<p>The overall aim of the present thesis was to develop and characterise an age assessment method based on incremental lines in dental cementum using contemporary bovine teeth and teeth from archaeological faunal assemblages. The investigations also included two other age assessment methods: tooth wear pattern and macroscopic dental measurements. The first permanent mandibular molar and lower jaws from 70 contemporary cattle of known age and 170 archaeological molar sets from ten different Swedish archaeological sites were used. The following conclusions were drawn: </p><p>• The number of incremental lines in the dental cementum varied between different parts of the tooth root as well as within one and the same individual. The results from contemporary cattle of known age showed a strong relationship between age and incremental lines in the cementum of the distal part of the mesial root (R²=65.5%) and the known ages of the animals. </p><p>• With the “best” model variation in age could be explained to 65.5% (R²) by the number of incremental lines. Thus, the remaining age variation (approximately 35%) could not be explained by these lines. Other factors than must thus be responsible. However, with the exception of calves born the present material did not reveal any such significant relationship. </p><p>• The results from cattle of known age indicate that the method of assessing age on the basis of cemental incremental lines is more reliable than other methods such as tooth wear or tooth measurements. However, by combining counting incremental lines and one variable assessing tooth dimension (tooth height) a slightly stronger relationship could be obtained (R²=74.5%). The results from age assessment of the medieval and post-Reformation cattle emphasize the importance of supplementing any age estimation of archaeological assemblages based on dental indicators with characteristics for the particular assessment model. Furthermore, conclusions based on age assessment with such models can not be drawn with any more detailed time scale than about 2 years leaving at best only 25% (R²) of factors influencing the dental indicator(s) utilized in the model unexplained. The accuracy of the age assessment required by the particular historical context in which the archaeological remains are found should thus decide what level of accuracy should be chosen.</p>

No description available.

The overall aim of the present thesis was to develop and characterise an age assessment method based on incremental lines in dental cementum using contemporary bovine teeth and teeth from archaeological faunal assemblages. The investigations also included two other age assessment methods: tooth wear pattern and macroscopic dental measurements. The first permanent mandibular molar and lower jaws from 70 contemporary cattle of known age and 170 archaeological molar sets from ten different Swedish archaeological sites were used. The following conclusions were drawn: • The number of incremental lines in the dental cementum varied between different parts of the tooth root as well as within one and the same individual. The results from contemporary cattle of known age showed a strong relationship between age and incremental lines in the cementum of the distal part of the mesial root (R2=65.5%) and the known ages of the animals. • With the “best” model variation in age could be explained to 65.5% (R2) by the number of incremental lines. Thus, the remaining age variation (approximately 35%) could not be explained by these lines. Other factors than must thus be responsible. However, with the exception of calves born the present material did not reveal any such significant relationship. • The results from cattle of known age indicate that the method of assessing age on the basis of cemental incremental lines is more reliable than other methods such as tooth wear or tooth measurements. However, by combining counting incremental lines and one variable assessing tooth dimension (tooth height) a slightly stronger relationship could be obtained (R2=74.5%). The results from age assessment of the medieval and post-Reformation cattle emphasize the importance of supplementing any age estimation of archaeological assemblages based on dental indicators with characteristics for the particular assessment model. Furthermore, conclusions based on age assessment with such models can not be drawn with any more detailed time scale than about 2 years leaving at best only 25% (R2) of factors influencing the dental indicator(s) utilized in the model unexplained. The accuracy of the age assessment required by the particular historical context in which the archaeological remains are found should thus decide what level of accuracy should be chosen.

No description available.

This article presents some of the earliest rock art documentation known from northern Europe. Johannes Haquini Rhezelius produced it on an antiquarian journey to Öland and Småland in 1634. Compared with the Norwegian Peder Alfsøn’s documentation from seven years previously in northern Bohuslän, then a part of Norway, there are differences and similarities. Both men drew by eye with ink, Alfsøn then embellishing his images with watercolours. Neither used any scalemeasurements. Rhezelius's informants did not seem to preserve any pre-Christian ideas about figurative rock art. They associated it with legends and stories sprung fromaChristian culture;with giants, maidens and church-burglars. Folklore associated cupmarks with elfs.

No description available.

