No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This essay is focused on two coastal cairn areas located at the Gulf of Bothnia just south of Umeå in Västerbotten County. Located between 30 – 50 m above sea level today they are thus removed several km from the shoreline due to land uplift and isostatic processes stemming from the last Ice Age. The cairns have been dated to approximately 1700 – 1500 BC at the beginning of the older Scandinaviean Bronze Age, but several strong evidence that are presented in this study is indicating that many of them are older than that dating to the late Neolithic instead – such as a round morphological shape surrounded by a brim of stones and large cists in the middle. Furthermore, the cairns are situated in an environment that mostly are inhabited by a sub-boreal milieu consisting of deciduous forest with some elements of coniferous forest and surrounded by raised shingle beaches. In trying to grasp after ancient settlement indications this paper thesis also analyzes traits after their whereabouts in the past in relationship to the existing cairns along the VästerbottenCounty’s shoreline. In doing this a GIS-analysis is applied in a Deulauney-cluster comparison. Two of the cairns, one located highest above all other cairns in Norrmjöle is being scrutinized as a “mother cairn” and the other cairn is long, almost formed as a ship and discussed in its symbolic meaning. By doing so, the cairns are also seen in a possible way of being ancient territory land-areas, marking to outsiders to keep out, and may also have been an intricate signal-system, to i.e., be lit in times of harmful situations coming from the sea or by land. The cairns are thus mitigated and seen in relationship with otherplaces in Sweden, namely Tjust area in Bohuslän county, and the resemblances of cairns at Gotland and Öland Islands. Finally, the Finnish Kiukais-axe (Eastern Karelien crossedged chisel) found in close terrain, as well as other findings from Bronze-age to a cluster of cairns dated to 2000 BC, is being investigated as a possibility of an alien southeastern affect in the area in late Neolithic times from Southern Sweden and Österbotten County in Fennoscandia, hence making the territory evaluated in many directions. The paper therefore tries to set the ancient landscape in a context in between these factors and give aholistic overview to interpreted cairn and its ancient meaning patterns in the region, seen in these regional circumstances to unlock its potential settlements hiding. Hence, getting a political, cosmologic and a maritime understanding and whereabouts in relationship to Late-Neolithic times in the area.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate which type of society could supply the resources required to construct the cairn monuments along the coastal regions of Västerbotten during the Bronze Age. The study is centered on a cluster of cairns within the parishes of Bygdeå, Nysätra and Lövånger, situated at elevations between 31-52 meters above today’s sea level. Through analyses and calculations of the cairns themselves and their proximity to stone quarrying materials, the volume of each cairn within the chosen cluster has been used to evaluate how long it took these monument builders to complete the construction of the cairns. The workforce required is shown to heavily depend on the size of the cairn and its location from the stone material. Theoretically some cairns could have been constructed in just a few days, whereas some took significantly more time to construct. The indicated social types capable of providing the necessary resources were found to be avariation of nomadic band and/or semi-sedentary tribal communities composed of extended families. Powerful cheiftains and societies with greater resources weren’t necessarily found to be a requirement. The procurement of food and other resources varied and over time the economic foundations gradually shifted from a mainly hunting and fishing reliance to embracing cultivation and animal husbandry.

No description available.

My research is on the significance of building practice at sites that are known as chambered monuments or long cairns and long mounds. In particular, this work focuses on the long cairn sites of Gwernvale, Powys and Hazleton North, Gloucestershire; and the long mound sites of Easton Down, Beckhampton Road, Horslip, and South Street in the Avebury region of Wiltshire, and Gussage Cow Down 78 and 294 in Dorset. These sites are considered to be among the first 'architectures' in Britain. These architectures have been considered by archaeologists to characterise part of what we know about the neolithic in southern Britain. There are features and material culture associated with the mesolithic at these sites but this evidence has previously been understood as having made a 'place' for architecture, or as having created a 'setting' for later architectural constructions. I am writing to challenge our architectural understandings of these sites. In the following chapters trees, the processing of wood, hearth settings, the working of flint, grassland, worked earth, the processing of animal bone are recognised as having been a part of the connective dynamics of architectural construction. I will argue that material culture that was a part of these activities was left in these areas. These small things were parted, re-assembled and entwined together into assemblages that blur archaeologists distinctions between fifth and fourth millennia B.C. lives and that blur distinctions between hunter-gatherer and pastoralist (and partly agriculturalist) practices. Practices of making did not remain the same; neither did practices of connecting, parting, re-assembling and entwining materials. Material culture, as a media for making and understanding connections between people and things, did not remain constant. However, through encounters with the material and historical conditions of others lives, people made something of living and dying during the fifth and fourth millennia.

