The study discusses the role of a wet nurse regarding the protection of a child in ancient Egypt. There is evidence of the phenomenon of the wet nurse dating from the Old Kingdom’s Pyramid texts, depictions in tombs from the New kingdom, to contracts between the wet nurse and her employer from the Late Period. They were most frequent in royal and elite families and made it possible for the mother to participate in social activities without worrying about feeding her baby, as well as being a symbol for economic wealth.  Wet nurses have been found depicted in funerary contexts, holding ritual protective objects, and been mentioned in protective spells targeted towards children. This shows that the wet nurse had a part in the protection of a child and the intention behind this study is to discuss her participation in it and what it involves. The sources used in this study are to contain two subjects to be of relevance: wet nurse and the protection of a child, which lead to a restricted amount of material to analyse. The material studied contains of amulets, serpent staffs, three apotropaic wands, depictions from two graves and one protective spell. The analysis resulted in a conclusion claiming that the practice of protection is a part of the wet nurse’s occupation and were practiced with at least an apotropaic wand. Moreover, the depiction of her holding apotropaic wands in funerary contexts representing rebirth shows that the wet nurse is present and offering protection in the events of a child’s birth.

The aim of this essay is to question and analyze problems surrounding the current research within the field of spikes.The latest breakout was in the early 50's,since then there haven't been any major research projects and no interpretation have been made.Not only does this  essay bring a contribution to the research of spikes but also question what has earlier been established through interpretations.The focus of this essay is on the spikes found on the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea,these are currently stored at the Museum of Gotland.What was the main area of use that these spikes had and in which context are they found? Although only 27 finds will be analyzed during this essay ,the goal is to get a greater understanding of the usage of these finds and how this will contribute to the archaelogical sites.

This thesis deal with three individual Pagophilus groenlandicus canin teeth from the location Asva, Estonia dating from the Late Bronze Age (here 700-900 B.C). The aim of this thesis is to find out whether the three harp seal individual was local or non-local to Asva and further if they were migrants from the Atlantic Sea. The teeth enamel are analysed for strontium isotopes using LA-ICP-MS and the result was compared against the strontium 87Sr/86Sr values in various rivers in the Baltic Sea. This is to see how the harp seal has migrated around in the Baltic Sea. By placing the 87Sr/86Sr values against the rivers, it may seem that the three harp seals were non-local and not from the Atlantic Sea.

This paper will discuss whether you can detect a possible alteration in views of archaeological artefacts during the 1900’s until 2014 by local history societies and what their views are today. It will also discuss other aspects that can have contributed to potential changed views on the artefacts. The other aspects that will be investigated are heritage conservation, politics, museums/policies and disposal of archaeological artefacts. This paper will also discuss the Swedish definition of the concept “archaeological artefacts”, and if newspapers have contributed to a different view of archaeological artefacts. The conclusions of this paper are that local history societies have different views of archaeological artefacts, but not all of them have a changed view and some of them have similar views to other history societies. One more thing detected might be a drift between the public and the archaeologists which may have been affected by politics? These aspects have contributed to a different view but in different ways and not always at the same time. Newspaper have been a contributor to changed views because they spread information that is not always correct or fair and therefore misguide the general population – for example the definition of an archaeological artefact. Disposal of archaeological artefacts does not happen as often in Swedish museums as newspaper articles make it seem and the local history societies do not approve of disposal but concede that if it must happen, albeit with good documentation. A final conclusion is that things change when time passes, and so do views and opinions, but not always as much as one may think.

This paper focuses on Swedish practices regarding the collecting and exhibiting of Egyptian cultural items at the Victoria Museum in Uppsala during the period between 1882 and 1904. It works to establish who the individuals responsible for this collection were, what their social standing were and how they were connected to each other and other foreign collecting practitioners using the actornetwork-theory and comparative studies.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the range of small finds and other materials often found deposited in the fills and stone settings above later Iron Age graves in the Mälar region of central Sweden. This study investigates how this material, especially potsherds, burnt clay, burnt and unburnt bones and teeth, flint, ice crampons, nails, rivets and knives, were distributed in eight different grave fields in the Mälar valley. The results shows that most of this material was indeed deliberately placed on or in the graves, with different object types added to particular areas of burial monuments.

