Hillforts in Scotland are smaller than their counterparts in southern Britain and extremely difficult to define as a site category. This is even more true in the western and northern parts of the country traditionally described as Atlantic Scotland, where the plethora of small enclosed sites forms a continuum in terms of size and morphology that cuts across the boundaries of current classifications. Using the recent definition of a hillfort by J.D. Hill as a site type that is not a farmstead, this thesis attempts to analyse enclosed sites in terms of their area enclosed, morphology/architecture and particularly their landscape position to try to identify groups of sites or individual monuments that are these ‘not-farmsteads’. Three case study areas have been chosen for GIS-based analysis. Skye and Kintyre are in Atlantic Scotland. The former is a region where brochs have always been central to interpretations of the Iron Age, but it has a considerable number of larger hilltop enclosures classed as forts, and small, less regular drystone enclosures classed as duns. The forts of Kintyre in Argyll have been more studied, but their social role, as well as their relationship with and distinctiveness from the duns of Kintyre are still unknown. The final case study area is the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, part of Galloway, in Prof. Piggott’s Solway-Clyde province. Generally included with southern Scotland and the Borders in syntheses of Scottish prehistory, it has many aspects to its later prehistoric archaeology that may be considered ‘Atlantic’ in nature, such as small prominent drystone enclosures, promontory forts and sites with complex, traditionally Atlantic architecture. However, there are also hilltop enclosures classed as forts that are much larger than in the other two case study areas. GIS based analyses have been used, and combined with statistical testing to try to identify patterns in the landscape positioning of certain classes or sizes of enclosed site. Sites have been analysed in terms of their distance from the sea, altitude, topographic prominence, visibility in the landscape, and proximity to/visibility of agricultural land. These results have been interpreted to try to refine present site categorisations, and to attempt to identify those sites that are different from merely farmsteads.

Today, the pets we own are thought of as friends and family members. A lot of people even go as far as saying that the pets they own are their children. While we have this close and almost human relationship with our pets, we also distance ourselves from the animals we have on our plates. What did the human – animal relationships look like during the Vendel Period and Viking Age?  The goal with this essay is to analyse cremation graves from the grave site in Valsgärde, Uppsala, and then compare these results with those from Ylva Bäckström’s osteological study of eight cremation graves from Valsgärde and with Berit Sigvallius’ study of the cremated material from the grave fields in northern Spånga. The grave field in Valsgärde, Uppsala, is dated to pre-Roman Iron Age as well as Vendel Period and Viking Age. The boat graves are what the grave field in Valsgärde is most famous for, but in addition to the 15 boat graves there are also at least 62 cremation graves and 15 skeleton graves. The graves in the northern Spånga are dated to 500 BC. - 1050 AD and lies in Kista, Granby, Ervinge and Kymlinge. The osteological study and the comparison with the two previously executed analysis have been done with the purpose to see in what way the relations between humans and animals expresses itself in the osteological material of Uppland during the late Iron Age. Hopefully the composition of the graves’ animal material will contain indicators of the human – animal relations. Previously conducted studies of Iron Age cremation graves in general, has shown that there was a significant increase in the amount of animal bones in the graves during the Vendel and Viking age. Animals are clearly important to the people during the late Iron Age. In what way were the animals significant and how is this expressed in the material?

Karl- Erik Nordström 2018. A strong and sacred Landscape. Central Places and Cosmology during the Iron Age   This study intends to address a specific aspect of the landscape, not only as something that can be linked to economic, political and legal factors but also spiritual and cosmological. Much of these thoughts have been taken from certain studies of "the strong landscape" that shape the beliefs and identities. Such ethnoarchaeological approach has grown to a great extent in recent decades and is represented internationally by several authors from the 70s and 80s, who in their Bronze Age studies highlight the importance of contemporary world of imagination.   Something that characterized much of the research tradition in the period after 1945 is building history and research around central places. The central site concept, which includes "a place of specific qualities", was not developed until the 1970s.   One thing that can not be avoided in this case is the adaptation to the harsh climate and the environmental problems that develop during the Iron Age, which in many cases have been devastating but can also involve reorganization, better use of resources and a more centralized structure. The emerging economic, political, legal and religious centers that the central places make up can be seen as an expression of this. Here, spiritual and cosmological performances about landscapes, towns, farms and houses have also been developed.   This aspect of the landscape as a cosmological unit I intend to study closer to the rich iron age community in Sundhede outside Hudiksvall. Here, a number of villages and smaller regions are grouped around a high-rise city center and here we also find outfields, which extract the substance that had an important significance during this time and also gave a spiritual cosmological significance, namely the iron. With this I hope to contribute to further knowledge of the role played by the landscape during the Iron Age, not least metaphysical.

