The aim of my PhD work is to study how heritage and archaeological knowledge can be applied in practice to meet the aims of Agenda 2030, in particular goal no.11 Sustainable cities and communities. This licentiate thesis serves to provide a foundation for this research. Here, I investigate how Swedish contract archaeology can contribute to sustainable development. First, I analyse how government policy and regulations convey the relation between sustainable development and contract archaeology in practice, and examine how professionals within the contract archaeological system see that they can work with sustainability issues in practice. The results show that there is a gap between policy and practice which is mainly connected to the understanding of sustainable development as a concept and not a practice. This may potentially limit Swedish contract archaeology´s ability to play an active role in sustainability practice. In a case study, I research a modern urban planning project in Kalmar, Valnötsträdet, where contract archaeology played a decisive role in the planning process. By analysing the project process from a sustainability perspective and interviewing participants, I come to the conclusion that contract archaeology´s significant role in the project was due to the ability of individual persons to see the value of using a holistic working method and archaeological knowledge to strengthen the planning process. However, the results also show that archaeology and archaeological heritage have an inherent attraction that can cause imbalances between values ​​in a manner that potentially affects sustainable urban development if not taken into account and managed throughout the process. Although research has established that heritage and archaeology has an important role to play in the achievement of environmental, economic and social sustainability, there are still few practical examples of this. The results of this licentiate thesis point to the fact that the sector still needs to develop an understanding of sustainability as a practice in order for this to change.

The title of this licentiate thesis is: Urban contract archaeology, public outreach and schools. Beyond the horizons of history teaching.   The aim of my licentiate thesis is to investigate how educational programs for schools are implemented within the framework of contract archaeology. I study the underlying incentives that motivate public outreach within contract archaeology, who carries out the outreach and what impact educational programs have on schools. My research project also aims to explore how public outreach within contract archaeology can be organized to meet schools´ demand for knowledge and activities. With an interdisciplinary approach, taken from archaeology and educational sciences, the goal is to instigate a dialogue between the scientific community and contract archaeology, as well as between contract archaeology and schools. As a primary goal, midway into in my doctoral degree, I have chosen in this licentiate thesis to study the practices of public outreach on urban excavation sites in Sweden, specifically studying outreach practices towards schools. The research queries in the licentiate thesis are:   What are the purposes and objectives with public outreach in contract archaeology? What are the preconditions for working with public outreach in contract archaeology? How are the practices of public outreach aimed at schools conducted at urban excavation sites? How do educational programs within contract archaeology address the needs and goals of school education?   Based on these queries, I also discuss how contract archaeology in the future can make possible broader collaborations with schools. This serves as an introduction to how archaeo-didactics can evolve bringing together contract archaeology's goals and potential in an educational situation, with the needs and goals of school education.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the relationship between grave goods and the identity of buried individuals. The interpretation of sex and gender, as well as gendered grave goods in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, is of a particular focus. A comparative analysis of 163 graves was carried out using an intersectional theoretic perspective, statistical analysis, and a database, with the Lovö cemeteries serving as the case study. The results of this analysis revealed certain patterns and variances that demonstrate a relationship between the grave goods assemblages that were chosen and aspects of an individual’s identity, including gender for some grave goods, but a lack of a correlation for other grave goods. Thus, it concluded that “normal” burials are influenced by factors such as facets of one’s identity, community standing and social status, familial ties and kinship, and lived experiences, with each grave tailored to suit the individual, and that gender as a whole has little influence on how a burial is constructed. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att analysera sambandet mellan gravgods och begravda individers identitet. Tolkningen av kön och genus, samt könsbestämda gravgods i yngre järnålders Skandinavien, av särskilt fokus. En jämförande analys av 163 gravar genomfördes med ett intersektionellt teoretiskt perspektiv, statistisk analys och en databas, med Lovö kyrkogårdar som fallstudie. Resultaten av denna analys avslöjade vissa mönster och varianser som visar ett samband mellan de gravgodssammansättningar som valts ut och aspekter av en individs identitet, inklusive kön för vissa gravgods, men en brist på en korrelation för andra gravgods. Således drog den slutsatsen att "normala" begravningar påverkas av faktorer som aspekter av ens identitet, samhällsställning och social status, välbekanta band och släktskap och levda upplevelser, med varje grav skräddarsydd för att passa individen, och att kön som helhet har liten påverkan på hur en begravning är uppbyggd.

