For the better part of the 20th century, Swedish hillforts were seen strictly as an iron age phenomenon, and it was not until the mid-1980’s that we had reliable evidence that hillforts were already constructed during the Bronze Age. At the same time, archaeologists were moving away from the old militaristic studies to make way for studies based on the symbolical aspects of these monumental structures. Unfortunately, as we reached the end of the millennium, the general archaeological interest for hillforts dramatically dropped, causing hillfort research to miss out on the digital revolution as the new GIS technology cemented itself as a powerful tool in archaeological research. Today, nine hillforts have received a Bronze Age dating, why it is now possible to preform high quality research on the material without having to include structures from other time periods. However, the lack of GIS-based hillfort research leads us to seek inspiration from British hillfort research where the incorporation of GIS-methodology has proven successful in analyzing the relationship between hillforts and their landscapes. The purpose of this paper is therefore to continue investigating the symbolical aspects of the Swedish Bronze Age hillforts by investigating how GIS can help us locate and understand visual relationship between hillfort morphology and the surrounding landscape.       The analysis is based on a viewshed-method developed by Jessica Murray in her attempts to analyze if hillforts were constructed to visually relate to certain features of the landscape or the local topography. The resulting viewshed rasters are interpreted from a phenomenological theoretical standpoint since phenomenological aspects give us the possibility to bridge the gap between digital and analogue sensory analysis. The results show that viewshed-based analyses can be successfully complimented by phenomenological theory and that the method has successfully replicated previously observed landscape relationships while also exposing previously unknown visual relationships.

The complex process of manufacturing woolen textiles contains a long chain of cooperation between resources, techniques and society. With a focus on South and Central Sweden, this study aims to trace the development of woolen textiles and its manufacture, how and why it changed and obtained an increased meaning from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. Archaeological biography and materiality are used as theoretical concepts to firstly explore how textile tools, sheep husbandry and woolen textiles changed in occurrence and appearance over time and space. Secondly, by comparing these results, the study analyzes how the different source materials may have affected each other towards the advancement of woolen textiles. The results suggest that a successive increase of sheep among settlements, caused by probably ecological and/or economic factors, possibly led to an increase in wool that sparked the textile development with the creation of more advanced tools and techniques for making woolen textiles in a gradually higher quality. The relationships between people and woolen textiles, as well as its components of manufacture, also seems to have altered during the investigated period, sometimes probably due to influences from the outside world.

Denna studie undersöker relationen mellan landskap, miljö och placeringen av boplatser från neolitikum och bronsålder i Ystadområdet. Uppsatsen åstadkommer detta genom maximal entropi modellering av boplatsernas placering i relation till flera variabler i landskapet och miljön. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk utgår från en antagen koppling mellan variabler i miljön och placeringen av boplatser. Resultatet av modelleringen översätts till tabeller som visar vilka variabler i miljön och landskapet som är viktiga i relation till placeringen av boplatser under dessa perioder, och till kartor som visar vilka delar av Ystadområdet som har rätt kombination av dessa variabler. Dessa används sedan för att besvara frågeställningarna. Resultaten av studien visar en stark koppling mellan kvartärsjordarten kärrtorv och närvaron av boplatser. Variablerna som föredrogs vid placeringen av boplatser visar också en viss variation mellan tidsperioderna. Utöver detta bedömdes modellen av historisk miljö från Ystadprojektet vara användbar. / This study examines the relationship between landscape, environment, and the placement of settlements during the neolithic and bronze age periods in the Ystad area. The study accomplishes this through maximal entropy modeling of the placement of settlements in relation to several variables in the landscape and environment. The theoretic framework of this study centers around a presumed connection between variables in the environment and the location of settlements. The results are translated into tables that show which of these variables were important in relation to the placement of settlements during the above-mentioned periods. The results are also translated into maps that show which areas of Ystad have the right combination of variables that were determined to be important by the model. These tables and maps are then used to produce an answer to the main questions of this paper. The results of this study show a strong connection between the quaternary soil type bog peat, and the presence of settlements. The preferred conditions also show some variation between time periods. Furthermore, the model of historic environment from the Ystad project was deemed to be useful.

