In this thesis I examine current and future uses of Big Data in archaeology. New technologies have enabled a range of data capture, data storage, and analyses. Digitization in our society has brought new ways of working for archaeologists and the increased amount of data affects how we can understand the world. Big Data reshapes the research process and creates new risks and opportunities for digital archaeology. Several sources have been examined in order to understand what this looks like in archaeology, such as articles published in the journal Internet Archaeology, a questionnaire answered by archaeologists and digital humanists, interviews by two representatives of archaeology, one representative of digital humanities and a chatbot.  The archaeological material has become more accessible. Big Data contributes to data-driven science which enforces a paradigm shift. As data is created faster in various ways and to a voluminous extent archaeologists are forced to work with issues related to the management and storage of data. Digital humanists and archaeologists emphasize that Big Data brings efficient working methods and analyses that can contribute with new questions and reliable knowledge. This can increase the relevance of humanities subjects in the research community. That being said, the nature of Big Data often includes quantitative structured data and its result can be characterized as objective and trustworthy. Perceptions of data as bias-free and that Big Data affects theory to become obsolete may jeopardize the use of source criticism. There is a lack of standardization in how to measure and store data in archaeology which contributes to decontextualization of data. I urge that archaeologists should reflect on how cutting edge data-modeling and AI-modeling can assist in the research process as well as how ethical aspects of data should be considered in order not to risk interpretations overlooking people, places and practices.

The aim of this thesis is to study 31 individuals from an early christian cemetery in Varnhem, Sweden and through the use of XRF, study the strontium concentrations and the strontium to calcium ratios in bone and use that as an indicator for diet. The material consists of femurs and teeth and through analyzing this I will compare previous dietary studies using stable carbon, nitrogene and sulphur isotope analyses to see wether quantitative strontium analysis can be used as a way to study diet in prehistoric societies. The conclusion is that XRF is not as thorough as an isotope study but it provides a general knowledge of what the population has been eating where we can determine which individuals has had diet consisting of more meat or terrestrial plants.

The archaeological communication process can be hard to grasp. There are laws to take into consideration, not to mention the Government structure for culture and arts. This essay explains and simplifies the Swedish organizational communication with focus on archaeology. This study is aiming to clarify all the steps archaeological research needs to pass before reaching the public. The essay will also explore why it is important to communicate archaeological results, and if it reaches out to the extent that is expected. If it is not, the study will present examples of solutions and actions that can be taken to improve the mediation. The essay only investigates the archaeology process in Sweden. There are several Government institutions that are affected by the laws that protect ancient monuments, this study will at first hand observe the ones that have a direct effect on the archaeology communication process. By a survey, interviews and literature studies, the purpose with this study has become clear. The results have been reached by positivism and empiricism as theoretical basis. The literature consisted largely of writings on the subject communication theory, Swedish law and Government structure. The conclusion is that in the archaeology process, there are many factors that effects the outcome of archaeological mediation. Laws, “cultural goals” and several Government institutions has a saying in how, why and where the archaeological research findings are distributed. The PR-model chosen by Government institutions is often “The Public Information model”, but in this case there is no specific common model used by all the institutions that have an influence on the distribution of archaeological results. There is no survey done to show how the public are receiving the results given by “The Public Information model”. According to a small survey done to complete this essay there would be much to gain for all parts if the results of archaeological investigations used another model, or if the stakeholders could agree on the issue of how archaeological results should be communicated to the population. A factor that complicates this kind of work is the attitude in the governing body that considers culture (including archaeology) a non-commercial subject. As a result, archaeology is not seen as a brand that could be marketed. A factor that can affect the popularity for the subject.

The thesis explores the complex area between preservation of museum collections, and the need to allow access to the collections and the artefacts for researchers. The focus is on archaeological collections, and inorganic materials in particular. The aim is to illustrate the problems, as well as the opportunities, of archaeological scientific analysis when combined with museological sciences such as materiality and material culture studies, theories of object biographies, the concept of objects as actors, and the issue of silent objects. Exploring the exchange between the museological and the natural sciences to promote enhanced usage of collection artefacts, and to explore whether there are real barriers or if they are perceived due to a lack of mutual understanding. Methodologically it is a text based analysis of the research situation internationally and nationally in Sweden, with a case study comprised of observation of a research team that at the same time were making archaeometallurgical analyses of bronze age objects, and interviews with a small group connected to the areas of interest for this thesis. The sources have consisted of the material generated by the case study, as well as the text material used to provide the necessary background. By using text analysis, Actor-network theory, observation, and interviews, the discussions can revolve around the theoretical perspectives of materiality, object biography and silent objects, with the premise that sample analyses could bring back some context to an artefact. The findings indicate that the museum sector and other disciplines would greatly benefit from closer collaborations with each other and work more interdisciplinary. Museum collections harbour artefacts that could enrich the collective disciplines with their informative values, and with a mass of sampled and analysed context-less artefacts, new and fascinating patterns could emerge, leading to new discoveries. The findings also show that, in archaeology, this is already in motion, and the hope is that this develops on a larger scale in the museum sector as well. / Den här uppsatsen undersöker det snåriga område mellan museers plikt att bevara samlingarna samt behovet att tillåta åtkomst för forskare till samlingarna och föremålen. Fokus ligger på arkeologiska samlingar, och oorganiskt material i synnerhet. Syftet är att belysa problemen, samt de möjligheter som arkeologisk vetenskaplig analys har att ge i kombination med museivetenskapliga begrepp såsom materialitet och materiell kultur, teorier om objektbiografi, objekt som aktörer och ”tysta” föremål. Uppsatsen utforskar utbyten mellan musei- och naturvetenskap som främjar ökad användning av föremål i samlingar, och undersöker om det finns verkliga hinder i utbytet eller om de endast är upplevda på grund av en bristande ömsesidig förståelse. Metodologiskt är det en textbaserad analys av forskningsläget internationellt och nationellt i Sverige, med en fallstudie bestående av observation av en forskargrupp som samtidigt gjorde arkeometallurgiska analyser av bronsåldersföremål, och intervjuer med en liten grupp personer med koppling till intresseområdena för denna uppsats. Källorna består av det material som genererats av fallstudien, samt den litteratur som gett den nödvändiga bakgrunden. Genom att använda textanalys, Actor-network theory, observation och intervjuer, kretsar diskussionerna runt teoretiska perspektiv som materialitet och materiell kultur, objektbiografi och ”tysta” föremål utifrån förutsättningen att analys kan återföra lite av en artefakts kontext. Resultaten visar på att museisektorn och andra discipliner i hög grad skulle tjäna på ett närmare samarbete och att arbeta mer tvärvetenskapligt. Museisamlingar inhyser föremål som skulle kunna berika de samlade disciplinerna med sina informativa värden, och med en mängd provtagningar och analyser av kontextlösa föremål kan nya och fascinerande mönster framträda, vilket i sin tur kan leda till nya upptäckter. Resultaten visar också att detta redan är satt i rörelse inom åtminstone arkeologin, men förhoppningen är att detta även kan ske i större skala inom museisektorn.

