The cairns on Gotland have been one of the most studied aspects regarding the Bronze Age on the island. Most attention has been directed to how they were built and to whom they belong. My study will focus on Ullviarrojr, which is a so-called crater cairn, and the area around the cairn. Ullviarrojr is among the few large cairns on the Island over 35 meter in diameter and the area around it show very few other archaeological remains. The closest ancient remains are around 400 metres away in an almost circle shape. By making a landscape analysis regarding the area around the cairn and an archive study I want to understand its relationship to the Bronze Age landscape. I have consulted unpublished works and made site visits and interviewed the current landowner to get an overview of if there are additional archaeological remains in the area of if remains have been destroyed and taken away. My study will provide some new information on an area that has not been examined in detail, which would help future studies to understand the cairns and the area around cairns.

<p>In this study the practical work with the EU Water Framework starts on the island of Gotland. 33 lakes and 32 streams have been characterized and classified regarding to their ecological status. The aim with the characterisation is to create a uniform discription of all waterbodies and a comparable estimation for the future. The aim with the classification is both to study the waterbodies ecological status and to gain knowledge of where the resources should be concentrated so that the ecological status in all waterbodies will be good in 2015.</p><p>The characterisation has been done according to the EU Water Framework Directive, and the factors that have been applied are the mean depth and area of the lake. The length and size on the catchment area are the factors that have been used on streams. The classification is issued from biological, chemical and hydromorphological elements. The biological elements in both lakes and streams are fish and benthic macroinvertebrates. The chemical elements in lakes consist of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, quotient total nitrogen/total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, alkalinity and pH-value. The chemical elements in streams consist of area-specific losses of total phosphorus and total nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand, alkalinity and pH-value. The hydromorphological elements are lakes that are regulated, streams that have been straightened out and streams that have something stopping sawing fish.</p><p>The result of the characterisation shows five different sea types: large and deep seas, meanlarge and deep seas, meanlarge and shallow seas, small and deep seas as well as small and shallow seas. The result from the classification shows that 26 lakes have high or good ecological status. However, this still means that the seven lakes Asträsk, Bogeviken, Bondansträsk, Fridträsk, Inre Stockviken, Mjölhatteträsk and Paviken have moderate ecological status. 15 streams have good or high ecological status, while nine have moderate status. These nine streams are Burgsvikenån, Gothemsån, Ireån, Halorån, Lummelundaån, Närkån, Snoderån, Vägumeån as well as Västergarnsån. The ecological status could not be decided in eight streams, due to the low number of facts. All lakes and streams with moderate ecological status, except Bondansträsk, have recieved this estimation as a result of the high substance of nutrients. While fish in Bondansträsk is not good, the lake recieved the estimation moderate status.</p> / <p>I detta examensarbete inleds det praktiska arbetet med ramdirektivet för vatten på Gotland. I enlighet med vattendirektivet har 33 gotländska sjöar och 32 gotländska vattendrag karakteriserats och klassificerats utifrån ekologisk status. Syftet med karakteriseringen är att skapa en enhetlig beskrivning av samtliga vattenförekomster, vilket ger ett jämförbart underlag inför fortsatta bedömningar av sjöar och vattendrag på Gotland. Syftet med klassificeringen är att dels ta reda på den ekologiska statusen för gotländska ytvatten, dels att få kunskap om var resurserna bör läggas för att en god ekologisk status skall uppnås till år 2015.</p><p>Karakteriseringen utfördes enligt vattendirektivets system B, och de faktorer som användes är maxdjup och sjöarea för sjöar samt längd och avrinningsområdets area för vattendrag.</p><p>Detta resulterade i fem sjötyper: stora och djupa sjöar, stora och grunda sjöar, mellanstora och grunda sjöar, små och djupa sjöar samt små och grunda sjöar. Vattendragen indelades i fyra typer: långa vattendrag med stort avrinningsområde, långa vattendrag med mellanstort avrinningsområde, korta vattendrag med mellanstort avrinningsområde samt korta vattendrag med litet avrinningsområde.</p><p>Klassningen utgick, i enlighet med vattendirektivet, från biologiska, kemiska och hydromorfologiska faktorer. Den biologiska klassningen i både sjöar och vattendrag gjordes med utgångspunkt från fisk och bottenfauna. Den kemiska bedömningen i sjöar gjordes utifrån totalfosfor, totalkväve, fosfor/kväve-kvot, kemisk syreförbrukning, alkalinitet och pH-värde. För vattendrag har arealspecifik förlust av fosfor och kväve, kemisk syreförbrukning, alkalinitet och pH-värde använts. Den hydromorfologiska bedömningen gjordes med hänsyn tagen till rätning av vattendrag, vandringshinder i vattendrag samt reglering av sjöar.</p><p>Resultatet av klassificeringen visar att hela 26 av de 33 undersökta gotländska sjöarna har hög eller god ekologisk status, och sju sjöar, Asträsk, Bogeviken, Bondansträsk, Fridträsk, Inre Stockviken, Mjölhatteträsk och Paviken, har måttlig ekologisk status. 15 av de 32 undersökta vattendragen har hög eller god ekologisk status, medan nio vattendrag, Burgsvikenån, Gothemsån, Ireån, Halorån, Lummelundaån, Närkån, Snoderån, Vägumeån samt Västergarnsån, har måttlig ekologisk status. Vidare har ekologisk status inte kunnat bestämmas för åtta vattendrag, då inte tillräckligt med data funnits för att kunna genomföra en rättvis bedömning. Samtliga sjöar och vattendrag som har måttlig ekologisk status, förutom Bondansträsk, har erhållit denna bedömning på grund av alltför höga halter respektive transporter av näringsämnena kväve och fosfor. Bondansträsk har fått detta omdöme eftersom tillstånd och avvikelse från jämförvärde för fisk inte är helt bra.</p>

