objects probably for the magnate and the people around him. Other craftspeople pro-
duced larger amounts of objects at the trading and crafts centres, to which many people
travelled.
It is interesting to wonder if it was the same craftspeople who upheld themselves in
the magnate’s estate as well as in the trading centre. Sporadic production in the towns
and in the rural sites is evidence that craftspeople travelled between different places. An
important question is whether the craftspeople were connected to a special lord, or if
they in some degree were independent people. There is probably no definite answer to
this question. The kings and queens probably had their personal goldsmith or jeweller,
who travelled with them to different places. Some of the places connected to royalty
reveal traces of high-quality crafts. People belonging to the low aristocracy could per-
haps not afford to permanently support a specialised craftsperson. Instead they probably
had to engage a travelling craftsperson to produce specialised products.
On rural farms, where fire-related crafts such as smithing, moulding or bead-making
were taking place, craftspeople regularly worked on the outskirts of the farm, often in
the same areas where one finds hearths and ovens for cooking. This is probably because of
the fear of fire. A real smithy in the shape of a house is not always found. Occasionally a
small post-built building or a pit-house is found, but in some cases there are no traces of
a house construction over the forge or melt pits. Craftspeople seem in many cases to have
conducted their work outdoors. This was perhaps not always pleasant, but was positive
in some ways. There were difficulties in finding sufficient light when complicated
details were required. Weaving on the other hand always seems to have been conducted
indoors, whether in small pit-houses dug into the ground or inside the normal living
quarters.
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–– chapter 13 : Handicrafts––