This essay examines the Proto-Indo-European motif of the Divine Twins, as it has been interpreted in Scandinavia during the Bronze and Iron Ages. Because of the difference in opinion between archaeological researchers regarding when the Divine Twins disappeared, an examination of the material culture that has been connected to this motif is undertaken. Duality as a concept is used to discuss the relationship of mythological twins to, on one hand, likeness and closeness, and, on the other, opposing personalities, contrasting aspects and animosity. Based on the analysis of the Scandinavian material culture, it is concluded that the Divine Twins as a motif survived the debated Bronze Age collapse. Furthermore, the inclusion of Nordic ethnographic accounts from the 19th and 20th century may imply that the Divine Twins survived, at least in popular beliefs, well into the 1900s.

I Jönköping finns idag tre synliga bronsåldersgravar fortfarande stående. I början av1900-talet var detta numret 10. Vissa fynd från bronsåldern i området som Sagaholmshögenhar fått mycket uppmärksamhet av forskare, men få landskapsanalyser har utförts över dettaområdet. På andra håll har landskapsanalyser av gravhögar ofta utförts över betydligt störreområden, och dessa har fått tolkningar som bland annat territoriemarkörer baserat påmonumentens visuella aspekt. Uppsatsen analyserar bronsålderslandskapet i Jönköping utifrånsiktlinjer med hjälp av GIS, och med syftet att undersöka relationen mellan de monumentalagravarna och andra synliga aspekter av landskapet för att försöka nå varför dessa uppfördesdär de står. Resultaten av analysen visar att synlighet troligen inte var en särskilt betydandefaktor för uppförandet av gravarna, men att ett samband i intervisibiliteten mellan dessa kananas, samt belyser uppsatsen några källkritiska problem med tillgängliga strandlinjemodelleroch digital fornminnesdata. / In Jönköping there exists today three visible and still standing barrows from the bronze age.In the beginning of the 20th century these numbered 10. Some findings från the bronze age inthis area like the Sagaholm-barrow have garnered a lot of attention by researchers, but fewlandscape analyses havebeen performed over the area. In other parts of the country landscapeanalyses have been performed across much larger areas, and these have gotten interpretationssuch as markers of territory based on the visual aspects of these monuments. This thesisanalyses the bronze age landscape in Jönköping based on sightlines with the aid of GIS, andwith the goal to explore the relationship between the monumental graves and other visibleaspects of the landscape in order to try and reach an understanding as to why these arestanding where they are. The results of the analysis show that visibility likely wasn’t anespecially important factor in raising the graves, but that a correlation regarding intervisibilitycan be suspected. Furthermore the thesis shines light on a few sources of critique with theavailible shoreline models, as well as the digital data on ancient remains.

Rind från Gråhäll: Bronsspännet ingår i mitt examensarbete för en master i kreativt skrivande och utgör cirka en tredjedel av en större helhet. Texten rör sig runt teman som att kämpa för sig själv och andra även när det känns hopplöst och då man tappar tron på vad man kan åstadkomma. Berättelsen är inspirerad av bronsåldern och den har inslag av magisk realism. Historien vänder sig till barn 9-12 år.

Syftet med undersökningen är att göra en “modell” över hur bronsålderns strandlinje på Gotlands östra kust kan ha sett ut samt att undersöka var rösen finns placerade i landskapet. Undersökningen har haft två teoretiska utgångspunkter, seascape och platsval. Materialet som undersökts i uppsatsen är 508 rösen och 14 gravfält där rösen förekommer, samt de kartor med strandlinjerekonstruktionen som gjorts inom ramen för undersökningen. För att kunna rekonstruera strandlinjen och analysera rösenas placering har en rumslig analys genomförts i QGIS.  Den sydligaste delen av ön rekonstruerades till 7,5 m.ö.h. och den nordligaste delen, det vill säga Fårö, rekonstruerades till 12 m.ö.h. vilket gjorde att det var en skillnad på 4,5 meter mellan nord och syd. Studien visade att en majoritet av rösena placerades invid någon form av vatten, att i de norra delarna av ön var frekvensen av mindre rösen större samtidig som östkusten hade flest rösen med en diameter över 20 meter. / The purpose of the thesis is to make a "model" of what the Bronze Age shoreline on Gotland's eastern coast might have looked like and to investigate where the cairns are located in the landscape. The survey had two theoretical starting points, seascape, and site selection. The material examined in the essay is 508 cairns and 14 burial fields where the cairns occur, as well as the maps with the shoreline reconstruction made within the framework of the survey. To reconstruct the shoreline and analyse the location of the cairns, a spatial analysis has been carried out in QGIS. The southernmost part of the island was reconstructed to 7.5 m.a.s.l. and the northernmost part, i.e. Fårö, was reconstructed to 12 m.a.s.l. which meant that there was a difference of 4.5 meters between north and south. The study showed that most of the cairns were placed next to some form of water. It was also seen, that in the northern parts of the island, there were generally smaller cairns, while the east coast had the most cairns with a diameter of over 20 meters.

