in general smaller than the older three-aisled longhouses, and because these houses
seldom had several functions the number of buildings per farm became more numerous
than before (Figure 7. 2 ). Even on the present Swedish mainland, in the Lake Mälar
valley, one-aisled houses appear at the end of the Merovingian period, but became even
more common from the tenth century, when they also appear in Götaland and in
northern Sweden. But throughout the Viking Age and later during the twelfth century
three-aisled houses still remained on certain farms within these regions (Nielsen and
Lindeblad 1997 ; Liedgren 1998 ; Ramquist 1998 ; Hållans and Svensson 1999 ; Borna-
Ahlqvist et al. 1998 ; Göthberg 2000 : 81 ff.; Åqvist 2006 ).
In the Viking Age, just as earlier during the Iron Age, one can detect from the widely
varying sizes of farms large social differences among the landowning population in
Scandinavia. The difference between ordinary smaller farms and the few really big farms
was tremendous. The smaller farms could be composed of two or three buildings. These
consisted usually of a main building, which housed a dwelling area with or without a
stable, and one or two secondary buildings – often a stable or for storage. Sometimes
there were also one or two pit-houses – small, partly dug-down buildings, which were
used as workshops. The largest farms had between five to seven buildings. The
main building was significantly larger than on the smaller farms, and the number of
storage buildings, stables and workshops could be considerable. The floor area in the
main building on the ordinary farms varied between 150 – 250 m^2. In the main buildings
of the largest farms the floor area was up to 300 – 650 m^2. The collected floor area for all
Figure 7. 2 Reconstruction of a one-aisled house with roof-supporting timber-framed
walls excavated at Gotland, Sweden (from Carlsson 1981 ).–– chapter 7 : Farm and village in the Viking Age––