LAND: The post-medieval archaeological resource in and around Norwegian towns
The project aims to enhance the knowledge base for long-term cohesive use and management of the urban landscape and buried archaeological resource associated with Norwegian towns of the post-medieval period. In Norway archaeological deposits which accumulated in urban centres following the Reformation (1536/37) have no legal protection.
This is in contravention of the Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage of Europe (Malta Convention, 1992) which Norway has ratified. The signatory countries are pledged to regard all traces and remains of the archaeological heritage, regardless of age, as worthy of protection and study. This has resulted in the ongoing physical destruction of a valuable archive of post-medieval urban society, a lack of academic research and generation of knowledge, and the under-exploitation of the post-medieval resource as a public asset and source of value creation. There is consequently a need for the production of a knowledge base, in this instance by means of survey and assessment of the nature of the resource in a pilot research area. Further, an assessment of the need for, and the delineation of, new management measures and practices required to protect and administer this resource. Finally there is a need for an assessment of the resource's value in a number of related spheres, including academic and public knowledge, urban planning, and value-creation in local and regional contexts. The project aims to develop a method of resource assessment and management strategies which can be implemented nationally. In order to provide a manageable data foundation for the central objectives, research will focus on a pilot study of a defined geographical area containing a representative sample of medieval and post-medieval urban centres with cultural heritage remains that fall under a number of cultural-heritage management authorities.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway under the research programme Environment 2015. It started in January 2009 and will run for four years.
The project participants are as follows:
•Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU)
•Department of History and Classical studies, NTNU
•The Swedish National Heritage Board
•Sør-Trøndelag County Council
•Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, NTNU
•Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage
•Vestfold University College
