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No description available.

The Battle of Bomarsund was fought by three nations, all of which left behind lead residues at the site. These residues consist of both lead bullets from rifles, as well as impact marks from bullets fired at the fort. By conducting analyses of these lead residues, the possibility of tracing the provenance of both bullets and impact marks through the study of their trace elements and isotopic composition is investigated. The purpose of this is to identify the home nation of the bullets, which is a crucial factor in mapping out the course of the battle. To carry out the investigation, one technique is employed – portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF). XRF allows for the study of the elemental composition of the bullets and impact marks, while the obtained results are then used to match the lead residues with the respective countries' lead provenances, allowing for the determination of the home nation of the bullets. By tracing the production history of lead bullets the paper finds some indications of traceability in movement of the forces during the battle.

The Late Neolithic period in Sweden is by many archaeologists associated with an increase of aggression in society, hierarchical chiefdoms, and prestige objects. Above all, the flint-dagger is considered not only to be an object of high status, but also an object exclusively used by and buried with males. To add to the discussion the purpose of this essay is to examine the claim of the flint dagger as a male prestige item by analyzing previous literature and research regarding the Late Neolithic flint-dagger using a gender critical perspective. As part of the research 21 flat earth graves with flint-daggers in Skåne has been mapped out to find empirical support to the claim. Three out of the 21 flat earth graves were found to be osteological examined, two containing males and one containing a female. Not osteological examined, one grave was also found to contain a lone child with a flint-dagger. Even though this is a small sample out of all the flat earth graves that has been excavated in Sweden, this research opens for a wider discussion regarding the origin of the interpretation and its legitimacy. It also contributes to the idea that the flint-dagger could have had multiple areas of use and different symbolic meanings including females and children. Keywords: Late Neolithic, flint-daggers, flat earth graves, osteology, prestige objects

Cup marks is probably the world’s most common famous petroglyphs and it’s also Sweden's most common rock carving motif. In Swedish folklore, cup marks are called älvkvarnar (fairy mills) because fairies were believed to grind their grain in the cups. The cup mark motif has been found both in and near graves, with and without other figures.    The aim of this thesis was to investigate cup marks which have been found in the vicinity of large cairn graves and ships settings that can both be seen as grave monuments and ritual locations on Gotland and thus contribute to a greater understanding of cup marks. The distribution of the cup marks, its relation to graves and the possible meaning of the cup marks were analysed to gain an understanding of why people chose to engrave the motif in the vicinity of graves. The location of the cup marks premises was analysed to get an overview of where the cup marks occur and what the distribution looks like from today's parish borders. The burials that were examined in relation to cup marks are the two types of tombs that can be classified as monumental on the island, cairns, and stone shipsettings from the Bronze Age. To futher understand the significance of cup marks, interpretations from archaeologists who have previously researched the motif are highlighted.

This thesis looks at the feasibility of using 3D modelling and printing and how this can help in repatriation efforts. Museums and archaeologists around the world spent the better part of the last two hundred years collecting and maintaining indigenous materials, often gathered under unethical means and circumstances. Museums often do not want to let their materials go, although this attitude is changing, there can still be stubborn agents that refuse to let the artefacts go, arguing that if artefacts are returned, what will be left for research and display? Creating copies for museums to keep could alleviate this worry. But copies are often seen as somewhat inferior to the real thing, that there can be no substitute for the original. This thesis looks at this and makes the argument that there are in fact many substitutes for originals. The original, while important, is not always necessary. A large part of the debate over copies is the lack of aura of the original, however it is argued here that aura is not always tied to one thing.

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No description available.

The paper reports an historical-archaeological study of a place in Stockholm’s Old Town that has been associated with German immigrants since the 12th century. Today’s Juno Quarter was once the site of a hall that hosted the ceremonies and feast-day celebrations of the Saint Gertrud guild. Historical sources say it was the largest of some 20 guildhouses in medieval Stockholm, yet nothing is known about its size and shape, or whether and how it was incorporated into the chapel built on the site in 1580 or the church that stands there today, built in 1682. Drawing on the ideas and techniques of buildings archaeology, the undercroft is analysed with the aim of situating the place of the guildhouse in the space of medieval Stockholm, at the crossroads between royal power (it lay down the hill from the castle), clerical power (it was in the shadow of the Blackfriars monastery, dismantled after the Reformation) and commercial power (it would have overlooked the harbour where the Baltic Sea met Lake Mälaren, on which iron ore was transported from the north, bound for the continent). With the use of analogies, the place that the Stockholm Germans made for themselves is situated in the larger context of a medieval Europe undergoing dynamic urbanisation, and the rise of a cosmopolitan mercantile class.

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