the Viking Age. The study further demonstrates that a collective cooking practice became increasingly private events during the Migration Period (c.AD 400-550). Changing the location for cooking, from large cooking-pit sites to private settlement sites, opened up for reorientation and discursive practice in the Merovingian Period as the meal changed character when food surfaced as a resource for leadership and underpinned the house with the hall as a social institution.
The graves are dated from Pre-Roman Iron Age up to the Migration period. The cooking pit activities pre-date the cemetery and continues into the period following the youngest grave.
The publication is part of the Joint Research Program (Forskning i fellesskap) conducted by the University Museums of Norway and co-funded by The Research Council of Norway.