Turfs and timbers

Resource use in the construction of a Viking Age ring fortress

Authors

  • Morten Fischer Mortensen Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, The National Museum of Denmark
  • Claudia Baittinger Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, The National Museum of Denmark
  • Jonas Christensen Museum Southeast Denmark
  • Anne Birgitte Nielsen Department of Geology, Lund University
  • Søren Nielsen Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde
  • Anders Pihl Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean, National Museum of Denmark
  • Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger
  • Morten Ravn Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde
  • Søren Michael Sindbæk Aarhus University
  • Jens Ulriksen Museum Southeast Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v10i0.121918

Keywords:

Viking Age, ring fortress, resource use, REVEALS, pollen analysis

Abstract

Viking Age ring fortresses were some of the largest construction projects in Danish prehistory. In this article we reconstruct the amount of turf and timber used in the construction of the Borgring ring fortress and estimate the resource area needed to supply the building materials. Using REVEALS pollen data modelling, we quantify the regional oak land cover and estimate the resource area. The results show that even though Borgring was built in an open cultural landscape, sufficient supply of oak for the construction would have been accessible within a few kilometres from the fortress.

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Published

2021-07-22 — Updated on 2022-01-11

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How to Cite

Mortensen, M. F., Baittinger, C., Christensen, J., Nielsen, A. B., Nielsen, S., Pihl, A., Prøsch-Danielsen, L., Ravn, M., Sindbæk, S. M., & Ulriksen, J. (2022). Turfs and timbers: Resource use in the construction of a Viking Age ring fortress. Danish Journal of Archaeology, 10, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v10i0.121918 (Original work published July 22, 2021)

Issue

Vol. 10 (2021)

Section

Research Article

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