This case study explores how geo-political power structures influence and/or determine the conception, acceptance and maintenance of what is considered to be valid archaeological knowledge. The nature of this contingency is exemplified through an examination of how the prehistory of Norrland, a region traditionally considered and portrayed as peripheral vis-à-vis the centre-South, was interpreted and presented by Swedish archaeologists during the 20th century. This contextual situation is analysed through the implementation of three interrelated and complimentary perspectives;

1) The relationship between northern and southern Sweden is examined using concepts concerning the nature of colonialism, resulting in the formulation of 20 particulars that typify the colonial experience, circumstances that characterise the historical, and unequal, association that has existed between these two regions for the last 600 years.

2) Ideals of national identity and heritage as manufactured and employed by the kingdom and later by the nation-state, with the assistance of antiquarianism, archaeology and/or centralised cultural management, are outlined. The creation of these various concepts have reinforced and perpetuated the colonial and asymmetrical association between what has naturally come to be viewed as the peripheral-North and the centre-South.

3) A century of archaeological research into the Norrlandian past is studied using the concepts ‘thoughtstyle’ and ‘thought-collective’ as devised by Ludwik Fleck. This analysis disclosed a persistent set of reoccurring explanations that have constantly been invoked when interpreting and presenting the prehistory of Norrland. This archaeological thought-style has normalised the unbalanced power relationship between North and South that has existed for the last 600 years by projecting it far back into the prehistoric past.

This case study has demonstrated that archaeologists, unless acutely aware of the historical context in which they themselves move and work, risk legitimising debilitating economic and political power relationships in the present through their study and presentation of the past.

This bachelor’s thesis is based on the charred archaeobotanical material from a settlement at Eikebakken, Norway dated to the end of Bronze Age. The study focuses on determining the potential use of weeds and the oil plant flax (Linum usitatissimum). The archaeobotanical samples contained large amounts of charred flax seeds, and to determine whether it was used for oil or textile production a morphometric study of the material was undertaken and compared to other morphometric studies from Northern Europe.

An experiment on modern flax seeds, carbonised at different temperatures, was used to expand current knowledge about how flax seeds change through the carbonisation process and why flax seeds are so rarely preserved in prehistoric contexts. The experiment results compared to the carbonized flax seeds from Eikebakken are shown with different diagrams and visualisations. The morphometric analysis together with the experiment provides new knowledge about the flax seeds complications with preservation and that flax in Norway's earliest stages was most likely grown for textile fibres, a contradiction to earlier assumptions.

This paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the supposed connection between Parish Sami and the little researched stone remnants of grouse trapping, i.e. bird mazes, that show a spatial concentration to Västernorrland and Gävleborg counties - by using spatial analysis, historical-ethnographical analogies, folklore studies and two case studies. The results are contradicting; the spatial analysis shows no or little signs of a connection between remains of Sami type and place names indicating Sami presence. The analogies show a likeness between methods where sticks and branches were used instead of stones to create the fences which lead the birds to the snare-traps. However, these methods were used by both Swedish farmers and Sami. There are several folklore records that connect Sami and the bird mazes, and one tells of how the Sami taught the parish inhabitants the method. The case studies show an apparent spatial connection between bird mazes and a Parish Sami home and a nomadic Forest Sami complex. Nomadic Forest Sami in the region have been shown to be the ancestors of Parish Sami. Based on these results, the author proposes that the bird maze method was first used by Forest Sami and later used by their descendants Parish Sami, but somewhere along the way the method was taught to or picked up by Swedish farmers. In any case, this study might be used as a jumping off point for the further work and research into the physical remains of Sami in the region that are well needed, in particular the Parish Sami, but also bird mazes.

This paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the supposed connection between Parish Sami and the little researched stone remnants of grouse trapping, i.e. bird mazes, that show a spatial concentration to Västernorrland and Gävleborg counties - by using spatial analysis, historical-ethnographical analogies, folklore studies and two case studies. The results are contradicting; the spatial analysis shows no or little signs of a connection between remains of Sami type and place names indicating Sami presence. The analogies show a likeness between methods where sticks and branches were used instead of stones to create the fences which lead the birds to the snare-traps. However, these methods were used by both Swedish farmers and Sami. There are several folklore records that connect Sami and the bird mazes, and one tells of how the Sami taught the parish inhabitants the method. The case studies show an apparent spatial connection between bird mazes and a Parish Sami home and a nomadic Forest Sami complex. Nomadic Forest Sami in the region have been shown to be the ancestors of Parish Sami. Based on these results, the author proposes that the bird maze method was first used by Forest Sami and later used by their descendants Parish Sami, but somewhere along the way the method was taught to or picked up by Swedish farmers. In any case, this study might be used as a jumping off point for the further work and research into the physical remains of Sami in the region that are well needed, in particular the Parish Sami, but also bird mazes.

Little is known about the impact of human activities during Roman times on NW Iberian mining landscapes beyond the geomorphological transformations brought about by the use of hydraulic power for gold extraction. We present the high-resolution pollen record of La Molina mire, located in an area intensely used for gold mining (Asturias, NW Spain), combined with other proxy data from the same peat core to identify different human activities, evaluate the strategies followed for the management of the resources and describe the landscape response to human disturbances. We reconstructed the timing and synchronicity of landscape changes of varying intensity and form occurred before, during and after Roman times. An open landscape was prevalent during the local Late Iron Age, a period of relatively environmental stability. During the Early Roman Empire more significant vegetation shifts took place, reflected by changes in both forest (Corylus and Quercus) and heathland cover, as mining/metallurgy peaked and grazing and cultivation increased. In the Late Roman Empire, the influence of mining/metallurgy on landscape change started to disappear. This decoupling was further consolidated in the Germanic period (i.e., Visigothic and Sueve domination of the region), with a sharp decrease in mining/metallurgy but continued grazing. Although human impact was intense in some periods, mostly during the Early Roman Empire, forest regeneration occurred afterwards: clearances were local and short-lived. However, the Roman mining landscape turned into an agrarian one at the onset of the Middle Ages, characterized by a profound deforestation at a regional level due to a myriad of human activities that resulted in an irreversible openness of the landscape.

Investigations of past coastal landscape development have included soil micromorphology, chemistry and microfossil recording of soils and sediments associated with marine inundation and terrestrial soil formation in marine sediments. This paper reports on similarly studied site formation processes at Norwegian coastal sites in Vestfold, Norway: the Viking Period Gokstad Ship Burial Mound and nearby contemporary harbour site of Heimdaljordet. At Gokstad, strategically-focused coring revealed mound composition and an example of its buried soil and geology. The latter investigation suggested that post glacial uplift led to a ‘slowstand’ period of intertidal reworking of till before ∼700 BC emergence and development of terrestrial soils. At Heimdaljordet, typically laminated intertidal silty clay loam sediments were sealed by beach sands, into which, for example, a boat grave was dug. Post-depositional processes affecting the Gokstad Mound were compared to those in other mounds, including those recorded in experimental earthworks. Waterlogged conditions in the Gokstad mound led to iron–phosphate migration and preferential deposition of vivianite in turf layers where relict litter (L) layers remained visible, and where wood chips from constructional activities are also very well preserved (as is the long ship itself). These soil insights and other paleoenvironmental studies of the buried soil and numerous turf sequences showed that the contemporary AD 900 Viking landscape was totally terrestrial. It had become wet sedge grassland managed for grazing. The partial weathering of turves and anomalous presence within them of ‘fresh’ roots apparently indicates the possibility that turves were stacked and stored ahead of mound building. The 10th C robber trench had developed muddy features, and rooting traces show that it was not backfilled, but was slowly infilled by humic soil silting from turf mound layers. This event did not affect the overall anaerobic burial conditions in the mound, which can be starkly compared to those at the Heimdaljordet boat grave. Here, because of acidic subaerial weathering, the wooden boat only survives as an acidic pellety humus formed of wood residues that are often ferruginised. Iron appears to be concentrated at iron nail locations. Unlike the Gokstad mound, no bone survives, but one sample found a typical ‘body stain’ of secondary iron and phosphate close by the iron encrusted sword in the grave (potentially the pelvic region of the inhumation). Here, mineralised faecal gut remains have an assumed hydroxyapatite composition, and embed phytoliths and pollen/spores, as found in human coprolites and cess deposits studied elsewhere.