Skärvstenshögarna i Uppland har konstaterats vara en komplex fornlämningstyp och det har visat sig vara problematiskt att förklara dem som homogena i form och funktion över tid. En kategorisering av dem har skapats som har konstaterat att olika former av dem finns. Syftet med denna uppsats är sedermera att utgå från befintlig kategorisering och undersöka om fler kategorier och typer går att isolera ur tillgänglig empiri. Därefter för att beskriva deras form, läge, kronologi och förändring. Teoretiska ramverk som används för att begreppsliggöra skärvstensbrukets mer än tusenåriga användande är de om tradition, minne och ritual. Teorier som kan manifestera bruket som en kulturell process och dimension i tid och rum. Metoder som används för att identifiera fler kategorier och typer är dels multipel korrespondensanalys av 100 skärvstensförekomster för att generera mönster. Dels densitetsanalys av 100 C14-dateringar av detsamma för att utarbeta aspekter av tid i empirin. Slutligen används visibilitetsanalys för att generera belägg för kategoriernas olika lägen samt en kvalitativ genomgång av empirin för att skapa modeller av nya typer inom befintliga kategorier. / The burnt mounds of Uppland have been shown to be remains of a complex type and it has been proven problematic to explain them as homogeneous in form and function over time. A categorization of them has been created which has established that different forms exist. From that categorization the purpose of this essay is subsequently to investigate whether additional categories and types can be isolated from available empirical evidence. Also to include a description of their form, location, chronology, and change. Theoretical frameworks used to conceptualize the more than a thousand-year use of burnt stones are those of tradition, memory, and ritual. Theories that can manifest the practice as a cultural process and a dimension of time and space. Methods used to identify additional categories and types includes a multiple correspondence analysis of 100 burnt mounds to generate patterns. A density analysis of 100 C14 samples of the same deposits to work out aspects of time in the empirics. Finally, visibility analysis is used to ascertain the different positions of the categories as well as a qualitative review of the empirical evidence to create models of new types within existing categories.

This study was made with the express purpose to shine a light on how we use the present to understand the past. My focus was directed at how the view on gender during the last couple of hundred years has influenced how we construct arbitrary gender norms for a Scandinavian bronze age society. To complete this study, I looked at the Swedish gravemound “Hågahögen”, on the outskirts of Uppsala, and compared it to three Danish mounds with similar properties. Hågahögen consists of the cremated remains of one, or possibly two, individuals who have been interpreted as male due to the presence of a sword in the grave. The Danish graves are all located on the Danish mainland, known as Jutland, and are called Egtved, Borum Eshøj and Trindhøj. Due to the extraordinarily well-preserved remains in these graves they proved to be an excellent counter to Hågahögen. Because of this the biological sex of these individuals are not in question, therefore I could use them to compare various arguments and how their sex was being portrayed. My sources consisted of various articles, archaeological textbooks, reports and popular science books. My results show that graves that contain males are generally valued higher than those that contain females. Power is more often attributed to the male remains while the females are often seen as objects to empower males. The women I studied were either seen as mothers, wives or sexual objects. The men were seen as chieftains, kings, ritual masters or they weren’t described in enough detail to conclude a role for them. The individual in Hågahögen was given masculinity because of the sword in the grave, but also due to the implied sway and power over those who built the grave after their death. That sort of power is rarely seen as a feminine trait, therefor it was impossible for the archaeologists of old to see the occupant of the grave as anything other than male.

This thesis will focus on stone ship settings and the burial practice surrounding them. Over 400 stone ships have been found in Gotland but only 70 of them have been studied and even less osteological analyses have been made. The burials in focus will be four ships which are all made of pieces of limestone formed like ships and are located under the surface opposed to the other types of stone ships settings that are made of big raised rocks. The ships in question are graves therefore the study will focus on the monuments as burial places and will seek so see similarities and differences in the outer and inner burial practice. By analyzing cremated bones, I will determine the age, sex and the number of individuals buried and with the help of the artefacts find possible patterns that can help determine the inner burial practice.