This paper is an investigation of four selected archaeological reconstructions of Iron Age milieus in Sweden. The paper explores the concepts of time travel, authenticity and of romanticizing the prehistoric ages. Four interviews of staff actively engaged and working with time travel experiences at reconstructed Iron Age milieus present the foundation of this study; also surveys of the archaeological material from each milieu has produced interesting insight into the perspectives which said milieus present to their visitors. The results have shown that the material culture of the milieus are often well executed, for instance the houses are often built using archaeological finds as their template and artefacts used during the time travel experiences are often replicas from accurate periods and used correctly in regards of their believed original function. However, the social structures presented during the time travel experiences appear to be one-dimensional and occasionally even scientifically outdated. Where the archaeological artefacts provide excellent educational value, the roles which the visitors play during their experience are not as carefully assembled. This phenomenon might be the result of poor communication between academia and the public, which is highly unfortunate, but can possibly also be a remnant of past cherished glorifications of prehistoric times. Regardless of why updates on research do not make it to the milieus, the problem of misrepresentation is real. Not only is it an unintended act of historical falsification, but as this study shows, the romanticized misconceptions of prehistoric Sweden are passed on to the next generation. As it is part of the Swedish curriculum for third graders to study the prehistoric ages, a vast number of children will at some point during their education make a trip to a reconstructed milieu, as it is a popular and effective pedagogical instrument. There is a great opportunity to educate children with updated research, and there is also a great responsibility to do so, as these time travels are regarded as authentic experiences by not only the children but the teachers as well. A reconstructed milieu advertises itself as an authentic presentation of the past and should therefore consider it their responsibility to keep updated and true to current archaeological knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the British abolition movement used the Swedish abolitionist Carl Bernhard Wadström's argument against the slave trade. We want to investigate which rhetoric Wadström himself used and which rhetoric abolitionists used when referring to Wadström's arguments. To investigate which rhetoric is used, we have taken support in Aristotle's theories of rhetoric and, above all, his ideas on the three modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos and logos. The source material that forms the basis of the study is Wadström's book Observations on the slave trade and five other types of texts written by abolitionists where Wadström and his arguments against the slave trade are mentioned. The main result we found is that Wadström in his book uses an emotional language to convince his readers of the evil of the slave trade. However, the abolitionists do not use an emotional language in their texts when using Wadström's arguments. Abolitionists used ethos and logos as modes of persuasions to convince that slave trade should be banned.

The concept of harg - an archeology historical discussion: This study is an attempt to deal with the concept harg known from the historical sources in the north and its use in the field of archeology. Harg has come to be used in connection with cult, religion and to interpret ritual sites within archeology. Still it leaves much unanswered of what it contains or sometimes applies. By focusing on empirical sources from several disciplines such as language and place-name research, history, religion and archeology, which have all contributed in various ways to the discussion of harg. I will try to find out what harg really is, based on the different interpretations regarding harg, and how harg as a concept is used in connection with interpretations of archaeological findings.

In this essay I will analyze Norrby stenar stone circles in Närke in order to understand the stone circles in relation to the society and landscape around them. I will also compare older with newer reasearch in order to understand how archaeologists have seen the stone circles over time. To do so, I will put the stone circles in relation to the norse mythology and the ideology about Midgård.

