Resources, Production, and Trade in the Norse Shetland

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, I use the research carried out by scholars in Shetland and the North Atlantic to analyze and discuss the resources available for the Norse in Shetland, including steatite, fishing, whales, seals, birds, animal husbandry, and cultivation of crops. I present the utilization and control of these resources in the context of trade in the North Atlantic, and also investigate the economic changes occurring during the late 1st and early 2nd millennium AD and their effects on the settlement in Shetland.