“Vattenfrågan har alltid varit viktig på Gotland” (Bastani et al. 2015, p. 25)  - “Water questions have always been important on Gotland”. Contrary to the common perception that water shortage does not pose a problem to northern European countries, the case on Gotland provides the example that it is a real issue. Due to several factors, the Swedish island faces severe water shortages during the summer and is in urgent need to address this in the light of an expected growing number of people coming to Gotland. Since water is a topic affecting a wide range of stakeholders, the water issue is already in the focus of attention and occasionally passionately discussed on the island. The aim of this paper was to identify with the help of qualitative research how relevant stakeholder groups perceive and address the water shortage on Gotland. The identified stakeholder groups were from the administrative/political sectors, industrial/business sectors, the research sector as well as engaged citizens. During the research it became clear that the water shortage can be characterized as a wicked problem, which in its nature is impossible to solve but only manageable due to its complexity. Yet, the majority of stakeholders did not recognize the wicked problem as such which explains the multiplicity of existent strategies for how to deal with it. The different approaches lead to outcomes that seem to only address parts of the problem but fail to manage it in its entirety. The study suggests that institutional voids, meaning a lack of clear responsibilities regarding who should manage the problem and how seem to both arise from and contribute to the complexity of the problem. As result of this research, it seems crucial to firstly gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation and then work with multi stakeholder communication and cooperation against prevailing institutional voids in order to address the water shortage effectively.

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.

Animal bones found on archaeological sites can be connected to the economic structures of the society and what activities the humans performed. During the Merovingian Period and the Viking Age on the island of Gotland there are several sites that have been difficult to interpret. One of these sites is Signallottan which has several finds that are connected to iron working but also a lot of cremated animal bones. The proposed study investigates how the animal bones are connected to the site and what purpose they had. The study also compares the site to other archaeological sites to see how they differ. This will be achieved by analyzing the animal remains found at the site. The material consists of roughly 56 kilograms of bones that were excavated during 2018 and is currently stored in the osteological laboratory in Visby, Sweden. This study leaves some questions open but most likely Signallottan has only had one main purpose. What this purpose is, is still unknown and needs further research.

This paper contains an analysis of the bronzed keys with bird motifs that were discovered during archaeological investigations between the years 1991 and 1997 at Kyrksundet, in the archipelago of southwestern Finland. Bronzed keys with bird motifs have never been found in Finland before, but similar keys have been found both in Birka and on Gotland, Sweden. The aim with this paper is firstly to analyse and compare the keys from Kyrksundet, Birka and Gotland, and their find contexts. Secondly, together with the results from the analysis, the following questions will be discussed; What is the meaning behind the bird motif, why can these keys be found at Kyrksundet, and who were the people that had these keys in their possession during the Viking Age. The symbolic aspect of the keys is a strong theme in this discussion, because the underlaying theory in this paper is that the keys most likely had both a worldly and a cosmological meaning. Earlier archaeological investigations mainly have associated these keys with the Nordic peoples and their eastern connections during the Viking Age. Reason behind this association is that the birds on the motif have been interpreted as falcons and the falcon has a relatively strong connection to the Rurik dynasty that ruled in Novgorod and Kiev. Whether the bird is a falcon or not, is however a question that will be discussed in this paper. The analysis performed in this paper, shows that the bird motif on the keys shares more similarities with a raven motif that was used on the British Isles than with the falcon motif that was used in Novgorod and Kiev. This paper will therefore include a suggestion for another perspective, where the keys might be connected to the Nordic peoples and their western connections.

