Cette étude porte sur l'équipement en bois de cervidé (armement et outillage) fabriqué par les chasseurs-cueilleurs paléolithiques qui peuplaient le massif pyrénéen durant le Magdalénien (19-14 ka cal. BP). Pendant cette période, qui correspond à la fin de la dernière glaciation, les Pyrénées constituent une frontière écologique naturelle, circonscrivant plus ou moins strictement la répartition des cervidés de part et d’autre du massif. La question des usages comparés du bois de cervidé autour des Pyrénées est un cas d'étude particulièrement intéressant pour appréhender les interactions hommes préhistoriques-variations du milieu de part et d’autre d’une frontière écologique naturelle. À travers l’étude techno-économique de sept séries d’industrie sur bois de cervidé du Magdalénien pyrénéen (Santa Catalina-NIII, Isturitz-SI/Eω, Isturitz-I/F1, Troubat-10/8, Belvis-1/4,Canecaude I-2, La Bora Gran), nous avons pu confirmer que les groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs avaient globalement puisé dans leur environnement proche l’essentiel des ressources dont ils avaient besoin pour leurs équipements.Si les études techniques et économiques comparées que nous avons menées sur ces deux matériaux ne font pas apparaître d’avantages substantiels de l’un par rapport à l’autre, il n’en demeure pas moins que leur exploitation implique dans les deux cas une anticipation des besoins à plus ou moins long terme. En ce sens, le versant nord du massif livre un exemple original de planification des besoins en armement à travers l’exploitation du bois de renne par les groupes du Magdalénien moyen récent et du Magdalénien supérieur ancien. Enfin,pour pallier les problèmes d’identification taxinomique des bois de cervidé (cerf/ renne) liés à la transformation anthropique des vestiges, nous avons développé une nouvelle méthode d’identification des bois de cervidé au micro-CT, combinant microtomographie X et analyses statistiques avancées (SVM classifiers). Cette méthode innovante, dont l’indice de confiance est évalué à 96 %, a permis de démontrer l’importation de bois de renne sur le territoire Ibérique depuis le versant nord du massif. / This study focuses on deer antler equipment (weapon and tool kits) crafted by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers that inhabited the Pyrenees during the Magdalenian (19-14 ka cal. BP). Throughout this period, which corresponds to the end of the last glaciation, the Pyrenees constitute a natural ecological border, more or less confining the distribution of deer on either side of this mountain range. Comparing the use of deer antler throughout the Pyrenees is a particularly interesting case study for addressing interactions between prehistoric people and environmental variations on either side of a natural ecological border. Through a techno-economic study of seven deerantler industries from the Pyrenean Magdalenian (Santa Catalina-NIII, Isturitz-SI/Eω, Isturitz-I/F1, Troubat-10/8, Belvis-1/4, Canecaude I-2, La Bora Gran), we were able to confirm that hunter-gatherer groups generally exploited their immediate environment for essential resources that they needed for these artefact types. While comparative technical and economic analyses of these two materials do not reveal any substantial advantageof one over the other, their exploitation does however imply in both cases a more or less long-term anticipationof needs. In this sense, the northern side of the range underlines an original example of forward planning of weaponry needs in the exploitation of reindeer antler by Late Middle and Early Upper Magdalenian groups. Finally, in order to overcome problems of taxonomic identification of deer antler (red deer vs. reindeer) tied tothe anthropic transformation of these artefacts, we developed a new identification method using micro-CT scanning,combining X-ray microtomography and advanced statistical analyses (SVM classifiers). This innovative method, with a confidence interval evaluated at 96%, allowed us to demonstrate the import of reindeer antler into the Iberian territory from the northern slopes of the mountain range.

