The border of farming : Shetland and Scandinavia : neolithic and bronze age farming : papers from the symposium in Copenhagen, September 19th to the 21st 2012

The National Museum of Denmark initiated its most comprehensive interdisciplinary research venture so far: 'Northern Worlds'. Between 2009 and 2013, the programme produced and communicated new knowledge on the relationship between people and environment over the last 15,000 years in ways relevant to the present, with its notable climatic changes. The expansion of agriculture into the temperate and sub-arctic zones of the planet represents a more than 6,000 year long narrative, characterized by repeated advances followed by stagnation. Farming on the edge focused on periods and areas with large potential for the creation of new knowledge on agricultural advances and their associated social structures and ideologies. The ultimate boundaries of farming communities in different parts of Scandinavia and the North Atlantic were explored. The project 'Shetland – the Border of Farming 4000-3000 BC' and 'Farming on the Edge – the Scandinavian Expansion' were parts of this initiative. Foreword / H. C. Gulløv 4 The Border of Farming – Shetland and Scandinavia / Fleming Kaul & Ditlev L. Mahler 7 Stanydale Hall – a Gatering Site or just a large Neolithic House on Shetland? / Ditlev L. Mahler 8 Living on the Land? / Val Turner 24 Burnt Mounds: Transforming Space and Place in Bronze Age Shetland / Lauren Doughton 35 'Plus ça change...' developments in Shetland, c. 2500–1800 BC / Alison Sheridan 47 Felsite Axehead reduction – the Flow from Quarry pit to discard/deposition / Torben Ballin 73 Those who came before: Shetland’s antiquarians and the Neolithic / Jenny Murray & Carol Christiansen 92 Neolithic in the Baltics. From Agrarian Options to Practice / Inga Merkyte 103 Patterns of Agricultural Spread in Nordic Landrace Crops / Matti Leino 117 Farmers Hunting and Hunters Farming – the Expansion of Agrarian Societies during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Scandinavia / Lasse Sørensen 126 Norway – Denmark. Material Connections in the Early Bronze Age / Karen Margrethe Hornstrup 144 The One-edged Razor – Northernmost and Southernmost / Flemming Kaul 156 The Earliest Agriculture in Central Norway – an Overview of Indicators from the Steinkjer, Nord Trøndelag / Frank Asprem 177 The Empirical Basis for Research on Agricultural Settlements in Northern Norway 1200 BC – 0 / Johan E. Arntzen 182 Contributors 198