The aim of this thesis is to on one hand give a good overview of finds found in gotlandic stonefoundationhouses (kämpgravar) that were commonly built during the Iron Age and on the other hand investigate the possibility of separating some houses from others and trace social stratification and hierarchies based on the finds. The items of special interest for this goal were those that could be connected to wealth such as drinking objects, Roman objects and objects made of silver and gold. This investigation has shown that on Gotland it actually existed some, often enormous, houses that had a special tendency to hoard exotic valuables. The real standout houses on this subject are the one in Stavgard and the recently excavated building in Hellvi. A secondart goal was to investigate the possibility to date the buildings based on the finds, which was found to be very problematic. (Two years master’s thesis in Archaeology) / Det huvudsakliga målet med denna uppsats är dels att ge bra överblick över fynden som påträffats i de gotländska stengrundshusen (kämpgravar) som byggdes flitigt under järnåldern och att dels se om det är möjligt att separera vissa hus från andra och spåra social stratifikation och hierarkier baserat på fyndmaterialet. De föremål som var av speciellt intresse för detta mål är de som kan kopplas till rikedom såsom exempelvis exotiska dryckesföremål, romerska föremål och föremål av ädelmetall. Undersökningen har visat att det på Gotland faktiskt fanns en del, ofta enorma, hus som hade en speciell benägenhet att hamstra exotiska dyrgripar. De riktiga utstickarna på det här temat är huset känt som Stavgard och även den nyligen undersökta byggnaden i Hellvi. Båda hade rika mängder av dryckesobjekt såsom glaskärl och dryckeshorn och en del, för ön, unika romerska föremål. Ett sidomål var att även undersöka möjligheten att datera husen baserat på fynden, vilket visade sig vara högst problematiskt. (Master-uppsats i Arkeologi)

no / The soils surrounding three Iron Age settlements on South Mainland, Shetland, were sampled and compared for indicators of soil amendment. Two of the sites (Old Scatness and Jarlshof) were on lower-lying, better-drained, sheltered land; the third (Clevigarth) was in an acid, exposed environment at a higher elevation. The hypothesis, based on previous regional assessments, soil thicknesses, and excavations at Old Scatness, was that the lowland sites would have heavily fertilized soils and that the thin upland soil would show little if any amendment. Our findings indicate that the Middle Iron Age soils at Old Scatness had extremely high phosphorus levels, while the soil at Jarlshof had lower levels of enhancement. At Clevigarth, where charcoal from the buried soil was 14C dated to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, there was no evidence of arable activity or soil amendment associated with the Iron Age phases of settlement. These observations indicate that not all sites put the same amount of effort into creating rich arable soils. The three sites had very different agricultural capacities, which suggests the emergence of local trade in agricultural commodities in Iron Age Shetland.