<p>This thesis focuses on responses in raised bogs to changes in the effective humidity during the Holocene. Raised bogs are terrestrial deposits that can provide contiguous records of past climate changes. Information on and knowledge about past changes in climate is crucial for our understanding of natural climate variability. Analyses on different spatial and temporal scales have been conducted on a number of raised bogs in south-central Sweden in order to gain more knowledge about Holocene climate variability.</p><p>Peatlands are useful as palaeoenvironmental archives because they develop over the course of millennia and provide a multi-faceted contiguous outlook on the past. Peat humification, a proxy for bog surface wetness, has been used to reconstruct palaeoclimate. In addition measurements of carbon and nitrogen on sub-recent peat from two bogs have been performed. The chronologies have been constrained by AMS radiocarbon dates and tephrochronology and by SCPs for the sub-recent peat.</p><p>A comparison between a peat humification record from Värmland, south-central Sweden, and a dendrochronological record from Jämtland, north-central Sweden, indicates several synchronous changes between drier and wetter climate. This implies that changes in hydrology operate on a regional scale.</p><p>In a high resolution study of two bogs in Uppland, south-central Sweden, C, N and peat humification have been compared to bog water tables inferred from testate amoebae and with meteorological data covering the last 150 years. The results indicate that peat can be subjected to secondary decomposition, resulting in an apparent lead in peat humification and C/N compared to biological proxies and meteorological data.</p><p>Several periods of wetter conditions are indicated from the analysis of five peat sequences from three bogs in Värmland. Wetter conditions around especially c. 4500, 3500, 2800 and 1700-1000 cal yr BP can be correlated to several other climate records across the North Atlantic region and Scandinavia, indicating wetter and/or cooler climatic conditions at these times. Frequency analyses of two bogs indicate periodicities between 200 and 400 years that may be caused by cycles in solar activity.</p>

This thesis focuses on responses in raised bogs to changes in the effective humidity during the Holocene. Raised bogs are terrestrial deposits that can provide contiguous records of past climate changes. Information on and knowledge about past changes in climate is crucial for our understanding of natural climate variability. Analyses on different spatial and temporal scales have been conducted on a number of raised bogs in south-central Sweden in order to gain more knowledge about Holocene climate variability. Peatlands are useful as palaeoenvironmental archives because they develop over the course of millennia and provide a multi-faceted contiguous outlook on the past. Peat humification, a proxy for bog surface wetness, has been used to reconstruct palaeoclimate. In addition measurements of carbon and nitrogen on sub-recent peat from two bogs have been performed. The chronologies have been constrained by AMS radiocarbon dates and tephrochronology and by SCPs for the sub-recent peat. A comparison between a peat humification record from Värmland, south-central Sweden, and a dendrochronological record from Jämtland, north-central Sweden, indicates several synchronous changes between drier and wetter climate. This implies that changes in hydrology operate on a regional scale. In a high resolution study of two bogs in Uppland, south-central Sweden, C, N and peat humification have been compared to bog water tables inferred from testate amoebae and with meteorological data covering the last 150 years. The results indicate that peat can be subjected to secondary decomposition, resulting in an apparent lead in peat humification and C/N compared to biological proxies and meteorological data. Several periods of wetter conditions are indicated from the analysis of five peat sequences from three bogs in Värmland. Wetter conditions around especially c. 4500, 3500, 2800 and 1700-1000 cal yr BP can be correlated to several other climate records across the North Atlantic region and Scandinavia, indicating wetter and/or cooler climatic conditions at these times. Frequency analyses of two bogs indicate periodicities between 200 and 400 years that may be caused by cycles in solar activity.

This article is an attempt to put forward the use of new digital techniques and data for understanding prehistoric landscapes. The starting point is that the specific characteristics of the landscape and of the sites included affect the interpretation. One character is the contemporary landscape and its topographies. Ancient landscapes can be successfully recreated digitally using GIS. By applying GIS methodology, a regression equation and new data, we reinvestigated an hypothesis proposed by Welinder in 1978 concerning the acculturation of the Pitted Ware Culture. The results indicate that a reconstruction of the landscape may alter the understanding of the Neolithic land use and the question of the relocation and termination of the Pitted Ware Culture at the end of Middle Neolithic B.

