Jostein Bergstol

"Sami presence in Dovrefjell in the Viking Age: During the past 30 years there has been ongoing debate on whether the Sami migrated into Southern Norway during the medieval period, or whether they have a history going back into Prehistoric times in the region. A newly discovered settlement near Lake Aursjøen in Lesja municipality clearly points to Sami groups in the Dovrefjell region in the Viking Age. The site comprises four distinct, rectangular hearths lying in a row. This type of site is well known within all of the Sami settlement area and usually dates between AD 700 and 1300. The article discusses the implications of the Aursjøen find for our understanding of both the Sami and Norse societies in Southern Norway during the Viking Age."

It has been commonly believed that Saami pastoralism developed from small-scale husbandry in the Iron Age, into large-scale intensive herding during the Late Middle Ages, but new genetic research suggests that the large, semi-tame herds were bred from imported animals, while they still kept hunting the native ones. Studies of aDNA of prehistoric reindeer during the last two decades have shown that the reindeer had two different immigration routes into Scandinavia after the Ice Age. In addition to that, researchers have seen another genetic marker in the domesticated reindeer, from around AD 1500. New published research suggests that this type has its origins in Northern Russia. This insight opens new perspectives and questions on the start and development of intensive reindeer herding. Did the Saami import a pastoral system together with the new animals, or is it still possible that Saami pastoralism developed here? Excavations and surveys have revealed different types of mass trapping systems from the Iron Age and Middle Ages in Southern Norway. The later, funnel-shaped traps have striking similarities to the driving fences in modern reindeer herding. This article discuss the possibilities of influences from wild reindeer trapping and its relation to imported reindeer herds in Norway on the development of Saami pastoralism.

In the mountains of Norway there are thousands of pitfall traps for reindeer. They are constructed in two different ways. This paper presents a discussion on how to understand this division, and propose a way to explore the problems concerning dating of the pitfalls.