Abstract  In 1924 an investigation into the poor relief of the Saamis in Sweden was conducted. Thus, non-reindeer herding Saamis came into the lime-light for the first time. Previous research has focused on reindeer-herding Saamis in the sense that they were “the true Saamis”. Instead, the aim of this thesis, is to disclose how the non-reindeer herding Saamis were constructed by using a discourse analysis approach. It includes those called Parish Lapps, found in thirty replies to a questionnaire of the Nordic Museum in Sweden conducted in 1945. The bias presented there included the magic abilities of the Saamis. The findings illustrate that these notions, as well as the official discourse, influenced the communal discourse. Other bias exist in Swedish society today, and previous special rights of reindeer-herding is brought to the fore onto the political agenda, leaving the non-reindeer herding Saamis, and their history, on the margins. The non-reindeer herding Saamis were depicted as “the other”, not fully included in the “true Saami” way of living, always in exclusion to the Swedish residential manner.

No description available.

This study deals with Karin Stenberg's importance for Lappstaden in Arvidsjaur and how this has affected the identity of the Sami. The theoretical focus is on ethnicity and the method used is semi-structured interviews. Without Stenberg's battle for Lappstaden, the Sami identity would have been weakened in Arvidsjaur. Lappstaden is an important cultural carrier both for the Sami in groups and individually and as a natural hub for the Sami. Storstämningshelgen, a weekend for Sami people to meet, that takes place in Lappstaden every year is important for tradition, identity, and the Sami affiliation.

Dry, boreal, forest ecosystems have been shown to alternate due to reindeer presence by changing the field layer. This affects the temperature of the soil, changes the microclimate and the nutrients of soil and field layer. By removal of biomass and trampling stress the ground lichen mats reduce in cover and thickness. In this thesis two dry, boreal pine forests in Northern Finland were studied, to see how the nutrient stocks in the field layer are impacted by reindeer presence. A comparison of the same site, with >20 years in between was studied to see how year-round grazing affect the carbon storage in the field layer compared to winter grazing.    I found that reindeer grazing reduces the vegetation carbon storage, however, the impact on the vegetation nitrogen storage differs with site. Furthermore, the lichens and shrubs had lower C:N ratios because of increased nitrogen content in the plant tissue and unaffected carbon content. These results show that reindeer actively changes the vegetation quantity and quality which will have implications for the soil carbon storage.

This paper delves into the significance of land disposal to indigenous rights and Settler-Colonies. Specifically, it examines land use regulations for forestry management and Forest Sami villages. Through interviews with practicing forest reindeer herders, it has been revealed that forestry practices in Sweden have dramatically altered the landscape, posing significant challenges to the continuation of reindeer herding. In the context of Settler-Colonialism, the analysis of these findings shows that land use regulations align with the "logic of elimination," which seeks to remove the native population to secure settlers’ access to land.

The Nenets, an indigenous peoples in the North of Russia, are increasingly being affected by the gas industry. The increasing prioritisation of extractive industries, the status of the Arctic as a bellwether and the threatened situation of indigenous people in Russia has drawn greater attention to this field of study. One resulting issue concerns the relationship between the Nenets and the gas industry, especially regarding the traditional activity of the Nenets; reindeer pastoralism. The implications of this relationship remains little chronicled and understood, with only piecemeal attempts to consider the wider industry-indigenous pastoralism association. This thesis investigates this issue, with particular reference to the framework of energy justice and the Bovanenkovo gas field on the Yamal Peninsula. Energy justice is a relatively new theoretical framework that probes how justicial extractive industries are, whilst Bovanenkovo is a large and expanding gas field on the traditional territory of the Nenets. A systematic literature review has been employed as this thesis’ methodology, which has detailed the various frames by which the relationship on Yamal has been interpreted around the lens of energy justice. Overall, this review has revealed the presence of injustices on Yamal with distinct distributional, procedural and recognition injustices affecting reindeer pastoralism. The implicit nature by which energy justice is featured within the corpus’ authorship as well as the limited reference to the concept of justice are also demonstrated. A number of alternative frames characterising the relationship have also been elucidated, all of which contribute further to frames of injustice but also indicate remediation. A conclusion is drawn that the situation on Yamal remains complex with many different stakeholders, and that the indigenous Nenets remain ever-affected by resource extractive industries.

