The aim of this thesis has been to investigate and interpret late Iron Ageand Early Medieval traces of non-ferrous metalworking on the islandGotland, Sweden. Gotland was not, based on the archaeological record, anintegrated part of the common Scandinavian culture. Instead a local,endemic cultural expression had developed; a seclusion which lasted forcenturies despite the islands central position in the Baltic Sea. In thepast, key elements for the understanding of local settlement- and burialpractices as well as the local material culture were mainly recovered andreported by local farmers. A specific category of such finds – so-called‘bronze slag’ is discussed and partly reinterpreted in the first study ofthis thesis. Two further studies treat different aspects of metalworkingand metalworkers – one discusses common archaeological notions ofScandinavian workshops, production sites and metalworkers from a criticalperspective while the other mainly focuses on the Gotlandic finds frommetal-detector surveys carried out over the last 35 years. Based on whereand to which extent, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point ofview, these finds occur a hierarchical classification into four sub groupsis presented – ordinary farm sites with traces of non-ferrous metalworking,workshop sites, potential workshop sites and last, extrovert harboursettlements. A fourth study presents an attempt to evaluate the usefulnessof magnetometry in delimiting extant traces of high-temperature crafts,such as metalworking. The last study of the thesis presents an attempt touse trace elements analysis of skeletal lead in human bone to identifypotential non-ferrous metalworkers. As the wearing of endemic Gotlandic jewellery appears to have been centralin the manifestation of the local identity it is argued that themetalworking artisans played a crucial role in defining how this identitywas signalled and displayed via the jewellery and dress-related metalobjects. It is further suggested that these artisans might have played animportant role in upholding the local economy before the advent of localminting. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>

In this thesis settlement areas and settlements from the Bronze Age on Gotland are in focus. The island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea is famous for its rich archaeological remains of monuments and relics from all pre-historic periods, and the Bronze Age (1700-500 BC) especially is well repre- sented. There are nearly a thousand cairns, over 300 stone-ship settings and a large amount of bronze finds, but there are few traits of contemporary settlements. With few exceptions the settlements from all pre-historic periods are in one way “invisible” but during the last decades the context has changed, as has knowledge of the settlements from the Bronze Age. Research published throughout the first ten years of the 21th century offers new and refreshing interpretations concerning settlements and houses from the period in question on both a regional level and in more comprehensive studies across Scandinavia. This is due to continued advances in archaeological methods to see the invisible remains however many of the sites are discovered in exploitation-excavations. In a smaller scale this is also true for Gotland and during the last decade there are scattered finds of houses from the period in the shape of post-holes, hearths and cooking pits. The situation on the island is not to expect larger ex- ploitations followed by excavations so we have to test other ways to look for the settlement areas and settlements. In this study I therefor examine if there are any relations to the visible, in first hand cont- emporary types of monuments such as burnt mounds, cairns, stone ship settings and finds of bronzes, to sites seen as possible settlement areas from the Bronze Age. In this context I also have to consider the remains from the early Iron Age, foremost the visible remains of fossilised fields and ancient forts. The theoretical framework is a hermeneutic approach in the study of the relations of each cont- emporary types of monuments contextualized with possible settlements. As Gotland is an island I have to relate to the meaning of landscape and islands. To get closer to the society and the social orga- nisation, my aim is also to come closer to the people who lived their daily lives on Gotland during the Bronze Age and to consider the question of the chiefdoms and the social organisation.

This thesis is discussing and analysing expectations and perceptions about service quality in Destination Gotland. The aim is to analyze and research about the role of service quality for creating customer satisfaction and we want to find out the gap between expectations and perceptions through the customers point of view. The difference between expectations and perceptions can be described as satisfaction or lack of satisfaction. The specific questions that are researched in this thesis are: What expectations does customer have on Destination Gotland’s service quality to become satisfied? What perceptions does customer have about the service quality at Destination Gotland? What are the differences between expectations and perceptions (gap 5 in the SERVQUAL-model)? The survey is constructed as a case-study and is based on the quantitative method. The results from the different dimensions show that there is a gap between expectations and perceptions which means that the customers are not fully satisfied about the service quality at Destination Gotland. On the other hand, the main respondents said yes on the question if they think the service meet their expectations. From the overall result in the statements we can see that there are several gaps between expectations and perceptions which means that the service quality do not fully meet the expectations. The result shows a total gap at -0,39.

