Hillforts – built by collective action or coercive leadership? Socio-economic and military organization in eastern Norway AD 1–600

Abstract

In this article, we will examine the socio-economic and military landscape of the Early Iron Age (AD 1–600) in the historical county of Vingulmark, which consisted of the area from Eiker in the west to Bohuslän in the east. Our starting point is hillforts, which are usually interpreted as places of refuge for people in rural areas in times of unrest. In Norway, around 450 hillforts are known, mainly dated to the period AD 200–550. Vingulmark contains 109 of them, thus almost a quarter of the known hillforts. We discuss why there are so many hillforts in Vingulsmark, and the relation between hillforts and central farms / places in Vingulmark. Are the hillforts the result of community solutions in farming communities or was the construction of the hillforts controlled by elites from one or more centres, under threats of coercion? We will assess the hillforts in relation to socio-economic relations, settlement expansion, central farms and central places in a landscape perspective with the application of anarchist theories and collective action theory. Keywords: hillforts, conflict, socio-economic and military organization, communities, leadership