1,720,981 research outputs found
Reconstructing a Medieval Underground Soapstone Quarry: Bakkaunet in Trondheim in an International Perspective
No full textUnderground medieval quarries are rare, in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. Thus the question: Could a big underground soapstone quarry have been opened at Bakkaunet in Trondheim (central Norway) in the Middle Ages? This question of stone procurement for Nidaros Cathedral – which is Europe’s northernmost medieval cathedral and a building heavily influenced by English traditions and fashions – has bothered us for the last 20 years. In this paper we discuss what we think the quarrymen did. It is a biography of the now almost lost Bakkaunet quarry, with a focus on the question about underground operations. But the paper also discusses stone procurement for Nidaros Cathedral in view of contemporary international, especially English, trends. The story is sad, for the open-cast part of this once great quarry, very close to the centre of Trondheim, has been successively destroyed by modern house building over the last century
A Versatile Resource - The Procurement and Use of Soapstone in Norway and The North Atlantic Region
No full textSoapstone is a remarkable rock. While it is very workable due to a high content of talc, the softest known mineral in existence, it is also durable, heat-resistant and has a high heat storage capacity. These properties have been recognised and valued since prehistory across the world and soapstone has been used for a very broad range of products. This book addresses soapstone use in Norway and the North Atlantic region, including Greenland (here: the North). Although the majority of papers deal with the Iron Age and Middle Ages, the book spans the Mesolithic to the early modern era, dealing with themes related to quarries, products and associated people and institutions in a wide sense. Recent years have seen a revival of basic archaeological and geological research into the procurement and use of stone resources. With authors from the fields of archaeology, geosciences and traditional crafts, this anthology reflects cross-disciplinary work grown out of this revival
A Prehistoric Geometric Rock Art Landscape by the First Nile Cataract
No full textStoremyr Per. A Prehistoric Geometric Rock Art Landscape by the First Nile Cataract. In: Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, n°19, 2009. L’art rupestre de la vallée du Nil et des déserts égyptiens. pp. 121-150
Soapstone in the North. Quarries, Products and People 7000 BC - AD 1700
Full text linkThis book addresses soapstone use in Norway and the North Atlantic region, including Greenland. Although the majority of the papers deal with the Iron Age and Middle Ages, the book spans the Mesolithic to the early modern era. It deals with themes related to quarries, products and associated people and institutions in a broad context. Recent years have seen a revival of basic archaeological and geological research into the procurement and use of stone resources. With its authors drawn from the fields of archaeology, geosciences and traditional crafts, this anthology reflects cross-disciplinary work born of this revival
Soapstone Quarrying, a Stoneworker’s Approach
No full textPractical activities are best expressed and understood through practice. Present understanding of former times’ crafts practice are mainly based on theoretical interpretations of the traces and products left behind. By contrast, a stoneworker sees the crafts’ process as a source of knowledge. This is the thought behind The traditional quarrying project, carried out in the Klungen soapstone quarry, close to Trondheim, Norway in 2011. The project intended to achieve a more detailed insight into quarrying methods of the past. Main fields of interest were the methods themselves, time consumption, choice and use of tools and similarities/differences in techniques applied to shape the pieces to be quarried. One may rightfully ask if this project, carried out by a present day stoneworker, can provide answers relevant for aspects of past times’ quarrying. The factors assessed were reduced to those essential in any stone working process; the material, the craftsperson and the tools. Regardless of time and purpose, the material stands out as an unchangeable or static factor, and it sets the premises for what can be done and how. A material-related ‘timelessness’ is thus revealed and makes the craftsperson’s answers relevant for soapstone working in general
Mesolithic Soapstone Line-sinkers in Western Norway: Chronology, Acquisition, Distribution, Function and Decoration
