Bebyggelse, landskap og lokalklima

Abstract

The purpose of the project is to investigate how the landscape and vegetation influenced the temperature and wind conditions at Tastarustå and ultimately the settlement and the growing conditions at the site, which was occupied from the pre-Roman Iron Age to the Viking Age. Tastarustå is located on a homogenous ridge northwest of Stavanger. The prehistoric remains are found on both the southern and northern slopes. The project is a contribution to develop new ways of obtaining knowledge about the relationship between human living conditions and the climate in the past. Two approaches are applied. Four categories of climate space are used to map the local climate as regards wind conditions. A radiation model is used to map the temperature conditions and it shows that the growing and settlement conditions in this landscape are approximately the same as regards temperature which declines 8° towards north and south. Several houses at Tastarustå are oriented with their length down the slope and this orientation and location has both positive and negative consequences in relation to the local climate. The results from Tastarustå are compared with other excavated sites in Rogaland. This comparison suggests other factors than climate may have influenced the orientation of the houses in the landscape, for example their age. It indicates that the local climate conditions had greater importance for the location of the oldest settlement in an area than the youngest ones.