This bachelor’s thesis aims to reconstruct the coastal road of northern Sweden during the Finnish war 1808–1809. The thesis purpose is also to discuss what kind of archaeological remains can be found in northern Sweden from the war 1808-1809 and if the archaeological remains are vulnerable to future exploitation. Reconstruction of the road and mapping of the archaeological remains are done through an ArcGIS-analysis, where past conditions such as soil type and postglacial rebound are studied. The old coastal road was used by the military in 1808-1809 to move troops and shipments between different coastal settlements and cities. Today, large parts of the old coastal road are overlapped by highway E4, but some parts remain. A good number of archaeological remains from the war 1808-1809 can be found along the coastal road and there is a high concentration of remains around Sävar, Umeå and Kalix. The largest upcoming and ongoing project in northern Sweden is the construction of the railway “Norrbotniabanan” between Umeå and Luleå. This type of exploitation has showed to interfere with parts of the old coastal road, as well as some of the archaeological remains from the war 1808-1809.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the difference in our picture of three events on the early iron age battlefields depending on the material that is examined. This paper is basing the comparative analysis on historical texts and archaeological findings to analyze the three battles: battle of Alesia, battle of Teutoburg forest and battle of Harzhorn. The theoretical framework of this paper is built on battlefield archaeology, all three battlefields have been archaeologically excavated to different extents using this method.    The historical and archaeological material has presented both varying and the same picture of the battlefields. For the battle of Alesia, the historical materials depiction of the battle is more extensive than the archaeological. For the battle of Teutoburg forest the archaeological materials depiction is more extensive than the historical but the historical material explains the event with more simplicity. Lastly for the battle of Harzhorn the archaeological materials depiction is much more extensive than the historical material.

The Swedish memory is often strong about things that happened during the Second World War where the Atlantic Wall is often an remembered example. But many parts of our own history surrounding this conflict is more or less forgotten. One such part is the Per-Albin line in Skåne and Blekinge that was Swedens first line of defence against the Third Reich. The remains of these fortifications have today can still be found in the Swedish terrain. But when the Per-Albin line have been described it has been out of a historical perspective but not from an archaeological perspective. Because of this we miss the information that the remains of these once important structures made of concrete meant for Sweden during a dark time of the 20th-century. Remains from the Per-Albin line will be analyzed with archaeological methods and maps to find removed and forgotten defensives made of concrete and other materials to see the preservation conditions of the defensive line today. The background material consists of the history of the defensive line and the men and women that inhabited places in the Per-Albin linje and. The material that is presented in the text is from different places in Blekinge,Vägga Udde,Boön and Kärringaberget. The text attempts to incorporate the use of using maps to find the remnants of the the constructions. This work also takes up the methods that the government uses to preserve parts the line for the future and also the methods the government uses to handle the structures in other ways. The main point of this paper is to bring the practices of battlefield archaeology into light by showing how it can be used and the gains of using it on modern remnants of war.

The armour that was found during the excavations of the mass graves after the battle of Visby in the year 1361, has given great knowledge about the 14th century defensive equipment. Bengt Thordeman's analyses and interpretations of the armour-material have influenced modern research on the subject. The predominant narrative is that the militia from Gotland was ill-equipped, and that the Danish army was far superior. However, the aim of this study is to create a more nuanced picture of how the soldiers in the mass graves were equipped, and to contribute to future research on the largely unstudied commoner-armour of the Nordic countries. The study compares armour-items from the mass graves at site of the so-called Korsbetningen, with other archaeological material, the descriptions of folkvapen in Swedish medieval legal documents, and contemporary artwork. This comparison is made to broaden the perspective and see similarities and differences between the Visby material and other sources.     The thesis results in a better understanding of what types of armour that was used during this battle, showing that the head-area was well protected, that the torso was slightly less prioritized to protect, and that the arms and legs were relatively unprotected.