The concept ‘immigration’ in archaeological contexts illustrated by examples from West Norwegian and North Norwegian early iron age

Abstract

Visible changes in prehistoric cultures have been interpreted as the result of large scale movements of people, and the concept immigration has been used in archaeology without a closer examination or definition. The authors refer to earlier discussions among Scandinavian archaeologists about the possibility of confirming an immigration from archaeological material, and this is set up against the anthropologists' analysis of how culture changes. Since we perforce lack knowledge of too many of the essential features of a prehistoric culture, we will never be able to give absolute explanations of changes demonstrated in a prehistoric source material, and other processes like evolution and diffusion will always lie nearer at hand as the possible reason for these changes. The authors demonstrate how the Migration Period expansion in SW‐Norway earlier was explained as the result of an immigration from the South in contrast to the present well accepted view that it is the result of an internal development under influence from other areas. It is widely accepted, however, that the obviously same process traced in Northern Norway is due to an immigration of people from SW‐Norway in the Late Roman and Early Migration Periods. According to the authors the similarity in the archaeological material in the two areas mentioned is better explained as the result of common traditions and constant contact along the coast.