In this paper I discuss the theory of altered states of consciousness. Some of the rock art of the san-people in southern Africa and the lakota people in South Dakota, USA have been inspired by experiences during trance. The question is if some of the rock art in southern Scandinavia also have been inspired by trance experiences, and if archaeological scientists by investigating this theoretical view might find a better understanding as far as the Bronze Age in Southern Scandinavia is concerned.

This essay discusses different opinions about experimental archaeology. To start with literature was examined and a questionnaire was sent out to students and working archaeologists. The possibility for experiments to mediate archaeology to people without an education in archaeology is lifted and is also mentioned in the questionnaire. In the discussion part of the essay the results from the questionnaire and the literature are used to see what opinions are the strongest. The mediating is also discussed and the result is compiled in the conclusion. There are different opinions about experimental archaeology, but no prominent difference between what students and archaeologists answered. It is possible to see different opinions in the literature, but concerning the mediating most of the writers agree that the experimental archaeology is a good method to communicate with the laymen.

This paper concerns the treatment of people at execution places and it is focusing on Gotland and the execution place called Galgberget. The material in the paper comes from Galgberget and a gallow in Denmark called Slots Bjergby. Together with this the laws of Gotland during the medieval and later periods are discussed and also how the archaeological material (especially the buttons) found on the excavation site can help to understand the people buried on the gallow site. The result of the analysis shows that the laws and the material found on the excavation site often tells different things. The punishments are often softer then what the law says. The material is also suggesting that it was possible to gain a better place on the execution site and that the many execution places in Visby were used for different kinds of punishments.

This essay deals with a picture-stone that was found in a pre Christian grave during the archaeological excavations of the Viking Age harbour and trading place at Fröjel parish, Gotland, in 1999. The stone is at least 100 years older then the male grave in which it was found. The picture-stone can be dated to  late 8th century or early 9th century, and the grave is probably from the late 10th century. One of the main questions in this essay is why the people of that time re-used an older picture-stone in a younger burial. I believe that the stone was reused as a grave-gift. To re-use the older picture stone was to seek legitimacy for the status of the family through the forefathers. The picture-stones were originally monuments erected in the honour of dead men. The elite could display their social position and power through these monuments. The depicted figures on them can be interpreted as symbols of the transition between life and death. The Gotlandic picture-stones of this type have connections to beliefs of Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, war and death. My theoretical perspective is that through studies of picture-stones, knowledge can be gained about ideologies and social structures within the Gotlandic society during the Viking Age.

In Scandinavia the general idea of the Bronze Age society is that it was organised as chiefdoms. The model for what they looked like is taken from the anthropological studies of the Polynesian chiefdoms. The aim of my study is to investigate a Scandinavian Bronze Age feature, known as cairns mainly containing fire-cracked stone. This is compared with how people in different Polynesian chiefdoms, looked at similar remain. This is done to get a background for new ways of interpretation of such remains. The method is ethno-archaeological and carried out by studying ethno-historical Polynesian chiefdoms and theories on Scandinavian Bronze Age. For example, in prehistoric Polynesian societies it is shown that refuse heaps or pits for ritual garbage occur on or near the ceremonial place, called Marae. The materials deposited were sacred, and had to be placed on or close to the Marae. Most rituals in Polynesia can be described as long processes with numbers of minor rituals. To me these insights place the Scandinavian remains in a new light. The heaps with fire-cracked stone could possibly be the garbage/refuse left over after one or a number of ritual ceremonies, consciously placed there by the people using the site, and thereafter respected because of its sacredness.

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2004.

This essay is a study of the dental health and cranial pathologies of five individuals buried in Domkyrkoplan cemetery, Uppsala, in the 17th and 18th century. Domkyrkoplan was the only cemetery in Uppsala city during the 200-year time period. The cemetery was placed in the immediate surroundings of Uppsala cathedral. The 17th century is a breaking point between the late medieval society and the early modern era in Sweden as well as in Europe, and this was a period of change for the inhabitants of Uppsala city. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper insight into the inhabitants’ health and life, as well as an overview of the town’s development over the course of the time period. The theoretical framework used in this essay is microarchaeology, and the results from the analysis apply only to the analyzed individuals. Although no attempt will be made to draw conclusions about the entire population of Uppsala during the early modern times, the results will be placed in a historical context. The historical context provided in this essay is the result of a literary analysis with three major focal points: demography and city planning, Uppsala cathedral and the cemetery, diet and health. The results of the osteological analysis have shown that the five individuals all suffered from malnutrition and/or iron deficiency at some point during their childhood. The individuals are believed to have belonged to the middle class in the early modern society, however, they seem to have lived through some sort of hardship which caused the malnutrition. The literary analysis concludes that Uppsala was subjected to a starvation catastrophe during the last years of the 17th century, as well as the plague shortly thereafter, in 1710. The osteological material analyzed in this essay is part of an ongoing archaeological investigation, which means that the dating and results used or concluded in this essay is preliminary and may differ from the final archaeological report, which will be released in 2021.

