This paper analysis the Viking age double graves on Birka. It has long been known that slaves have been a part of many societies. They have existed, yet not seen. They have been forgotten and overlooked for centuries, by the people of the past but also of today. The wish for this paper is to make these people a little more visible in the thoughts of scholars and the public alike. People are remembered by the things they leave behind. What do you do if you do not own something worthy to be remembered by? What do you look for? This is a comparative study where graves that have been labelled as double graves and those that has not, but share characteristics, will be analysed. The purpose of this study is to try and show, a different perspective, a different approach to analyse double graves that has not necessarily been interpreted as such.

I våra Svenska skogar finns ett stort kulturarv i form av fornlämningar och övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar. Lagen skyddar de båda klassificeringarna, men där fornlämningar har ett starkare lagskydd än övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar. Det finns många olika typer av lämningar, där färdväg är en lämningstyp som riskerar att ta stor skada när den omgivande skogen ska avverkas. Lämningstypen färdväg är en del av en vägsträcka som idag inte brukas. Denna undersökning ämnar försöka skapa en klarhet i om det råder skillnad i hänsynen man tar till lämningstypen färdväg beroende på vilken klassificering lämningen har samt hur vida kulturstubbar kan förhindra förstörelsen av dessa lämningar. För att försöka skapa förståelse inom detta har en skadeinventering utförts, där tio lämningar har ingått i undersökningen, spridda över kommunerna Kristianstad, Bromölla, Östra Göinge, Höör och Hässleholm. Resultatet av denna inventering visar att fyra av de tio lämningarna har tagit skada och tre av dessa är övriga kulturhistoriska lämningar. Gällande kulturstubbar är resultatet jämnt fördelat mellan att det finns kulturstubbar och att lämningarna är skadade kontra inte skadade.

This is an experimental study of a few glass objects from the Birka Excavations 1987-1989. A number of beads and waste from bead production have been studied. A group of these objects have also been examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive detectors (EDS) to comparatively analyze the materials composition. Experiments to recreate the technique in which they were made have been attempted with various results. The techniques found in the beads include the use of murrini, stringer, dotting, and blown-drawn. However the waste material available to this study only suggests that in Birka, beads where made with the winding technique and ornamented with stringer and possibly dotting. The glass used was heated in clay crucibles and some rods where premade.

Gotland has a rich material cultural heritage from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages thanks to the island's strategic location in the middle of the Baltic Sea; especially true for the Viking Age when Gotlanders had extensive trade contacts with the east dating from the mid 12th century and Gotland’s economy was dominated by such contacts. This essay deals with Gotland's maritime infrastructure and its development between about 1100 and 1400 based on a case study of boat rivets from the medieval settlement of Västergarn. The study focus is on Västergarn’s emergence as a maritime community on Gotland's west coast, and if Västergarn had the opportunity to decide its own economy, i.e., to control its’ external contacts and internal trade with the rest of Gotland? What role did maritime traffic play in Västergarn economy? Is it possible to draw conclusions about site maritime organization and infrastructure based on the extensive rivet material? What supply chains with the surrounding area may have existed that made such activity possible? What professional skills and knowledge were in place? In the analytical part of the dissertation a classification system for Västergarn's rivet material is established and discussed in comparison with other literature on boat building technology from the rest of Scandinavia, in particular the Baltic Sea area. Results of the study indicate the existence of a boatyard mainly for the repair of clinker-built vessels. Further conclusions about how shipping, especially after clinker-built vessels were replaced by cogs, affected Västergarn's economy and its’ further existence as a port, however, is not established. / Gotland har ett rikt materiellt kulturarv från stenåldern till medeltiden tack vare öns strategiska läge i mitten av Östersjön. Särskild är detta tydlig för vikingatiden då gotlänningarna hade handelskontakter österut. Sedan mitten av 1100-talet dominerades den gotländska ekonomin av kontakterna med tyska handelsförbund vilket också får nedslag i de materiella källorna. Denna uppsats behandlar Gotlands maritima infrastruktur och dess utveckling mellan ca. 1100 och 1400 utifrån en fallstudie av båtnitar från den medeltida bosättningen Västergarn. Syftet är att studera framväxten av Västergarn som ett maritimt samhälle vid Gotlands västkust och hur Västergarn utvecklades som en hamn. Hade Västergarn möjlighet att bestämma 2 över sin egen ekonomi, dvs att kontrollera de externa kontakterna och interna handeln mot övriga Gotland? Vilken roll spelade skeppstrafiken och användningen av skepp för Västergarn ́s ekonomi? Går det att dra slutsatser utifrån det omfattande nitmaterial om platsens maritima organisation och infrastruktur? Vilka försörjningskedjor med omlandet kan ha existerat som möjliggjorde en sådan verksamhet? Vilka professionella färdigheter och kunskaper fanns på plats? I avhandlingens analytiska del etableras och diskuteras ett klassifikationssystem för Västergarn ́s nitmaterial och jämförs med annan litteratur om båtbyggningsteknik från övriga Skandinavien, i synnerhet Östersjöområdet. Resultat av studien tyder på existensen av ett båtvarv huvudsakligen för reparation av klinkbyggda skepp. Vidaregående slutsatser om hur sjöfarten särskild efter att klinkbyggda skepp ersattes av koggar påverkade Västergarns ekonomi och vidare existens som hamn går däremot inte att dra.