This thesis discusses the dress code during the Pitted Ware culture on the Swedish island of Gotland. Eight Pitted Ware grave-fields have been analyzed; only 74 skeletons have been identified with some sort of ornament that could have been attached to clothes. The grave-fields are rich in finds and in people nearly every age group is present. The analysis has shown that there are clear differences between the genders. The female always has some sort of seal tooth ornament around her waist and thighs. The man has sometimes tusks from wild boar and tubular bones as an ornament on his clothes. The children have all of the ornaments that the parents have but in smaller numbers. There are also other finds that appear on all of the individuals, but the tusks, seal tooth and tubular bones are the ones that appear on nearly every individual. The North American Indians clothing has been used as a reference to help understand the clothing of the Pitted Ware. So far all of the finds that have been found on the skeletons have shown great diversity in the Pitted Ware clothing.

The bark from prehistory – an osteological analysis on dog bones from the Stone Age settlements of Hemmor and Gullrum at Gotland and a theoretic study of the secular and sacred roles of the dog during the Neolithic. Dog bones from two Pitted Ware Culture (around 2500 BC) settlements, Hemmor in När parish and Gullrum in Näs parish/Havdhem parish, at southern Gotland, Sweden are analyzed. The analysis contains a study of age, withers height and size estimation as well as skeletal changes and pathologies. The attempt of the analysis is to highlight the secular and sacred role of the dog during the Neolithic at Gotland. The dog bones were collected during excavations in the years 1890 and 1903 and were found across the entire surfaces of the settlements. Although there were no specific dog breeds during the Stone Age, the dogs at Hemmor and Gullrum show a wide range of size (withers height spans from 39,74 cm to 56,47 cm) and may therefore have been used for different purposes depending on their size. The dogs were not eaten, but evidence of skinning is found. The results are compared with other analysis made on dog bones from similar settlements. The analysis is complemented with a theoretic study of the functions of dogs in other parts of the world. Ethnologic studies of traditional societies show the importance and wide range of functions in which the dogs are used and can give us an idea of the corresponding functions at a Neolithic Gotland. The functions vary from pet and guardian of the settlement to fishing, hunting and ritual purposes.

There are none known Bronze Age settlement on Gotland, although there are severalexcavation reports that mention that they have found a probable Bronze Age settlement. In the excavation that have been done in the study areas, there are Bronze Age dated hearths, cooking pits and post holes. These study areas have been investigated if they might be possible Bronze Age settlements. This paper discusses about the criteria of settlements and also investigate if the study areas meet those criterias. There are many different criteria for settlement but only the criteria of FMIS are used in the study. There are also different criteria for hearths and cooking pits, what separates them from each other. There have been measures on the distance between different landscape variables in the study areas to see if there are any differences or similarities between the different study areas.

This essay deals with a picture-stone that was found in a pre Christian grave during the archaeological excavations of the Viking Age harbour and trading place at Fröjel parish, Gotland, in 1999. The stone is at least 100 years older then the male grave in which it was found. The picture-stone can be dated to  late 8th century or early 9th century, and the grave is probably from the late 10th century. One of the main questions in this essay is why the people of that time re-used an older picture-stone in a younger burial. I believe that the stone was reused as a grave-gift. To re-use the older picture stone was to seek legitimacy for the status of the family through the forefathers. The picture-stones were originally monuments erected in the honour of dead men. The elite could display their social position and power through these monuments. The depicted figures on them can be interpreted as symbols of the transition between life and death. The Gotlandic picture-stones of this type have connections to beliefs of Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, war and death. My theoretical perspective is that through studies of picture-stones, knowledge can be gained about ideologies and social structures within the Gotlandic society during the Viking Age.

In Scandinavia the general idea of the Bronze Age society is that it was organised as chiefdoms. The model for what they looked like is taken from the anthropological studies of the Polynesian chiefdoms. The aim of my study is to investigate a Scandinavian Bronze Age feature, known as cairns mainly containing fire-cracked stone. This is compared with how people in different Polynesian chiefdoms, looked at similar remain. This is done to get a background for new ways of interpretation of such remains. The method is ethno-archaeological and carried out by studying ethno-historical Polynesian chiefdoms and theories on Scandinavian Bronze Age. For example, in prehistoric Polynesian societies it is shown that refuse heaps or pits for ritual garbage occur on or near the ceremonial place, called Marae. The materials deposited were sacred, and had to be placed on or close to the Marae. Most rituals in Polynesia can be described as long processes with numbers of minor rituals. To me these insights place the Scandinavian remains in a new light. The heaps with fire-cracked stone could possibly be the garbage/refuse left over after one or a number of ritual ceremonies, consciously placed there by the people using the site, and thereafter respected because of its sacredness.