The thesis examines c. 280 forms and motifs derived from a reconstruction of 93 gold stater types struck within 7 geographical regions across southeastern England, c. 80 BC - AD 45. The thesis highlights the emerging presence of an iconographic repertoire across southern Britain during the late pre-Roman Iron Age. Gold staters remain an important aspect of this phenomenon which is demonstrated to have manifested itself in other media, particularly metalwork. That this new art form supplemented, but did not supplant, existing types of non-representational La Tene style art is suggested by the presence of other types of object that continue to be decorated in this fashion throughout the first century AD. In the absence of any other type of established or coherent methodology Erwin Panofsky's (1993, 1972) method of iconographic analysis is adopted in order to provide a framework for the analysis. Whilst retention of Panofsky's three 'Acts of Interpretation' can be justified, a post-structuralist critique of Panofsky's method exposes fundamental theoretical shortcomings with regards the interpretation of meaning. In contrast to preceding interpretations of iconographical data, inferences are made upon the basis of lan Hodder's (1995, 1986) 'context of use' of other types of comparable forms and motifs within the archaeological record. The iconological content of staters is interpreted in terms of a transition, c. 20 BC - AD 10, from the expression of corporate or public ideals in a 'tribal periphery' to the manifestation of personal or private concerns in the southeastern 'core'. This divergence coincides with the emphasis placed upon the relative 'monetary' or 'political' roles performed by coinage within these regions. From the context of the forms or motifs illustrated on staters it is concluded that such images were appropriated by members of a minority social elite to legitimise and maintain their position at the apex of a social hierarchy.

This study investigates the symbolic role of the domestic dog in Iron Age and Roman Britain through contextual analysis of their faunal remains and interpretation of their representations in iconography. Previous studies have highlighted linkages between the species and ideas about death, healing and regeneration (Jenkins 1957, Ross 1967, Toynbee 1973, Henig 1984, Green 1992). Although these connections clearly did exist in the cosmologies of Britain and the Western provinces of Rome, this detailed examination of the evidence seeks to identify reasons why this might have been so. The enquiry was also designed to highlight any previously unnoticed patterns in the dataset that might add a further dimension to our understanding of how the domestic dog was perceived at a symbolic level. It has been established for some time that dogs appear in statistically significant numbers, compared to other species, in the special animal deposits that are a feature of certain Iron Age pits (Grant 1984, Wait 1985, Hill 1995). Dramatic evidence for ritual practice involving animals found at a Romano-British temple complex in Springhead, Kent, and comparable finds from both sacred and secular sites, suggest that domestic dogs were also a favoured sacrifice during this period. As well as analysing such archaeological evidence, this study draws on anthropological, psychological and historical writings about human relationships with the domestic dog in an attempt to forward our understanding of religious expression during antiquity.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the range of small finds and other materials often found deposited in the fills and stone settings above later Iron Age graves in the Mälar region of central Sweden. This study investigates how this material, especially potsherds, burnt clay, burnt and unburnt bones and teeth, flint, ice crampons, nails, rivets and knives, were distributed in eight different grave fields in the Mälar valley. The results shows that most of this material was indeed deliberately placed on or in the graves, with different object types added to particular areas of burial monuments.

