Open AccessThe Historical Archaeology of the Medieval Crisis in Scandinavia
Author(s) -
Birgitta Berglund,
Katarina Briksson,
Ingunn Holm,
Håkan Karlsson,
Jenny Karlsson,
Susanne Pettersson,
Anna Sundberg,
Bo Ulfhielm,
Stig Welinder
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
current swedish archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2002-3901
pISSN - 1102-7355
DOI - 10.37718/csa.2009.06
Subject(s) - agrarian society , middle ages , politics , history , agriculture , archaeology , economic history , agrarian system , political crisis , economy , geography , political science , economics , law
In the wake of the Black Death in i 1350 Europe saw demographic disaster, economic decline, and social and political breakdown. Thousands of farms were deserted. This is the Medieval Agrarian Crisis. The latest decadesof outland archaeology, primarily within the frames of rescue archaeology, have made it possible to outline the course of the crisis in the forested parts of middle Scandinavia. The 14th and 15th centuries were a time of economic change rather than economic decline. However, various areas changed in different ways. When taking outland production into account the medieval crisis has to be conceptualised in another way; it was not solely an agrarian crisis. It was also early industrial expansion and change towards extensive farming.