ABSTRACT
In the transitional phase between the Viking Age and Middle Ages, a radical reorganisation of the economy took place, with an increase in the extraction of raw material and bulk goods directed towards long-distance trade, leading to stronger economic integration between remote rural areas and central markets. This chapter presents a recently excavated site pointing to the correspondence between the growth of regional trade routes and local resource extraction in the tenth to twelfth century. The Setesdal Valley is located in south-central Norway, starting at the mountain plateaux around Hovden in the north and stretching more than 145 km south to the farming community at Evje. In addition to the Viking-Age cemetery, the Langeid excavations also revealed settlement activity, with a large number of post holes, cooking pits and waste pits, remains of iron production as well as agricultural activities, with dates ranging from Mesolithic to medieval period, but with a strong prevalence of activities in the Roman Iron Age.
