DOI: 10.18710/gtibfk
title: Photographic documentation and type determination of medieval and early modern potsherds from Vardø, northern Norway

description: &lt;p&gt;[Data collection description:] Images taken in Spring 2021 of pottery sherds from the archaeological collection of The Arctic University Museum of Norway, Tromsø. The sherds object ID are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ts5629 q-ee, Ts5630 d-l, Ts5631 d-l, Ts5632 c-f, Ts5633 b-f, Ts5634 b-l, Ts5636 a-kp, Ts5637 g-nn, Ts5638 a-ææ, Ts5639 a-å, Ts5640 a-åå, and Ts9583 b.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This work was done in connection to my master thesis in archaeology, about Vardø in the middle ages. For this to be done I did a type determination by performing a macroscopic analysis. The main focus in my master was to study pottery from the middle ages to answer my thesis question about Vardø´s role during this time. With input and help from Volker Demuth, Reidar Bertelsen, and Natascha Mehler.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This documentation data set is part of a larger collection: Martine F. Lahti, 2022, "Vardø Potsherd Collection", &lt;A HREF="https://doi.org/10.18710/YRDR-5D21"&gt;https://doi.org/10.18710/YRDR-5D21&lt;/A&gt;, DataverseNO.&lt;/p&gt;
description: &lt;p&gt;[Thesis abstract:] At 70 degrees North and 31 degrees East, Vardø is the northeasternmost town in Norway. A fortress was established here already in the 13th–14th century, probably after the medieval church here was consecrated in 1307. Beneath Vardø´s city grounds cultural layers of several meters have been registered, and this has been described as Northern Norway’s only medieval urban soil. Despite these interesting archaeological factors, little excavations and research has been done, and Vardøs's status and role as a place during the Middle Ages remain uncertain. Excavations were performed in the “medieval urban soil” in 1955, 1958 and 2012. Little further research has been done on the material from the 1950s investigations, leaving lots of untouched archaeological material from this exciting town unprocessed. In this thesis I chose to examine 1587 pottery fragments from the excavations in 1955 and 1958, to investigate Vardø's role during Middle Ages. Examining the ceramics can provide answers to such issues as international contacts, status, eating habits, what types of activity that has taken place and what type of people that that have lived in different areas of the town. I performed a thorough analyses, photographic documentation and classification of every sherd, which is made available for future research in a database at UiT Open Research Data (Lahti 2021). The results of the study show few traces of medieval activity in what has been understood as the medieval urban area. There is an increasing amount of pottery in these areas from the early modern period (from ca. AD 1550), particularly consisting of cooking pots. In the area from the medieval fortress, on the other hand, there is a sudden increase in medieval pottery in the 15th century, and tableware of high value dominates the assemblage here. Among the finds is a rare vessel of the German Waldenburg type, Igelgefäß. This vessel type has never been found in Norway before and appears to have been a rare and highly valued type all of Europe. The pottery from Vardø gives no indication that Vardø can be called a town during the Middle Ages. Rather, it can be compared to the “urban fishing village” of Vågan in Lofoten, as it seems like Vardø had a somewhat changing status during this period. The fortress has led to some urban features to Vardø, but the rest of Vardø seems to be a large fishing village. The rare Igelgefäß pottery, indicates that an elite with an important network inhabited the fortress. The rare shard found on this small island, in the northeasternmost town of Norway, may also indicate a direct contact between Vardø and Germany.&lt;/p&gt;
description: To access the physical collection, contact The Arctic University Museum of Norway, Tromsø.

The digital collection can be accessed online at https://www.unimus.no/portal/#/search/things/freetext?value=Vardø+middelalder&requirePhoto=true.