The thesis identifies and discusses some fundamental changes that took place during the middle neolithic period in Sweden, with the introduction of the Boat Axe Culture. The possibility of intrepreting the Corded Ware Cultures by way of networks, identified through the regional designes of battle axes, are proposed. With the aid of a reconsideration of the typology of the Swedish boat axes, ethnographic examples of gift-exchanges, and a theoretical reappraisal of the implications of archaeological praxis for prehistorc life-worlds, new possibillities for interpreting the changing role of such prestige items as the boat-axes are presented. A new chronological scheme is also presented for the Swedish boat axes, with a tripartite division of the latter middle neolithic into MN BI-III. The value of the boat axe is further considered to be explicable only in terms of a prestige item, dependent on a system of exchange for its continual valuation. Central to this discussion is the relationship between value and exchange. Several regions within the Swedish Boat Axe Culture are identified, and the boat axes in two of these regions in the southern part of the Mälar valley are thoroughly examined. It is shown that during the cours of the Boat Axe period, the emphasis gradually changed from a regional to an intra-regional focus concerning the development of types and special designes of the boat axes. Identified similarities and dissimilarities of contemporary boat axes within and between regions are explained as a result of a parallel change in gift exchanges, from a regional focus to an intra-regional focus. An hierarchical ordering of the latter middle neolithic soceity is also identified, where only a portion of the boat-axes were selected as burial gifts. This development is chartered onto the broader neolithic development in Sweden, with special focus on the role of prestige items such as battle axes. A fundamental change is identified as taking place during the Boat Axe period, when the full implications of a prestige economy were implemented and the major strategies for power settled on the inter-regional level.

This thesis analyses the decoration on the pots of the Pitted Ware Culture on Gotland. The pottery from this period is richly decorated with various ornaments, the most common are the pits but other types of decoration occur. The purpose of this study is to get an insight into what the patterns meant to the people that made and used them and what role these may have played in their lives. The author will analyse the decoration on potsherds found from the three Pitted Ware sites of Visby, Ajvide and Hemmor on Gotland. This will be used in a comparative analysis to investigate if differences and/or similarities of the pattern occur between and among the sites. A comparative study of various ceramic found in dated graves with various temporal status from the site Ajvide is also done to see if changes in the patterning occur with time. Since pits are common on most pottery from all the sites from this time they will not be used in these analyses but the focus will be on other type of pattern. / Neolitiska livsstilar

En Afrique Australe, plusieurs sites attribués au Middle Stone Age (MSA) ont livré de grandes quantités de blocs " d'ocre ", suggérant une longue tradition d'exploitation, bien avant l'occurrence des premières peintures rupestres. Les indices sur la fonction de ce matériau et le but pour lequel il a été utilisé sont rares, ce qui a conduit à plusieurs hypothèses. Certains auteurs leur ont associé des comportements symboliques tandis que d'autres ont montré qu'une utilisation " utilitaire " était possible. La question de la fonction et du rôle qu'occupait l'ocre est par ailleurs centrale dans le contexte du MSA, étant donnée l'émergence de plusieurs innovations, production de perles, de motifs gravés et technologies de taille spécifiques. Le site de Diepkloof Rock Shelter apparait particulièrement propice pour tenter de comprendre les comportements associés à l'exploitation de l'ocre, du fait de sa longue séquence fouillée récemment. Ce travail propose d'aborder les différentes étapes de l'exploitation de l'ocre, de la collecte des matières premières à l'utilisation, à partir de l'étude des blocs. Plusieurs méthodes d'observations et d'analyse physico-chimique (MEB-EDS, DRX, ICP-MS, TL, TEM et PIXE) ont été mises en œuvre pour identifier les matières premières, leur provenance, et les transformations opérées. Des prospections et une comparaison avec un corpus géologique ont permis de déterminer l'origine géologique des objets. Des expérimentations et une étude des traces d'usure ont permis d'identifier les transformations. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que des distances supérieures à 20 km ont été parcourues pour l'acquisition de certaines matières premières, dont on constate qu'elles sont plus riches en fer que celles accessibles localement. Les matières premières ont été presque systématiquement abrasées pour produire de la poudre. Ces résultats sont compatibles avec une fonction comme agent siccatif, couvrant ou colorant. Enfin, la continuité avec laquelle l'ocre est exploitée à Diepkloof malgré les changements survenus dans les techno-complexes, ainsi qu'un usage différent par rapport à d'autres sites, suggère que l'ocre a pu jouer un rôle dans les relations sociales inter et intra-groupes.