No full textSoapstone sinkers are commonly found at coastal Mesolithic sites in western Norway.The large majority of these sinkers weigh less than 10 g (small sinkers), and a few weigh between 150 and 200 g (large sinkers). They were used between c. 5900–4000 cal BC and have been found at residential sites along the entire coast of western Norway, from Romsdal in the north to Lista in the south. The main area of distribution is between the districts Nordfjord and Nordhordland. Large soapstone sinkers have only been found in Nordfjord. The sinkers were probably quarried by the users themselves in bedrock outcrops of soapstone, which are common in the main area of distribution. They are only found at sites situated in marine environments. The close match between the sizes of the small sinkers, the sizes of fishhooks and the main sizes of the fish caught strongly indicate that they were used as line sinkers for fishing with a rod or for trolling. A few of the sinkers are ornamented with notches or incised lines. These motifs are common among Palaeolithic and Mesolithic populations in a global perspective
The Sandbekkdalen Quarry, Kvikne: A Window into Early Iron Age Soapstone Exploitation in Norway
No full textNorges forskningsråd 210449 Universitetsmuseet i Bergen Tromsø museum - Universitetsmuseet NTNU VitenskapsmuseetpublishedVersio
Bakestones – Production and Trade in the Middle Ages
No full textDuring the Middle Ages, bakestones, or stone griddles, were an important part of Norwegian households, representing everyday products required for the preparation of food over the hearth. Demand for these Tools formed the basis for large-scale production, which is the subject of this paper. The study is based on analyses of an extended quarry landscape in Ølve and Hatlestrand in the County of Hordaland, representing the largest and most important production centre for bakestones in Norway. The griddles were produced from chlorite-rich talc-amphibole schist, a material able to withstand repeated heating and cooling without an imminent risk of fracturing. The range of products from the quarries also included tiles, building stones, and stone crosses. Small scale archaeological excavations in some of the quarries, and at a workplace where the finishing of bakestones took place, date the production to between the early Middle Ages (c. 11th or early 12th centuries) and the early modern period. The character and scale of production indicate an intense and well-organised activity, a specialisation where the quarries were exploited for profit. Most evidence points to a so-called semi-professional craft where people working and living at the surrounding farms also worked in the quarries. Some of the largest quarry sites may, however, have demanded different organisation and larger workforces. The bakestones were distributed all over Norway from the 1100s and into the early modern period. Outside Norway, they are mainly to be found within the North Atlantic region, whereas in Sweden and Denmark they are only found in small numbers, indicating random export
Multi-ethnic Involvement? Production and Use of Soapstone in Northern Norway
No full textThe northern Norwegian soapstone quarries display small, mainly rectangular extractions possibly for the production of smaller types of artifact or a kind of blank or rough out for various objects. In addition, some soapstone deposits might have been more than simply a source of raw material and can have functioned as landmarks or sieidi, a sacred place worshipped in traditional Sámi religion as a possible gateway to the spirit world. The quarries are located in areas with primarily Sámi or mixed Sámi and Norse settlements in the late Iron Age and early Medieval period, indicating a multi-ethnic influence. This raises questions relating both to the chronological framework and to the economic and sociocultural background of soapstone utilization in northern Norway
Cistercian Soapstone. Production and Delivery of Building Material from Lyse Abbey to Bergen in the 13th century
No full textGeochemical analyses of four medieval building stones in the collections of the University Museum of Bergen and one sample from a standing church have demonstrated a geological provenance to the soapstone quarry located close to the Cistercian abbey of Lyse south of Bergen. The five samples derive from four different monumental stone buildings in medieval Bergen: The Benedictine abbey church (Munkalif ), the Franciscan friary church (St. Olaf ’s), the royal residence’s great hall (King Håkon’s Hall), and the same Residence’s Royal chapel (the Church of the Apostles). The archaeological and historical contexts of the building and building fragments are discussed, dating the soapstone deliveries from Lyse to the second half of the 13th century. This paper also discusses the organisation of a Cistercian abbey and asks if the laybrothers in the abbey may have played an important role as craftsmen in the quarry at Lyse. The soapstone quarry seems to have been essential for the Cistercians, not only for building their own monastic complex from the mid-12th century onwards but also as a source of income, selling soapstone material to royal and ecclesiastical building projects in Bergen – at least documented in a period from the mid-13th Century onwards
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