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Excavations at a Younger Stone Age settlement in Varangerfjord, Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

M. A. P. Renouf
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland St John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada

Abstract

In 1978 the Younger Stone Age (6500–1800 BP) site of Nyelv Nedre Vest in Varangerfjord, northeastern Norway, was partly excavated before road widening, allowing reassessment of Younger Stone Age settlement patterns in die area. Early settlement in Varanger was formerly thought to involve regular seasonal movements between sites. Analysis of faunal refuse from Nyelv Nedre Vest now indicates year- round occupation, and re-examination of data from other inner fjord sites suggests diat they too might have housed sedentary or semi- sedentary populations. Special-purpose satellite' camps seem also to have been associated with these settlements. This settlement pattern has implications for other aspects of the social group, and the results of the analysis are relevant to other settlement studies in northern maritime regions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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