<p>This paper deals with the relations between landscape rooms and monuments in an area north of Mönsterås in Kalmar län. After archaeological excavations had been carried out in the area 1991, an article promote it to the “Bronze Age district of Mönsterås” (Källström 1993). There are two main problems that I deal with in this paper. First: The relations between the natural places and the monuments or memorials. Secondly: The patterns with respect to the spread of certain monuments in the landscapes. My studies starts from the British landscape archaeology of Christopher Tilley and Richard Bradley, but also from a Scandinavian point of view with Terje Gansum et al.</p>

In this dissertation, I examine the relationship between environmental conditions and human activity in the landscape of the Argive Plain of Greece after the collapse of the Bronze Age palatial system (1200–750 B.C.). I use evidence from four locales: the Petsas House and the Lower Town at Mycenae, to the immediate northwest and southwest of the citadel respectively; the settlement at Chania, three kilometers downstream; and the Northwest Town of Tiryns, in the lower reaches of the plain. I apply micromorphological analysis (the microscopic analysis of soils and sediments) integrated with analysis of grain-size and soil chemistry (assessed by X-Ray Fluorescence and Fourier Transform Infrared) in order to place depositional events within the context of settlement change at the end of the Bronze Age. The climate had been drying during the Late Bronze. An earthquake ca. 1200 B.C. is concurrent with the beginning of the final period of occupation on the edge of the plain around Mycenae. Some accumulation of sandy muds, destabilized sediments from the largely abandoned citadel, is observed at Petsas House as well as in the Lower Town where, additionally, remains were buried by two deposits of red muddy gravels from uncultivated mountain slopes. The gravels are separated by a brief period of stability (less than a century) marked by a weak soil formation, and reached final equilibrium in the Early to Middle Geometric period (900–760 B.C.). At the same time, three kilometers downstream, similar red muddy gravels resulted in the interruption of activity at the settlement of Chania. Meanwhile, at Tiryns, 30 cm of sandy muds, also destabilized by drier conditions, were deposited over decaying mudbrick, implying that the site was already abandoned before sedimentation occurred. The burial of both Mycenae and Tiryns demonstrates the instability in the Argive landscape and the complications of relating these changes to settlement. In the environs of Mycenae, the sudden deposition of muddy gravels certainly brought about the abandonment at Chania, and possibly also in the Lower Town; while at Tiryns abandonment preceded accumulation. This study demonstrates how intensive geoarchaeological study must be a component in properly situating sites in their particular landscapes.

The thesis discusses bird depictions in the Aegean Bronze Age. The iconographical study is based on a catalogue of almost 2000 objects showing bird images from Crete, the Cyclades, the Greek Mainland and the Dodecanese dating to EB I - LB IIIC. Three research aims are addressed. The first aim is the reliable and accurate identification of the depicted bird species by finding a middle ground between the two approaches that have prevailed in past scholarship, which either consisted of overambitious attempts at species identification or resorted to overgeneralised accounts of bird imagery. A systematic identification methodology, based on a combination of techniques from iconography, ornithology and in particular anthropological studies of folk taxonomies, is developed. The second aim is the interpretation of any specific symbolic functions and ideological roles of birds in different regions and periods. This analysis rests on the combined study of media and find contexts as well as the chosen bird species and iconographical associations. The third aim is the reconstruction of types of ontologies prevalent in different regions. Based on a structuralist model of ontologies developed by the anthropologist Descola, the bird depictions are studied by looking for features that are typical of analogical, naturalist, totemic or animist art. Each research aim has yielded numerous results, which deepen our understanding of biological knowledge and cultural diversity in the Aegean Bronze Age. First, the vast majority of bird depictions can be identified as belonging to one of the following folk-taxonomical groups: columbids (doves), birds of prey/corvids, waterbirds, wading birds, owls, hoopoes, galliformes, swallows and seabirds. Second, the existence of a multitude of particular functions and roles of birds is revealed. These vary significantly according to time and regions, mirroring historical developments and the presence of different cultural attitudes towards birds. Third, marked regional differences are detectable with regard to ontologies. Cretan and Cycladic bird art is consistent with animist iconography discernible because of a pronounced artistic naturalism, an emphasis on movement and agency, and the presence of shamanic imagery. The images from the Greek Mainland can be characterised as being consistent with an ontology termed analogical by Descola because of a preference of stylised and modular depictions and the persistence of symbolic functions through time. This work lays a foundation opening up a new perspective on interpreting iconography of the Aegean Bronze Age.