This thesis deals with the social dimension in lithic technology during the Mesoltihic in eastern central Sweden. The starting point is the empirical observation of the disappearing bipolar-on-anvil method of reduction around 4500 BC. This method of reduction is often used on quartz and it is the dominant method of reduction at Stone Age sites dated to the period before 4500 BC. It subsequently almost disappears without any sign of technological innovation at the time. Several other changes in the Mesolithic society occur at this time; the large aggregation sites disappear and contact with other areas changes. All this points to that the technological change is only one indication of more profound changes in the organisation and structuring of the society at this time. By looking at technology as a practice, it can be related to the social communications and negotiations that occur between different people. Tool making is seen as an arena where people of different gender and age are engaged. Lithic technology has a strong performative character that is an important part in the constant communications of social identities. This performative character is expressed at the knapping floors. The knapping floors are analyzed spatially and with a fracture analysis. The method of fracture analysis is developed as a result of experimental knapping. The result of the analysis of knapping floors from seven Mesolithic sites indicate that there is a contradiction between on the one hand organizing tool production in different strategies, as a result of different social groups being engaged in the making of quartz tools, and on the other hand, the spatially structuration of knapping floors where all stone working is located in one place. This contradiction is seen as an example of the duality of action and structure. By spatially organising the knapping floors as places where people met, they were given a purpose as a levelling device in an egalitarian structure. The disappearance of the bipolar-on-anvil method of reduction around 4500 BC is only a small symbol of more profound changes in the social structure in the Mesolithic society, changes in the way people percieved their world and themselves.

<p>This paper deals with approaches toward the conservation of archaeological heritage among different people and different institutions in Samoa. This is compared with approaches toward ecology and preservation of the environment to find out if there are similarities and/or differences. Moreover the opinions on how the public perceive the material heritage is compared with a survey of the public itself and their ideas concerning archaeology. The investigation was carried out by conducting interviews with people working within different institutions, NGO’s and schools as well as representatives from the general population i.e. people without education in conservation and cultural heritage. Possibilities of co-conserving the cultural and ecological values are also examined, as is the relation between culture and a natural feature - the mangroves.<strong></strong></p> / <p>Uppsatsen behandlar åsikter och attityder hos allmänheten och olika institutioner på Samoa gällandebevarandet av det arkeologiska kulturarvet. Detta jämförs med en likande studie gällande bevarandetav miljömässiga och ekologiska värden på Samoa för att se om det finns likheter och skillnader. Studieninkluderar också en undersökning av hur allmänheten ser på det materiella kulturarvet och derasförhållande till och kundkap om arkeologi. Undersökningarna gjordes genom ett intervjuprojekt där desom intervjuades representerade både institutioner, organisationer, skolor och allmänheten, densistnämnda gruppen hade ingen formell kunskap om kulturarvet och dess hantering. Inom ramen förstudien undersöktes också möjligheterna för att samarbeta när det gäller hanteringen och bevarandetav kulturella och ekologiska värden t.ex. gällande mangroveområden.</p>

This paper deals with approaches toward the conservation of archaeological heritage among different people and different institutions in Samoa. This is compared with approaches toward ecology and preservation of the environment to find out if there are similarities and/or differences. Moreover the opinions on how the public perceive the material heritage is compared with a survey of the public itself and their ideas concerning archaeology. The investigation was carried out by conducting interviews with people working within different institutions, NGO’s and schools as well as representatives from the general population i.e. people without education in conservation and cultural heritage. Possibilities of co-conserving the cultural and ecological values are also examined, as is the relation between culture and a natural feature - the mangroves. / Uppsatsen behandlar åsikter och attityder hos allmänheten och olika institutioner på Samoa gällandebevarandet av det arkeologiska kulturarvet. Detta jämförs med en likande studie gällande bevarandetav miljömässiga och ekologiska värden på Samoa för att se om det finns likheter och skillnader. Studieninkluderar också en undersökning av hur allmänheten ser på det materiella kulturarvet och derasförhållande till och kundkap om arkeologi. Undersökningarna gjordes genom ett intervjuprojekt där desom intervjuades representerade både institutioner, organisationer, skolor och allmänheten, densistnämnda gruppen hade ingen formell kunskap om kulturarvet och dess hantering. Inom ramen förstudien undersöktes också möjligheterna för att samarbeta när det gäller hanteringen och bevarandetav kulturella och ekologiska värden t.ex. gällande mangroveområden.

<p>In this essay I have chosen to do a cursory study of the spread of the figural gold foils. Emanating from foremost the Vendel time (550 – 800 e Kr) in the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I will also discuss their relationship to so called central places. Three central locations are in focus in this essay: Borg in Lofoten, Slöinge in Halland and Uppåkra in Skåne. I will also discuss when and why the religious cult changed during the Vendel period to Viking age.</p> / <p>I denna Uppsats har jag valt att göra en översiktlig studie utav spridningen av guldgubbar. De härstammar från Vendeltid (550 – 800 e Kr) i de Skandinaviska länderna Norge, Sverige och Danmark. Här kommer jag också att diskutera deras koppling till så kallade centralplatser. Det ger en fördjupningsstudier i  följande tre centralplatser: Borg i Lofoten, Slöinge i Halland och Uppåkra i Skåne. Här kommer även att diskuteras när och varför kulten förändrades under Vendeltid till Vikingatid.</p>