The armour that was found during the excavations of the mass graves after the battle of Visby in the year 1361, has given great knowledge about the 14th century defensive equipment. Bengt Thordeman's analyses and interpretations of the armour-material have influenced modern research on the subject. The predominant narrative is that the militia from Gotland was ill-equipped, and that the Danish army was far superior. However, the aim of this study is to create a more nuanced picture of how the soldiers in the mass graves were equipped, and to contribute to future research on the largely unstudied commoner-armour of the Nordic countries. The study compares armour-items from the mass graves at site of the so-called Korsbetningen, with other archaeological material, the descriptions of folkvapen in Swedish medieval legal documents, and contemporary artwork. This comparison is made to broaden the perspective and see similarities and differences between the Visby material and other sources.     The thesis results in a better understanding of what types of armour that was used during this battle, showing that the head-area was well protected, that the torso was slightly less prioritized to protect, and that the arms and legs were relatively unprotected.

Shore displacement has largely affected both the natural landscape and the humans within. This is especially true for Västergarn parish on Gotland, where low-lying plains make up large parts of the domain. Yet, the land–sea interaction of Västergarn, has not been studied closely for a long time. Through a comprehensive study, as well as a reexamination, of different sources and materials, this study aims to shed new light on the spatial distribution and chronology of Västergarn. To understand this, we need to get a scope of the extent of the sea. Previous research (e.g. Ilves & Darmark 2011; Mikołajczyk et al. 2015) has showed that phosphate analysis may help indicate the position of former shorelines. How can this, methodologically, be applied to phosphate-mapping carried out well over 50 years ago? This thesis does not aim to completely answer this question, but rather to analyze what went into determining a shore-level for 1000 AD during earlier research (e.g. Lundström 1979, 1981). Moreover, this study aims to critically examine the interplay between historical shore-levels and the built world within Västergarn. The Västergarn defensive wall and Paviken bay constitute the two main areas of study, owing to the pursuit of understanding the interplay between these two sites. Västergarn cannot be fully understood without also including the Kronholmen peninsula (formerly island, as the name suggests), why some attention is also directed towards this area. / Strandförskjutningen har till stor del påverkat både naturlandskapet och människorna inom. Detta stämmer i synnerhet för Västergarns socken på Gotland, där i princip hela området är att betrakta som synnerligen låglänt. Ändå har relationen mellan land och hav i Västergarn, inte utforskats närmare på länge. Genom att inkludera och ompröva ett flertal olika källor och material, syftar denna studie till att på nytt belysa Västergarns rumsliga fördelning och kronologi. Tidigare forskning (se Ilves & Darmark 2011; Mikołajczyk et al. 2015) har visat på att analys fosfatvärden kan bära med sig insikt i forna strandlinjenivåer. Hur kan denna kunskap metodologiskt tillämpas på fosfatkarteringar som genomfördes för mer än 50 år sedan? Denna uppsats syftar inte till att fullständigt besvara denna fråga, men däremot att närma sig vad som legat till grund för att fastställa en strandnivå för 1000 e.Kr. under tidigare forskning (se Lundström 1979, 1981). Huvudfokus för denna studie är att kritiskt granska samspelet mellan historiska strandlinjenivåer och bebyggelse i Västergarn. Västergarnsvallen och Paviken utgör, i strävan efter att förstå relationen mellan dessa två platser, de huvudsakliga studieområdena. Västergarn kan dock inte förstås till fullo utan att även blicka mot halvön Kronholmen (tidigare ö, som namnet vittnar om), varför en viss uppmärksamhet också riktas mot detta område.