Feasting is one of the most ubiquitous communal activities in the history of humanity. Oftentimes, feasting is accompanied by a substantial amount of material culture that carries intimate details of the activities that took place at these events. In fact, the changes in the material culture of a feast can also inform us as to how society itself was transforming by becoming increasingly insular or shifting toward a more regional sense of identity. One of the established methods of analyzing a feast is through the examination of its ceramic assemblage. The Bronze Age site of Mochlos in East Crete has a well-stratified Early Minoan deposit which has provided me with an opportunity to interpret a number of social, political, and economic intricacies taking place in East Crete as Minoan society approached the palatial system that dominated the Middle and Late Minoan periods. In order to do this, I provide a background to my research, perform a ceramic study of the stratified deposit in question, interpret the results of the analysis, and include a cross-cultural investigation that serves to further enlighten the data from Mochlos. What is most important to take from this study is that Prepalatial society was not without complexity and structure, and, in reality, much of the complexity that we attribute to the palatial social system of the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE can be traced back to the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE.

This research is concerned with the critical reinterpretation of the burnt mounds of Shetland. Burnt mounds have been described as ‘among the most boring sites with which a field archaeologist must deal’ (Barber & Russel-White 1990:59). Traditionally burnt mound studies have been dominated by concerns relating to technology, form and function. This approach is understood to be a product of modernist understanding of the world which views technologies as primarily adaptive. As such, it is argued that a critical reappraisal of the frameworks through which burnt mounds are interpreted is required in order to develop an account of their construction and use which situates them within wider disciplinary discourses concerning the Bronze Age. In order to do so this thesis evaluates a range of theoretical frameworks which have explored the emergent and situated nature of encounters between people, places and things. Drawing upon this, a new approach is advocated that examines the relationship between burnt mounds and their wider landscape, and explores the material and social engagements which their construction and use affords. In order to offer a more holistic approach in keeping with current archaeological discourses, this study reconceptualises the burnt mound as an active site within Bronze Age society, a place where meanings were negotiated and materials transformed. This thesis utilises GIS analysis and in-situ observation to explore the landcape setting of the burnt mounds of Shetland and combines this with an exploration of the material engagements involved in the construction and use of burnt mounds through a series of experimental firings at a replica site. Through this burnt mounds are identified as powerfully symbolic locations involving the interplay of elemental substances which combine to transform people, places and things. This thesis further challenges the conception that burnt mounds are unable to offer any insight into life in the Bronze Age, by analysing the impact which this reinterpretation has on our understanding of Bronze Age Shetland. In particular, it is argued that in their concern with processes of fragmentation, regeneration and transformation Burnt Mounds reflect the cosmological concerns of wider Bronze Age society. The Bronze Age in Shetland has been identified as a period of apparent isolation and stagnation within the islands. By re-evaluating burnt mounds and situating them within a framework of wider Bronze Age practise this conception is challenged, and the Bronze Age of Shetland is presented as a dynamic period in which burnt mounds played a key role in the understanding of networks of persons, places and substances.