This thesis examines artefacts, raw materials and lithic technology between c. 9200–6200 cal BC in Eastern Central Sweden. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate when people first came to Eastern Central Sweden and where they came from. More precisely, it provides a typological, geo­graphical and chronological survey of artefacts and the use of different raw materials. The study deals with assemblages with artefacts from more than thirty archaeologically excavated sites and loose finds in Eastern Central Sweden. The objects consist of chubby pecked axes, core axes, flake axes, shaft hole picks, microliths and micro burins, points, burins, rulers, uni­facial blade core, conical cores, micro blade cores, blades, drills, re­touched blades and micro blades. The artefacts have been compared with established typologies and chronologies for the rest of the Nordic countries and to some extent Russia and the Baltic States. An analysis of different raw mater­ials present at Early and Middle Mesolithic sites in Eastern Central Sweden was also carried out. The materials are put into a chronological and geo­graphical context. The raw materials included in the study are the non-local rocks flint and Cambrian flint, as well as local raw materials such as quartz, greenstone, local vulcanite, mylonite and red porphyry. From 9200 cal BC there is evidence of the first groups of people in the area, just shortly after that the Weichselian ice cap had withdrawn. Throughout the period studied the artefacts as well as the non-local raw materials exhibit great similarities to those found in the western part of Sweden. The study also shows, regar­ding the use of different raw materials and presence of certain artefacts, that some major events took place, suggesting a new chronological time frame for the Early- and Middle Mesolithic periods. In addition, a discussion re­gar­­ding mobility and migration in Eastern Central Sweden during Early Post Glacial time is carried out.

The objective of this project is about a kinematic analysis of a shear zone, specifically a graben structure. The surface of the study area has also been investigated, this is to understand if a faulting reactivation has occurred due to glacial impact. The graben structure is exposed along a road cut, next to the E18 highway at Ekolsund, 14km east of Enköping. The results of the report are based on field studies of the geometrical relationship pattern of fracture planes, relative displacement along fracture and a kinematic analysis of movements along fractures. A high resolution terrain model was acquired in the analyzing of the graben structure formation and to create a geometrical 3D brittle deformation model. This model was applied to reconstruct the deformation process. The area contains a more than 1,1km long dextral NE-trending strike-slip fault feature in a polydeformed Precambrian bedrock. The fault is connected NE to one of the regional structure that delimits the bedrock blocks. The fault is visible both as a topographical feature from the ground and from aerial photos. While the project followed through it was clear that the area had been subjected to reactivation. The evidence for this claim stems from an observed semivertical fracture plane with conjugating subhorizontal striations markers that contain an alternating plunge and trend. Other evidence for a reactivation scenario is the fault gouges that contain horizontal striation as well as steep plunging striation, indicating a dip-slip faulting movement. The main zone of faulting displays lower altitude than the surrounding rock. This indicates an asymmetric graben structure that has been subjected to polydeformation. When analyzing the results, it is concluded that a pull-apart basin event has occurred. It’s highly possibly that it has been undergoing modifications during its geological history, resulting in a polydeformed reactivation of the minor faults outlining the graben structure. / Syftet med denna studie är att utföra en kinematisk analys av en förkastningszon, speciellt där en mindre graben struktur utbildats. Ytan för det studerade området är även det viktigt, det är för att förstå ifall en förkastningsreaktivering har skett i och med en glacial påverkan. Graben strukturen är blottad längs en vägskärning, utmed E18 vid Ekolsund, 14km österut om Enköping. Resultatet av rapporten är baserat på fältstudier med fokus på geometriska relationsmönster hos sprickplan, relativa förskjutningar längs sprickor och en kinematisk analys av rörelser längs sprickor. En högupplöst terrängmodell var erhållen vid analys av grabenstrukturens formation och för att skapa en 3D sprödtektonisk deformationsmodell. Modellen var tillämpad vid rekonstruering av deformationsprocessen. Området innefattar en mer än 1,1km lång dextral NO-orienterad strike-slip förkastning i en polydeformerad Prekambrisk berggrund. Förkastningen är ansluten NO till en av de regionala strukturerna som begränsar berggrundsblocken. Förkastningen är synlig både på marknivå och från flygfoton. Medan projektet fortlöpte blev det tydligare att området blivit utsatt för en reaktivering. Beläggen för detta påstående grundar sig i de observerade semi-vertikala sprickplanen med konjugerande subhorisontala striationer som har alternerande stupning och trend. Andra belägg för ett reaktiveringsscenario är de fault gouge strukturerna som innehåller horisontala striationer såväl som stupande striationer, vilket indikerar på en dip-slip förkastningsrörelse. Huvudzonen av förkastningen uppvisar lägre altitud än kringliggande bergyta. Det här indikerar en asymmetrisk graben struktur som har utsatts för polydeformation. Vid analys av resultatet, så kan det sammanfattas att en pull-apart basin förkastning har inträffat. Däremot är det mycket möjligt att zonen har undergått fler modifikationer under dess geologiska historia, vilket har resulterat i en polydeformerad reaktivering av mindre förkastningar som gett kontur dragen åt graben strukturen.

