Sammanfattning Syftet med uppsatsen är att göra en mikrohistorisk undersökning om identitetskonstruktion och anpassning under en utvandrares första år i Minnesota i början av 1900-talet. Som källmaterial har jag använt mig av en brevsamling, med brev skickade av en utvandrare vid namn Alfred Rosén. Som avgränsning valdes de tio första breven till Föräldrar och syskon ut, dessa sträckte sig över ett års tid. Metoden som har använts är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Jag har dels undersökt vad breven kan säga om Alfreds bakgrund och varför han valde att utvandra, men framförallt vad de kan säga om hans identitet och hans anpassningsprocess under det första året. Som teoretiskt utgångspunkt har jag använt Sandra Dolby Stahls teori om kulturellt deltagande, i vilken hon föreslår åtta breda kategorier inom vilka identiteten kan uttryckas: familj, etnicitet, religion, plats/region, ålder, kön, yrke och andra sociala nätverk för att analysera vilka sociala grupperingar eller kategorier Alfred interagerar och associerar sig med.  I resultatet framkommer det att Alfred i första hand interagerar med svenskar och i synnerhet värmlänningar, vilket var ett typiskt mönster bland svenska utvandrare. Samtidigt visar han en vilja att ta seden dit han kommer och att inte begränsa sig till en svensk eller värmländsk identitet. Diskussionen om svenskhet och dess bevarande var annars livskraftig vid den här tiden och många etniska föreningar bildades. Alfred fann istället sin tillhörighet i missionskyrkan, ett religiöst engagemang han tog med sig från Sverige och som exemplifierar hur väckelserörelsen speglades i det svensk-amerikanska samhället. Sin kristna tro och frälsningsuppdraget fyllde både en social och spirituell funktion under Alfreds första år, men det utgjorde också en länk till sin familj som delade Alfreds religiösa engagemang. Familjen är trots sin frånvaro en viktig del av Alfreds identitet, vilket den mycket omfattande brevsamlingen kan vittna om. Sist men inte minst är det tydligt att trots diverse grovjobb under det första året så är han bonde i skälen, och siktet är inställt på att kunna köpa sin egen mark.  I diskussionen reflekterar jag dels över Alfreds val att utvandra och dels över hur Alfreds interaktioner med Stahls sociala kategorier påverkade anpassningsprocessen under det första året. Alfred lyckades i alla uppenbara avseenden att anpassa sig och uttrycker också i breven hur han trivs mycket bra. Jag menar att detta går att spåra till hans identitära anpråk och följande faktorer menar jag bidrog: Att Alfred inte vill begränsa sig till vare sig sin svenska eller regionala identitet utan förhåller sig öppen till majoritetssamhället och dess traditioner, att Alfreds tro och religiösa engagemang tycks ha varit mycket betydelsefull för anpassningen av flera skäl, dels som ett sätt att knyta kontakter men också som något tryggt och bekant i en främmande värld.

This text is dealing with the question on the two real big Viking age burial sites on the Tumbo Ridge, and their invisible corresponding settlement. How to decide the expected size of a Viking settlement? What does the findings and the landscape say about a possible settlement’s placement and activities? Hypothetical harbor sites for a settlement with trade and crafts as its business activity, is presented. / Denna text avhandlar frågan om bakgrunden till de två verkligt stora vikingatida gravfälten på Tumboåsen och dess motsvarande bebyggelses osynlighet. Hur avgör man förväntad storleken på en bebyggelse och tätort? Vad säger fynd och landskap om en eventuell tätorts läge och verksamhet? Hypotetiska hamnlägen för en tätort med hantverk och handel som huvudnäring presenteras.

This study has examined a selection of the wrecks of Narvik, which comes from the battle of Narvik in april 1940. The essay introduces every ship that was involved in the battle of Narvik in a chart, and the wreck which is still in Narvik on a map over Ofotfjorden. Ofotfjorden is the fjord where Narvik is located. The chart shows which country the ships comes from, what kind of ship and when it was built. Then the study used an object biography to study the life stories of P/S Norge, S/S Rauenfels, Wilhelm Heidkamp and Anton Schmitt. The result shows that the ships had been used in different ways before the battle of Narvik, both for war, transportation and escorting, and then met the same fate. The result also tells about the interest in the wrecks and discusses how marine archealogy can be used to use the source material to get more knowledge about the ships that were involved in the dramatic battle in april 1940.