This essay deals with ruins from the perspective of their cultural values ​​and the impact of add-ons, protective add-ons and caring actions affect these values. The issues in the essay are; What are the cultural values of a ruin?  How have ruins been used?  How are ruins treated today? Initially the definition of the concept “ruin” is discussed, what is a ruin? A building has an architectural biography: the creation, destruction, change and the decay. The concept of ruin is considered to be a state of this decay, rather than a dead building. This leads to that if a ruin is added or rebuilt, once again it becomes a building. Ruins has meant a lot to people even long ago, the history of the caring of ruins goes long back, in Italy to the 5th century AD. In the Nordic countries the protection of ancient remains came a bit later, in Sweden the first legislation is from the year 1666th. The ruins were preserved to show the greatness of ancient societies and the changes that led to the decay of the buildings. During the 18th century a cult grows around ruins, which later have been called the romance of ruins. This ideology is developing into constructing "new" ruins in the castle parks, ruins become a status symbol. The essay deals with three case studies as reference objects in a discussion regarding their cultural value. The ruin of the dome in Hamar, Norway, over-built with a protective roof that directly affects the cultural environment. The arguments for this operation are the task of conservation, but the goal is to use the building as a cultural arena. The castle ruin on Visingsö in the lake Vättern has an action plan with a clear cultural value description. The age of the ruin and bearer of abstract memories are emphasized values. The last example is the rebuilding of St Nicholas church ruin in Visby and how designers are taking into account its cultural value. Finally, the definition of the general cultural values ​​of a ruin is presented, in comparison with the reference objects included in the paper. The age of the ruin, structural engineering in past societies, the use of the ruins and the changes of extensions or restorations are the values ​​that occur in the examples. The conclusion is that the change is perhaps the value of most importance. Since the "ruin" is a stage rather than a fixed object the change is a fact. To freeze a moment of decay may remove one of the most important cultural values of a ruin. / Uppsatsen behandlar ruiner utifrån deras kulturhistoriska värden och vilka konsekvenser tillbyggnader, skyddstillbyggnader och vårdande insatser påverkar dessa värden. Uppsatsens drivande frågeställningar är : Vilka är en ruins kulturhistoriska värden? Hur har man brukat ruiner? Hur behandlas ruiner idag? Inledningsvis definieras begreppet ruin, vad är en ruin? I diskussionen tas en byggnads biografi upp med Tillblivelse, nedbrytning, förändring och förgängelse. Begreppet ruin anses vara ett tillstånd av varande förfall snarare än en död byggnad. Detta medför sig att en ruin som till- eller ombyggs åter kan bli en byggnad. Ruiner har betytt mycket för människor även långt tillbaka, ruinvårdens historia går, i Italien, tillbaka till århundradena efter vår tideräknings början.  I Norden kom skyddet för fornlämningar lite senare, i Sverige finns den första lagstiftningen från år 1666. Ruinerna skulle bevaras för att visa på forna samhällens storhet och på förändringar som lett till byggnaders förfall. Under 1700-talet växer en kult fram kring ruiner, som sedan kallas ruinromantiken. Denna ideologi utvecklar sig till att man uppför ”nya” ruiner i slottsparker, ruinen blir en statussymbol. Uppsatsen tar upp 3 fallstudier som referensobjekt i en diskussion kring de kulturhistoriska värdena. Hamar domkyrkoruin i Norge överbyggdes med ett skyddstak som direkt påverkar kulturmiljön. Argumenten för insatsen är av bevarandekaraktär men målet är att använda byggnaden som kulturarena. Visningsborgs slottsruin på Visingsö i Vättern har ett vårdprogram med en tydlig kulturhistorisk värdebeskrivning. Ruinens ålder och bärare av abstrakta minnen tas upp som viktiga värden. Sist tas ombyggnaden av S:t Nicolai kyrkoruin i Visby upp som exempel på hur arkitekterna tar hänsyn till de kulturhistoriska värdena. Slutligen definieras de allmänna kulturhistoriska värden som en ruin innehar i jämförelse med de referensobjekt som tagits upp i uppsatsen. Ruinens ålder, byggnadskonst i tidigare samhällen, ruinens användning och den förändring som skett i form av tillbyggnader eller restaureringar är de värden som återkommer i exemplen. Slutsatsen blir att förändringen är kanske det värde som är högst. Eftersom ”ruin” är ett stadium snarare än ett fast objekt blir förändringen ett faktum. Att frysa ett ögonblick av förfall kan alltså ta bort ett av de viktigaste kulturhistoriska värden som en ruin innehar.

Plant-pollinator networks have shown to be highly dynamic systems as species and interactions change in time and space. Few studies have incorporated several habitats in their network. In this work I investigate interacting plant and pollinator communities of three adjacent habitats at Gotska Sandön, an island in the Baltic Sea. The networks varied in size between the habitats, and the larger networks of the dune and meadow displayed both nested and modular structure while the smaller forest network was more randomly organised. We found species present in more than one habitat that connected the networks by forming inter-habitat modules of tightly linked species. Species took on different topological roles in the networks depending on how many links they formed and where these attached. The habitat generalists were important to overall network structure as role correlated with habitat generalisation level.