The Viking World (Routledge Worlds)

(Ben Green) #1

were c. 8 m wide and sometimes 30 – 40 m long, with as many as four or five buildings
with different functions. At the rear of the plots there was a residential hall with a
fireplace on the floor. Another building, with a household function, had a fireplace
in one corner. There were also buildings for storage and multiple functions. A great
number of tenements probably belonged to manors in the town’s hinterland. There was
little debris from craft production in the oldest layers; during that period the craftsmen
were periodically active in the town. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there
were shops alongside the street that were rented by craftsmen and traders.
In a block known as Urmakaren, plots of smaller dimensions were excavated
(Figure 8. 8. 2 ). The buildings along the street had household functions, but there was


Figure 8. 8. 2 The remains of buildings on two plots and parts of two other plots in the Urmakaren
block in Sigtuna. The buildings date from the mid-eleventh century. (Drawing: J. Ros.)

–– Jonas Ros––
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