Specific soil micromorphological, broader geoarchaeological and environmental archaeology signatures of settlement activities and land use have been identified from numerous case studies across Europe – from Romania to western Norway. In order to demonstrate how such investigations contribute to our understanding of settlement morphology and its wider landscape, an improved way of organising site-specific information or guide was created (Macphail and Goldberg, in press). Activities and land use are divided into 'Within Settlement', 'Peripheral to Settlement' and 'The Settlement's Wider Landscape'. Major themes identified are: Constructions (and materials), Trackways and paths (and other communication/transport-associated features), Animal Management, Water Management, Waste Disposal (1: middening; 2: human waste), Specialist Domestic and Industrial Activities and Funerary Practices. In the case of trackway deposits, their characterisation aids the identification of intensely occupied areas compared to rural communications, although changing land use within urban areas has also produced 'rural signatures' (e.g. as associated with animal management), for example in Late Roman cities. Specialist activities such as fish and crop processing or working with lead and other metals, in-field and within-wall manuring, stabling and domestic occupation floor-use evidence, and identification of different funerary practice – cremations, boat graves and other inhumations, and excarnation features – and peripheral constructions such as boat-houses, are also noted. New information from the Chalcolithic tell site of Borduşani-Popină, Romania and seasonally occupied Viking settlement of Heimdaljordet, Norway, is introduced.

Grubenhäuser or pithouses are common

archaeological features. This paper focuses upon

some examples studied through soil

micromorphology and chemistry from one

Swedish and five English sites dating to around 400-

800 AD, where in situ floor deposits from

contemporary long house/rectangular house

structures have not survived. Fills are divided into

two kinds, homogeneous and heterogeneous types.

Homogeneous fills may represent infilling by turf

(local soil) employed in their construction, while

individual homogeneous layers within a

grubenhaus may result from a period of biological

homogenisation marking a cessation in infilling.

Heterogeneous fills, some examples of which have

been additionally studied through microchemical

techniques, may yield unique examples of cultural

deposits. Grubenhäuser fills thus not only provide

important information on the archaeology of the

features themselves, but can provide the proxy

information on the local managed landscape and

soils, and a settlement’s morphology, in areas and

periods where other sources of geoarchaeological data have been lost.

Pilotprojektet ”Dendro-databas” är ett samarbetsprojekt mellan det Nationella laboratoriet för vedanatomi och dendrokronologi vid Lunds universitet och SEAD-projektet vid Miljöarkeo-4logiska laboratoriet, Umeå universitet. Tillsammans arbetar man med utvecklingen av en da-tabas för dendrokronologiska data som kommer att hanteras och förmedlas via SEAD:s data-basverktyg. I detta arbete ingår både systemutveckling för att anpassa SEAD:s struktur för nya datamängder och inmatning av omfattande testdataserier.

Current heritage best practice aims to avoid strategies that focus solely on single, often arbitrary periods or narratives in a site's history in favor of those that recognize all of the site's layers of significance. This situation was born from similar concerns to those that made archaeology critically self reflect and adopt positions that attempted to overcome inherent preconceptions and biases. However, the treatment of forms of vandalism at heritage sites, such as graffiti, often stands in juxtaposition to the sites' other layers of significance and reveals that heritage management is yet to address all of its own biases. This article discusses the cultural significance of graffiti vandalism at heritage sites. It argues that new ways of theorizing about heritage and its destruction are required and that heritage management should adopt perspectives akin to archaeology's post-processualism in order to ensure that the significance of contemporary graffiti vandalism is not lost by strategies that view it primarily as conservation sacrilege. To do this, the article considers the origin, definition, and types of heritage vandalism before focusing on graffiti in relation to three case studies and then examining the relevant perspectives that archaeological and heritage theory can offer. The article aims to provide a further departure point from which to discuss the significance of vandalism at heritage places and in particular graffiti and its treatment.

This article explores the cultural significance and interpretative potential of graffiti left by Soviet conscripts at Kummersdorf, a former military base in the German federal state of Brandenburg. The graffiti is framed as war art and its typology, distribution and content is studied in detail. In this way opportunities for further research are highlighted, as well as the potential for the graffiti to contribute to interpretative and conservation strategies. We demonstrate how the graffiti embodies multi-level interpretative narratives which can help to reveal hidden aspects of Soviet conscript life and cultural practices whilst alluding to global events and Soviet and Russian military policy. More generally, the article aims to promote the potential of graffiti and other forms of what is traditionally considered vandalism to contribute to the cultural significance and interpretation of heritage sites.

