Session: #483

Content:

The far north was a significant source of sought-after products during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Fish, fur, hides, train oil, and walrus ivory are only some of the products known to have been distributed to other parts of Europe and beyond. Aspects of this trade and the exchange networks have long been studied through traditional archaeological methods. Over the last few decades theoretical developments have led to interesting new results and reinterpretations of the archaeological record, for instance regarding the complexities of social networks and identities in the medieval and early modern north. Recent developments in scientific methods, such as aDNA and isotope analyses, now provide unprecedented possibilities to trace the movements of people, animals and things in these contexts in more detail. In an environment with limited historical sources or physical constructions related to travel, such studies also provide new approaches to the materiality of internal routes of communication and meeting places in northern landscapes. This session will present current research on the medieval and early modern exchange networks of the north, the practical infrastructure of travel and exchange, including land routes, waterways, and means of transportation, and the mercantile, administrative, and religious meeting places. Furthermore, we welcome studies of the social and cultural negotiations this infrastructure and its integrated multispecies webs entailed, particularly concerning the perception and use of landscapes by the different cultural and ethnic groups engaged in these networks.

Session: #483

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