The History of Norway
The Iron Age and Merovingian Period (0AD - 790AD)
The Iron Age
Roman Influence
There was no Roman conquest in Norway, but the Norwegians did trade with the Romans. Rome provided Norway with fabric, iron implements and pottery. The tools brought from Rome allowed farmland to be cleared of trees, large boats were built and by the 5th century, Norwegians had learned to smelt their own iron and ore found in the southern Norwegian bogs. Some Scandinavians served as Roman mercenaries.
Runic Inscriptions
Thanks to the Romans, we got our Old Norse lettering. The Norwegians adapted the letters and created their own alphabet, called runes. Runes are the oldest characters that we know from Scandinavia. They are made to be cut into wood. Today, they are mostly preserved on stone, bone and metal. They are inspired by Roman characters. The oldest rune inscriptions date from around 200AD. They are adapted to language sounds. They also appear on weapons, indicating they may be the name of the owner or the weapon. They are often associated with the Vikings, but are from the Roman times. The oldest is Tunesteinen, which is from 300AD and is at the cultural history museum in Oslo.
The most common rune inscription found is ‘Alu’ which means beer.
The Jelling stone in Denmark tells of different generations of a royal family. One of them was erected by Harald Bluetooth to commemorate his parents. These are among the earliest historical documents of Denmark. They indicate that Denmark was the earliest major Viking Age kingdom, by telling that Harald controlled Southern Norway and that he converted to Christianity.
There are at least two inscriptions in Hagia Sophia. It basically says “Halfdan was here”. They may be engraved by members of the Varangian Guard in Constantinople in the Viking Age.
Celtic Influence
Celtic culture dominated Scandinavia. Norway has lots of jewellery inspired by Celtic handicraft traditions.
Bronze was used for status objects such as jewlery and weapons. Iron was used for personal items.
Celtic societies were characterised by a prestigious commodity economy. The status and position of the elite is maintained through control over and manipulation of rare and valuable prestige objects.
How People Lived
People lived in long houses and shared a roof with their livestock. They ploughed the land. Animal husbandry, fishing and gathering was more important than agriculture.
At one end lived the humans. At the other end were the domestic animals.
As the population increased, inequalities between people increased. Some houses were larger than others, and some had larger tombs than others. A new social structure evolved: when sons married, they remained in the same house – the extended family was a clan. They would offer protection from other clans. Marriage meant alliances. In Northern Europe, some of the richest women’s tombs indicate that the woman came from another place.
If conflicts arose, it would be sorted at a ting – a sacred place where all freemen from the surrounding area would assemble and determine punishments for crimes.
The chieftains power increased between 400 and 550 AD as other Germanic tribes migrated north. Leaders marked their position by wearing necklaces or gold.
Children were a financial resource and participated in the day-to-day activities of running the farm. Child mortality was high – 20-25% of children died of disease, injury and malnutrition before the age of one. There are very few pre-Christian graves in Norway for children. It is possible that Children were not considered people until the age of 2 or 3.
Near Harstad was a child’s grave from 300AD. It was likely the burial ground of her farm. She was in a coffin and placed in a stone-built chamber. On her clothing was a small bronze buckle with a small, stylised animal head, similar to one worn by women.
Burial Mounds
It’s not uncommon that burial mounds are 20m in length, and the largest could be over 40m in diameter and 5-7 metres high. It’s connected with symbols of power. They were normally adjacent to settlement areas. By building huge burial mounds, the inhabitants could express that here lived a large and influential family. When the ancestors were buried, it represented a long-standing presence.
Places to see burial mounds
- Just outside of Oppdal south of Trondheim
Norse Mythology
Norse Mythology makes its appearance around this time. Historians are not 100% certain to what extend the Norse gods were followed. Edda poetry appeared around 500AD. Nerthus was the mother earth. She could travel among humans. She was a fertility goddess who promoted growth in plants, animals, and humans. The god Njord also stood for fertility but was also a god of the sea in Norse mythology.
Perception of Animals
In pre-Christian times, no distinction was made between animals and humans. It was considered natural that people could transform into animals. Animals were crucial for human survival, not because they could be eaten but because they possessed many abilities that the humans depended on and therefore wanted to acquire. The wolf, bear, wild boar, eagle, and snake were the favourites.
Animal ornament style is commonly found on stave churches.
The Merovingian Period
This period is often called the silent time in Norway because not much is known about it. However, we see a lot of things during this time that leads us into Norway’s most famous historical period.
What did happen in this time is that the rune inscriptions developed from Old Norse to Norse.
Also important is that the seagoing sailing ship developed during this time. It became less common to bury rich people in boats. The older boats we find in graves tell us about the development of the famous Viking voyages. The Nydam boat is one of the oldest boats we have. It is in Denmark and dates to 310-320AD. It was sunk in 350AD.
In Norway, we have two boats that count as transitional from the Nydam boat to the Viking boat. The Storhaug find from Avaldsnes on Karmøy in Rogaland has been counted as the oldest ship burial in the Nordic countries. The ship was poorly preserved. A not written about it in 1886 shows that the keel was 22m. The vessel is considered the last link in the development of a rowing ship in the Iron Age.
The first city in Norway was founded at the end of the Merovingian period. There are important preconditions for the Viking Age. Among these are increases in sailing vessels from the period, knowledge of trade networks and trading places, the use of silver as payment, and access to handicrafts.
The first city is Kaupang by Skiringssal, near today’s Larvik in Vestfold. Around 800, someone with power guaranteed that craftsmen and merchants could safely do their work and that people and goods from cities always arrived.
The oldest city in Scandinavia is probably Ribe in Denmark, which was developed as a trading post in the first half of the 700s.