This research explores the phenomenon of Bronze Age spearheads between the Middle and Final Bronze Age (18th century-9th century B.C.) in Italy. It will explore how these objects change over time and analyse patterns of distribution as well as changes in depositional context. The thesis consists of a catalogue of examples from the Italian Peninsula which are analysed in two ways: first, a typological sequence has been constructed, in order to identify differences in form, appearance and dimension, in order to analyze chronological and regional variation. Second, edge-wear analysis is conducted on a sample of objects in order to gain an appreciation of how this method can inform the archaeological interpretation of artefact biographies. The premise of such a study is rooted in a theoretical framework which argues that objects embody fundamental aspects of people’s social lives. As weapons for both hunting and warfare, spears embody rich symbolism which was drawn upon by Bronze Age communities, in many different ways. The biographical approach reveals close connections between these objects and the lives of individuals, the places they lived in as well locales which were of ritual importance to them. The edge-wear analysis also suggests that these objects were conceptualized as having lives which were ritually ended through deliberate damage, in addition to natural wear, damage and repair. These studies are situated within broader traditions of northern European archaeological evidence. The thesis concludes by arguing this biographical approach considerably enriches more traditional typological approaches to material culture. When used in combination with the study of the context of deposition, it suggests Mediterranean scholarship on prehistoric metallurgy can benefit greatly from these conjoined methodologies.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the study of Nordic Bronze Age oakcoffin-burialmounds from dif-ferent Bronze Age periods. By presenting and analyzing casestudies such as: Håga, Borum Eshøj, Lusehøj and Skelhøj. With all cases representing different subperiods within Montelius periodization of the nordic bronze age: Skelhøj period II, Borum Eshøj III, Håga IV and Lusehøj V, thus presenting a good overview of the period as a whole. Analysis will be based on questions relating to discussions and interpretations that researchers have published regarding oakcoffin burialmounds. The is to aim contribute a deeper overall understanding of how researchers have dealt with the oakcoffin burialtradition during the Nordic Bronze Age. The results of my analysis indicate some common themes among researchers. Themes such as emphasis on: contact-networks, status, burial practice and conservation is often included in the study on oakoffin burialmounds. The main difference between cases is the opportunities that indi-vidual burials give researchers.

This dissertation looks at the iconography of the natural world as depicted on seals, seal rings, and sealings from Bronze Age Crete, specifically the period from Early Minoan II–Late Minoan IB. Although the landscape of Crete was incredibly diverse during the Bronze Age, the elements included in glyptic iconography, as well as iconography in other media, are exceptionally limited. The goal of this study is to provide a comprehensive and systematic reference for the terminology and iconography of landscape elements depicted in glyptic, and then to provide interpretation for individual elements as well as landscape scenes and settings within the broader scope of glyptic and Cretan iconography. It is concluded that landscapes, both real and imagined, and always heavily translated through the artist and viewer alike, acted as important indicators of status and control, particularly during the height of their depictions in the Middle Minoan II–Late Minoan IB period, a trend seen also in wall paintings and pottery which act as significant parallels for the present study.This study is generally organized into three parts. The first briefly presents the evidence and current understanding of how the landscape of Bronze Age Crete looked and assesses the use of “landscape” in an archaeological study. The second part discusses the identification of various flora, groundlines, and other abiotic elements found in landscape scenes and settings in glyptic with interpretation for their significance and consideration for parallel developments in other media. This section concludes with a catalog and discussion of the different types of landscape scenes/settings. Finally, the concluding chapters consider how landscapes were translated from the natural world to glyptic iconography, how the iconography was then viewed, and what the iconography signified relative to status and power. As a result, this dissertation is both a much-needed reference text and a deeper consideration of the symbiotic relationship between the various functions of seals and their iconography. / Art History

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Hearths and cooking pits are common remains from the Bronze Age. It is a trace of human activity possibly over a short or sometimes a longer period of time. Settlement, cooking and crafts are what we associate them with, but these remains have an underestimated potential to tell us more about the people who used them. Being o pen to a broader perspective might provide a  better understanding of the phenomena. By examining more closely new interpretations of hearths and cooking pits, we see new meaning and significance of these features which can be seen as a previously overlook ed cultural expression. Based on previous studies, the thesis will further explain and argue for the cultural significance of hearths and cooking pits from the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.