In the 3rd century, over a relatively short time span more than 100 hillforts were constructed in the southern part of Uppland. In 750 A.D. most were deserted. This period coincides with large political changes in Europe. It also marked a time with increasing water-borne long-range trade. The thesis seeks to find correlations between the sudden emergence of the hillforts, and the long-range trade, in the context of models for ancient economics. The thesis shows that there is a strong correlation between the location of the hillforts and the waterways. It also shows a correlation between hillforts and grave mounds, indicating the hillforts role as a monument for a local elite. The central place for the waterways is Old Uppsala, supporting the assumption made by Michael Olausson and Anders Bornfalk Back, that Old Uppsala was a regional center. In terms of World Systems Theory, Old Uppsala would be a core, dependent on goods from a periphery. Highlighting interactions between the WST sub-systems using New Institutional Economics, the thesis points to the use of tribute systems between a local elite and the surrounding area both for generating trade and constructing the hillforts, manifesting the local leader and controlling the waterways, governed by Old Uppsala. / Under det 3:e århundrandet, byggdes under en relativt kort tidsperiod fler än 100 fornborgar i södra Uppland. År 750 e.Kr. hade de flesta övergivits. Denna period sammanfaller med stora politiska förändringar i Europa. Det var också en tid när vattenburen långväga handel ökade. Uppsatsen söker korrelationer mellan den plötsliga uppkomsten av fornborgarna, och den långväga handeln, i en kontext av modeller för forntida ekonomiska system. Uppsatsen påvisar en stark korrelation mellan fornborgarnas placering och farlederna. Den visar också en korrelation mellan fornborgar och gravhögar, som indikerar fornborgarnas roll som monument för den lokala eliten. Centralplatsen för farlederna är Gamla Uppsala, vilket ger stöd till antagandet av Michael Olausson och Anders Bornfalk Back, att Gamla Uppsala var ett regionalt centrum. I termer av ”World Systems Theory”, var Gamla Uppsala en ”core”, beroende av varor från en periferi. Genom att tydliggöra interaktioner mellan de olika WST-systemen med hjälp av New Institutional Economics, pekar uppsatsen på användandet av tributsystem mellan en lokal elit och dess omgivning, både för att möjliggöra handel och för att uppföra fornborgarna, och därigenom manifestera den lokala ledaren och kontrollen över farlederna, styrt från Gamla Uppsala.

<p>This paper deals with archaeological prospection of an Iron Age farm site in Toland, Fresta parish, Uppland County in Sweden. The purpose of the paper has been to see whether the geophysical methods applied (GPR & EM-38) could produce useful results that could motivate its use in similar surveys in the future. Geochemistry has been used for the purpose of identifying possible activity areas on the site. The results have shown that it is possible with a GPR survey to identify postholes originating from the Migration Period longhouse at the site. The combining of several methods have been important for the identification and interpretation of several areas of interest.</p>

This paper deals with archaeological prospection of an Iron Age farm site in Toland, Fresta parish, Uppland County in Sweden. The purpose of the paper has been to see whether the geophysical methods applied (GPR &amp; EM-38) could produce useful results that could motivate its use in similar surveys in the future. Geochemistry has been used for the purpose of identifying possible activity areas on the site. The results have shown that it is possible with a GPR survey to identify postholes originating from the Migration Period longhouse at the site. The combining of several methods have been important for the identification and interpretation of several areas of interest.

Denna studie handlar om språklig variation i Uppland med fokus på ett antal vokalfonemsvariation. De vokalfonem vars uttalsvariation undersökts är kort ö, långt ö, långt ä, långt i ochlångt y. Undersökningen bygger på inspelningar gjorda på två orter i Uppland, Uppsala ochGimo, för att på så sätt undersöka och jämföra skillnader i vokalfonemens uttal mellan stadoch landsbygd, men även belysa och granska den individuella variationen mellan personerfrån samma ort. Studien avgränsades till att undersöka språk hos ungdomar i gymnasieålderpå de båda orterna.Studien visar att det korta ö ljudet uttalas med en u-sammanfallande variant i högre grad iUppsala än i Gimo. På båda orterna är det väldigt vanligt att uttala långt ö och ä med öppnareuttalsvarianter än den standardspråkliga, och långt i och y uttalas av vissa Uppsalaungdomarmed ett frikativt, lätt surrande ljud. Denna variant verkar däremot inte vara närvarande iGimoungdomars tal. Det traditionellt uppländska ”Stockholms-e” fanns inte i någon avinformanternas tal.Undersökningen visar även att de interindividuella variationerna i uttal av dessa vokalljud ärstörre och mer spridda än de som grundar sig i geografisk härkomst. Efter analys av deutomspråkliga faktorerna kön, socioekonomisk tillhörighet och flyttbenägenhet syns iundersökningen fortfarande inga klara orsaker till mycket av variationen.