Cremated bones from animals has been recovered in conjunction with a number of hearths in Visby, Gotland. This find has started a controversial discussion in the archeological field regarding usage of bones as a supplement in iron working. Archeological investigations often tend to overlook the information that could be gained from osteological materials. Animal bones can give us insight and contribute with new perspectives on economics, diet, livestock and much more. The aim of this bachelor is therefore to look closer at the relations between bones and iron working and to establish if the bones were used to enhance the phosphorus levels of the iron. This will be achieved by analyzing cremated bones from the archeological site Visby RAÄ 230. The material will also be compared with previous studies regarding iron working.

This essay addresses and analyses the grave field from Broa in Halla, RAÄ 48:1 and SHM 11106 with objects in SHM 10796, dated to 800-900 a.d. The essay is done as part of examination in archaeology C with osteological orientation spring 2018 at Uppsala university, campus Gotland. Gustav Malmborg was supervisor for this essay. The objective of the essay is to give an osteological analysis since it hasn’t been done since the excavation 1899, but also to bring forth what information that can be pursued osteologically. This due to that grave A is the only one to be researched upon and not in full context, only partly focusing on the equestrian equipment, the amber lyre bridge and the sword. The questions of issue are; what can be told about the individuals from the grave field? Is there any grave that can be compared against grave A? What can be said about the contemporary society and the premises? Future research can use this essay as a stepping stone for other comparisons and use the osteological data to relate more information about lyre individuals.   This quantitative essay presents the analysis each grave individually using morphological and metric methods, such as age, sex, paleopathological changes, MIND and estimated stature. After analysis is result presented as a table for easy overview (Table 1). Discussion and interpretation follows, one grave at a time over to the grave field and thereafter the premises. End discussion handles the questions of issue to summarize the discussion and interpretation. Conclusion summarizes the results from all of the above mentioned, such as one grave contains more than one individual which has been unknown before. Possible kinship is found in a grave and the possibility of the contemporary premises to be part of a larger house/farm.

The purpose to this thesis is to demonstrate the activity of the Viking presence, in North America. The research focuses on the use of stones, carved with runic inscriptions that have been discovered in Oklahoma, Maine, Rhode Island and Minnesota. The thesis discusses orthographic traits found in the inscriptions and gives evidence that links their primary use to fourteenth century Gotland. Also connecting the stones to Gotland, is the presence of an unusual rune dubbed the Hooked X. This single rune has been the center of controversy since it was first discovered in Minnesota, 1898. Since that time, it has been discovered in connection with two of the other North American Rune Stones, Christopher Columbus and the Cistercian -Templars of Gotland. As of this year (2015), more of the Hooked X symbology has been discovered in Templar churches in Scotland and Portugal.

<p>The Superfamily Strophomenoidea is a very diverse group of brachiopods in the Early Palaeozoic. In the Silurian succession on Gotland, they are among the most easily identifiable, and commonly found fossils. However, there are few detailed studies of this group from Gotland, and no new strophomenide taxa have been described from this area since 1869. The life habits of strophomenides are also poorly understood, partly because their morphology differs greatly from that of living brachiopods. </p><p>The succession on Gotland yielded 27 species belonging to the Strophomenoidea, of which two species and two subspecies are new. The remaining species have been described earlier from Gotland or Great Britain. The most important group is the Leptaeninae, which occurs commonly throughout the entire succession on Gotland. Five species (one new), two new subspecies and two taxa treated under open nomenclature were found. <i>Leptaena rhomboidalis</i> and <i>Lepidoleptaena poulseni</i> were specialized for life in shallow water environments, retaining a large apical pedicle; the remaining leptaenines were ambitopic. The Furcitellininae is represented by three genera comprising six species, of which only one persisted into the Ludlow. All were ambitopic, except <i>Pentlandina loveni</i>, which was specialized for high-energy environments. Six species of “strophodontids” from Gotland, belonging to the Leptostrophidae, the Strophodontidae and the Shaleriidae, share a shallow-bodied, variably concavo-convex shell with costellate ornament. <i>Mesoleptostrophia</i> and <i>Brachyprion</i> (<i>Brachyprion</i>) were long-ranged and ecologically tolerant, while <i>B.</i> (<i>Erinostrophia</i>), <i>Strophodonta</i> and <i>Shaleria</i> had short ranges and were ecologically specialized. The two earliest known cementing strophomenides occur on Gotland, and their hitherto unknown dorsal valves have been identified: <i>Liljevallia </i>was found to belong to the Douvillinidae. The cementing <i>Leptaenoidea silurica</i> was found to be conspecific with the ambitopic <i>Scamnomena rugata</i>; it was able to live ambitopically if removed from the substrate. The thickened dorsal valves allow reconstruction of its lophophore.</p>