Birka’s Fall and Hedeby’s Transformation: Rewriting the Final Chapters of Viking Town Bibliographies

Abstract

One crucial problem dealing with the earliest urban development in Scandinavia is not only the emergence of urban settlements, but their discontinuity. By examining the case studies of Birka and Hedeby, this paper does not only deal with the likely causes for the towns’ decline, but also takes a more detailed look into the closer chronological sequence of this very process. While Birka seems to become abandoned around c. ad 975, almost contemporaneous with Kaupang, Hedeby in contrast appears to prevail almost a hundred years longer. The possible reasons for this anachronism will be discussed and a so far unobserved, extensive transformation phase in Hedeby suggested.

Journal

Journal ID (bpu.siglum): jua

Journal ID (publisher-id): jua

Title: Journal of Urban Archaeology

Publisher: Brepols Publishers (Turnhout, Belgium )

ISSN (Print): 2736-2426

ISSN (Electronic): 2736-2434

Publication date (Print): January 2020

Volume: 2

Pages: 31-50

Article

DOI: 10.1484/J.JUA.5.121527

License:

Open-access

Product

Self URI (journal page): https://www.urbanarchaeology.net/