Abstract Mortuary rituals express and cope with disorder brought about by a member's death in the community. The autonomous connection of the deceased with the community is disrupted through mortuary rituals. In many cultures the subsequent contacts with the realm of the dead are maintained in formalized practices, sometimes including or referring to objects or patterns that can be traced in the archaeological record. In this study it is asked, if the Bronze Age and Iron Age burial cairns (1200 BC - AD 1000) in the SW archipelago of Finland might be interpreted as monuments establishing a link between the landscape and the religious context of symbolic meanings, thus making it meaningful to examine the spatial references of grave sites. The field studies include excavations, surveys, boulder analyses, and weathering studies. The number of cairns in the area is 444. Examination of samples of boulders suggested that the stones were usually collected from the adjacent terrain. The Schmidt hammer technique was applied to measure the weathering differences between basal and lateral surfaces, and possible secondary interference. The chronology of the archipelago cairns is based on previous studies related to general chronological characteristics and datings of archipelago graves. Using discriminant analysis, the size of the cairn, the convexity of the surface at the grave site, and the topography of the terrain were identified as the variables most related to the differences between Group P, having a Bronze Age character (147 cairns), from Group R of Iron Age character (218 cairns). Two models representing the shorelines of 500 BC and AD 1000 were reconstructed using a digital elevation model (DEM). Monte Carlo-testing was applied when the visible areas around grave sites were compared to reference sets in four subareas. The grave sites in Group P were often directed towards the land, whereas the grave sites in Group R were typically directed towards the sea. The difference might be related to differences in subsistence strategies. The cairns represented a conservative burial custom that belonged to local communities in maritime and northern areas, as opposed to the southern agricultural environments. / Tiivistelmä Vainajan omaehtoinen yhteys elävien yhteisöön katkeaa vasta yhteisöllisen kuolemanrituaalin lopullisesti päätyttyä. Monissa kulttuureissa kuolemanrituaalin jälkeiset yhteydet vainajaan kiteytyvät muodollisiksi käytännöiksi, jotka voivat tulla arkeologisesti näkyviin aineellisissa jäännöksissä tai luonnonmaiseman paikkojen, tilojen ja elementtien suhteissa. Työssä tarkastellaan, ovatko Turunmaan saariston pronssikauden ja rautakauden hautarauniot (1200 e.Kr. - 1000 j.Kr.) tulkittavissa monumenteiksi, jotka yhdistivät maiseman symbolisten merkitysten uskomukselliseen kontekstiin. Kenttätutkimuksiin kuuluu kaivauksia, inventointi, lohkaretutkimuksia ja rapautumismittauksia. Hautoja on 444. Lohkaretutkimukset osoittivat kivien tulleen kerätyiksi hautapaikkojen läheisyydestä. Tapaustutkielmissa kiveyksen basaali- ja lateraalipintojen välistä rapautumiseroa ja sekundaarisia vaurioita tutkittiin kimmovasaramittauksin. Hautaraunioiden kronologia perustuu aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin kronologisista tunnusmerkeistä sekä saariston ajoitettuihin hautoihin. Erotteluanalyysissa kiveyksen laajuus, hautapaikan maanpinnan kuperuus ja hautapaikan suhde ympäröiviin huippuihin osoittautuivat muuttujiksi, jotka selvimmin jakavat aineiston pronssikauden tyypin P-ryhmään (147 hautaa) ja rautakauden tyypin R-ryhmään (218 hautaa). Numeerisesta korkeusmallista laskettiin kaksi maastomallia, jotka vastaavat rannansiirtymisen kehitysvaihetta 500 e.Kr. (P-ryhmä) ja 1000 j.Kr. (R-ryhmä). Hautapaikoilta näkyvissä olleita alueita verrattiin satunnaisesti valittuihin verrokkipaikkoihin Monte Carlo -testauksen avulla. Merkittävin ero oli, että P-ryhmän hautapaikat olivat tyypillisesti suuntautuneet merta ja R-ryhmän hautapaikat maata kohti. Ero liittynee toimeentuloon latautuneisiin odotuksiin ja epävarmuuksiin. Hautarauniot merkitsevät konservatiivista hautaustapaa, joka kuului enemmän mereisten ja pohjoisten paikallisyhteisöjen kuin agraarisen ja eteläisen asutuksen piiriin.

