Description

Vestland cauldrons, made of copper alloy and with a distinctive concave shape, were used in a Scandinavian context as cinerary urns, and are found in western Norway, as well as in smaller numbers in Sweden with one Danish find. Larger depositions (most usually without a funerary context) are found on the wider continent. Rather than reappraise what she sees as the big questions of typology, dating or distribution, Hjorungdal instead provides a critical history of archaeological research into these artefacts from the early 1800s to the present day, engaging with the various approaches which have been taken and contextualizing them, as well as making suggestions for future research directions.