Denna studie inkluderar resultat från osteologiska analyser från tre stenålderslokaler på Gotland: Visborgs Kungsladugård, Strå samt Gisslause. Dessa tre lokaler är daterade till Mesolitikum, dvs. bland de tidigaste faserna på Gotland. En majoritet av de identifierade benen har varit från säl och därför har uppsatsen kommit att handla om den säljakt som utövats på dessa tre platser. Utifrån de fynd som analyserats har skillnader kunnat uttolkas vad det gäller både åldersfördelning och fördelning av olika sälarter mellan vissa av lokalerna. Visborgs Kungsladugård visar på en majoritet av yngre gråsälar till skillnad från Strå och Gisslause där det existerar en jämn fördelning mellan gråsäl och vikare, likaså en jämn fördelning mellan åldrarna. Tolkningen av detta pekar på en delvis säsongsjakt där populationerna har jagat på olika sätt på olika delar av Gotland. I uppsatsen har även en diskussion angående den marina anpassningen tagits upp. Denna anpassning har setts i tre stadier, lakustrin, littorin och marin. Den mesolitiska populationen på Gotland passar in på det littorina stadiet där en full marin kultur inte ännu varit helt utvecklad. Då det främst jagats säl på och nära stranden samt att ett visst insjöfiske utövats påvisar resultaten att ett fullt utnyttjande av havet ännu inte bedrivits.

This thesis is a chronological survey over the hut and house remains from the Stone Age to the Early Middle Ages in Eastern Central Sweden. The thesis also contains a test which I have conducted to see which investigation method had the best results in identifying house remains at an archaeological site. I subsequently discuss the result of this test, what it represents and also what may be done differently in order to get other types of results.

This thesis analyses the Funnel Beaker Culture on the island of Gotland. Since no comprehensive studies of the remains of the pottery have been made, this is one of the reasons why I chose to study this topic. The purpose of this study is to analyze the pottery and to discuss the chronological and spatial implications. Four sites from the Funnel Beaker Culture on Gotland are studied; Mölner/Gullarve, Gräne, Ardags and Suderkvie. Ceramic samples are analyzed with respect to its ornament and it is discussed if the pottery found at various sites are contemporary. This is done by comparing with pottery from Funnel Beaker sites in Scania. A comparison with Öland is also made, mainly with the site of Runsbäck. Another well excavated Funnel Beaker site is discussed, Skogsmossen in Västmanland. Finally, I have done a detailed spatial analysis of the site Mölner/Gullarve, with focus on the area of Gullarve, to understand the distribution of the ceramics and some of the flint material. This is an attempt to discuss the relations between Gullarve and Mölner, as well as all the sites regionally and their possible interregional relationships with Öland and the Swedish mainland. This thesis has shown that it is possible that the site of Mölner/Gullarve might belong to the earlier part of the early Neolithic era whilst the sites Gräne and Suderkvie might belong to the later part of the same period. Ardags has been a complicated site to date and seem to have been of importance to the people for a long time. The spatial analysis of Mölner/Gullarve has shown that some flint-artifacts have seemingly been more common on Gullarve whilst ceramics seems to have been more common on Mölner. Other things that have been discussed is the possibility of a megalithic tomb near the site of Suderkvie and that the site of Ardags should be further discussed out of a perspective of possible ertebølle-pottery. / Skärvor av en forntid

