The thesis studies the representation of prehistory as a part of the making and remaking of ethnic identities in Northern Sweden from the end of the 19th Century until today, thus dealing with archaeology and prehistory in relation to issues such as identity, memory and politics. The thesis takes as its point of departure the constitution of a Swedish national identity and memory in the late 19th Century and subsequent decades, followed by studies of, mainly later, representations of Sámi, Kvenish (“Kvänsk”) and North Bothnian (“Norrbottnisk”) collective identities. The study material consists of texts, primarily analyzed through discourse and narrative analysis. The thesis demonstrates how the constitution of a Swedish national identity in Northern Sweden constructed a dichotomy between an imagined civilized “Swedishness”, belonging to the future, and an imagined primitive Sámi Other, belonging to the past. It is argued that this discursive boundary work has not just situated some persons and their everyday life in a marginal position as a visible Sámi Other, but has also situated a substantial number of the inhabitants of Northern Sweden more or less in liminality and marginality in relation to the national identity structure. This has created a need for people to officially represent a more satisfactory collective identity, which includes a rewriting of the prehistory of the area. The last chapter relates the results to studies of similar cases in colonial and postcolonial contexts outside Europe. The essentialist view of identity and history present in several of the studied representations is also discussed. The thesis emphasizes the importance of a more nuanced view of relationships of ethnicity, domination and subordination, and the associated formation of collective memories, in Northern Sweden. Discourses of ethnicity and domination often function through simplifying dichotomies, but dichotomies alone cannot explain real conditions and consequences of these matters.

Joakim Schyman, 2009. Den gotländska vikingatida bebyggelsens rumsliga placering ilandskapet - En empirisk detaljstudie av Hemse socken (The spacial distribution of the VikingAge settlements on Gotland – An emperical study of remains from Hemse Parish.) This essay investigates whether a relation between Viking age graves and Viking agesettlements in Hemse parish can be found. This was done by using database information onViking age findings, such as silver hoards, phosphate levels and location of graves in Hemseparish. Literature and maps were also used. Earlier research shows that the Viking agesettlements can be found by silver hoards and relatively high phosphate levels. This essay'sanalysis verifies this. The analysis also shows the possibility of a prehistoric court leet locatedin the center of Hemse parish. The Viking age graves are located close to the possible courtleet, along the ridge running through the parish. These graves are seen as a grave fieldcommonly used by all the settlements in the parish. Findings close to the settlements showthat inhabitants also buried their dead close to their settlements as a marking of territory. Thisgives us a complex picture of the connection between the habitants and their burials duringthis period.

On the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea there have been 18 archaeological find of bronze swords and five finds of bronze miniature swords and they have been dated to the bronze age periods II-VI. They have been found as ritual hoard offerings, as treasure hoards and in graves. These finds will be put in relation to each other and the bronze age landscape they have been found in. The purpose of this is to see if there is a pattern to be seen, if a specific sword-type can be found in a grave or hoard or if there’s a pattern to be seen in there placement in the landscape relating to other bronze age sites. The question of who used the sword during the bronze age will also be asked, followed by a discussion of gender, gender roles and power on Gotland during the bronze age.

This thesis explores bodily representations in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1050 AD). Non-human bodies, such as gold foil figures, and human bodies are analysed. The work starts with an examination and deconstruction of the sex/gender categories to the effect that they are considered to be of minor value for the purposes of the thesis. Three analytical concepts – masks, miniature, and metaphor – are deployed in order to interpret how and why the chosen bodies worked within their prehistoric contexts. The manipulations the figures sometimes have undergone are referred to as masking practices, discussed in Part One. It is shown that masks work and are powerful by being paradoxical; that they are vehicles for communication; and that they are, in effect, transitional objects bridging gaps that arise in continuity as a result of events such as symbolic or actual deaths. In Part Two miniaturization is discussed. Miniaturization contributes to making worlds intelligible, negotiable and communicative. Bodies in miniatures in comparison to other miniature objects are particularly potent. Taking gold foil figures under special scrutiny, it is claimed that gold, its allusions as well as its inherent properties conveyed numinosity. Consequently gold foil figures, regardless of the context, must be understood as extremely forceful agents. Part Three examines metaphorical thinking and how human and animal body parts were used in pro-creational acts, resulting in the birth of persons. However, these need not have been human, but could have been the outcomes of turning a deceased into an ancestor, iron into a steel sword, or clay into a ceramic urn, hence expanding and transforming the members of the family/household. Thus, bone in certain contexts acted as a transitional object or as a generative substance. It is concluded that the bodies of research are connected to transitions, and that the theme of transformation was one fundamental characteristic of the societies of study.

