In the archaeological research about the Baltic Sea island of Gotland during Roman Iron Age, 0–400 AD, two different approaches are visible: One that sees the community life on Gotland as different from the one on the main land with a relative stabile development, based on the family and kin, where no higher elite separate itself. The other perception emanates from the changes in southern Scandinavia, where an elite steadily grows and finally isolate itself as an aristocracy with unlimited power over others, the development on Gotland is no exception. This paper is about describing, investigating and explaining these two points of view. By using a selection of written sources the paper tries to answer three questions: What archaeological argumentations are there for that Gotland should be particular? What support the views that the island was a part of an over-regional development when it comes to struggle for power? What lies behind these very diverse positions among archaeological scholars? Two scholars, Kerstin Cassel and Frands Herschend, represents the two opposite standpoints and the three questions are to be answered by a comparison with two of their main archaeological works. This comparison, based on the other written sources and my own understanding, will show that the two different views on the gotlandish development can be traced to, more than anything, the two writers pre-understanding of their own scientific argumentations.

<p>In the Late Iron Age, the Mälaren region contained a clearly stratified society and many sites in the landscape indicate the presence of an upper stratum, an elite. This concept – elite – may perhaps be seen as problematic, but in this case it is decidedly more neutral, and considerably less limiting and excluding than many other concepts.</p><p>The elite was a group that we know possessed larger farm buildings, more monumental and richly equipped graves as well as control over a large part of the specialised handicraft. The people in this elite group of society clearly advertised that they belonged to a special social unit. There are indications that these people had clear similarities with the nobility of the Middle Ages, but they were active in a society without any towns, Christianity or church administration. This dissertation discusses a number of issues concerning the elite of the Late Iron Age. Two studies are central. The first concerns six sites in the Mälaren region: Old Uppsala, Helgö, Vendel, Valsgärde, Husby in Glanshammar parish, and Ancient Sigtuna. The sites are compared to study the similarities and differences of elite settings. I investigate the evidence of different sources for the presence of great landownership, and of their importance for the rulers compared to other resources such as plunder, trade and taxation. The results indicate that the sites had many structural and economic similarities. At the same time, the resource use varied, and each site had its own unique character. The study is concluded with a discussion on the economic structure of the sites.</p><p>The second study deals with the elite in the vicinity of Uppsala, an area that mainly through Old Uppsala and the presence of boat graves are usually connected with ancient rulers. The investigation is mainly based on a number of excavated as well as non-excavated graves, some of which have never been published. In addition, a number of placenames and three unique ritual deposits are discussed. The study indicates that the people usually included in the concept of elite were quite common. This provides a new perspective for our view of two long renowned sites: Old Uppsala and Valsgärde.</p>

In the Late Iron Age, the Mälaren region contained a clearly stratified society and many sites in the landscape indicate the presence of an upper stratum, an elite. This concept – elite – may perhaps be seen as problematic, but in this case it is decidedly more neutral, and considerably less limiting and excluding than many other concepts. The elite was a group that we know possessed larger farm buildings, more monumental and richly equipped graves as well as control over a large part of the specialised handicraft. The people in this elite group of society clearly advertised that they belonged to a special social unit. There are indications that these people had clear similarities with the nobility of the Middle Ages, but they were active in a society without any towns, Christianity or church administration. This dissertation discusses a number of issues concerning the elite of the Late Iron Age. Two studies are central. The first concerns six sites in the Mälaren region: Old Uppsala, Helgö, Vendel, Valsgärde, Husby in Glanshammar parish, and Ancient Sigtuna. The sites are compared to study the similarities and differences of elite settings. I investigate the evidence of different sources for the presence of great landownership, and of their importance for the rulers compared to other resources such as plunder, trade and taxation. The results indicate that the sites had many structural and economic similarities. At the same time, the resource use varied, and each site had its own unique character. The study is concluded with a discussion on the economic structure of the sites. The second study deals with the elite in the vicinity of Uppsala, an area that mainly through Old Uppsala and the presence of boat graves are usually connected with ancient rulers. The investigation is mainly based on a number of excavated as well as non-excavated graves, some of which have never been published. In addition, a number of placenames and three unique ritual deposits are discussed. The study indicates that the people usually included in the concept of elite were quite common. This provides a new perspective for our view of two long renowned sites: Old Uppsala and Valsgärde.