The importance of the elk (Alces alces) in the Stone Age societies of northern Sweden constitutes the major focus of this thesis. The point of departure is a simple but crucial observation: this animal is the common denominator between the three stationary types of remains known in this region from the period 4000-1800 BC. Here, I refer to the pit falls, the rock art sites, and the mounds of burnt stone. Pit falls have been used for trapping elks, and can be found on the migration trails that have been used by these animals for thousands of years. On the rock art sites, the elk constitutes the most frequently depicted motif, and the mounds of burnt stones contain extremely large quantities of elk bones. If the elk had not held a central position in the life world of prehistoric people in the northern Swedish region of Norrland, these archaeological materials would certainly have had a different appearance. I claim that it is the significance of this animal that has led to, and shaped, the emergence of these material remains. In this study the overall importance of the elk is investigated. My main question is how the elk’s significance affected the prehistoric societies of Norrland. I found that the elk’s material remains led to a range of consequences. The pit falls, rock art sites and mounds of burnt stone tied the prehistoric people to certain areas in the landscape. However, at the same time, these remains required to be constantly in transformation to be usable. Pit falls, for example, have to be re-digged in order to at all function as traps for big game. The conceptual dichotomy between permanence and change can be traced in the ways in which the elk motif at the rock art site at Nämforsen was altered. The elk figures are depicted with either straight or angled legs. I interpret this variation as an indication of the fact that the elk motif functioned as a key symbol – a motif that is able to express a range of meanings when it becomes altered and varied. The emergence of depicting the opposition between mobility and permanence tells us that the Stone Age societies had problems uniting these two concepts. I interpret this as signifying that these hunter-gatherers became aware of the “Neolithic aspects” of their own social structure.

abstract: This study explores how early modern humans used stone tool technology to adapt to changing climates and coastlines in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa. The MSA is associated with the earliest fossil evidence for modern humans and complex cultural behaviors during a time period of dramatic climate change. Human culture allows for the creation, use, and transmission of technological knowledge that can evolve with changing environmental conditions. Understanding the interactions between technology and the environment is essential to illuminating the role of culture during the origin of our species. This study is focused on understanding ancient tool use from the study of lithic edge damage patterns at archaeological assemblages in southern Africa by using image-based quantitative methods for analyzing stone tools. An extensive experimental program using replicated stone tools provides the comparative linkages between the archaeological artifacts and the tasks for which they were used. MSA foragers structured their tool use and discard behaviors on the landscape in several ways – by using and discarding hunting tools more frequently in the field rather than in caves/rockshelters, but similarly in coastal and interior contexts. This study provides evidence that during a significant microlithic technological shift seen in southern Africa at ~75,000 years ago, new technologies were developed alongside rather than replacing existing technologies. These results are compared with aspects of the European archaeological record at this time to identify features of early human technological behavior that may be unique to the evolutionary history of our species. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2016

abstract: The South African Middle Stone Age (MSA), spanning the Middle to Late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 8-3) witnessed major climatic and environmental change and dramatic change in forager technological organization including lithic raw material selection. Homo sapiens emerged during the MSA and had to make decisions about how to organize technology to cope with environmental stressors, including lithic raw material selection, which can effect tool production and application, and mobility. This project studied the role and importance of lithic raw materials in the technological organization of foragers by focusing on why lithic raw material selection sometimes changed when the behavioral and environmental context changed. The study used the Pinnacle Point (PP) MSA record (MIS6-3) in the Mossel Bay region, South Africa as the test case. In this region, quartzite and silcrete with dramatically different properties were the two most frequently exploited raw materials, and their relative abundances change significantly through time. Several explanations intertwined with major research questions over the origins of modern humans have been proposed for this change. Two alternative lithic raw material procurement models were considered. The first, a computational model termed the Opportunistic Acquisition Model, posits that archaeological lithic raw material frequencies are due to opportunistic encounters during random walk. The second, an analytical model termed the Active-Choice Model drawn from the principles of Optimal Foraging Theory, posits that given a choice, individuals will choose the most cost effective means of producing durable cutting tools in their environment and will strategically select those raw materials. An evaluation of the competing models found that lithic raw material selection was a strategic behavior in the PP record. In MIS6 and MIS5, the selection of quartzite was driven by travel and search cost, while during the MIS4, the joint selection of quartzite and silcrete was facilitated by a mobility strategy that focused on longer or more frequent stays at PP coupled with place provisioning. Further, the result suggests that specific raw materials and technology were relied on to obtain food resources and perform processing tasks suggesting knowledge about raw material properties and suitability for tasks. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2017

In this essay, Neolithic potsherds from Alby, Öland has been examined. The purpose was to investigate the connection between the lipid residues and the vessel shapes and ornament. To solve the attempt lipid and morphological analyses were executed. The lipid analysis revealed traces of different food residues and the morphological method showed various shapes and decors. The result indicates that the Alby ceramics has been used for cooking/storage of different fish and meat dishes, as well as vegetables and that the vegetables doesn’t derive of cereals.