The background of the odal rights: an archaeological discussion

The age and origin of the odal rights known from medieval times in Sweden and Norway are debated. Archaeologists tend to view them as old and a part of the pre-Christian society, whereas historians and legal historians view them as established after Christianity was introduced, mirroring canonical laws. In Viking Age runic inscriptions from the eleventh century in the lake Mälaren valley in Sweden, from late tenth to eleventh century in south-western Norway, the term odal, inherited family land occurs together with other expressions concerning landed property. Furthermore, two runestones in Småland and Hälsingland in Sweden, c. 650 km apart, each enumerate five earlier ancestors in a male lineage, the sponsor himself being the sixth generation. As these runic inscriptions were made in different parts of Scandinavia during the late tenth and eleventh century, this indicates that the term and concept odal was widespread already before the canonic laws of the early medieval period were introduced, and quite possibly belongs to an older inheritance structure. The aim of this article is a renewed discussion focussing on the runological sources where the term and concept odal can be found in the Viking Age Scandinavian society (c. 750–1050 CE), but also early medieval written sources. Thereafter, archaeological sources from the Late Iron Age are addressed (c. 550–1050 CE)

Genomic and strontium isotope variation reveal immigration patterns in a viking age town

Abstract: The impact of human mobility on the northern Euro- pean urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia it- self are still largely unexplored. Our study of the de- mographics in the final phase of the Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investiga- tion that includes genetics, isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is particularly important as the earlier com- mon pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 indi- viduals from the 10th to 12th century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic diversity among the early urban residents. The observed vari- ation exceeds the genetic diversity in distinct mod- ern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data suggest mixed local and non-local origin of the townspeople..

Genomic and strontium isotope variation reveal immigration patterns in a Viking Age town

The impact of human mobility on the northern European urban populations during the Viking and Early Middle Ages and its repercussions in Scandinavia itself are still largely unexplored. Our study of the demographics in the final phase of the Viking era is the first comprehensive multidisciplinary investigation that includes genetics, isotopes, archaeology, and osteology on a larger scale. This early Christian dataset is particularly important as the earlier common pagan burial tradition during the Iron Age was cremation, hindering large-scale DNA analyses. We present genome-wide sequence data from 23 individuals from the 10th to 12th century Swedish town of Sigtuna. The data revealed high genetic diversity among the early urban residents. The observed variation exceeds the genetic diversity in distinct modern-day and Iron Age groups of central and northern Europe. Strontium isotope data suggest mixed local and non-local origin of the townspeople. Our results uncover the social system underlying the urbanization process of the Viking World of which mobility was an intricate part and was comparable between males and females. The inhabitants of Sigtuna were heterogeneous in their genetic affinities, probably reflecting both close and distant connections through an established network, confirming that early urbanization processes in northern Europe were driven by migration

The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

The authors acknowledge support from the National Genomics Infrastructure in Stockholm funded by Science for Life Laboratory, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council, and SNIC/Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science for assistance with massively parallel sequencing and access to the UPPMAX computational infrastructure. We used resources from projects SNIC 2022/23-132, SNIC 2022/22-117, SNIC 2022/23-163, SNIC 2022/22-299, and SNIC 2021-2-17. This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council project ID 2019-00849_VR and ATLAS (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond). Part of the modern dataset was supported by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), grant number 16/RC/3948, and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund and by FutureNeuro industry partners.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Sigtuna : An Urban Hub in the Viking World and Its Roots

The town of Sigtuna was established, according to dendrochronological dates from the bottom of the trenches of the large-scale excavation in the Trädgårdsmästaren block, c. AD 970-985, and most probably around 980. It has been argued that Sigtuna was founded on ‘virgin land’. This expression usually refers to sites that do not have a previous settlement history, and thus were placed on marginal land or in the outlands. But was this untouched, unsettled land? And if not, are there any traces of an earlier history? This article addresses this question and expands upon it

Depositional Traditions in Iron Age Kormt

This paper explores Iron Age depositions in wetlands and on dry ground in Kormt. The types of objects deposited and their contexts are discussed from a longterm perspective, and the emerging patterns are interpreted in cultural-historical terms. The early Iron Age depositions cluster on northeastern and southwestern Kormt, especially in the Avaldsnes and Ferkingstad areas. They indicate the presence of men of military rank and are placed at strategic maritime sites: Ferkingstad and northern Kormt. The depositional traditions of the early Iron Age resemble those of nearby Jæren and southernmost Hordaland, and indeed those of northern Jylland, Denmark. No depositions are known from the period AD 550–700. In the Viking Period, the depositional tradition in Kormt society seems to have played a more limited and less aristocratic role than previously. The depositional traditions differ from neighbouring as well as distant regions with which there formerly were similarities.The Avaldsnes Royal Manor Projec