Iron production as a factor in the settlement history of the mountain valleys surrounding Hardangervidda

Abstract

In Norway iron production was a domestic handicraft throughout the Iron Age and the Middle Ages. Traces of this activity are today found in large quantities in almost all parts of the country. One of the main locations for iron production was the inner parts of the mountain valleys. It is maintained that this is due to the fact that production was carried out by people who also practised hunting and kept livestock on the mountain plateau and in the birch belt. The heads of the valleys were the best places to combine these activities. The iron production in the mountain valleys thus has a key‐position in the settlement history of the whole of South Norway in that it indicates which environment the first permanent settlers in a certain area chose to live in. Thereby it also tells much about the tradition they came from. The mountain valley settlement is regarded as a bridge between the nomadic and the settled way of life in Norwegian prehistory.