ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses traditions and trends in the study of housing culture in the Scandinavian countries, and discusses aspects based on selected recent research from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Greenland. There is no exact definition of housing culture — the general idea being that houses can be ‘read’ as a mirror of aspects of society, as their physical appearance derives from the life lived in them. Each Scandinavian country has its own research tradition and agenda. Further, housing culture varied greatly within this vast area, which spans half of Europe’s length from north to south. The climate varies, and there are mountainous regions as well as highlands and lowlands. Crucial to Scandinavia is the quality of the available sources, particularly those concerning medieval housing in the countryside. In Iceland and Greenland there is a particularly strong tradition of extensive use of the natural sciences in archaeological investigations.
