Ryan Foster

The lecture will take place on Friday 27 January 2017, within the Project Room, 50 George Square.

Transhumance and sætr in Viking Age Norway

Biography

I hold a joint Hons degree in History and Geography from Nottingham Trent University, where my dissertation focussed on the effects of migration on national and trans-national identity in Europe. I subsequently completed a PGCE in Geography from the University of Nottingham and worked as a geography teacher for several years, before completing an MA in Lake District Studies from Lancaster University. My thesis investigated whether the place-name element –þveit in the Lake District was evidence of a Viking landnám. I was awarded the Northern Scholars scholarship in 2013 to study for a PhD in Scandinavian Studies, where my research involves the study of Old Norse shieling names during the Viking Age.

Lecture abstract

The use of transhumance in Norwegian agriculture has a long history stretching from at least 500 BC until historical times, and it is still practiced in some areas of Norway today. Various authors have written ethnographic accounts of sætr use in the 18th and 19th century, notably Olav Beito and Lars Reinton. However, Prescott has questioned the use of these relatively modern examples as a way of describing sætr practices in pre-history. In my paper I will discuss the reasons why transhumance and sætr sites where so important to people living in western Norway in the Viking Age, and why ethnographic accounts may not give an accurate picture of their use in the Early Middle Ages. I will finally offer some possible explanations for the locational factors behind the site and situation of sætr sites in western Norway.