Sámi Archaeology: Vendel Period Contacts
While Sámi contact with the Vikings are well understood, the question of Sámi contact with Scandinavians during the Vendel Period is still under debate. The question is considered by Carl-Gösta Ojala:
“There have also been discussions on Sámi influences yet farther south in Sweden, and contacts between Sámi and Norse/Germanic cultures. For instance, Inger Zachrisson has argued for the presence of Sámi influence/population in the northern part of the county of Uppland. As an example, in many of the boat graves from the Vendel Period (c. 600–800 A.D.) in the county of Uppland there are finds of birch bark. In some of the famous boat graves from Vendel and Valsgärde in Uppland, long “mats” of birch bark in several layers sewn together, covering the burials, have been preserved. Zachrisson has interpreted these as being “Sámi” (Zachrisson 2001). Some DNA-analyses from Uppland, possibly (but problematically) indicating Sámi presence in the region in the Iron Age, have also been discussed in this context (see Price 2002a:237).” 1
“There have also been discussions on Sámi influences yet farther south in Sweden, and contacts between Sámi and Norse/Germanic cultures. For instance, Inger Zachrisson has argued for the presence of Sámi influence/population in the northern part of the county of Uppland. As an example, in many of the boat graves from the Vendel Period (c. 600–800 A.D.) in the county of Uppland there are finds of birch bark. In some of the famous boat graves from Vendel and Valsgärde in Uppland, long “mats” of birch bark in several layers sewn together, covering the burials, have been preserved. Zachrisson has interpreted these as being “Sámi” (Zachrisson 2001). Some DNA-analyses from Uppland, possibly (but problematically) indicating Sámi presence in the region in the Iron Age, have also been discussed in this context (see Price 2002a:237).” 1
Footnotes
1 Ojala, C.G., 2009, “
Sámi Prehistories: The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in Northernmost Europe “, Occasional papers in archaeology 47, pp 142-2
2 ibid Fig 11, p.142
Map of the South Sámi area in Sweden and Norway 2