The following essay is conducted both from a local perspective in Sweden. The source material used have been analyzed through a power-theory drawn by professor Raymond Angelo Belliotti who has a Ph.D in philosophy. Belliotti’s theories are used to identify different kinds of power structures within child welfare in Sweden during the period 1900-1940. The central concept is power over which is used in analyzing the power structures. The power relationships become apparent when analyzing and identifying who supposedly has the most power by using the concept mentioned. In this essay, I want to investigate source material from two different child welfare boards in both Karlstad city and Karlstad’s national assembly. My essay is based on the following questions: In what ways can the power-relations become apparent by applying Belliotti’s theories on source material from two different child welfare boards? Based on the results from the first question, was children considered a collective mission or private matter?    The study shows that the relationship between parents, children and the child welfare board had a more dynamic relationship concerning power. In the source material from Karlstad’s national assembly child welfare board it is shown that there are some findings that could be used to discuss the power relationship. The results are that there was a strong sense of surveillance over both parents and children born outside marriage. There were more concrete situations in the source material from Karlstad city’s child welfare board. The results showed the most prominent kind of power-structure would be the one regarding concerning regulations and individuals however the dynamic kind of power-relation could also be seen in this instance when using Belliottis theories. By doing this study it became apparent that children that crossed juridical boundaries did become a public mission and there was no resistance about this matter in the studied sources. / Studien är om barnavården ur lokalt perspektiv i Sverige. Källmaterialen som använts har analyserats ur maktteorier av professor Raymond Angelo Belliotti som är fil.dr. i filosofi. Belliottis teorier är utvalda som hjälpmedel för att kunna identifiera olika maktstrukturer i barnavården i Sverige under 1900–1940 talen. Det centrala begreppet är makt över som använts i analyser av maktstrukturer. Genom analysen blir maktrelationerna tydliga och med hjälp av maktperspektivet går det att identifiera vem som förmodligen innehar mer makt. I studien använder jag mig av källmaterial från både två olika barnavårdsnämnder från Karlstads stad och Karlstads landsförsamling. Mina frågeställningar är följande: På vilket sätt kan maktrelationerna synliggöras vid applicering av Belliottis teorier i dokumentation av barnavårdsnämndens material av Karlstad landsförsamling och på fallstudier av barnavårdsnämnden i Karlstad stad? Var barn ett offentligt uppdrag och om så var fallet, fanns det något uttryckt motstånd om att det borde vara en privat angelägenhet?    Resultaten pekar på att det finns en mer dynamisk relation mellan maktpositionerna i olika situationer. I materialet från Karlstads landsförsamlings barnavårdsnämnd finner man några konstaterande som kan diskuteras genom maktrelationer, där bekräftas genom användning av teori att det finns en stark övervakning av både barn och föräldrar som utförs av barnavårdsnämnden. I materialet från Karlstad stads barnavårdsnämnd återfinns mer konkreta situationer i form av en berättelse. Den vanligaste typen av maktrelation var att regelverket ofta hade makt över individer men även resultaten här pekar på att det finns en viss dynamik mellan maktrelationerna mellan föräldrar, barn och barnavårdsnämnd. Genom att undersöka maktrelationer fanns det också en stor tydlighet om att barn som inte uppförde sig blev kända för barnavårdsnämnden därmed går det också att dra slutsatsen att vissa barn under 1900-1940 ansågs som ett offentligt uppdrag, särskilt de barn som inte uppförde sig. Resultaten pekar på att inga invändningar eller motstånd gjordes i det undersökta källmaterialen att barn borde vara en privat angelägenhet.

Conflict archaeology is a newly emerged field in archaeology. My purpose with this study is toexamine what kind of information it actually can provide regarding history. The main focus are onthe World War II German soldiers in Tulliniemi transition camp in Hanko. My choice of subject isbased in the fact that there are, for understandably reasons, only little knowledge of the everydaylife of German soldiers in Finland. This is done by focusing on the objects found in Tulliniemi andthe possible stories behind them. My study of different objects is done by analyzing, theorizing andidentifying them. This study shows that an object is more than just a physical form. It can tell usabout soldiers enjoyments, what they do on their free time and the traces war leaves in everydayobjects. These objects are the key to a more detailed perspective of the different aspects in war.

The following paper is the final thesis of two years long experimental work conducted on two different collections of soil samples coming from two different Norwegian archaeological sites. In particular, the first collection of soil samples comes from an identified boat grave from the Viking Age (eg Sykehus area Kristiansand County, Vest-Agder). The second one comes also from a boat grave from Vestfold region in Hejmdaljordet archaeological site. Both the collections of samples have been analysed with geochemical methods (phosphate extraction and determination, magnetic susceptibility and loss on ignition), NIR (Near-InfraRed) spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence. Although the contexts are different, a comparison between them has been attempted. In particular, the first boat grave presented a very altered and spoiled conditions because of different disturbance actions coming from atmospheric factors but also human actions such as looting or burning, that have not permitted the discovery of significant archaeological findings. Conversely, the second boat grave presented more favourable conditions and also a discrete preservation. In fact, it was possible to recover the belongs of the dead, such as fragments of the belt, a sword and the rivets surrounding the boat. Thanks to the wide series of analysis conducted on soil samples and to an accurate comparison between the two boat graves, it has been possible to detect the presence of high concentration of organic matter (eventual presence of the human body), a high level of magnetic susceptibility (eventual presence of metallic components detected in the soil), detection of specific chemical elements in the soil that could attest the eventual presence of items within the graves and finally, a general report of the possible anthropological impact by the light spectra measurements, through the use of spectroscopy. All the results collected have been interpreted using a forensic work strategy which concerns the detailed analysis of anomalies found in the soil texture and chemical composition. Further, a significant number of tests that could prove the presence of human body in the grave and the eventual reasons of the bad preservation and lack of archaeological (most in the eg Sykehus case) information detected in the context (disturb actions represented by looting and burning). Finally, a series of maps have been created to show with clearness the results of the study.