Målet med denna uppsats var att undersöka de nomadiska folkets användning av trä i norra Fennoskandien, samt möjliga analytiska metoder att studera arkeologiskt trämaterial. Detta möjliggjordes genom relevanta etnografiska, historiska och arkeologiska studier och en genomgång av analytiska metoder. De nomadiska folken använde trämaterial i en stor del av deras vardag så som mat i form av den näringsrika inner barken, ved för eldning, till både temporära och permanenta kåtor, förvarning samt jakt. De analytiska metoder som presenteras var träidentifikation, dendrokronologi och 14C-metoden. Träidentifikation möjliggör de två senare metoderna som kan förse tillförlitlig datering beroende på trämaterialets struktur samt tafonomiska processer / The aim of this thesis was to investigate the nomadic people’s wood usage in northern Fennoscandia, as well as possible analytical methods of investigating wooden remains. This was achieved through relevant ethnographic, historical and archaeological studies and a review of analytical methods. Wooden material played a big role in the life of the nomadic people in the shape of food, firewood, storage, construction material for both temporary and permanent huts, and for hunting. The analytical methods presented are species identification, dendrochronology and 14C-method. Species identification enables the latter methods of which provides reliable dating of wood, depending on the structure and taphonomic processes.

The essay examines a study trip to Krakow and the mediation of the Holocaust memory to 15 students. It is partly structured after three places that the students move between, experience arenas, which are the death and concentration camps, Poland and Sweden. The students are also moving according to four different dimensions: first place, but also time, morality and existential. The survey is based on a ritual theoretic view of social memory production and the formation of new witnesses. With inspiration from the Norwegian study Pilgrim, tourist and student: Norwegian school trips to death and concentration camps by Kyrre Kverndokk, has also this study trip been studied as a ritualization process based on which students will obtain a state of catharsis. With a qualitative research method, information has been gathered through participatory observations, group interviews and a poll. The result shows that the students attributed the camps to death, destruction and evil, but that they were struggling to live in the victims’ situation because it was too far from their own lives but also difficult to understand such evil. The students did on the other hand identified the spectator role since Sweden was seen as one of the countries that looked at and let the Holocaust happen. The students positioned themselves as new witnesses and told about their experiences in their free time and on their own initiative. The study indicates, among other things, that the Norwegian approach to the Holocaust differs from Swedish, which influences the meaningful learning process.

This thesis explores how those involved in a mobile-slaughtering mode of beef production engage with, and experience cattle bodies throughout the beef producing process. These experiences are examined in relation to historical accounts of how people have experienced cattle bodies in both pre-industrialized and post industrialized modes of beef production. Furthermore, an ethnographic study of a Swedish mobile-slaughtering company was conducted, followed by analysis using hermeneutic phenomenology and the concepts of liminality and Ellis’ boundary labour (2014). This thesis has shown that cattle bodies are experienced differently depending on the context of interaction, and that these experiences are both similar and different from those in pre-industrial and industrial beef production. This research contributes to a larger body of research exploring human-animal interactions, and contributes to understanding the experiences of those who are engaged in beef production.

The cemetery of Valsgärde, Sweden contains 92 human graves dating from the 3rdc. BCE to the 11thc. CE, the majority and most elaborate of which date to the Vendel and Viking Ages (approximately 500-1100 CE). This total consists of 15 unburnt boat graves, 15 inhumation and chamber graves, and 62 cremations. In addition to the human remains and wealthy goods, the site is noted for its richness in zooarchaeological material, with a variety of primarily domestic animals appearing buried alongside humans. One of the most commonly represented animals in these graves is the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a trend which has been noted in many other sites from Vendel and Viking Age Sweden. This project quantifies and analyses the morphology of the dogs in the unburnt Vendel and Viking graves at Valsgärde in order to a) assemble a general typology and demographic profile for the population, b) assess the level of morphological variability in the population, and c) speculate on the possible roles these dogs may have played in Scandinavian society in the Late Iron Age. Comparisons are made between the character of dog burials in the Vendel vs Viking periods, to identify any notable shifts in trend over time. The analysis shows that while the size of the dogs generally remains consistent throughout both periods, a number of different types are represented within this limited size range, and the Viking Age burials contain notably fewer dogs than the graves of the Vendel Period.