The aim of this study is to understand the colonization process of the county Närke in relation to the surrounding archaeologically defined areas western Sweden and eastern central Sweden. By using a comparative analysis and a landscape analysis in combination with a theoretical framework that advocates for colonization as a process and not an event, I argue that Närke was colonized from within eastern central Sweden around 8 500 BC, based on the use of local raw material quartz. Further, I argue for the importance of the sea to the mesolithic people in the area around 7 500–4 500 BC as more than just an economic resource. Around 4 500 BC contact with groups in western Sweden increased which in time brought the idea of farming to the area. The late mesolithic sites in Närke show continuity into the early neolithic age, rejecting the idea of a Funnelbeaker migration in the area.

<p>This thesis is a chronological survey over the hut and house remains from the Stone Age to the Early Middle Ages in Eastern Central Sweden. The thesis also contains a test which I have conducted to see which investigation method had the best results in identifying house remains at an archaeological site. I subsequently discuss the result of this test, what it represents and also what may be done differently in order to get other types of results.</p>

Abstract This thesis explores early modern industrial dynamics and especially the long-term performance of iron production and its localisation in Central Sweden during the period 1368-1910. Iron production, iron export and localisation in a national perspective as well as the regional industrial development in Central Sweden during the period 1805-1910 are studied. The production and localisation changes of the industry in the early modern period were investigated by processing easily available but scattered data. The study of the iron industry in the period 1805-1910 was based census data on employment structure in the Central Swedish parishes in four benchmark years, 1805, 1855, 1890 and 1910 and was carried out with the help of statistical cluster analysis. The first important result is that the Swedish iron export increased rapidly in the 16th the 17th centuries. This had to do with the breakthrough of bar iron which soon replaced the old form of iron called osmund iron. The export continued to increase up to the 1740s. From the 1740s there was stagnation till the 1820s when an expansion commenced and in the rest of the period under study the export grew fourfold. The distribution of iron production showed variations as to geographical patterns over time and there were rather distinct chronological phases as well. An expansion of established ironworks and tilthammers commenced in the end of the 16th century and reached its highest annual average in the 1630s. The localisation of new establishments in the 16th and early 17th centuries was mainly concentrated to the interior of Central Sweden. The localisation became more and more scattered over the country in the early modern period. Thus, the tendency towards diffusion outside the administrative Bergslagen became more and more obvious in the 18th century with new ironworks and tilthammers in Northern and Southern Sweden. In the late 19th century the number of industrial parishes had increased and so had the share of employed in manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the industrial parishes were concentrated to a large cluster which covered the inner parts of Central Sweden. However, the analysis of industrial branches also showed a diversification where the wood, paper and pulp industries and above all the metal industries were fast growers. The metal industries also proved a geographical closeness to the traditional iron and steel industry The second main outcome of the investigation has to do with the continuity concerning the localisation of the iron industry. The historical continuity and the confinement to a certain area are evident from the analyses of various localisation factors in which a number of logit-models were employed. The status of a parish as industrial at one time point was to a great extent decisive for its status as industrial at a later date. The existence of iron ore mining in the parish and if the parish was situated inside the institutional region of Bergslagen also enhanced the probability for it to be defined as an industrial community also