Also the interior arrangements of houses are common in rural settlements of the time.
An open hearth was built on the floor in the central axis of the building, normally in the
middle of the main room. A hearth has been found in the corner of a house in Birka.
Many houses have permanent benches along the long walls for sitting, working and
sleeping. Earthen floors were common although a plank floor has been found at Birka.
Many houses seem to be pure dwelling houses and so far few workshops have been
securely identified. One exception is the bronze caster’s workshop in Birka. In Ribe and
Hedeby pit-houses have been found. In Hedeby they seem to be most numerous in the
blacksmiths’ area of town.
The layout of streets follows the same general pattern in the towns of the late Viking
Age, but the plots are normally more spacious. They give room for several houses with
a variety of functions probably reflecting the growing diversity in activities and
inhabitants in the towns. When the kings’ men and wealthy landowners started settling
in towns they obviously needed more spacious plots for themselves, their people and
their possessions. However, it took time for the new towns to develop this character. It is
not until the late eleventh and twelfth centuries that the largest of the new towns reach
the size of the towns of the early Viking Age. Most cathedrals, monasteries and royal or
clerical residences were built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
CRAFT AND TRADEAlthough trade and craft also existed before the Viking Age the urban environment
seems to have influenced their character. Craft products became more standardised at the
time when the producers moved into newly established towns. Series of identical items,
especially bronze brooches and combs, were produced. In earlier times, when these crafts
existed in rural communities, they mostly produced unique items, although grouped
around certain main types (Callmer 1995 ).
This probably reflects a change from producing mainly on commission to individuals,
to producing identical items for unknown customers in a market-like trade. There can
be little doubt what triggered this change. In the towns, sufficiently sized and stable
markets were established for this new type of production to be tenable. The higher
quantity of buyers is reflected in the fact that many craft products were now much
more widely distributed; not only local people came to buy them as was the case in the
older seasonal marketplaces. It is also evident that many craft products, such as bronze
ornaments and glass beads, were now obtainable for a much wider spectrum of the
population than was the case before the Viking Age.
In addition to the crafts already mentioned, remains from ironwork, glass-bead
and textile production have been found in all towns. In Hedeby remains from the
work of goldsmiths have been identified, and in Ribe the comb-maker, shoe-maker,
potter and amber smith have left their traces. The last type of craft was also exercised at
Kaupang. One should bear in mind that some crafts, like bead-making and metal
casting, leave many and very durable traces, while the remains from others, like
carpentry and comb-making, depend on the soil’s chemistry and humidity for their
survival to the present day. Thus the scope of crafts exercised in each town was certainly
broader than archaeologists at present are able to identify. For the same reasons, and
because of limited excavations, the volume of the various craft activities is difficult to
ascertain.
–– Dagfinn Skre––