A Swedish excavation took place in the settlement of San Giovenale between the years 1956 to 1965 to shed further light on Etruscan settlements. During the excavation, a great amount of bucchero was uncovered at the site. This study focusses on the forms of bucchero that were uncovered in the San Giovenale area and how these vessels might be connected to a broader network of the ware. By identifying the forms of bucchero found in the area and by bringing together all the earlier publications concerned with the bucchero finds from San Giovenale, this study tries to look at the bucchero material in its totality. By locating and counting the forms and context in which the bucchero was found, together with the other finds from the area, this study attempts to contextualize and uncover the status of the bucchero ware within the settlement and how this particular ware might be connected with the Etruscan banquets. By bringing all the material together from all the areas in San Giovenale, this study hopes to paint a clearer picture of the bucchero in San Giovenale in terms of form, amount, chronology and spread of bucchero. By studying the bucchero from the settlement of San Giovenale we might greatly enhance our understanding of the bucchero ware outside of the tomb context that it is usually found within.

This thesis has been an odyssey of sorts, into how the creative and playful use of digital tools, such as virtual reality technology, may prompt one's engagement with ‘the lost atmosphere of a Place’ and its history. My point of reference is the novel platform known as Uppsala VR, the property of the Gamla Uppsala museum in Sweden. What exactly has been its nature and purpose? How is it being embedded in the overall museum practice? How do visitors perceive and experience it? What started as a User Experience (UX) survey, yet, in time evolved into an exploration of the Uppsala VR in terms of ‘mediated spectacle’. Eventually, through continuous observations, negotiation, and reflection, an intricate understanding develops about what lies beyond for historical heritage and its representation, and about the role of the users’ imaginative creativity in this process.

The earth has always had a shifting climate with some periods having a colder climate then what is considered normal. This essay aims to investigate how the research of cold periods have changed. The purpose with this study is to investigate the most common beliefs researches has for the events of the climate catastrophe 536 and what factors lead to a possible population reduction. I will investigate three different reasons for this: Volcanic eruptions, plague, and climate. Another cold period the “little ice age”, 1300-1850, is used as an example and a theoretic comparison to the catastrophe of year 536 because the “little ice age” is a well-documented cold period of the later historical era. These two periods are interesting because they are booth cold periods. The first cold period lasted for a couple decades while the second cold period lasted for five hundred years. The bad climate situation depends of several different factors especially the fall in summer temperatures because the sun was hidden in a dust veil. The dust veil had been created after the big eruptions. The result of this study is that in general, the research has gone from more simple research to a more complex when knowledge of the complexity of the situation has evolved. The newer research has better access to natural science sources. The most common believes is that the volcanic eruptions or the Justinian plague were the biggest reason for a possible population reduction.

