Interregional networks in the late Viking Age? Insights from a burned pit house in the Viking-Age town of Aros, present-day Aarhus, Denmark (ca. 980 CE)

Abstract

The Viking Age was a dynamic period, with local centres and urban sites engaging to varying degrees in local, regional and interregional networks. While the role of certain northern towns in these networks is relatively well-known and the related knowledge up to date, other towns appear to have received comparatively little recent attention. This study aims to investigate the role of the Viking-Age town of Aros, present-day Aarhus, situated on the eastern coast of Jutland, Denmark, in interregional networks, by means of the interdisciplinary study of a rare context, excavated in 2009: a well-preserved burned pit house at the site of Bispetorv, dated to the late 10th century CE. What does the archaeological assemblage tell about the house and its occupants, what can be said about resource exploitation, and to what extent were the occupants of the late Viking-Age pit house involved in long-distance trade?

The study of the pit house at Bispetorv is based on an interdisciplinary approach, including analysis of inorganic artefacts, zooarchaeological remains, macrobotanical remains and carbonised wood collected from multiple layers, supported by a substantial number of radiocarbon dates. The outcomes are presented within the framework of other comparable published and unpublished sites in and nearby Aarhus including Søndervold and Skt. Clemens Stræde, as well as with other Viking-Age towns in northern Europe.

The analysis of Bispetorv reveals a predominance of artefacts and ecofacts associated with regional networks, with scant evidence of contacts with the Baltic Sea coast. While these results match the findings from other sites in Aarhus, and are comparable to other local centres, they are in apparent contrast to larger urban centres such as Ribe, Hedeby and Kaupang. Further research, based on a variety of methods, will have to show to what degree the currently available bioarchaeological results from Aarhus are representative for the remaining parts of the urban centre and to what extent long-distance contacts evolved over time.