Arkeologins långtidsperspektiv på relationen mellan människan och naturen har en lovande potential att bidra till kampen mot klimatförändringarna. Flertalet studier har visat på arkeologins spännande potential som ett ämne vilket kan hjälpa till att överbrygga det dualistiska perspektivet mellan natur och kultur. Fram till nyligen har mycket av miljöforskningen i andra ämnen än arkeologi fokuserat på biologiska mångfald. Genom att inkludera kulturell mångfald som en faktor för samhällens motståndskraft kan nya insikter ges. Flertalet författare påpekat att arkeologin inte har haft den genomslagskraft som behövs när det kommer till att omsätta denna kunskap i handling. Därför kommer denna uppsats att analysera arkeologins roll i det svenska miljökvalitetsmålet’’ett rikt odlingslandskap’’. Genom att göra en tematisk innehållsanalys av rapportmaterial och djupintervjuer med aktörer inom målet vill undersökningen spegla det dualistiska förhållningsättet mellan natur och kultur påverkar forskningens möjliga kunskapsspridning, syftar denna studie till att ge arkeologi ett visst erkännande för dess potentiella användning och att peka ut olika perspektiv som kan hjälpa arkeologin att bättre inkluderas i frågor om klimatanpassning. / Archaeology with its long durée perspective on human-nature interrelationships have a promising potential to contribute to the fight against climate change. Many recent studies have shown its intriguing potential as a subject that could help overcome the dualistic perspective of nature vs culture. Until recently a lot of environmental research has focused on biological diversity alone. By including cultural diversity as a factor for societies resilience we can enrich our understanding.  However, as pointed out by many authors, it has not had the recognition needed when it comes to bringing the archaeological knowledge into action. Therefore, this thesis will analyze how archaeology is represented in the Swedish environmental quality goal towards a more rich and diverse agricultural landscape. Through reports and deep interviews this thesis will point out how this dualistic concept of nature vs culture affects the use of archaeological knowledge; this study aims to give archaeology some recognition for its potential use and to point out different perspectives that might help archaeological knowledge be better included in questions regarding climate adaptation.

This paper deals with iron objects found in the 2015 excavation in Birkas Black Earth harbour on the Island of Björkö, in Adelsö parish. The purpose is to through EDTA -conservation and x-rays identify which objects they derived from, and how they can be linked to activities associated with a harbour environment.

In this paper, I discuss layer 23 from the 2015 excavation at the harbor in the black earth, Birka, through identification and conservation of a number of iron objects from this specific layer. These objects are in many cases broken and worn out, which indicates that they have been thrown away on purpose. Traces of bone and charcoal in the layer supports the idea that the harbor has been a place where people left their waste. Many of these excavated objects can be related to craftsmanship and/or the ships gear.

This thesis compares four excavated ritual places that have been connected through place names to the two Norse gods Týr and Ullr. The purpose is to contribute to the discussion about the nature of Týr and Ullr and their relationship. Excavation reports, primary sources and other publications are used as material to achieve this purpose. A qualitative method is used in the comparison between the ritual places. The conclusion is that Ullr probably were a sun god and law god with connections to aristocracy, war, rings and possibly horses, but that he also changed through time. The relationship with Týr remains obscure though, partly because of the limited material, but the two gods seems to have had similar connections to aristocracy and war. Both gods may also have survived into the Viking age. The presence of other gods such as Freyr and Odin makes the tracing of Týr and Ullr more complicated.

This study aims to gain an understanding on how researchers leave their mark on archaeological records and to discuss what this have meant for the production of archaeological knowledge. This was done by studying archival records from two archaeological excavations of boat graves in Valsgärde, which was held in 1936 and 1950. Starting with the relation between creator/researcher and records made the idea was to contribute with a study of the relationship between records and creator. The theories being used for analyzing this was intersectionality combined with Donna Haraways situated knowledges, where created interacting categories in the material was analyzed in relation to each researcher. Both researchers material where further discussed whis this in mind. The main method used was qualitative content analysis, wich were also combined with a quantitative method of the number of records created with the same content. Through these methods interacting categoriers was found in the archaeological documentation. The created interacting categories in one material consisted of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of single finds and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. Further three interacting categories of documentation after excavation, of weapons and single finds was found in the same material. In comparision, the other records consisted of interacting categories of documentation of archaeological remains in situ, documentation of the contex of the findings and documentation of archaeological stratigraphy. This showed how the reseachers in the studied records have left their marks on the archaeological documentation of each boat grave. The researches had desicive impact on the produced knowledge that was based on their findings, since the records that were created were created were influenced by each researcher. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.