Amongst the Iron Age Scandinavian elite, there are several supra-regional and multifaceted tripartite (or threefold) symbolic expressions. These include expressions found in art, artefacts and monuments, such as the triangular stone-settings, or Sw. treuddar, which may be the strongest manifestation in the landscape. In addition, tripartite symbolism is found in the elite’s óðal-claims and also Norse mythological structures. Due to the widespread pervasiveness of tripartite symbology within the culture of the Iron Age elite, these phenomena are conceptualised in the theoretical framework of a ‘tripartite ideology’. This study addresses the questions of why was the tripartite ideology so enduring within the Nordic Iron Age, in what ways did it manifest and what positions did it hold in the Iron Age elite’s socio-cultural and religious thought-world? This research examines the monumental, artefactual, social and mythological manifestations of the tripartite ideology in Iron Age Scandinavia. The objective is to formulate a theory which synthesises the various expressions of tripartite symbology using a source-pluralistic methodology, which combines archaeological evidence with both emic (insider) and etic (outsider) historical sources, alongside religious studies and semiotics in order to provide a more representative picture of the function of treuddar and tripartite symbolism in the Iron Age elite milieu. The result of this methodology is that the tripartite ideology is connected with the Iron Age elite’s ancestral óðal-claims based on a legendary or divine descent, along with acting as a‘liminal locus’ whereby the Other World could be accessed.

Detta arbete tar sin utgångspunkt i det faktum att hemsidan SO-rummet.se, en digital utbildningsresurs med inriktning mot SO-ämnena, är mycket välbesökt och rekommenderad av en rad olika aktörer, från Skolverket till enskilda lärare. Trots detta är hemsidan sparsamt beforskad. Vad är det egentligen som möter alla skolungdomar som använder hemsidan? I detta arbete granskas SO-rummets kvinnohistoriska skildringar. Syftet är centrerat kring att öka kunskaperna om hur kvinnor och kvinnohistoria skildras i utbildningsmaterial samt hur kvinnohistoria generellt skildras. Klas-Göran Karlssons historiebruksterminologi fungerar som teoretiskt analysverktyg. Materialet består av 78 kvinnohistoriska artiklar från SO-rummet, vilka analyseras kvalitativt. Resultatet visar att kvinnor skildras på två diametralt olika sätt i SO-rummets artikelmaterial. Genom den kvinnohistoriska ambition som presenteras på SO-rummet uppkommer en viss typ av kvinnoskildringar. Utgångspunkten är då ett moraliskt historiebruk. I skildringarna återfinns också ett vetenskapligt historiebruk, men även genusteoretiska resonemang om kvinnors villkor i olika tider, vilket här bedömts som ett ideologiskt historiebruk. Kvinnor skildras sakligt och med fokus på deras bedrifter. I analysens andra del undersöks istället kvinnoskildringar som skiljer sig från de som tidigare uppmärksammats. Dessa skildringar bedöms som uttryck för ett så kallat ideologiskt patriarkalt historiebruk. Kvinnor skildras med ett manligt fokus och när de väl uppmärksammas som individer, skildras de som inkompetenta och med fokus på deras privatliv och utseenden. Stereotypa uttalanden om kvinnor problematiseras ej. Dessa två olika typer av kvinnoskildringar är dock inte särdeles åtskilda i materialet, utan där möts de, om än i olika hög grad i olika artiklar. Därav torde det vara svårt för elever att hantera de patriarkalt ideologiska kvinnoskildringarna, eftersom de samexisterar med innehåll med ett annat budskap. Konsekvenserna av ett ideologiskt patriarkalt historiebruk bedöms drabba både elevernas förmåga att resonera historiskt samt deras eget existentiella historiebruk. Ett annat resultat rör just arbetet med ett ideologiskt patriarkalt historiebruk, en specificering av ideologiskt historiebruk som är okänd sedan tidigare för uppsatsförfattaren, men som här fungerat väl som analysverktyg. Detta tyder på att begreppet kan vara användbart även för andra.

This study is based on twelve children born in the late 1700´s and early 1800´s in the city of Västervik. During 1807 and 1809 they received child support due to their poor upbringing. This essey will study how their life unfold after they got child support, will the children remain poor or will they have a chance to develop a new life. This study will also look on the structure of child support in the early nineteenth century in Sweden. This study has used an a collective biography method and class perspective. The study´s source material has been accesed through ArkivDigital search service. The conclusion is that many of the children did not receive education beacuse they were poor or sick. Which made them take works that didn´t required any form of education, the children had therefore no chance to change their life and stayed poor for the rest of their lives. Child support in the early nineteenth century was structured to give money to parents of poor and sick children. The idea behind child support was just to make the children survive, so they later become workers in society.