Kjetil Loftsgarden

• Arthur, Frank; Hatlestad, Kailin; Lindholm, Karl-Johan; Loftsgarden, Kjetil; Löwenborg, Daniel & Solheim, Steinar [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2024). The impact of volcanism on Scandinavian climate and human societies during the Holocene: Insights into the Fimbulwinter eruptions (536/540 AD). The Holocene. ISSN 0959-6836. doi: 10.1177/09596836231225718. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Recent paleoclimatic research has revealed that volcanic events around 536–540 AD caused severe, short-term global cooling. For this same period, archeological research from various regions evidences significant cultural transformation. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how human societies responded and adapted to extreme climate variability and new circumstances. This study focuses on the effects of the 536/540 AD volcanic event in four Scandinavian regions by exploring the shift in demographic and land use intensity before, during, and after this abrupt climate cooling. To achieve this, we performed climate simulations with and without volcanic eruptions using a dynamically downscaled climate model (iLOVECLIM) at a high resolution (0.25° or ~25 km). We integrated the findings with a comprehensive collection of radiocarbon dates from excavated archeological sites across various Scandinavian regions. Our Earth System Model simulates pronounced cooling (maximum ensemble mean −1.1°C), an abrupt reduction in precipitation, and a particularly acute drop in growing degree days (GDD0) after the volcanic event, which can be used to infer likely impacts on agricultural productivity. When compared to the archeological record, we see considerable regional diversity in the societal response to this sudden environmental event. As a result, this study provides a more comprehensive insight into the demographic chronology of Scandinavia and a deeper understanding of the land-use practices its societies depended on during the 536/540 AD event. Our results suggest that this abrupt climate anomaly amplified a social change already in progress.

• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Nordover til Vestlandet. Handel og utveksling i øvre Telemark i tidleg- og høgmellomalder. In Bandlien, Bjørn & Rorgemoen, Dag (Ed.), EIDSBORGBRYNE Handel og organisering i mellomalder og tidleg nytid. Vikingvegen 2. Museumsforlaget AS. ISSN 9788283051506. p. 99–28.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Skeid – uncovering a fleeting meeting site. In Albris, Sofie Laurine (Eds.), Placing place names in Norwegian archaeology : Current discussions and future perspectives. University of Bergen. ISSN 978-82-8436-006-5. p. 99–116. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Although scarcely represented in archaeological or historical sources, place names reveal how widespread assemblies of the skeid-type were held throughout Norway, at least from the Viking Age/Early Middle Ages. These bottom-up organized types of gatherings were important centres of society, as hubs for communication and trade, and arenas for íþrótt (sport) and establishing and maintaining social ties. This paper presents the spatial distribution of 564 skeid-names. Of these, 320 skeid-names are closer than two kilometres from a medieval church site, or one or more of the following place names: hov/hof, ting, or leik/lek. Through an examination of the landscape, archaeological finds and place names, 37 sites are highlighted as most likely to have hosted a skeid-type assembly. From these three sites are discussed more in detail. The quantitative approach to place name data, in combination with archaeological and historical sources allows for an intriguing glimpse into the role and extent of a fleeting meeting site – the skeid.

• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Kinsarvik in Hardanger – the town that never was. Viking. ISSN 0332-608X. 87, p. 61–78. doi: 10.5617/viking.10575. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the High Middle Ages Kinsarvik in Hardanger was ideally situated as a hub, where iron and other outfield resources flowed from the eastern inland regions to the more populous coastal areas to the west. Archaeological finds, building remains, written sources and previous investigations show Kinsarvik as an urban marketplace, with production and regional and interregional trade, as well as a place with administrative and political functions. Comparable to the more well-known marketplace Kaupanger in Sogn. The location, as well as finds and structures, indicates that non-agrarian resources from the mountainous settlements to the east were a major foundation for Kinsarvik as a marketplace. A consequence being that, from the late 13th century, when there is a significant decrease in iron production and other outfield resources, Kinsarvik as an urban marketplace looses much of its basis for existence and gradually goes out of use.