<p>This thesis explores bodily representations in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (400–1050 AD). Non-human bodies, such as gold foil figures, and human bodies are analysed. The work starts with an examination and deconstruction of the sex/gender categories to the effect that they are considered to be of minor value for the purposes of the thesis. Three analytical concepts – masks, miniature, and metaphor – are deployed in order to interpret how and why the chosen bodies worked within their prehistoric contexts.</p><p>The manipulations the figures sometimes have undergone are referred to as masking practices, discussed in Part One. It is shown that masks work and are powerful by being paradoxical; that they are vehicles for communication; and that they are, in effect, transitional objects bridging gaps that arise in continuity as a result of events such as symbolic or actual deaths.</p><p>In Part Two miniaturization is discussed. Miniaturization contributes to making worlds intelligible, negotiable and communicative. Bodies in miniatures in comparison to other miniature objects are particularly potent. Taking gold foil figures under special scrutiny, it is claimed that gold, its allusions as well as its inherent properties conveyed numinosity. Consequently gold foil figures, regardless of the context, must be understood as extremely forceful agents.</p><p>Part Three examines metaphorical thinking and how human and animal body parts were used in pro-creational acts, resulting in the birth of persons. However, these need not have been human, but could have been the outcomes of turning a deceased into an ancestor, iron into a steel sword, or clay into a ceramic urn, hence expanding and transforming the members of the family/household. Thus, bone in certain contexts acted as a transitional object or as a generative substance.</p><p>It is concluded that the bodies of research are connected to transitions, and that the theme of transformation was one fundamental characteristic of the societies of study.</p>

<p>From the pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age, a number of different fossil agrarian landscapes can be found in southern Sweden - clearance cairn areas, celtic fields, stone-wall complexes and geometrically laid-out strip fields. With two different comparative analyses, this paper tries to explain some of the differences between clearance cairn systems and the other fossil field systems</p><p>The shape of the early Iron Age agrarian landscape varies between different provinces of southern Sweden. At Gotland, celtic field systems were laid-out before 500 BC. In Småland at the same time, areas with clearance cairns were created. How can the difference be explained? The different physical appearance of clearance cairn areas and celtic fields can be explained by the different ways to handle the ard in till and in sandy soil. In sandy soils, and other fine soils, the ard will at each turn deposit small amounts of roots, soil and debris at the edge of the field, which over the years will build up the walls of the celtic fields. But in boulder-rich soil the ard will constantly have to be lifted and tilted, which means that the material will be released before the ard reaches the edge of the field. Since crops, vegetation, houses, field system areas, etc. are identical or at least similar in both landscape types, they most likely represent the same farming system with hay-meadow – stabling – manure – intensely cultivated fields</p><p>In most provinces in southern Sweden, the pre-roman celtic fields and clearance cairn areas were replaced by geometrically laid-out strip fields or different kinds of stone-wall complexes enclosing the fields and farms, around AD 200, but not in Småland. There, the clearance cairn areas were used and extended throughout the Iron Age. How can this regional variation be explained? A comparison between the different landscape types reveals no significant differences in tools, crops, houses, etc. that would support that the difference is explained by a shift in farming systems. A more likely hypothesis is that the difference is due to regional pre-state or early-state political structures with an ambition to control land-use. This is based on the observations that 1) within each region the physical appearance of the fossil landscape is very coherent; 2) between the different regions there are significant differences, and; 3) the different systems were introduced approximately simultaneously in the regions Gotland, Öland, Östergötland, Uppland and Västergötland. This hypothesis implies that Småland either had a separate political structure which chose to keep the old clearance cairn land-use system, or lacked a corresponding regional structure.</p>

This thesis deals with meetings between peoples during prehistoric times in the northern part of Norrland, Sweden. Particular attention is paid to the possible occurrence of more temporary meetings between people in larger groups at aggregation camps during the period ca 7000 – 0 BC. The study has had the aim of increasing our understanding of how peoples’ meetings and contact networks may have been framed. Thirteen sites that previous research has interpreted to be aggregation camps within our field of study have been analysed and interpreted. These are: Jokkmokk, Purkijaur, Nelkerim, Porsi, Lundfors, Norrfors, Överveda, Rappasundet, Hälla, Lillberget, Glösa, Sörånäset and Ställverksboplatsen (the Ställverket site). The Ställverket site at Näsåker (Nämforsen) has been the object of particular study. It has also been viewed in a broader context by analysis and interpretation of other ancient remains in the neighbouring area. I have argued that some interpretations arrived at in earlier research are problematical and that none of the thirteen sites can be said with certainty to have been an aggregation camp. Thus aggregation camps seem not usually to have been a part of the contact network in the area of study. Instead of using aggregation camps as meeting-places, the people involved seem, at certain times and places, to have maintained contact with each other by means of meetings at the base camps, notably the winter sites. These sites seem to have been rather sedentary and are positioned at fairly even distances from one another. I call this model the base camp model. Some grounds for applying the base camp model seem to exist at certain places in the inland region from the end of the Mesolithic era up to 0 BC. After that contact networks seem to change. In the coastal district it seems possible to apply it to some places from the transition between the Mesolithic – Neolithic Age up to about 2500 BC. Thereafter the picture is unclear. The study does also emphasise however that more in-depth studies are needed to strengthen the viability of the base camp model’s applicability, that there are still big gaps in the material and that much work still remains to be done in order to solve the problems of how aggregation camps can best be defined and how they can be identified archaeologically.

