Shielings are mostly found in the forested and mountainous areas of boreal Scandinavia, where fertile agrarian land was scarce and spread across large distances. Shielings enabled the use of grazing areas in the forest, distant from the farmstead, and included meadows for haymaking. Hay was of utmost importance for the winter stabling of livestock. It is noteworthy that at shielings dwelling houses and cow houses are located along the fenced border of the shieling, while barns are situated in the meadows at the centre. The livestock grazed in the forest outside the shieling and were only allowed into the meadows after the hay had been harvested. Therefore, cow houses had entries for the livestock facing the forest and for people handling milking and dung collection facing the shieling. The hay from the shieling, which was important winter fodder for the livestock, had to be protected until it could be moved.

Due to the distance from the farmsteads being too great for daily travel, herders and livestock stayed at the shieling during the summer grazing season. Unlike most other transhumance systems, the herders were mostly women, who were also responsible for milking and dairy production, such as butter and cheese (Costello and Svensson, 2018; Szabó, 1970).

The use of shielings was organised cooperatively by the different part-owners. They were adhering to strict regulations, including monitoring the use of their shielings. Herders and livestock would depart for the shieling on a specific day in the spring or early summer and return on a set date in early autumn. Each shareholder of the shieling was allowed to bring a certain number of livestock to ensure all partners in the cooperative received their rightful share of grazing and hay (Larsson, 2009; Svensson, 1998).

The shieling system reached its peak in the second half of the 19th century before declining due to modernisation and industrialisation. Forest grazing increasingly conflicted with forestry objectives, as livestock, particularly goats, were seen to damage young trees through trampling and grazing (Björkbom, 1907).

Shielings share the boreal landscape with other archaeological sites, such as bloomery iron production sites, pitfalls for elk (and sometimes reindeer) hunting, and tar and charcoal production sites. These activities, the extraction and utilisation of forest resources in outlying areas, are called outland use (Sw. utmarksbruk). Shielings are also a kind of outland use and were interconnected with various outland use activities through common cooperative work organisations, labour division and seasonal planning of the various tasks. Much of the outland use production was aimed at trade. Periodically, when the market was favourable, trade in outland use goods could be intense, overshadowing agrarian production, including the use of shielings (Emanuelsson et al., 2003; Magnusson, 1986: 282-3; Svensson, 1998). This is a topic we will return to in the Discussion. There are also, though less common, burial sites, some of which are even located on shielings (Liases, 2003: 101).

The emergence and development of shielings have been subjects of scholarly debate for over a century, involving various academic disciplines. Early studies relied on proxy data such as place names, stray archaeological finds, and information in written documents and historical maps from early modern to modern times. As a result, suggestions for the emergence of shielings have varied, ranging from the Late Stone Age to early modern times (e.g., Cabouret, 1989; Erixon, 1918; Erixon, 1956; Frödin, 1925; Hougen, 1947; Larsson, 2009; Sandnes, 1989). Major methodological breakthroughs for studying the history of shielings were provided by palaeobotany, pollen analyses, in the last decades of the 20th century. Pollen analyses show the development of vegetation and land use at a site thus giving the information on when different kinds of land use, such as grazing and cereal cultivation, started, increased, declined and ceased. Thanks to solid data on land use history from pollen analysis, often combined with archaeology, the initial agrarian land use activities at several shieling sites could be dated to the centuries around the middle of the first millennium AD (e.g., Emanuelsson, 2001; Emanuelsson et al., 2003; Karlsson, 2001; Kvamme, 1988). This corresponds to a period when other outland use activities and trade in outland use commodities became more prominent in boreal Scandinavia (Hennius, 2021).

Kårebolssätern first appears on historical maps in 1815. Subsequently, the shieling is depicted on several younger historical maps, which were used to plan the field survey.

