Villreinfangst i den sørlege delen av Midt-Noreg – ein studie i fordelinga av bågastø, jordgravne og steinmura fangstgroper

Abstract

Prehistoric hunting structures for reindeer in central Norway. This article examines the distribution of prehistoric hunting structures for reindeer in the mountain area of central Norway. The article focuses on two different main types of hunting structures: stone bricked archery positions and pitfalls. Pitfalls can be divided into two groups: stone bricked pitfalls or pitfalls dug in the ground. This article aims to review a theory introduced by Øystein Mølmen, who has suggested that the two main types of hunting structures, archery positions and pitfalls, have different distribution patterns in the mountain area of central Norway. The archery position type is densely concentrated in a belt? of the coastal mountain area from Geiranger in the south to Sunndal in the north. In the mountain area further east, the dominant hunting structures consist, however, of large pitfall trapping systems. In my research, I have gathered information of over 4500 known hunting structures for wild reindeer in the mountain area of central Norway. This information will be presented in a new map showing various concentration and distribution of the two main types of hunting structures. The map will be used to review the distribution of the different types of hunting structures, and where the boundary between the different hunting structures may be identified. Does the map show the same pattern that Øystein Mølmen is arguing for in his theory? At the end of the article there will be an attempt to raise questions and some possible explanations to why we have a different distribution and concentration of hunting structures in the western mountain areas compared to the eastern mountain areas.