This paper explores the ways in which coastal landscapes were used by the early church in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. The coastal highways were a key element of the socio-political landscape of the Northumbrian kingdom, with many key secular and ecclesiastical power centres being located in proximity to the sea. However, the same maritime landscapes also provided the location of seemingly remote or isolated hermitages. This paper explores this paradox and highlights the manner in which such small ecclesiastical sites were, in fact, closely integrated into a wider landscape of power, through case studies exploring the area around Bamburgh and Holy Island in Northumberland and Dunbar in southern Scotland.

The article examines the maritime cultural landscape in the light of the results of the excavations that took place in 2004–2006 at Viltina, Saaremaa. The complex of monuments from the 11th–12th century at Viltina in southern Saaremaa offers another possible function to the interpretations of similar harbour sites that apparently had primarily local significance. Data gathered in the course of the excavations together with previously known finds refer to the sacral character of the place. The location in relation to the agricultural settlement units and centres as well as the unearthed remains of piers imply that access with water vehicles must have played an important role in the formation of these places.

This paper surveys the archaeology of coastal settlement in south Scandinavia, c. AD 400–1200 from a perspective of communication. The location of important centres of communication and exchange reveal changes of preference, which reflect the shifting nature of social relations. The Late Iron Age port Lundeborg is characterized by safe access for foreigners, gathered for periodic assemblies; the Early Viking Age emporia Åhus is identified as a nodal point at a natural barrier for bulk-traffic; Early Medieval Roskilde, finally, was a central place related to a local hinterland, and collected several central functions under central authority.

In the outer archipelago of the province of Södermanland in the east of middle Sweden, the remains of fishing camps are frequent. The remains consist of hut ruins, jetties and places where the fishermen dried their nets. The oldest fishing camps of this type are dated to the Viking Age or just before. Although the changes in society during centuries influenced the economic conditions for the fishing, the kind of fishing that people were aspracticing in the outer archipelago, was almost the same until the beginning of the twentieths century. The fishing camps arose in a system of a manor economy where the aim was to supply the household of the manor with fish. Gradually this redistributive economy was changed into a market economy. The changes in the economy system influenced also the outer archipelago fishing. Anybody was able to fish. The only demand was that the fishermen had to pay a tax to the Crown ore the nobleman who controlled the fishing camp.