During the 2018 field survey, a total of 45 remains were mapped and described: 12 house foundations, two wells, three areas with cultural layers, two fields and features indicating additional fields, seven border stones or cairns, and approximately 10 larger clearance cairns. Several smaller clearance cairns were also mapped but not described. A few of the house foundations and a feature recorded as a pit were assessed as pre-modern, based on similar dates for house foundations at other shielings (Figure 1). The northern part of Kårebolssätern appeared “younger”, as soil layers were thinner and vegetation bushier, and was interpreted as a more recent extension of the shieling (Eddudóttir et al., 2021). It appears likely that the western part, being closest to Lake Kårebolssjön, was the oldest part.

A pollen core was sampled from the adjacent lake during the winter of 2019. According to the pollen analysis, ³ the first evidence of human impact dates to around 100 BC, when small-scale cultivation of barley and hemp was detected. From approximately 250 AD, Kårebolssätern appears to have expanded, particularly from around 570 AD when the forest was modified for grazing. This expansion was followed by a decline in the use of Kårebolssätern during the period c. 1000–1250 AD. After this, the shieling began to grow more substantially, with the most significant changes in the pollen assemblage indicating substantial grazing of livestock and the cultivation of barley and hemp, although pollen from oats and rye occasionally appear in the pollen diagram (Eddudóttir et al., 2021).

The excavations at Kårebolssätern aimed at finding house structures corresponding to the early dates from the pollen analysis, and date the extensions of the shieling over time. House foundations from buildings interpreted as dwelling houses or cow houses located in the meadows of Kårebolssätern could reflect an older outer border of the shieling. As these house foundations were among those characterised as pre-modern, one was selected for excavation (B1). Additionally, a house foundation of pre-modern character located in the presumed oldest area was selected (B2). The third selected house foundation (B3) was located in the northern, presumably youngest, extension of the shieling.

B1 consisted of a low, flat area surrounded by low ramparts and a stone structure (possibly a hearth) in the northwest corner. It was dated to the 16th century. B2 appeared as an elevated surface marked by low ramparts. A post-hole in the centre of the building was dated to AD 1224–1287, but additional datings to the 16th century indicate a later reuse of the site (Figure 2). B3 consisted of a sunken cellar surrounded by six sill stones. A layer with remains of charcoal under the building was dated to AD 435–604, probably representing the clearing of trees with fire for promoting grazing of the northern extension of the shieling. The house was dated to be younger than AD 1662.

The results show that Kårebolssätern developed over time as follows: From around 100 BC, a small area, most likely in the western part, was used for the cultivation of barley and hemp, and probably some livestock grazing. In the 7th century, a significant clearing of the shieling occurred, including the northern part, for grazing and hay production, evident both in the pollen diagram and in the dating of the clearance for grazing in the northern part. No buildings from these periods have been detected in spite of great efforts to locate them. The expansion was followed by a decline during the period c. 1000–1250 AD, indicated by forest regrowth at Kårebolssätern.

After 1250 AD, the shieling expanded again, with the oldest dated house foundation corresponding to the beginning of this expansion. The next expansion phase, more visible in mapped and excavated houses than in the pollen diagram, appears to have occurred in the 16th century when Kårebolssätern expanded eastward. It was likely fenced to the north along the excavated building remains in the middle of the meadow. The final expansion phase likely took place before 1815, when the earliest map shows the current extent of the shieling.

The results from Kårebolssätern should be viewed in relation to other shielings. A total of 32 Swedish shielings have been investigated to varying extents (Figure 3; Table 1). Of these, 24 have been dated, but four only have dates from relatively recent house remains. The investigated shielings have been analysed regarding information on the dating of the emergence of agrarian land use (grazing and cereal cultivation), the establishment of buildings and periods of increase and decrease in the use of the sites. Although the compiled material is very heterogeneous, some trends are discernible regarding the establishment and development of shielings, and four major expansion phases can be detected.

• Phase 1 (c. 4th-7th centuries AD): early emergence of shielings;

It should be observed that almost all shielings in Phases 1 and 2 have been investigated with pollen analysis, whereas this is the case with very few in Phases 3 and 4. It is thus highly possible that several shielings in Phases 3 and 4 could be of an older date. It is however unlikely that this would change the interpretation of expansion and intensification in Phases 3 and 4 as these developments are clearly observable also in the pollen diagrams.

