Cultural sediment analyses and transitions in early fishing activity at Langenesværet, Vesterålen, Northern Norway

Abstract

The development of specialized and commercial fishing activity in the island archipelago of Lofoten and Vestera°len in northern Norway is a critical foundation from which to understand the subsequent spread of commercial fishing across the north Atlantic region during the medieval and early modern period. One little understood aspect of this development is the relationship between medieval commercial fishing stations (fiskevaer) and earlier fishing activity. In this article, cultural sediment deposits at Langenesværet, Vestera°len, Northern Norway provide an opportunity to examine this relationship and its implications for current historical models of fishing development in northern Norway and the north Atlantic region. Conventional and AMS radiocarbon dating techniques are used to establish a chronology for the deposits, while activities associated with the sediments are characterized using thin-section micromorphology supported by proton induced X-ray emission spectrometry (PIXE). The results suggest that the site commenced formation as early as ca. 3000 B.C. and that the site was first used for specialized fishing activity from the early centuries A.D. The medieval commercial fiskevaer settlement at Langenesværet was introduced to an area that had a longstanding tradition of specialised fishing activity.