The rural-urban connection as revealed in the terrestrial sediments at Nidarneset, Trondheim, Norway

The medieval town of Trondheim stands on Nidameset, which is part of the river plain at the mouth of the river Nidelva, in the county of Sor-Trondelag, central Norway. Archaeological investigations on the river plain have identified traces of a rural settlement that gradually transformed into an urban one. In 2009 an interdisciplinary investigation was performed involving archaeology, analysis of plant macroscopic and microscopic sub-fossils, soil micromorphology and C-14 dating aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the earliest land use as well as processes that took place later on. This investigation acquired new data, which needed to be compared with data from investigations since the early 1970s to re-evaluate the consequences of past anthropogenic influence. Our study led to results that are further explored in this paper: 1) A chronological spatial perspective of rural land use at Nidarneset 2) A basis for comparison between the rural and the urban landscapes 3) Driving forces in the transformation process through a time span from c. 900 BC until c. AD 1200, when a centre with urban functions was well established. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.