The four phases are described below and will be put into context in the Concluding Discussion.

Besides Kårebolssätern, the two sites with the oldest dates are included in Phase 1: Backadammen (c. 3rd–6th centuries AD) and Öjingsvallen (c. 4th–7th centuries AD) (Emanuelsson et al., 2003; Karlsson, 2001). Interestingly, these sites, like Kårebolssätern, are located near watercourses. Backadammen shares another similarity with Kårebolssätern in that cereal cultivation appears to have been of major importance during the foundation period, followed by grazing probably in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. At Öjingsvallen, grazing is the primary land use, with cereal cultivation appearing sometime around 900–1200 AD.

The 7th to 11th centuries stand out as a period when several shielings were initiated (Phase 2): Backasätern, Gammelsätern Likenäs, Ransbysätern, Gammelsätern Treskog, Trygåsvallen, Torkelsbovallen, Gammelvallen Ängersjö, Gärde fäbodar, Lilla Höksberg, Skallskog and Myrbyvallen (Emanuelsson, 1997; Emanuelsson et al., 2000; Emanuelsson et al., 2003; Hovanta and Groop, 2020a; Liases and Olsson, 2000; Olsson, 1998; Segerström et al., 1996; Skyllberg and Emanuelsson, 1996; Svensson, 1998; Östlund, 2020). In most cases, grazing, or grazing combined with cereal cultivation, appears to be the earliest land use. However, there are examples, mainly Gärde fäbodar, where cereal cultivation predates grazing. In this case, it is possible that the site was initially a farmstead, which was later converted into a shieling. From this period, we also have the earliest dates of house foundations from the excavations at Backasätern and Gammelsätern Ängersjö. At Myrbyvallen (Hovanta and Groop, 2020a), stray finds of a Viking Age sword, a Viking Age arrowhead, and a knife, probably from the same period, indicate that there had been a burial site at the shieling. At Backasätern, like at Kårebolssätern, there was a decline, probably even abandonment, around 1050 AD, lasting a few centuries.

The next phase (Phase 3), c. 13th–15th centuries, was a period of expanding land use, grazing and/or cereal cultivation, at most shielings including Kårebolssätern, and some more were established: Bäntebysätern, Ingersbysätern, Munkebovallen, and Dammskog (Bengtsson, 2007; Olsson, 1998; Skyllberg and Emanuelsson, 1996; Svensson, 1998). From this period, there are also dates from excavations of house foundations at Kårebolssätern, Öjingsvallen, Gammelvallen Ängersjö, Ingersbysätern, Torkelsbovallen, “Valberget” (Emanuelsson et al., 2000; Johansson and Svensson, 2002; Karlsson, 2001; Liases and Olsson, 2000; Olsson, 2005), and potentially at Trygåsvallen where a cultural layer beneath a more recent house foundation has been dated to the 13th century (Pettersson, 2008).

The intensity of land use increased at most shielings during the early modern period (Phase 4). There are also a few excavated house foundations, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries, at Kårebolssätern, Ransbysätern (excavation by the author, the report is lacking), Trygåsvallen, Munkebovallen, Skärs gamla fäbodvall, Gärde fäbodar, Stockbys fäbodar, Svartviksbodarna, Våsbo fäbodar, and Gammalbodarna in Ås (Andersson, 2013; Andersson et al., 2011; Bengtsson, 2007; Bennerhag and Palmbo, 2015; Eriksson, 2014 Jonsson, 2020; Pettersson, 2008; Östlund, 2020). However, due to the absence of pollen analyses from Skärs gamla fäbodvall, Stockbys fäbodar, Svartviksbodarna, and Gammalbodarna in Ås, the precise ages of these shielings remain uncertain.

Most of the investigated shielings were abandoned in the 19th and 20th centuries, although some are still in use as summerhouses.