abstract: Ancient Mediterranean cultures incorporated equine iconography into their artistic repertoires, demonstrating the horse's importance not only as a beast of burden and war, but also as a visual symbol of wealth and prestige. Interaction between man and horse appears in clay as early as the third millennium BC, along with the early development of ancient Near Eastern cultures. Tactical evolution in Near Eastern warfare, particularly the eclipse of chariot forces by the rise of cavalry, coincided with the emergence of equestrian terracotta figurines and facilitated the popularity of horse and rider imagery. Cyprus' many city-kingdoms have yielded a vast, coroplastic corpus in both votive and mortuary contexts, including figurines of equestrian type. These terracottas are an important contribution to the understanding of ancient Cypriote cultures, cities and their coroplastic oeuvre. While many studies of excavated terracottas include horse and rider figurines, only a limited number of these publications dedicate adequate analysis and interpretation. Ancient Marion is one of the Cypriote city-kingdoms producing a number of equestrian terracottas that are in need of further examination. By focusing on the unpublished horse and rider figurines from Marion, this paper will add to the conversation of Cyprus' inclusion of equestrian iconography in coroplastic production. Through thorough analysis of the horse and rider terracottas, specifically their plastic and stylistic components, this thesis establishes typologies, makes visual comparisons and demonstrates Marion's awareness of an equine vogue both in contemporary Cyprus and abroad. The horse and rider figurines of Marion are an important contribution to the better understanding of the city-kingdom and exemplify the inclusion of equestrian imagery within the context of ancient societies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Art History 2014

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Wood has been an integral part of the Scandinavians everyday life for thousands of years. There are still several substantial gaps in knowledge about their wood culture during the Late Iron Age since previous research has been focused on more common findings of inorganic materials like ceramics, metals and glass. Archaeologists rarely find wooden artifacts during excavations due to wood disintegrating a lot faster than metal in the ground. Valsgärde is one of Sweden’s most important Iron Age sites since several wooden remains were found there. They show parts of our distant past that we have yet to understand and gain knowledge about. The few preserved wooden artifacts from the Late Iron Age show a rich culture of wood carving. That is why this study focuses on those very few organic objects that are found. Wooden artifacts might potentially be used to determine the social status of the individuals in the graves. This is examined through a comparative analysis of the wooden remains from Valsgärde and other boat graves in Scandinavia. The analysis also reveals what type of wood the artifacts were made of, which makes it possible to determine if they could be from local trees or if they had to be imported. There seems to be a conscious choice of what kind of wood an object should be made of depending on the purpose at hand and social status. In some cases the choice of wood also seems to be based on the symbolic or mythological meaning of the artifact. This study uses previous microscopic wood analysis from the boat graves to give a more in-depth picture of the Scandinavian Late Iron Age wood culture as a whole.

Ce travail de recherche propose d'étudier l'architecture celtique sous l'angle de la métrologie et de la géométrie en se concentrant sur un corpus de quinze sites bien connus grâce à des fouilles extensives. Les sites traités dans le cadre de cette étude couvrent une vaste zone géographique, allant de la Grande-Bretagne à la République Tchèque. Ces études systématiques nous permettent de présenter un premier aperçu des techniques et des savoirs utilisés dans la construction des édifices à l'âge du Fer en Europe celtique. Cette thèse s'articule autour de trois chapitres. Le premier d'entre eux est consacré à la présentation des cadres de l'étude, des termes du sujet et des problématiques. Le second chapitre présente la méthodologie employée. Il se poursuit ensuite par l'étude détaillée des unités architecturales site après site et phase par phase. Une synthèse générale concernant la métrologie et la géométrie architecturale de l'âge du Fer constitue le dernier chapitre. Le second volume de ce travail rassemble l'ensemble des plans de sites et d'édifices traités dans le cadre de l'étude. / This thesis aims to study celtic architecture with a metrological and geometrical point of view. To do so, fifteen well excavated settlements were selected. These latter cover a large geographical scale, going from Great Britain to the Czech Republic. The systematic studie of these settlements allows us to offer a first glance of the techniques and knowledge used in the making of buildings during the iron Age in celtic Europe.This thesis contains three chapters. The first one presents the history of celtic architecture and metrological research, defines the terms of the study and questions to be answered. The second chapter is dedicated to the detailed analysis of the architectural units site by site and stage by stage after the presentation of the methodological aspects of this work. The third chapter consist in a synthesis about metrology and geometry during the iron Age. The second volume of this work gathers all the plans of each settlement and each building studied.