Reindeer appear to have strong positive effects on plant productivity and nutrient cycling in strongly nutrient-limited ecosystems. While the direct effects of grazing on vegetation composition have been intensively studied, much less is known about the indirect effect of grazing on plant-soil interactions. This thesis investigated the indirect effects of ungulate grazing on arctic plant communities via soil nutrient availability and plant nutrient uptake. At high density, the deposition of dung alone increased plant productivity both in nutrient rich and nutrient poor tundra habitats without causing major changes in soil possesses. Plant community responses to dung addition was slow, with a delay of at least some years. By contrast, a 15N-urea tracer study revealed that nutrients from reindeer urine could be rapidly incorporated into arctic plant tissues. Soil and microbial N pools only sequestered small proportions of the tracer. This thesis therefore suggests a strong effect of dung and urine on plant productivity by directly providing nutrient-rich resources, rather than by stimulating soil microbial activities, N mineralization and ultimately increasing soil nutrient availability. Further, defoliation alone did not induce compensatory growth, but resulted in plants with higher nutrient contents. This grazing-induced increase in plant quality could drive the high N cycling in arctic secondary grasslands by providing litter of a better quality to the belowground system and thus increase organic matter decomposition and enhance soil nutrient availability. Finally, a 15N natural abundance study revealed that intense reindeer grazing influences how plants are taking up their nutrients and thus decreased plant N partitioning among coexisting plant species. Taken together these results demonstrate the central role of dung and urine and grazing-induced changes in plant quality for plant productivity. Soil nutrient concentrations alone do not reveal nutrient availability for plants since reindeer have a strong influence on how plants are taking up their nutrients. This thesis highlights that both direct and indirect effects of reindeer grazing are strong determinants of tundra ecosystem functioning. Therefore, their complex influence on the aboveground and belowground linkages should be integrated in future work on tundra ecosystem N dynamic.

Background Indigenous peoples with traditional lifestyles worldwide are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. Large climate change impacts on the spread of infectious vector-borne diseases are expected as a health outcome. The most rapid climate changes are occurring in the Arctic regions, and as a part of this region northernmost Sweden might experience early effects. In this thesis, climate change effects on the lives of Sami reindeer herders are described and 30 years of weather changes are quantified. Epidemiology of the climate sensitive human infection tularemia is assessed, baseline serologic prevalence of tularemia is investigated and the disease burden is quantified across inhabitants in the region. Methods Perceptions and experiences of climate change effects among the indigenous Sami reindeer herders of northern Sweden were investigated through qualitative analyses of fourteen interviews. The results were then combined with instrumental weather data from ten meteorological stations in a mixed-methods design to further illustrate climate change effects in this region. In two following studies, tularemia ecology and epidemiology were investigated. A total of 4,792 reported cases of tularemia between 1984 and 2012 were analysed and correlated to ecological regions and presence of inland water using geographical mapping. The status of tularemia in the Swedish Arctic region was further investigated through risk factor analyses of a 2012 regional outbreak and a cross-sectional serological survey to estimate the burden of disease including unreported cases. Results The reindeer herders described how the winters of northern Sweden have changed since the 1970s – warmer winters with shorter snow season and cold periods, and earlier spring. The adverse effects on the reindeer herders through the obstruction of their work, the stress induced and the threat to their lifestyle was demonstrated, forcing the reindeer herders towards the limit of resilience. Weather data supported the observations of winter changes; some stations displayed a more than two full months shorter snow cover season and winter temperatures increased significantly, most pronounced in the lowest temperatures. During the same time period a near tenfold increase in national incidence of tularemia was observed in Sweden (from 0.26 to 2.47/100,000 p<0.001) with a clear overrepresentation of cases in the north versus the south (4.52 vs. 0.56/100,000 p<0.001). The incidence was positively correlated with the presence of inland water (p<0.001) and higher than expected in the alpine and boreal ecologic regions (p<0.001). In the outbreak investigation a dose-response relationship to water was identified; distance from residence to water – less than 100 m, mOR 2.86 (95% CI 1.79–4.57) and 100 to 500 m, mOR 1.63 (95% CI 1.08–2.46). The prevalence of tularemia antibodies in the two northernmost counties was 2.9% corresponding to a 16 times higher number of cases than reported indicating that the reported numbers represent only a minute fraction of the true tularemia. Conclusions The extensive winter changes pose a threat to reindeer herding in this region. Tularemia is increasing in Sweden, it has a strong correlation to water and northern ecoregions, and unreported tularemia cases are quite common.

