Frå Nidarosen til Nidarneset: Ein ingegrert naturvitskapleg – arkeologisk – historisk rekonstruksjon av framveksten av Trondheim

Abstract

The centre of Trondheim is located on a peninsula at the mouth of Nidelva in the county of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. A limited part of the town is an automatically protected heritage site Mellomalderbyen Trondheim (the medieval town of Trondheim). Many archaeological and some geological and palaeoecological investigations of the sediments have been done in this area especially from 1970 until today. This Thesis presents results from 26 locations from Nidarnes and 16 from the nearby area, and discusses the utilization of information both in geological and anthropogenic sediments. The plant remains as an information source to the knowledge about the environment in the past are especially stressed. The results of analysis of plant remains in c. 600 sediment samples together with 164 14C-datings have given a possibility to follow the changes in the environment since the deglaciation end in detail through a time span of c. 2000 years. The peninsula was settled by farmers c. 2000 BP. 1700-2000 BP a landslide covered the SE part of the peninsula with a thick layer of silty clay. 1000 years later the town was established. The development of the town is described and discussed with emphasis on the medieval period. The medieval towns in Norway are few, and thus the sediments from medieval time in towns are rare. As a result of the continual changes caused by the exploitation in the towns’ old anthropogenic sediments are threatened. Both now and in the future the political authorities have to find better ways than in the past to secure the medieval sediments as an information source and an archive for investigations in the future.