Runstenarna i Sollentuna följer ungefär samma mönster som de i resten av Uppland vad gäller fördelning av vilka som reste stenarna och till vilkas minne. Därför är det självklart att förhållandena var också det samma vad gäller arvsmönster, där bakarv, delade arv och kvinnliga arvingar var ett vanligt inslag. Av de 83 runstenssponsorer som syns på ristningarna var 67 (80 %) män och 16 (20 %) kvinnor. Av de 44 runinskrifter där man kan tydligt se antalet sponsorer så hade 18 (40 %) en sponsor och 26 (60 %) flera. Av de 67 ihågkomna var 55 (82 %) män och 12 (18 %) kvinnor. De utlandsfärder som gjordes av Sollentunabor gick i österled, tydligen främst till Grekland och det tycks ha funnits minst en släkt som ordnade dessa expeditioner som bodde i området, kanske fler. Runstenarnas placering visar också att det redan på vikingatiden stod en kyrka i Spånga och en i Ed. De antyder också att när folk valde var de skulle resa sina runstenar, speciellt de större och mer påkostade verken, så brukade man välja de platser även tidigare generationer hyllat sina döda. Mot slutet av perioden förvandlades runstenen till slut till en variant av den kristna gravstenen. Förutom att hylla sina döda släktingar var runstenarna också ett sätt att stärka sin egen ställning i samhället, genom att visa upp vem man var släkt med och som ett sätt framhäva sin rätt att ärva egendomar och även titlar och makt. Brostenarna och de stenar som nämner utlandsfärder visar på några mäktiga och rika släkter inom området. Om man också ser brobyggandet som en form av avlat är de också ett tecken på kristendomens genombrott. / Uppland is the most runestone dense region in Scandinavia and Sollentuna is no exception to this.The goal of this paper is to analyse the inscriptions on the runestones found in Sollentuna härad andthrough them discuss society and familial relationships at the time. Comparisons of the material in Sollentuna to research done on runestones in other areas are done. As runestones are generally Christian monuments they also provide information on the spread of Christianity in the late Vikingage. Their positioning may also provide hints regarding the locations of the earliest churches in the area. They are also considered a tool to assert rights of inheritance and thus also provide informationon the rules of inheritance at the time they were made. Finally, a few of them mention expeditions abroad and provide some information regarding the destinations of these travels as well. Considering the large number of runestones in the area, it is likely that the erection of runestones was popular among most land owning people. Some runic inscriptions are much larger than the others and it is likely that their sponsors wished this to reflect their wealth, prestige and power.

Denna uppsats är en kvalitativ empirisk jämförande studie av gravhögar och gravtradition under yngre järnåldern i Västergötland. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur gravhögarnas struktur förändrades och utvecklades för att observera övergången av gravtraditionen till kristendomen. Frågan som uppsatsen bygger på att besvara är att observera hur gravhögarna förändrades och mottagligheten för kristendomen. Material som undersöks i denna uppsats är utgrävda gravhögar i Västergötland mellan 500- och 1100-talen. Resultaten visar att gravhögarna blev mindre i storlek under vikingatiden. Under vikingatiden gjorde den sociala eliten inga utmärkande gravar och ingen hierarkisk skillnad kan observeras från gravarnas exteriör. Den invändiga konstruktionen blev mindre varierad. Man får intrycket att byggandet av gravhögar börjar stagnera och pressas ut under vikingatiden i Västergötland. I mitten av 900-talet slutade man bygga gravhögar och övergav de hedniska gravfälten. De började begrava sina döda på en annan plats i ett kristet gravskick. / This essay is a qualitative empirical comparative study of burial mounds and burial tradition during the Late Iron Age in the Swedish province of Västergötland. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how the structure of the burial mounds was changed and developed to observe the transition of the burial tradition to Christianity. The question that the essay is based on answering is to observe how the burial mounds changed and the susceptibility to Christianity. Material that is examined in this essay are excavated burial mounds in Västergötland between the 500s and 1100s. The results show that the burial mounds became smaller in size during the Viking Age. During the Viking Age the social elite did not make any distinctive tombs and no hierarchical difference can be observed from the exterior of the tombs. Internal construction became less varied. You get the impression that the building of burial mounds is starting to stagnate and be pushed out during the Viking Age in Västergötland. In the middle of the 10th century, they stopped building burial mounds and abandoned the pagan burial grounds. They began to bury their dead in another place in a Christian burial ground.

