Epsilon Open Archive

This study investigates the agrarian production and consumption within selected parts of the Gamla Uppsala vicinity during the period 200 BCE – 600 CE. Gamla Uppsala emerged towards the end of this period as one of the Scandinavian interregional central places. The objective of the study is to evaluate the significance of the agrarian settlements during the period in question, and to discuss the results in relation to the central place’s possible influence on agrarian production and consumption. Through a study of two major settlements, Berget and Bredåker, an archaeological source material has been analysed using source pluralistic theory formation, with methods derived from agrarian history, archaeology and geography. Different aspects of the settlement's economy have been examined and discussed in terms of settlement patterns, surplus production and central locations. The result of the study results show that agriculture was very dynamic rather than
static and that changes have been more distinct and quantifiable in terms of animal husbandry than of farming. This is particularly true when it comes to the composition of cattle herds. At Berget there are clear indications of agrarian surplus production, which
shows that it has been part of a tributary system with influence on production, consumption and organization. The settlement at Bredåker was not initially part of the
same system but was integrated over time. The thesis can show dynamic changes in agriculture during the period 200 BCE – 600 CE, changes that are probably initiated by internal as well as external factors. The biggest change seems to have occurred at the end of the 4th or early 5th century, when the direction of agriculture changed radically. This coincided with the erection of the first
large halls and terraces at Gamla Uppsala.