long after the institutional regulation had been abolished in the 1850s. In a long-term perspective, the analysis revealed that there was a marked continuity between the early modern patterns of localisation of the iron industry and the localisation of the engineering industrial firms in the 20th century. However, the early modern localisation did not show a significant connection with the industrial parishes’ localisation in 1855, 1890 and 1910, which means that the results are not unambiguous. The third main result of the study is that geographical vicinity of communities to others with industrial activities contributes to industrial growth. In this way industrial communities tend to concentrate geographically and thereby to form clusters. For 1855 this was not significant but for 1890 it was evident. For 1910 it was shown that if a parish had more than one neighbouring industrial community, the probability of its being industrial was great. In a long-term perspective it seems that agglomerations of industrial activities form an environment which can cope with episodes of increasing transformation pressure in a better way than isolated units. Geographical concentrations which, historically seen, are characterised by “industry in the air” have a high propensity to adapt to changes in the industrial environment.

This thesis deals with issues relating to the cosmological dimensions of landscapes, the cultural construction of age and the long-term changes in passage rituals and mortuary practices in the Bronze Age societies of Södermanland in East Central Sweden. A gender perspective forms the underlying theoretical framework, while the study as a whole is particularly interested in power relations between generations as an impetus for societal change. Burials from cairns and cemeteries, as well as heaps of fire-cracked stones, rock-carvings and ritual hoards from two Bronze Age Landscapes in Södermanland are used as examples and to illustrate the interpretations presented in this study. It is proposed that perceptions of landscapes and cosmology were created by placing cairns and stone settings at liminal places or boundaries in the landscape, while heaps of fire-cracked stones were situated at focal points. Places where rock-carvings are found, nearby rapids or on islands along river courses, are interpreted as birth-places, and stem from origin myths about the birth of the first humans at these sites. It is proposed that birth, life and death as cosmological principles may be perceived in the landscape and are related to different kinds of waters. In addition, it is suggested that the cultural construction of age is expressed in spatial terms where adults - both men and women - with special abilities and esoteric knowledge related to passage rituals, were buried in cairns. Infants, whose relationship with these adults was special, were instead buried in the heaps of fire-cracked stones. It is also considered that, among other things, the absence of swords in burials implies that the societies of East Central Sweden probably had a social organization that was distinct from the societies of southern Scandinavia. Regarding long-term changes in ritual practices it is suggested that ritual tools used in mortuary practices change from flint daggers in the Late Neolithic, to razors and tweezers during the Bronze Age. Further changes occurred in the Late Bronze Age, when pins were introduced into the ritual practices. Regarding age and gender, osteological estimates show that both adult men and women participated in passage rituals. With the transition to pins we also see changes in who dealt with passage rituals and it is rather young women who were responsible for this sphere in the later period. As children also become visible - both in burials and at rock-carving sites – during the Late Bronze Age, this is interpreted as signalling shifts in power relations between genders and generations in favour of women and younger people.

This thesis is a chronological survey over the hut and house remains from the Stone Age to the Early Middle Ages in Eastern Central Sweden. The thesis also contains a test which I have conducted to see which investigation method had the best results in identifying house remains at an archaeological site. I subsequently discuss the result of this test, what it represents and also what may be done differently in order to get other types of results.