Hill forts in Mid Norway: Prior assumptions in archaeological excavation

Abstract Hill fort investigations in Mid Norway: “Key-hole” excavations, possibilities and challenges Ingrid Ystgaard, Vitenskapsmuseet NTNU, Trondheim, Norway As a part of my PhD project, I am planning to conduct small excavations in 9 or 10 hill forts in Mid Norway. Excavations on a very small scale have been carried out previously in about 14 of these hill forts. The main aim of these excavations was to extract charcoal from reliable contexts in order to get dates of the use of the hill forts. Dates varied between 500 BC and 1500 AD, with clusters around AD 0 – 200 and AD 400 – 600. I wish to fill in this picture by carrying out similar excavations in as many hill forts as possible within the same region. Hopefully, the greater number of dates will give a broader picture of their periods of use. This information I want to bring into an analysis of the impact of conflicts and warfare on changes in society in the period around 600 AD. Shortly described, the method used is small trenches, measuring approximately 1.5 by 3.0 m, dug at the inside of the walls. The trenches are aimed at gaining charcoal from as good contexts as possible in order to extract dating material. The greatest advantage of this method is that it is a relatively cheap and effective way of getting a broad dating material from a large number of hill forts. A presupposition is that there have been fires on the hill forts, fires in connection with acts of violence. In this there is a prior assumption regarding the interpretation of the hill forts. The method used is by no means sufficient as a basis of interpretation of the hill forts. It only provides dates which can very well be altered by more substantial excavations. This has to be considered when the data are analysed.