Throughout the history of archaeology, the Sámi (the indigenous people in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation) have been conceptualized as the “Others” in relation to the national identity and (pre)history of the modern states. It is only in the last decades that a field of Sámi archaeology that studies Sámi (pre)history in its own right has emerged, parallel with an ethnic and cultural revival among Sámi groups. This dissertation investigates the notions of Sámi prehistory and archaeology, partly from a research historical perspective and partly from a more contemporary political perspective. It explores how the Sámi and ideas about the Sámi past have been represented in archaeological narratives from the early 19th century until today, as well as the development of an academic field of Sámi archaeology. The study consists of four main parts: 1) A critical examination of the conceptualization of ethnicity, nationalism and indigeneity in archaeological research. 2) A historical analysis of the representations and debates on Sámi prehistory, primarily in Sweden but also to some extent in Norway and Finland, focusing on four main themes: the origin of the Sámi people, South Sámi prehistory as a contested field of study, the development of reindeer herding, and Sámi pre-Christian religion. 3) An analysis of the study of the Sámi past in Russia, and a discussion on archaeological research and constructions of ethnicity and indigeneity in the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union. 4) An examination of the claims for greater Sámi self-determination concerning cultural heritage management and the debates on repatriation and reburial in the Nordic countries. In the dissertation, it is argued that there is a great need for discussions on the ethics and politics of archaeological research. A relational network approach is suggested as a way of opening up some of the black boxes and bounded, static entities in the representations of people in the past in the North.

This work attempts to seek new insights in understanding the archeological phenomena traditionally labelled as the western Bronze Age and the coastal Pre-Roman cultures of Finland (1500 BC-AD 1), by studying the phenomena from a socioeconomic interaction and practice oriented community perspective. The basic line of thought is that it was the everyday life of the local agents and their interactions that constituted the local communities. Communities are seen as built from the bottom up by the interaction of various local agents. The organised agents, their practices and their mutual interaction on various scales of social organisation are regarded as the central factors that created and shaped the history of the communities. Problems that are addressed concern the interrelationship between the subsistence practices, habitation practices and the social organisation of the coastal communities. Houses and local polities are regarded as two basic social institutions that were essential for the structuration of the coastal communities and for their relation to external networks. I also address the issue of the various spatial and temporal scales that can be considered as essential for the structuration of the coastal communities, and furthermore how the coastal communities managed change over time. The geographical scope of this thesis is limited to the former province of Vaasa (Vaasan lääni/Vasa län) in western Finland, with a special emphasis on the coastal southern part of Ostrobothnia.  A suggested high-rank House from the Late Bronze Age is studied in Laihia. Methodologically a broad perspective with a comparative, diachronic and a multi-proxy approach is conducted in the study of the structuration of communities. The constitution of the communities is largely approached through themes that are related to landscape and settlement archaeology. Contextual analyses of the combinations of various subsistence and habitation practices form the basis for the identification of different community constituting subgroups of agents.

This essay concerns the osteological cremated skeletal remains from Broe, Halla parish, Gotland of  The Late Iron Age. The focus of this essay is to determine the position of the corpse on the pyre, whether the cremated bones were crushed after or prior to the cremation and if the individual was buried in the pyre. In addition the species, age, sex and skeletal abnormalities of the bones in question will be studied. The result of the research has yielded that the cremated bones did not need to be crushed to result in the small fragment sizes. Crushing of the bones may have happened during the cremation, this conclusion has been drawn through the comparison of a pyre experiment were bone fragmentation is evident with cremated foxes, and dogs in the cremation graves from Broe. The construction of the pyre and the position of the corpse could not be determined through colouring and fragmentation of the bones. The human's were commonly buried in the pyre, and in some cases it is possible that the "grave" in fact is the remainder of a pyre. The species found are dog, horse, cow, sheep/goat and bear. The unburnt human bones in the cremation graves come from children. Of the cremated human’s, ages range from 18-44 to 50-79 occur. Three probable men and two probable women have been estimated, but there is no clear segregation between the sexes on the grave field, which is evident on some medieval church graveyards. Skeletal abnormalities in humans are found on the cranium, more specific senile osteoporosis, and on the dog’s osteophytosis.