The forest has always been an important resource for Sweden and over the years technological advancements has made forestry more efficient, but the large machines that are now an essential part of the industry poses a threat to the many heritage sites located in our woods. This thesis aims to understand how the people working in forestry practice cultural heritage management and what motivates them to keep these sites safe. An inventory of the current state of heritage sites in the forest, combined with a survey aimed at employees active in the field has been used to try to find ways to improve the cultural heritage management in forestry.

The study of gender identification in Neolithic iconography is a relatively unexplored area. This study will apply gender theory on the findings of reliefs in Göbekli Tepe to further the information about this area. Contemporary scientists state that there are no females present in Göbekli Tepes iconography, whether they are human or animal. Earlier research has gone from exploring the idea that a female-dominated cult that focused on a goddess with connections to fertility, originating from the discovery of Çatalhöyük, was prominent in the area to a male-dominated cult which has a focus on dominance, aggressiveness and wildness. The cult of the goddess theory came from a focus on artefacts and reliefs that showed the female sex, while ignoring all male findings. The male-centered theory comes not only from the artefacts and reliefs that have been found but also as a response to the female-dominant cults exaggeration of findings of female iconography. In this study there will be a limited analysis of previous research within these two different camps of research, as well as an analysis of six reliefs from Göbekli Tepe. This analysis will be based on gender theory mainly as it has a prominent relevance in the studies of hunter-gatherer societies. Its importance comes as a response to the heteronormative lenses that this time has been viewed through. Because the people that lived in this time period (about 10000 BCE) had an intimate relationship with both the flora and fauna that made up their world. This led to an extensive symbolic relationship between animals and humans which led to the lines between them started to blur, one representing the other symbolically. The research analysis will be limited to cultic and iconographic interpretations that have a connection to Göbekli Tepe. The choice of motifs for further analysis have also been limited because of the small number of published pictures of the T-pillars, those that have been chosen are by what species that they are (foxes and boars, two of each) and if renderings have visible genitalia or not. The other two reliefs have been chosen as a further exploration of the gender-question as it is presented in Göbekli Tepes iconography. The main results of this study are that there is no scientific basis to say that there are no females depicted at Göbekli Tepe. This conclusion is primarily based on evidence that clearly indicates that the artists of the reliefs had such a high ability and knowledge about both the animals and artistic techniques that they fully had the abilities to depict what they wanted. Neither can we be sure that the reliefs that are without male genitalia are male from their depicted biological traits. This leaves a big group of genderless individuals in Göbekli Tepe and the question if gender is at all relevant or if the depicted animals relate more of a spiritual relationship between animals and humans.

Studien undersöker hur arkeologiskt djurbensmaterial från Västergarn, Gotland har påverkats av tafonomiska processer på Västergarn. Syftet med uppsatsen är att framföra vikten av tafonomi inom arkeologi och osteologi, vinklat mot om de tafonomiska processerna skulle kunna påverka den osteologiska analysen och isåfall hur? En stor del ben frystes även för att få bukt på den aktiva mögelprocessen, hur har det påverkat benen? Kan samband ses mellan en viss fragmenteringsgrad, vissa frakturtyper och specifika tafonomiska processer från Västergarn? Detta diskuteras i samband med jordbeskrivningarna av de kontext som benen hittats i och undersöker vilken potentiell process som kan ha skapat förändringen på benet. Slutligen framför uppsatsen vikten av tafonomisk kunskap, då samtliga ben som undersöktes påvisar flera tafonomiska processer som kan påverka den osteologiska analysen. Vissa av processerna som identifierades var: rotavtryck, rotinvasion, erosion och frostsprängningar. / This study investigates how archaeological animal bones from Västergarn, Gotland has been affected by taphonomic processes on Västergarn. The purpose of the essay is to present the importance of taphonomic knowledge in archeology and osteology, angled towards whether the taphonomic processes could affect the osteological analysis and if so how? A large number of bones were also frozen to overcome the ongoing mold process, how has that affected the bones? Can relations be found between a certain degree of fragmentation, certain fracture types and specific taphonomic processes from Västergarn? This is discussed in connection with the soil descriptions of the contexts in which the bones were found and examines what potential process may have created the change on the bone. Finally, the essay presents the importance of taphonomic knowledge, as all the bones that were examined demonstrate several taphonomic processes that can affect the osteological analysis. Some of the processes identified were: root etching, root invasion, erosion and frost fracturing.