• Ødegaard, Marie & Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Household goods for winter travel and leisure in Norway : objects, games and processes of enculturation. In Theune, Claudia & Tente, Catarina (Ed.), Household goods in the European Medieval and Early Modern Countryside. Sidestone Press. ISSN 978-94-6427-061-7. p. 235–244. doi: 10.59641/cd27f3b4. Full text in Research Archive
• Solheim, Steinar & Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Uncovering population dynamics in Southeast Norway from 1300 BC to AD 800 using summed radiocarbon probability distributions. In Ødegaard, Marie Kjærnet & Ystgaard, Ingrid (Ed.), Complexity and dynamics : Settlement and landscape from the Bronze Age to the Renaissance in the Nordic Countries (1700 BC–AD 1600). Sidestone Press. ISSN 9789464270426. p. 99–112.
• Van Dijk, Evelien; Gundersen, Ingar Mørkestøl; de Bode, Anna; Høeg, Helge Irgens; Loftsgarden, Kjetil & Iversen, Frode [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2023). Climate and societal impacts in Scandinavia following the 536 and 540 CE volcanic double event. Climate of the Past. ISSN 1814-9324. 19(2), p. 357–398. doi: 10.5194/cp-19-357-2023. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the Northern Hemisphere, the mid-6th century was one of the coldest periods of the last 2000 years, as indicated by both proxy records and Earth System Model (ESM) simulations. This cold period was initiated by volcanic eruptions in 536 CE and 540 CE. Evidence from historical sources, archaeological findings, and proxy records suggests that the extent and severity of this volcanic induced cooling was spatially heterogeneous and that the effect on society resulted in adaptation and resilience at some locations, whereas social crisis has been indicated at others. Here, we study the effect of the volcanic double event in 536 CE and 540 CE on the climate and society in Scandinavia with a special focus on Southern Norway. Using an ensemble of Max Planck Institute ESM transient simulations for 521–680 CE, the temperature, precipitation and atmospheric circulation patterns are studied. The simulated cooling magnitude is then used as input for the growing degree day (GDD) model set-up for Southern Norway. This GDD model indicates the possible effects on agriculture for three different study areas in Southern Norway, representative of typical meteorological and landscape conditions. Pollen from bogs and archaeological records inside the study area are then analysed at high resolution (1–3 cm sample intervals) to give insights into the validity of the GDD model set-up with regard to the volcanic climate impact on the regional scale, and to link the different types of data sets. After the 536/540 CE double event, a maximum surface air cooling of up to 3.5 °C during the mean growing season is simulated regionally in Southern Norway. With a worst-case scenario cooling of 3 °C, the GDD model indicates crop failures were likely in our northernmost and western study areas, while crops were more likely to mature in the southeastern study area. These results are in agreement with the pollen records from the respective areas. During the sixth century, excavations show an abandonment of farms, severe social impact but also a continuation of occupation or a mix of those. In addition, archaeological findings from one of the excavation sites suggest wetter conditions for the mid-sixth century in Scandinavia, as simulated by individual ensemble members. Finally, we discuss the likely climate and societal impacts of the 536/540 CE volcanic double event by synthesising the new and available data sets for the whole Scandinavia.

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• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Kinsarvik i Hardanger – og andre byar som aldri blei til.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Internasjonalisering av arkeologisk forskning, kulturminneforvaltning og formidling.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Raknehaugen og fimbulvinteren.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Uncovering the largest demographic shock in Iron Age Scandinavia.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Valdresjern, ferdsel og handel i vikingtid og mellomalder.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2023). Blod, ­Vrinsken, Skrigen og Raaben. Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil & Ødegaard, Marie (2023). Rural trade and markets in medieval Norway – its organisation and socio-economic significance.
• Sætre, Anja Nordvik; Loftsgarden, Sigrid Sætre; Loftsgarden, Odd Sætre & Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). Elna Siv Kristoffersen og Unn Pedersen, illustrert av Jens Kristensen 2021: Det magiske smykket. En fortelling om tre gravhauger fra folkevandrings-tiden. Gyldendal, Oslo. 64 s. ISBN: 978820554865. Primitive tider. ISSN 1501-0430. 24, p. 117–118.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). Åbjøravassdraget 2022 – 2024 .
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). A small project.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). Jernalderen i Vest-Telemark – resultat frå arkeologiske undersøkingar i Seljord.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). The wonderful 7th century.
• Loftsgarden, Kjetil (2022). Jernframstilling, ferdsel og handel i Vest-Telemark i vikingtid og mellomalder.

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