<p>This paper deals with the early mesolithic sites in Gladö, a part of Hanveden situated south of Stockholm. It tries to explain the big amount of sites, why people came to these islands and what they were doing there. The large shore displacement together with the topography of the mesolithic islands resulted in a rapid change of suitible areas for camping. The prime occupation was sealhunting on the ice of the Ancylus lake in early spring. As the archipelago became larger other activities as fishing and birdhunting got more important and people stayed for longer periods.</p>

<p>Hazor’s role in an international Late Bronze Age context has long been indicated but never thoroughly investigated. This role, I believe, was more crucial than previously stressed. My assumption is based on the very large size of this flourishing city which, according to documents, possessed ancient traditions of diplomatic connections and trade with Mesopotamia in the Middle Bronze Age. Its strategic position along the most important N-S and E-W main trade routes, which connected Egypt with Syria-Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Sea with the city and beyond, promoted contacts. Hazor was a city-state in Canaan, a province under Egyptian domination and exploitation during this period, a position that also influenced the city’s international relations.</p><p>Methodologically the thesis examines areas of the earlier and the renewed excavations at Hazor, with the aim of discussing the city’s interregional relations and cultural belonging based on external influences in architectural structures (mainly temples), imported pottery and artistic expressions in small finds, supported by written evidence. Cultic influences are also considered.</p><p>Various origin and find contexts of the imported and culturally influenced material can be recognized, which imply three concepts in the field of interaction studies found within the framework of a modified World Systems Theory and also according to C. Renfrew’s Peer Polity Interaction model:</p><p>1) The northern influenced material at Hazor should be understood in the context of cultural identity. It continues from earlier periods and is maintained through external trade and the regional interaction between Canaanite city-states in the north, resulting in certain cultural homogeneity.</p><p>2) A core-periphery approach is used to explain the special unequal relation between Canaan and Egypt, in which Hazor might have possessed an integrating semi-peripheral role, a kind of diplomatic position between Egypt and its northern enemies. The city’s loyalty to Egypt is hinted at in documents and in the increasing evidences of emulation in elite contexts appearing on the site.</p><p>3) A model of ‘interregional interaction networks’ describes the organization of the trade which provided certain consumers at Hazor with the Aegean and Cypriote pottery and its desirable content. The cargo of the Ulu Burun and Cape Gelidonya ships and documents show that luxury items were transited from afar through Canaan. Such long-distance trade / exchange require professional traders that established networks along the main trade routes. The thesis suggests that Hazor possessed a node position in such a network.</p><p>Keywords: Hazor, Canaan, Eastern Mediterranean, Late Bronze Age, contacts, trade, temple architecture, Mycenaean pottery, Cypriote pottery, interregional interaction networks, emulation, peer polity interaction, centre-periphery approach.</p>

<p><p>This essay studies the funnel-beaker ceramic in connection with the megalith graves in South Scandinavia. In my work I have described the nature of ceramics and looked on the crockery types and ornamentation and then discussed the use of the material in a ritual perspective. In the first part I have focused on the critical aspects you have to think about when you do a study like this one. In the second part of this essay I have done a case study, with the ceramic material, in three passages graves in the area of Falbygden, Western Sweden and studied the ceramic material and the nature of it in South Scandinavia as well. Then in the third I discussed the potential use, there is two, of the ceramic material in general of South Scandinavia and looked at it in a ritual perspective.</p></p>