The Scandinavian settlement of northern Shetland - Northmavine, Yell, Unst, and Fetlar
The Norse colonisation of the North Atlantic from circa 800 AD onwards had a significant effect on Shetland. The archipelago became very Scandinavian and the culture of the local population almost disappeared. The research agenda of this multidisciplinary research was to investigate all the aspects of the Scandinavian settlement in Northmavine, Yell, Unst, and Fetlar: the extent and nature of the occupation, the reasons for the settlement pattern, whether the area functioned as a single sea-based unit or several island/land-based units, the historical, linguistic and place-name evidence, the economy and resources, the transition periods between the late Iron Age and the Viking Age and the Viking Age and the late Norse period, and the ecclesiastical evidence and the pagan graves. To achieve the agenda, all the known evidence of the Norse settlement was assessed, after which a programme of intensive fieldwork was carried out. It consisted of the re-assessment of known sites and of the attempt to discover hitherto unknown sites dating from the Viking Age and late Norse period. The fieldwork resulted in the discovery of several hitherto unknown sites. The analysed data indicated that the research area was extensively
Marttila, Juha M.
CC Archaeology
The Scandinavian settlement of northern Shetland - Northmavine, Yell, Unst, and Fetlar. The Norse colonisation of the North Atlantic from circa 800 AD onwards had a significant effect on Shetland. The archipelago became very Scandinavian and the culture of the local population almost disappeared. The research agenda of this multidisciplinary research was to investigate all the aspects of the Scandinavian settlement in Northmavine, Yell, Unst, and Fetlar: the extent and nature of the occupation, the reasons for the settlement pattern, whether the area functioned as a single sea-based unit or several island/land-based units, the historical, linguistic and place-name evidence, the economy and resources, the transition periods between the late Iron Age and the Viking Age and the Viking Age and the late Norse period, and the ecclesiastical evidence and the pagan graves. To achieve the agenda, all the known evidence of the Norse settlement was assessed, after which a programme of intensive fieldwork was carried out. It consisted of the re-assessment of known sites and of the attempt to discover hitherto unknown sites dating from the Viking Age and late Norse period. The fieldwork resulted in the discovery of several hitherto unknown sites. The analysed data indicated that the research area was extensively
scandinavian_settlement northern shetland norse colonisation north_atlantic circa onwards significant_effect shetland archipelago become scandinavian culture local_population almost disappear agenda multidisciplinary investigate aspect scandinavian_settlement extent_nature occupation reason settlement_pattern whether area function single sea based unit several island land_based unit historical linguistic place_name evidence economy resource transition_period late_iron age viking age viking age late norse period ecclesiastical evidence pagan graf achieve agenda know evidence norse_settlement assess programme intensive fieldwork_carry out consist re_assessment know site attempt_discover hitherto unknown site date viking_age late norse period fieldwork result discovery several hitherto unknown site analyse data_indicate area extensively