Archaeology in Bolivia has two strong tendencies: nationalism and regionalism. The proposal aims for an academic reconstruction and expansion of this science in order to develop new scientific criteria, that can be institutionalized and become normative to the whole country to cover the expectations of different regions with regard to its past. A fundamental aspect of providing Bolivian archaeological research with new perspectives is the study of formation and development of Andean central places of historic, infrastructural and ritual importance, such Huari, Quillacas, Sevaruyo, Pampa Aullagas and San Miguel de Uruquilla. Research conducted in the south basin of the Lake Poopo identifies evidence of early settlement in Huari towards the Late Archaic period (approximately 4000 to 2000 BC) and the Formative (2000 BC to AD 300), when the first villages were established. This indicates that the formation of agricultural towns was produced by consolidation of multiethnic central places that first consisted of ayllus, socio-dynamic units that gathered together settlers from different regions that simultaneously formed an ample network of centres interconnecting the Andean complex geography, interweaving their cultural diversity owing to the common ideology of Tiwanaku. Routes and llama caravans (llama trekking) integrated this network of central places. As indicated by surveys and excavations, convergence of groups from different regions has been recognized in rests of material culture as shown in the ceramic distribution: Local Tiwanaku, Tiwanaku from Cochabamba, Yura, Huruquilla, Puqui, Mojocoya and remains of festivities at the centres during redistribution ceremonies, as well as ritual offers during the Early Regional Development period (300 to AD 900). This dynamic and preponderant ideology was completely transformed during Late Regional Developments (900 to AD 1460) when a series of regional conflicts determined the formation of the regional confederation known as Quillacas- Azanaques. At the time of the Inka Conquest (1460– AD 1530), the Lake Poopo basin was integrated into the Tawantinsuyo region through the implementation of the Royal Road and construction of Paria, Quillacas, San Miguel de Uruquilla and the Sevaruyo lodgings. During the Colonial (1530 - 1825) and Republican periods (1825 - ), the Spaniards made changes that imply a deterioration of the socio-political structures of the ayllus, its territorial fragmentation and creation of new reductions for mining operations. Recent archaeological research supports the proposition that populated centres in the Andean region of Bolivia were adapted to take advantage of the ecological variability through the social construction of the ayllu and the markas, centres that maintain dynamics, fluctuants and confluence in productive and ritual places.

In this essay I have chosen to write about graves, settlements and historical, important central places during the late Iron Age and the introduction of Christianity in the east of Blekinge. The reason why I have chosen to write about this is because the area has many ancient monuments and not much have been written about the area. The main question is who where the people who lived there and why did they choose to settle there.

<p>In this essay I have chosen to write about graves, settlements and historical, important central places during the late Iron Age and the introduction of Christianity in the east of Blekinge. The reason why I have chosen to write about this is because the area has many ancient monuments and not much have been written about the area. The main question is who where the people who lived there and why did they choose to settle there.</p>

This essay studies the runic inscriptions from the Migration period in Sweden and their connection to central places. The essays main focus is to identify the find location of the runic inscriptions and through that investigate if they appear in or nearby a central place from the same time period. The essay is divided into three different parts, in the first part I locate the runic inscriptions location of discovery. The second part contains locating defined central places or central areas in or nearby the location of the runic inscriptions. In the last part I separate the runic inscriptions and the objects material on which it is found upon, in order to identify if it is the inscription itself, or the object itself, which can be linked to centrality in the landscape. The result of the study shows that 10 % of the treated runic inscriptions are found in a defined central place during the Migration period in Sweden. 67 % of the runic inscriptions has been found in defined central areas, which all together means that 77 % of the treated runic inscriptions are connected to centrality in the landscape during the Migration period in Sweden. Furthermore, 15 % of the inscriptions can possibly be linked to central areas and the last 8 % show no connection to any sort of centrality in the landscape.

This thesis will empirically examine the distribution of centers of commercial activity in the modern city. Using measures of built space for different types of activity in Atlanta, we will map the distribution of activity in the city; then we will derive the system of centers distributed throughout the city. This system of centers will be sorted into scales, from global to local, so that the morphological properties of the street network associated with each scale may be analyzed using space syntax and other tools. We will then compare the distribution of centers in different portions of Atlanta, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Finally, we will compate the emergent distribution of centers to distributions proposed by Doxiadis, Alexander, Central Place Theory, and others.

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