ABSTRACT
The economic and social transformation of the Nordic countries in the High Middle Ages has traditionally been explained in close correlation with the introduction of a new technology complex in southern Scandinavia around 1000 AD, wherein advances or even a revolution in agricultural technology expanded the rural resources and laid the foundation for the dynamic development of the society in the period. It has been argued that central elements in this technology complex were the moldboard plow, ridged furrows, fewer grains, crop rotation, and expansion in grain-based agriculture. The archaeological surveys and archaeobotanical finds of the last decades, especially within the medieval Danish area, cast serious doubts on the notion of a “revolution” in agricultural technology around 1000 AD. The results rather point to an “evolution” beginning 600–800 years before. The moldboard plow, ridged furrows, fewer grains, and crop rotation can be proven to have been well-known in greater parts of Denmark already around 200–400 AD, as there are indications that the expansion began in several places within the late Iron Age. This challenges the general understanding of the development of the rural resources of the elites. This development in agricultural technology is explored within this chapter on a number of points, and the perspectives with relation to the resources of the elites in the High Middle Ages are discussed.
