The people, the animals and farming
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The people at the time looked like us. They had approximately the same average height, which suggests they had a balanced diet. However, they often suffered from arthritis and repetitive strain disorders. Dangerous, contagious diseases such as tuberculosis and bucolic plague (the Black Death) were undoubtedly as devastating then as in later periods. Child mortality and average life span seem to have been approximately the same as 150 years ago. Few people passed the age of 60.

We reckon that 10-12 people lived at Ullandhaug. If this was the average for Iron Age farms, we would get a population in Flat-Jæren of 3-4000 people. This corresponds to the population in the 18 th century. People were dressed in clothes woven from wool, linen, nettle or hemp. The yarn was normally plant-dyed before weaving. Textile crafts were highly developed. On top of their woven clothes, they would often wear a cape of wool, leather or fur. They wore soft shoes. Some of them also went barefoot.

Agriculture – what was grown at the Iron Age Farm?
On the infields, barley, oats and probably turnips were grown. Wild plants was also a part of the diet, among them willow-weed, black bindweed, pigweed and chickweed. Flax was also grown at this time, probably because of its nutritious seeds, but also as raw material for textiles.

Sheep were similar to the speal sheep, a small breed with long and straight-haired wool.
Horses were similar to Iceland ponies; small and with a special gait (tolting).
Pigs were of the boar type; black, with stiff bristles and large fangs. These pigs could be dangerous.
Hens were small and mottled.

There were chiefly two dog races; an elkhound type and a type of setter. Maybe they were the farm dog and the hunting dog?

Did they have cats, geese or ducks 1500 years ago? We do not know.

Work on the farm
The land was tilled with the help of an “ard”, a fork and a harrow. The ard is a slender and light type of plough that only makes ridges in the soil. The crop was harvested with the help of a sickle, a scythe, a type of knife, a fork and a rake. Neither of these tools has changed appreciably since pre-historic times. Work on the farm also included making earthenware vessels, textiles, tools of wood and iron, bronze jewellery and stone objects, such as millstones.

Other resources
1500 years ago, Jæren was about as little forested as it is today. The people of Ullandhaug therefore had to go a long way for lumbering or hunting. But the sea was closer, with Hafrsfjord as the nearest harbour. Fishing sinkers found in the floor of the Iron Age Farm tell us that fishing must have been one of their resources.