My name is Anders Hartvig. In 2009, I completed my Master’s degree in Medieval and Renaissance Archaeology at Aarhus University. Since 2011 I have been curator at Museum Sønderjylland – Archaeology.

The title of my PhD project is The rural Settlement in Schleswig during the Viking Age and Middle Ages: A Regional Study of the Dynamic Settlement Structure and its Agents, c. 700–c. 1500.

The aim of the project is to develop a regional model for the evolution of rural settlement in the region of Schleswig between c. 700 and c. 1500. One of the key areas is to examine when the villages, we know from historic maps, emerged and when the expansion of new settlements took place. Another key question is how the rural population responded to climate and health crises, and what impact new agents, such as the Church, the Crown, urban centres, and trade networks had on the development of rural settlement.

The project is a collaboration between Museum Sønderjylland and the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Aarhus University, as well as Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein, and Peder Gammeltoft, Chief Librarian at the University of Bergen.