This thesis examines the use of various osseous raw materials in craft activities in the Mälaren region during the Middle Ages. Places studied are: Birka, Sigtuna, Nyköping, Strängnäs and Uppsala. The aim is to capture both chronological and spatial changes in the use of osseous raw materials. Species and materials used reflect regional as well as international networks and how they change during time. The spatial distribution of waste from craft activities, its materiality and temporality mirror activities in different social contexts.  Quantitative and qualitative changes in the handling and exploitation of raw materials reflect varying and changing views of its value and how craft and exchange is affected by both a social and economic agency. In Birka, osseous waste material associated with craft was collected by Hjalmar Stolpe in the 1870s. An examination of the assemblage shows that imported material comprises a significant part of the collection. About a third of the waste consists of imported antler of red deer and reindeer. Red deer is particularly abundant (21%), signifying the importance of southern trading networks. The presence of whalebone can also be linked to south-western trading routes. The waste material collected during excavations in Sigtuna and representing the period c. 980-1300 has a different composition, reflecting different networks and perhaps different means of trade and production. As in Birka, elk antler constitutes the main bulk of the raw material used. Red deer antler is extremely limited, forming less than 1% of the material, appearing continuously though in small amounts from c. 1020-1300.  Reindeer antler is distinctly present in the oldest phase, c. 980-1000. This occurrence might represent a relic of the northern network manifested at Birka. An isotopic study indicates an origin in a forested biotope. After this initial phase the use of reindeer antler becomes as rare as that of red deer until the second half of the 12th century, indicating that the antler craft operated on a minor scale without any demand for long-distance trade in raw materials. A change occurs in the last quarter of the 12th century when large quantities of reindeer antler appear once more. Isotope signatures indicate an origin in more mountainous regions. This coincides with the introduction of another traded raw material of an arctic origin: walrus tusk. The craft had become more marked oriented. This is manifested in larger deposits of debris, a wider range of materials used, including bones from various domestic animals, but also the handling and exploitation of the material changes indicating a different view of production, trade and the value of raw materials than previous. This shift coincides with the introduction of minted silver. Western influences are evident both in the material culture and in the faunal assemblage. It is likely that a majority of the reindeer antler as well as the walrus tusk present in these later phases have a Norwegian origin. In the late 1100s and early 1200s craft in osseous material occur in other towns that emerge in the region but it seems to appear in new social contexts. Small assemblages of antler debris have been found in Uppsala, but the activities they represent lack the spatial continuity that exist in contemporary environments in Sigtuna and Strängnäs, indicating short lived occasional activities in a loosely regulated urban environment. Craft activities dependent purely on bone from domestic animals appear in the 1200s in Nyköping, Uppsala and Strängnäs. They represent craft activities in a new social context outside the private sphere of the local elite and instead subordinated other craft activities where domestic animals have been exploited on a large scale beyond the domestic household. Antler craft represents a social practise in the realms of the local elite with a continuity stretching back to the Iron Age. Monetization and an increasingly feudal society redefine social relations and practise. This can be seen in the occurrence of craft in new contexts in the late 1100s and 1200s, reflecting heterogeneity in social and economic functions in and between the towns in the region.