During last decade there has been developed concept of so-called ecosystem services (e.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005) in matured countries. This concept focus especially on identification of benefits resulting from intact ecosystem and also on various ways of taking all those benefits into account when dealing with decision-making process of market economy. Goal of this concept (among other things) is to keep currently freely available ecosystem services in nature as they are and also to ensure natural conditions for life won't be becoming worse. Landscape of eastern Ore Mountain has its specific character especially because of few unique ecosystems which don't occur in other locations at all; or they are presented there but not in such high volume. We can consider mountain meadows, natural streams and clearance cairns at the most important local unique ecosystems. Main goal of diploma thesis is to analyze recreational and mainly aesthetic values of clearance cairns. Even though clearance cairns are important biotopes there was quite small attention dedicated to them in existing analyses made in Czech Republic. That is in heavy contrast to attention dedicated to those biotopes in other areas, e.g. in eastern part of Ore Mountain belonging to Saxony where local inhabitants appreciate clearance cairns so much that every single section of them is completely documented (resulting into 1.000 kilometers of documented clearance cairns). Diploma thesis is based on methodology using analysis of primary data obtained from empirical research. Research was realized in eastern Ore Mountain during summer 2013 and author of this thesis was actively participated both in preparation phase and also in realization phase. Thesis also uses random utility theory, discrete choice models and also stated preferences methods (e.g. Bateman et al., 2002). Multinominal logit model and random parameter logic model are used for values estimation. Based on performed analysis thesis verifies or disproves hypothesis saying that willingness to pay for clearance cairns is statistically insignificant (i.e. people don't consider this landscape element as having significant value). Diploma thesis results will be used as a suggestion for obtaining clearance cairns management.

Syftet med undersökningen är att göra en “modell” över hur bronsålderns strandlinje på Gotlands östra kust kan ha sett ut samt att undersöka var rösen finns placerade i landskapet. Undersökningen har haft två teoretiska utgångspunkter, seascape och platsval. Materialet som undersökts i uppsatsen är 508 rösen och 14 gravfält där rösen förekommer, samt de kartor med strandlinjerekonstruktionen som gjorts inom ramen för undersökningen. För att kunna rekonstruera strandlinjen och analysera rösenas placering har en rumslig analys genomförts i QGIS.  Den sydligaste delen av ön rekonstruerades till 7,5 m.ö.h. och den nordligaste delen, det vill säga Fårö, rekonstruerades till 12 m.ö.h. vilket gjorde att det var en skillnad på 4,5 meter mellan nord och syd. Studien visade att en majoritet av rösena placerades invid någon form av vatten, att i de norra delarna av ön var frekvensen av mindre rösen större samtidig som östkusten hade flest rösen med en diameter över 20 meter. / The purpose of the thesis is to make a "model" of what the Bronze Age shoreline on Gotland's eastern coast might have looked like and to investigate where the cairns are located in the landscape. The survey had two theoretical starting points, seascape, and site selection. The material examined in the essay is 508 cairns and 14 burial fields where the cairns occur, as well as the maps with the shoreline reconstruction made within the framework of the survey. To reconstruct the shoreline and analyse the location of the cairns, a spatial analysis has been carried out in QGIS. The southernmost part of the island was reconstructed to 7.5 m.a.s.l. and the northernmost part, i.e. Fårö, was reconstructed to 12 m.a.s.l. which meant that there was a difference of 4.5 meters between north and south. The study showed that most of the cairns were placed next to some form of water. It was also seen, that in the northern parts of the island, there were generally smaller cairns, while the east coast had the most cairns with a diameter of over 20 meters.