Denna uppsats undersöker begravningsurnor som deponerats under romersk järnålder i grav A7000 i Broby bro, Täby Socken, Sverige. Materialet som undersöks är en del av forskningsprojektet; Broby bro – en plats där världen passerar. Teorierna kring begravningsritualer från denna tidsperiod har genom lipidanalyser samt elementanalyser förfinats. Av de fem kärl som undersöks har fyra, F16007, F16152, F16195 och F16263, definierats som begravningsurnor. F16137 är fortfarande oidentifierad. Fokus har lagts på att undersöka relationen mellan fynden och även att fastställa om F16195 och F16263 kommer från samma urna. Resultaten visar att F16195 är en gravgåva till F16263.

Local food systems (LFS) connect producers and consumers in a geographically restricted food supply chain. Local food advocates argue that limiting the spatial scope of food systems can help to address the sustainability challenges present in the global food system. LFS are argued to eliminate intermediaries, enable clear product provenance, encourage community interactions, and involve few food miles. LFS are growing in Sweden, where the government launched a National Food Strategy in 2016, which among other aims promotes the proliferation of local food. This study aims to understand why several farmers from Uppland, central Sweden engage in local selling and whether concerns about sustainability influence the choice of selling channels among them. Using on-farm, semi-structured interviews with the farmers, this research explores three research questions concerning: (1) farmer motives for engaging in local selling channels, (2) factors constraining farmer involvement in LFS, and (3) farmer perceptions on the future of local selling channels. The overall purpose of this research is to provide a critical perspective on local selling as a sustainable food system solution. The study reveals a wide range of motives, including economic advantages from responding to consumer demand and cutting out middlemen, price premiums, more customer interactions, job satisfaction, and proximity to markets. Various economic and personal constraints limit the farmers’ use of local selling channels. Such constraints include seasonality of produce, performing time-consuming middlemen tasks, limited access to essential infrastructure, low transport load utilisation, and individual reasons for not wanting to up-scale local production. The results indicate that better access to on-farm or nearby infrastructure, improved small-scale efficiency, increasing food prices for consumers, changing consumer preferences, more diverse farm products, and better congruency between government objectives and import policies could all help to support LFS in the future. This research exposes a number of underlying contradictions and tensions associated with local food in the literature and among the interviewed farmers. The study finds that sustainability concerns are not a critical motive for the farmers’ involvement in local selling. Some of the farmers even question the sustainability of such channels and challenge the idea that LFS are inherently more sustainable than food systems on other scales. Furthermore, almost all the farmers are involved in both local and global food systems. The farmers do not find it conflicting to be part of both food systems, and are in fact consciously using both systems to their economic advantage. Thus the clear distinction between local and global food systems made in the LFS literature is not reflected in the practical experiences of the farmers involved in this study.

This thesis investigates inheritance among landowning families in the parish of Estuna in east-central Sweden between 1810 and 1930. The patterns of action examined in the study are analyzed as strategies in terms of objectives and principles on the one hand, and means towards these objectives and principles on the other. Before 1885, strategies were based on family interest. The individual’s dependency on inheritance was strong: a fact manifesting itself e.g. in the strong connections between inheritance and matrimonial patterns. The principal goal of the family strategies was to accomplish a transfer of the estate under sustainable conditions to one of the heirs, preferably – but not necessarily – a son. After 1845, as a response to institutional and social change, forms of conveyance changed. For example, after the introduction of equal rights of inheritance between sons and daughters in 1846, the number of quasi-commercial sales of land directly to sons increased, as a way of circumventing judicial demands. Yet this change of action in no way counter-acted the comprehensive goals and principles of inheritance. On the contrary, it was a means to overcome new difficulties in accomplishing these goals. After 1885, inheritance strategies reflected individual, rather than collective, aims. Estates were parcelled and the lots sold by the heirs at a profit. Furthermore, matrimony no longer showed connection with the spouses’ respective inheritance. This development was a result of institutional developments as well as of economic change, both diminishing paternal power. Industrialization had created openings outside domestic agriculture, and so individuals became less dependent on family and family resources. During this period, the older generation tended to keep their estates as long as possible, and this was read as a defensive strategy aimed at continued maintenance of estates within the family.

In this thesis a ground-penetration radar survey was carried out in four areas, Borgmästarängen, Draken, Urmakaren and Koppardosan in Sigtuna. The aim of this paper is to detect remnants of the Viking Age harbor at those chosen sites. Former research investigations have discovered findings which are related to shipbuilding like clench nails, rivets and boat nails; however, the question remains whether Sigtuna ever had a central harbor, and researchers suggested instead that every town plot had its own mooring. This paper addresses this question by deploying geophysical surveys to increase the understanding of the town’s organization. Furthermore this paper will discuss how the detected structures can be understood in comparison to earlier Viking Age and early Medieval towns, in this case Birka, Hedeby and Schleswig where central harbors have been discovered and investigated.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005.

This essay researches cultural behaviour and rites surrounding wells in Uppland County, Sweden. The wells examined in this paper are mainly medieval with a few exceptions from Scandinavian Iron age (550 BC – 1050 AD). The material is compared with other forms of ritual activities surrounding water from the same area, as well as excerpts from the Poetic Edda. The purpose of this study was to find patterns of ritual behaviour surrounding the wells and argues for a ritual use spanning a longer time period than what previously has been assumed.