The paper suggests that cultural landscapes were permeated by religious meanings in all pre-modern societies, including Sami societies before c. AD 1600. We suggest that knowledge of this sacred landscape was not restricted to an elite or to shamans, but was widely shared. For the Sami, religious rituals and associated images (e.g. rock art) involved all levels within a social hierarchy that linked the individual adult or child, the family, the band or sijdda, and the association of family groups or vuobme. We can decode the sacred landscapes of such societies if we can reconstruct sites of perceived anomaly and liminality in the landscape. This is discussed in the article with reference to Proto-Uralic cosmology in general and the Sami world-view in particular. The concepts of anomaly and liminality enable us to interpret the Badjelannda rock art site in Laponia, northern Sweden, as not only a place of resource procurement (asbestos, soapstone) but also a sacred site. We suggest that the Badjelannda site should be seen as a gateway to the Underworld, and therefore visits for quarrying, human burials at the site, or wild reindeer hunting in the vicinity were marked by ritual acts, directed perhaps towards the Sami female deity Máttaráhkká. The rock art should therefore be interpreted as an aspect of religious ritual, and in a context where anomalous topography signified that the Badjelannda site was necessarily a liminal place.

Recently, archeological study of the establishment and spread of iron blast furnace technology in Sweden has suggested a phase of rapid expansion from AD 1150 to 1350, mainly in the historically important "Bergslagen" region in central Sweden. But the geographical extent and earliest development remains debated. One archeological investigation of Moshyttan, in the less studied western part of Bergslagen, suggested that it may have been established before 1150. To independently study the timing of blast furnace establishment at Moshyttan, and also the vegetation history of the area, we performed a multiproxy analysis of the sediment record from Fickeln, a small lake immediately downstream of the smelter site. We present radiocarbon dating (macrofossils and bulk sediment), pollen, charcoal particles and geochemistry. To establish a reliable age depth model, ages of the bulk samples were corrected for old carbon and the model was validated by comparison to chronological markers (immigration of Picea abies and airborne lead-pollution) in other lakes with varved or otherwise robust chronologies. Based on markedly increasing lead concentrations, decreases in the Pb-206/Pb-207 ratio towards values resembling Bergslagen ores, increasing charcoal particle counts and increases in iron and zinc concentrations, the establishment of the blast furnace is estimated to AD 1250-1300 with an age-depth model probability of 91%. This places the establishment of the blast furnace at Moshyttan within the known period of early expansion of iron blast furnaces in Sweden, rather than earlier as suggested by the earliest dates from the archeological study. The first signs of a human presence in the area can be seen in pollen associated with forest grazing from ca. 170 BC, and the first signs of cultivation appear ca. AD 1020, preceding the blast furnace by 200 years.

The site Ada Tepe situated in Eastern Rhodope Mountains (South Bulgaria) represents an unique gold mining complex continuously occupied from Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The excavations of the site revealed apart of the extensive mining activities also settlement layers bearing diverse evidence on the ancient food supply of the gold mining complex. As food represents a basic human need and cultural and technological innovations related with the metallurgy often influenced the subsistence and caused shifts in diet of the ancient population. In this paper we would like to explore such changes and shifts based on the available archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence from Ada Tepe. To achieve this the ceramic inventory of the found buildings is evaluated in terms of their meaning for food preparation and consumption. This evidence is crosschecked with the archaeobotanical evidence of disposed at the archaeological structures remains of cultivated plants, processed plant products (like porridge and bread remains) and such with possible imported character (like figs).

This thesis focuses on the use of the semi-subterranean house on the coast of Norrbotten during the period 5000–2000 BC. The term semi-subterranean house (in Swedish boplatsvall) became a new category of prehistoric remains in Norrbotten during the 1980s. In 1984, the Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet) started surveying the eastern part of Norrbotten, thus initiating a new interpretation of the history of Stone Age coastal societies.

