Paths of Power

Thesis statement

This thesis argues that Iron Age and Viking Age (500 BCE–1066 CE) spatial organization on the island of Bornholm was defined by landscape connectivity rather than medieval parish boundaries, demonstrating how cemeteries, reused burial mounds, central sites, and fortifications were integrated through shared networks of movement. Utilizing Space Syntax and Ripley’s K to analyze road networks reconstructed from machine learning-detected holloways in LiDAR data and historical maps, we test whether Iron Age and Viking Age Bornholm sites positively correlate with high-traffic arteries and whether they cluster along these connectivity corridors rather than within or along parish boundaries.

A summary of results, and the broader implications, are marked in the draft and are not written yet.

Research question

How do cemeteries, reused burial mounds, fortifications, and central sites cluster and orient along the road network of Iron Age and Viking Age Bornholm relative to medieval parish boundaries, and how can applying Space Syntax and Ripley’s K to a holloway network, reconstructed from historical maps, LiDAR data, and machine learning, help us understand the island’s spatial organization?