Summer farms – upland economies through time

Summer farms (Alpwirtschaft, shielings, burons, seter) are a typical feature of many mountainous areas of Europe and the movement of part of the population into the summer upland meadows continued until well into the 20^th century.  There is however much controversy concerning the period in which such economic models were developed and the economic strategies adopted.  Who took part – the men in the Massif Central in France, women in Sweden, whole families in Norway?  What were they doing – cheese production (with the pig to be fattened), hay making, iron production?  Did something special happen in the medieval and post-medieval period when cheese became a major trade commodity (e.g. Salers) and major investment took place in the construction of dairies?  Yet there are other periods when it is unclear how upland zones were being exploited if at all.  This session will take a comparative and diachronic view of the summer farm model across Europe.

Organisers: John Collis (University of Sheffield) & Mark Pearce (University of Nottingham) 

Dr Mark Pearce

Associate Professor in Archaeology, Dept of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

tel. +44 (0)115 951 4839

fax. +44 (0)115 951 4812

URL http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/archaeology/people/Mark.Pearce