The aim of this study is to observe and analyse how the semi-subterranean house developed through time in eastern Norrbotten and to place this information into context. For this thesis, I have studied a number of 631 semi-subterranean remains on a number of sites dating from the Mesolithic era to the early Metal Age. A number of settlements belonging to different eras have been compared. Several archaeological investigations on sites from the late Mesolithic and the Neolithic periods have also provided important information.

The thesis shows that throughout the Mesolithic period, the semi-subterranean house was usually less than 12 m2, with an average of approximately 9 m2 . Around 5000 BC, there appears to have been an increase in the number of this type of house being constructed. The number of known sites with semisubterranean houses is at its highest around the late Mesolithic period. Subsistence seems to have been based on the hunting of large terrestrial animals, such as elk and perhaps reindeer. Other animals found in the bone material are seal, beaver, salmon, perch, pike as well as some bird species.

At the beginning of the Neolithic period, the number of sites with semi-subterranean houses decreases while the number of houses at each site increases. Also, the floor area increases to an average size of 15 m2 and the floor shape changes from circular to rectangular. The bone material consists at this time of seal bones, while elk and reindeer remains are scarce. Most of the sites are concentrated in the area around the mouths of the Kalix and Torne Rivers.

At the middle and end of the Neolithic period, the numbers of sites increase as do the number of houses on each site and the size of the fl oor areas. The average floor area is 28 m2. The bone material now contains no elk or reindeer remains, while seal and various fi sh species are common. Around 2300 BC, the number of semi-subterranean houses decreases dramatically. The semi-subterranean house was probably exchanged for another sort of dwelling more suited to the needs of society. After 2300 BC, there is a total decline in known sites in the area. This could be explained by a reorganisation of the settlements as a result of greater interaction with the south Scandinavian battle-axe culture, together with higher interaction and cultural identification with neighbouring groups in the north and around the Bothnian Bay on the Finnish side.

This dissertation deals with the social construction of power relations and inequality in a long term perspective. The main objective is to analyse and explain the hiérarchisation process in Scania during the period 5500-1100 BC. The theoretical perspective is based on Marxist historical materialism which, according to the author, provides the most heuristic paradigm for explaining long term changes in social organisation. An analysis of the changes of the social organisation is conducted as well as an attempt to explain the causality of this process. The process is furthermore analysed by using concept from the so called peer polity interaction model.

ästerbottens färgrika stenskatter - Spatiala presentationer och analyser av skifferfynd i Västerbottens län

(The colorful stone treasures of Västerbotten – Spatial presentations and analysis of slate artefacts in Västerbotten County)

This essay pertains to the spatial distributions and analysis of slate artefacts in Västerbotten County, Sweden. The authors aim is to give answers the issues of what the distribution patterns of slate artefacts can tell us about the prehistoric humans in this area. By using GIS software and geospatial analysis the author strengthens the theories about separate interior and coastal economies, as well as the theory that the main share of production of slate artifacts are linked in the interior of the County, the author also refers to earlier research, both domestic and international. The theories of non-pragmatic preferences by the late Mesolithic and Neolithic people for red colored slate are also added to. Finally the author suggests a usage of slate daggers as tools for the preparation of felled, larger animals, rather than the daggers being primarily a weapon or of symbolic value. 

The second volume of the Report series of the Swedish Association for Women's and Gender Historians is a result of the XI Nordic Woman’s and Gender History Conference, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2015. Contributions in English and Scandinavian languages cover a wide range of research fields, including decolonial feminism, antiquity and gender, cultural history, and feminist biography.

The aim of the thesis is to cast light on the earliest settlement of northern Sweden. The starting point is lithic artifacts, which have been studied from a technological as well as a more conventional typological perspective (Papers I, II, and IV). Paper III deals primarily with geological and palaeoecological methods and my contribution is mainly confined to the lithic artifacts. The main research objectives are concerned with early postglacial colonization and cultural affiliation mirrored through technological traditions. Another “main thread” is a source-critical discussion regarding dating problems, and the chronological integrity of find contexts. The chronological position of artifact types in the North Swedish Mesolithic is another related problem being discussed.

The geographical area under investigation comprises northern Sweden sensu largo: Norrland plus the provinces of Värmland and Dalarna. The time period studied is the Mesolithic, with an emphasis on the earliest part, ca. 8500–7500 BP.

