MANKIND AND TRADE – INTERACTION BETWEEN THE MEDIEVAL PEOPLE OF NORTHERN EUROPE AND THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE: ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

A new network of scientists working with archaeobotanical finds of food remains from the late medieval and early modern period (13th - 17th century AD) has been established in 2001 at the Natural Science Unit of the Research Department of the National Museum of Denmark, financially supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. During the last 10 years extensive research on plant remains from many different archaeological excavations of the above mentioned time has been carried out in the countries around the Baltic Sea (Northern Europe). But most of the research activity has been performed in isolation in each respective country and the resulting data has rarely been compared and never synthesized. The need of a network was therefore obvious. All these countries were influenced during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern times by the Hanseatic League, a confederacy of traders originating from Germany. The huge datasets of archaeobotanical research from each country deliver the basic informations about the nutritional habits of the local inhabitants. Which plants were cultivated, how important was the use of wild species? But also which foodstuffs were already imported from foreign countries. Extensive information about the activities of the Hanseatic traders is available from archaeological and historical research. The main goal of the Hansa-network project is to combine the knowlegde from the different sources and to connect the changes in nutrition revealed via archaeobotanical research with the influences of imports by the Hanseatic League. This totally new multidisciplinary approach will also enable to answer the question whether the imported goods were accepted by the local people and how they were integrated in their daily menu. Acceptance or refusal of innovations reflects the openness of a society towards the outside world, but may also reveal the need to satisfy specific requirements and demands. By publishing the newly created knowledge we hope to promote a better and deeper understanding of the culture and society of the participating countries.