<p>This paper deals with the late Viking age/early medieval grave field in Björned, Torsåker parish, Ångermanland County in northern Sweden. The grave field in Björned is rare because it has all the signs of being Christianized before the surroundings. This awakes questions such as if the people of Björned came from another place and brought the religion with them or if someone else did that for them. To find these answers I have analysed the stable isotope ratios [delta]13C, [delta]15N and [delta]34S in human bone collagen. Through these stable isotopes we can not only see what the people consumed but also where their food had its origin. It seems like several people from the grave field had a different origin then the rest.</p>

<p>This paper deals with archery in the Viking Age settlement of Birka and in particular the presence of Euro Asiatic, steppe nomadic archery equipment at the Birka Garrison and one Birka grave. The equipment contains for example closed quivers and a bow case. This paper also contains a discussion of archery battle techniques and tactics in Viking Age Birka and the implications of the above mentioned equipment to this discussion. The analysis insinuates the importance and status of archery in 10th century Birka.</p>

<p>In this essay, Neolithic potsherds from Alby, Öland has been examined. The purpose was to investigate the connection between the lipid residues and the vessel shapes and ornament. To solve the attempt lipid and morphological analyses were executed. The lipid analysis revealed traces of different food residues and the morphological method showed various shapes and decors. The result indicates that the Alby ceramics has been used for cooking/storage of different fish and meat dishes, as well as vegetables and that the vegetables doesn’t derive of cereals.</p>

<p>This paper deals with archaeological prospecting for the purpose of finding a prehistoric settlement in Alsike hage, Alsike parish, Uppland. The methods being used are soil phosphate analysis, electromagnetic survey and settlement analysis. Two 20x20 meters areas have been prospected. As Alsike hage contains several late Iron Age burial fields, large splendid zones for settlement location, closeness to water as well as farmland there was a hope of locating remains of prehistoric settlement in the area. None of the prospected areas showed any distinct evidence of settlement remains. Still, the results showed anomalies in both areas, both in the electromagnetic survey as in the phosphate analysis. Therefore, the possibility of finding such remains in the two prospected areas cannot be ruled out.</p>

<p>This paper deals with prehistoric charred organic material, interpreted as bread, found in graves and in the underlying settlement at Kalvshälla, Järfälla parish in Uppland. The aim was to categorize the organic material morphologically and with the help of Fourier transformed Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) to see whether it was bread or not. Material from 13 graves (dated to Late Roman Iron Age until Viking Age) and 3 finds from the settlement have been analysed. Differences were noted both in shape, porosity and structure. Some of the material has been interpreted as cereal based foodstuff instead of bread due to morphological discrepancies. No clear differences between material from the graves and the settlement can be seen. One find from a posthole can be dated to late Bronze Age, which is unusual. The bread in the graves was intentionally given to both adult females and males maybe as a symbol of their roles as the good householders. Several finds of root tubers of dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris) were identified in female graves from Early Iron Age, but also in two male graves with bread from Vendel period. The FT-IR method does not give a clear answer to whether the organic material can be bread or not. The method requires careful sampling procedures and several samples from each concretion to get good results.</p>

<p>This paper deals with diet and gender in the early roman iron age in Sweden. Human bone and tooth material from the Iron Age cemetery at Bjärby in Kastlösa parish on the island of Öland have been analysed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. 21 individuals were sampled. Where possible 4 samples were taken from each individual, from the first, second and third molar respectively and from one compact bone. By doing so it is possible, at least in theory, to trace intra-individual diets throughout life. In total, 64 samples were analysed by isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The low [delta]13C values indicate a diet based mostly on terrestrial resources, while the high [delta]15N values indicate some significant marine input. This discrepancy may be explained by an intake of freshwater fish or meat from suckling animals. The isotope values do not indicate any significant dietary reliance on cereals. Some gender differences in diet were observed. The [delta]15N values of the women were higher than those of the men, indicating a higher tropic level throughout life. The third molar [delta]13C values of the men were higher than those of the women, indicating a somewhat more substantial marine input during the teenage years.</p>