Paper I discusses the Mesolithic in the province of Värmland. There are traits indicating both an affiliation with the Lihult/Nøstvet sphere (for example, Lihult axes and saws/knives of sandstone) as well as other features more common in an eastern/northern context (quartz use, bipolar reduction, and, at least for the final Mesolithic and Neolithic, slate artifacts).

Paper II aims at elucidating microblade technology in northern Sweden as regards chronological position and cultural context. It was found that microblade production from handle cores (also called wedge-shaped cores) was introduced at about the same time in northern Sweden as in other areas of Scandinavia where these artifacts occur, ca. 8000–7500 BP. The handle core tradition continued until ca. 5500/5000 BP.

Paper III deals with lake-tilting caused by non-uniform glacio-isostatic uplift. This phenomenon has been used to identify potential areas of Mesolithic occupation in the Arjeplog area, Lapland. Surveys and excavations within the research project "Man, Fire, and Landscape", have significantly increased the number of Mesolithic sites in the area. The investigations have resulted in the discovery of the oldest firmly dated archaeological site in northern Sweden, Dumpokjauratj, in Arjeplog parish, Lapland, with a maximum date of 8630 ± 85 BP.

Paper IV discusses the pioneering phase of occupation in northern Sweden, in the light of the above-mentioned site of Dumpokjauratj and a site at Garaselet in northern Västerbotten. These are further compared with contemporary sites in surrounding areas of Fennoscandia. The majority of the assemblages are dominated by platform reduction, even if bipolar reduction also occurs at the earliest sites. Slate artifacts found at Dumpokjauratj suggest connections with the Finnish Mesolithic, which is the only cultural context in our region with documented slate use at this early point in time. But there are also traits that do not specifically point towards Finland, e.g. frequent use of fine-grained flint-like materials and porphyry, and (at Dumpokjauratj) a lanceolate microlith made of a microblade of this fine-grained igneous rock. The latter suggests associations with the Scandinavian Mesolithic in general.

In any event, the early dates from Dumpokjauratj show that interior Lapland was occupied soon after deglaciation, probably within a few hundred years.

Archaeological flint artefacts from the late Mesolithic/early Neolithic site of Vuollerim, northern Sweden, have been geochemically investigated with ICP-SFMS and MC-ICP-MS in search for the geological/geographical origin of the non-local flint. The Vuollerim flints were compared with reference samples from Denmark (Cretaceous/Tertiary flint) and Russia (Carboniferous flint). Elemental concentrations as well as elemental ratios for REEs and isotopic ratios for Pb and Sr are presented. Significant differences were found between different geological/geographical contexts. Two of the Vuollerim samples can be ascribed a South Scandinavian origin. Possibly also eastern flint is present, although the results are not conclusive in this case.

Beyond the vicinity

A study of swords in the mountain region of Jämtland County during the LateIron Age and a discussion of their interpretation.

This bachelor thesis discusses the function of swords found in the mountain region of Jämtland County during the Late Iron Age. It focuses on the discussion whether the swords found in the mountain region can reflect on resource utilization in the mountain region during the Late Iron Age from a socioeconomical perspective. The thesis also brings up difficulties in the intrepretations whether or not the swords in the mountain region should be defined as a grave, because of the lack of human remains in some of the sites in the mountain region containing swords. The data used in the thesis is mainly processed in GISand Microsoft Excel and is discussed on a critical basis. The results are presented as maps showing spatial relations between the collected data. The presence of swords in the mountain region can be seen as evidence of more widespread resource utilization of the mountain region in Jämtland County.

De tre prover (MAL nr. 12_0002:1-3) som erhölls för makrofossilanalys kommer från en arkeologisk slutundersökning av en förmodad grav, SU Järnbrott, Göteborgs kommun (N 57° 39' 51,75", E 11° 56' 2,01" (WGS84)).

Flintmaterial från utgrävningsplatsen har sorterats och tolkningen blev att det har slagits flinta vid minst tre tillfällen. Bland annat består materialet av bifaciala avslag från senneolitikum. Då ben även har hittats kan det peka mot en grav.

Syftet med makrofossilanalysen är att undersöka om det finns något som indikerar att det funnits en grav och/eller något annat på platsen.