Settlement Archaeology in Southern Scandinavia. Preconditions and Prospecting Methods

Abstract

Iron Age (500 BC-1000AD) settlements have been excavated in large numbers in Denmark and Scandinavia, and not only the houses but the layout of the farms and villages are well illuminated themes. Since this is not the case everywhere in Europe, this paper focuses on the important first step in order to get to grips with this problem; the archaeological prospecting. There are a number of methods at hand and they work best in combination. While prospecting, the archaeologist has to work in a source critical manner in order not simply to reproduce already known facts.

Keywords

• field surveying
• settlement archaeology
• source criticism
• field archaeological methods