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of hunger stones and their resurgence due to climate change-induced droughts, shedding light on their evolving societal significance. The initial focus lies on understanding the origins of the term and exploring how humanity has historically adapted to and remembered climatic transformations. A noteworthy aspect of this research revolves around the role of various objects worldwide serving as mnemonic devices, alongside a consideration of distinct cultural perceptions of time. Special emphasis is given to hunger stones that gained broad attention through social and traditional media in August 2022, owing to the droughts and their ominous inscriptions. It is posited that these stones likely served as hydrological markers or epigraphical reminders during periods of low water levels. The thesis delves into the approximately 900-year-old history of these stones in Europe, examining a range of hunger stones, beginning with the most renowned one located in Děčín, northern Czechia. Comparisons are made to other hydrological markers from around the globe, including Egypt's Nilometers and the intriguing White Crane Ridge in China. Furthermore, contemporary climate change is discussed, and the research explores potential parallels with past climatic conditions, concentrating on rivers as both physical and societal artefacts. In examining the relationship between humans and their environment, the thesis evaluates the effects of this relationship on human food systems, highlighting how the quest for food security has frequently led to the demise of cultures and species. A significant part of this research is devoted to examining memory, transitioning from tangible memory to social memory, and exploring the evolution of landscapes due to religious and other cultural developments.The concluding part of the thesis provides an analysis of how humans have dealt with food scarcity and their attempts to relay these struggles to future generations. It posits that the hunger stones serve as custodians of memory, maintaining relevance despite shifting interpretations over time.

Hearths and cooking pits are common remains from the Bronze Age. It is a trace of human activity possibly over a short or sometimes a longer period of time. Settlement, cooking and crafts are what we associate them with, but these remains have an underestimated potential to tell us more about the people who used them. Being o pen to a broader perspective might provide a  better understanding of the phenomena. By examining more closely new interpretations of hearths and cooking pits, we see new meaning and significance of these features which can be seen as a previously overlook ed cultural expression. Based on previous studies, the thesis will further explain and argue for the cultural significance of hearths and cooking pits from the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

The overall purpose of this study is to try gather more understanding about the concept and term chapel in Värmland during the middle ages. According to the perspective of landscapes and the chapels surroundings this study tries to reach the overall purpuse through archaeological investigations, reported findings and sites, old map material, geology characteristics and names of places and sites compared to Mats Anglerts division of independet chapels in three groups. First, the non serviced chapels called Capelle non curare. Second, colonisation chapels, located in border areas maintained from an adjacent parish. And third, parish chapels reduced to an annex parish when two parishes merged. The conclusion of this study is that most of the investigated chapels probably at some point worked as a colonisation chapel or a parish church, often located in border areas. But also that the chronological aspect is crucial and that the chapels might have had several functions simultaniously.

This paper is about the dissolution and privatization of parish commons in 18:th century Sweden. The study focuses on four parishses (Hammarö, Väse, Ölme and Lungsund) all of them situated in the south of Värmland County. This is a region where ironworks were especially important for the eco-nomy of Sweden. The Ironworks required a lot of forest resources, of which there were a lot on the commons. This need resulted in a struggle for the resources between the ironworks and the peasants who needed it for their buildings, firewoods and pastures. With support of the state, the ironworks got parts of the commons for their supply of wood raw material.    However, this also resulted in an increased pressure on the remaining parts of the commons which the peasants could continue to use for their individual needs. The competition among the peasants led to troubles and mismanagement of the forests in the commons. In this situation, peasants who were well - off (’skattebönder’), began to work for division and privatization of the commons. The primary aim of this study is to analyze how and why this process of privatization took place. Which were the driving forces, and which were the role of different actors – the state, the aristocracy, the industrialists and different groups among the peasants – in this process?    Privatization of commonable lands in Sweden usually occurred in connection with the enclosure which in Sweden took place from the end of the 18:th century. However, In this study I have found that in at least two of the parishes, the division and privatization occurred about half a century before that enclosure, namely around 1742.    In this paper I also point to the striking similarities between the problems that occurred in these parishes and problems that always arise in commons in all areas. This problem has been discussed by authors like Garret Hardin and Ellinor Ostrom, among many others. Problems that has given rise to the concept ‘the tragedy of the commons’.

Is Hedningahällan a settlement or is it not? With help of spatial analysis and comparing Hedningahällan with other settlements in the form of comparing scattering maps of finds, bone, ceramic sherds from Hedningahällan and the other investigated neolithic sites in southern Norrland. The site is mysterious and there is a missing link based on its location and its position in the landscape. Firstly, a settlement without any traces of house remains, and with finds indicating that we might have up to 4 cultures at least having some sort of contacts with each other. bone artifacts such as beads and amulets together with clay figurines and battleaxes and miniature axes shows evidence of something more ceremonial in nature. The whole settlement that we know of are located on a giant boulder and only hearth pits and ceramics are providing more solid evidence of continuous habitation. All other settlements from the neolithic are located at ground level usually on an ancient beach. I’ve therefore compared Hedningahällan with other sites from Gävleborg. The comparisons made between Hedningahällan and the other settlements clearly proofs its unique nature and therefore has it never been a regular settlement like the others ones presented in this study.