Nevertheless, this difference in the number of coins must have some other explan-
ation than a drop in economic activity. The reason for this is that the cemeteries give a
contrary picture: the number of graves more than doubles from the ninth to the tenth
century. The end and start dates of the cemeteries are the same as those of the settle-
ment. Only 204 of the original c. 1 , 000 graves have been excavated or collected, and
only 98 of these can be dated more closely. Of these, the number of ninth-century graves
is 43 ( 4. 3 per decade) while the number from the tenth century is 55 ( 11 per decade)
(Stylegar 2007 ). This heavy overweight of nineteenth-century burials strongly indicates
that the permanent settlement at Kaupang continued to some time in the mid-tenth
century. The reduction in the number of coins and other artefacts from around ad 900
must be due to changes in, for example, waste disposal in the town.
Within the area with plot division there may have been 90 – 100 plots covering c. 2 ha
(Figure 8. 3. 4 ). Surrounding this area there is a zone with finds from craft and trade
but no finds of permanent structure. This zone was probably used for setting up tents or
sheds by people who stayed temporarily in the town during market times etc. Based
on present knowledge the full extent of the town was c. 5. 4 ha. Judged on the size
of households as well as the total number of graves, Kaupang may have had a population
of 400 – 1 , 000 people (Stylegar 2007 ).
No remains of defences have been found at Kaupang neither on land nor in the
harbour area. The reason may be that towns in the ninth century generally were without
extensive defences. The other towns had their main defences built around the time when
Kaupang was abandoned.
In 2000 – 1 an aristocratic hall was excavated at the farm Huseby c. 1 km north of
Kaupang (Skre 2007 : 223 – 47 ). The hall was about 35 m long and 11. 7 m wide,
narrowing to 7. 9 m at the ends. The hall was built in the latter half of the eighth
century. There is reason to believe that at Kaupang’s time the name of this farm was
Skíringssalr, named after the hall. When Ohthere called the town Skíringssalr this is an
indication that the town belonged to the chieftain who resided in this hall. The present-
day name of the farm, Huseby, indicates that the farm later, maybe in the eleventh
century, became one of the royal administrative farms (Skre 2007 : 242 – 3 ).
Both archaeological and written sources indicate that the land along the Oslo fjord,
called Viken, was ruled by the Danish king in most parts of the Viking Age. The
initiative to establish a town in this border zone may have come from the Danish king.
In that case Kaupang would fit into the same pattern as the two other towns in the realm
of the Danish king, Hedeby and Ribe (Skre 2007 : 445 – 69 ).
–– Dagfinn Skre––