The island Öland is rich in prehistoric archaeological finds. The ringforts at Ölandwere constructed during the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. Contact withthe Roman Empire is known from finds of gold and of objects of Roman character.This essay compares style of architecture and structure of the ringforts withconstructions of some buildings and places in contemporary European cultures. Theresults indicate that the society in which the ringforts in Öland were built, were incontact with Celtic and Roman societies during the Roman Iron Age and theMigration Period.

The East Alpine region formed an important crossroads in later prehistoric Europe, through which ideas, people and objects flowed. This was particularly the case during the Late Bronze Age/ Early Iron Age, when an increasingly competitive society was evolving, with the formation of more complex social structures and the rise of ‘elites’. This has been evidenced in a shift in burial customs, from Urnfield-type cremation burial to the construction of tumuli and the adoption of elaborate inhumation burial. This multidisciplinary, multi-scalar approach to the analysis of human remains aims to explore the evolving structure, homogeneity and heterogeneity of communities inhabiting central and eastern Slovenia, and north-eastern Croatia, during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The application of multiple methods, including the osteological analysis of cremated and non-cremated human remains, radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium) and aDNA analysis has facilitated the exploration and interpretation of later prehistoric social structure and lifestyle. The use of carbon (from enamel carbonate and collagen) and nitrogen stable isotope analysis has highlighted important dietary distinctions between communities inhabiting this region and previous studies from elsewhere in contemporary Europe – specifically a high dependence on millet as a staple crop. This has been evidenced by δ13C values of between -17‰ and -15.3‰ from bone collagen. δ15N values of between 7.6‰ and 9.1‰ support this interpretation as they do not indicate the consumption of marine protein. Increased δ15N values of up to 13.5‰ from deciduous dentine have been interpreted as the influence of dietary and metabolic conditions, particularly in the presentation of an Infant exhibited palaeopathological evidence of severe metabolic disease. Complementary isotopic methods, including oxygen isotope ratios and enamel carbonate carbon, have also highlighted heterogeneity in childhood diet, reflecting the transition from a high lipid diet of breastmilk, to a diet of carbohydrates, indicative of weaning. In addition to these findings, the application of radiocarbon dating on cremated and nio-cremated human bone has expanded the current understanding of mortuary practices in this study area. Inhumation burial, previously thought synomemous with the Iron Age, has been now been identified throughout the Bronze Age at the cemetery of Obrežje. The application of this multi-scalar approach to combining and interpreting these data sets has allowed for the investigation of individual biographies, as well as regional trends. This research illustrates the advantages of bringing together multiple lines of evidence for the creation of informed interpretations regarding the life, death and diet of prehistoric peoples of the East Alpine region, and beyond. / The Encounters and Transformations in Iron Age Europe (ENTRANS) Project, led by Ian Armit, with the Slovenian and Croatian principal investigators, Matija Črešnar and Hrvoje Potrebica. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 291827. The project is financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, BMBF via PT-DLR, DASTI, ETAG, FCT, FNR, FNRS, FWF, FWO, HAZU, IRC, LMT, MHEST, NWO, NCN, RANNÍS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme. / The Appendices A-H are not available online.

The Neolithic and late Iron Age pottery from the settlement site of Pool, Sanday, Orkney, was studied on two levels. Firstly, a morphological and technological study was carried out to establish a sequence for the site. Secondly an assessment was made of the usefulness of X-ray Fluorescence Analysis, Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry and Petrological analysis to coarse ware studies, using the Pool assemblage as a case study. Recording of technological and typological attributes allowed three phases of Neolithic pottery to be identified. The earliest phase included sherds of Unstan Ware. This phase was followed by an assemblage characterised by pottery with incised decoration, which was stratified below a traditional Grooved Ware assemblage. The change in pottery styles and manufacturing methods with the Grooved Ware indicated that it evolved elsewhere. Grass tempered and burnished pottery characterised the Iron Age assemblage. Pottery samples from all phases of the site were analysed by XRF and ICPS. In addition, pottery from late Iron Age sites in the area was analysed for comparison with the Pool Iron Age pottery. XRF and ICPS analyses did not distinguish between either different phases at Pool or different Orcadian sites. This was attributed to the similarities in geological deposits over much of Orkney and the variations which can occur within a clay source. A clay survey was carried out in the vicinity of the site, and samples taken for comparison with the Pool pottery. Identification of rocks and minerals in thin section, and grain-size analysis, indicated that the Pool pottery was made locally to the site, and that both primary and secondary clays were used. It was concluded that petrological analysis is more suitable than elemental analysis in the study of coarse wares. / Science-based Archaeology'Committee of the Science and Engineering Research Council.

Atlantic Scotland provides plentiful and often dramatic evidence for settlement during the Iron Age but, like much of Europe, very little is known of the funerary traditions of communities in this region. Formal burial appears to have been rare, and evidence for alternative mortuary treatments is dispersed, varied and, to date, poorly understood. This study sets out to examine for the first time all human remains dating to the Iron Age in Atlantic Scotland, found in a variety of contexts ranging from formal cemeteries to occupied domestic sites. This data-set, despite its limitations, forms the basis for a new understanding of funerary treatment and daily life in later prehistoric Atlantic Scotland, signifying the development of an extraordinary range of different methods of dealing with, and harnessing the power of, the dead during this period. This information in turn can contribute to wider issues surrounding attitudes to the dead, religious belief, domestic life and the nature of society in Iron Age Europe. / Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Marinell Ash fund, Strathmartine Trust

An area of Shetland is examined in order to identify how Iron Age settlements might have related to each other. The study area contains two brochs. An inter-disciplinary approach is used to identify evidence for other Iron Age settlements and the information is presented as a model illustrating the pattern of settlement at different points during the Iron Age. A distinction is drawn between locations containing field archaeology and locations where occupation is predicted on the basis of evidence such as soil quality or place name. The whole model is then examined in order to identify patterns which may suggest changing relationships between settlements and groups of settlements, and the trends and influences behind these. Next an appraisal is made of the settlements¿ relative status and authority during Shetland¿s Early, Middle and Late Iron Age. By looking at the whole landscape through time - before, during and after the Iron Age ¿ the brochs are set in a wider chronological context which takes into account the changing role that these highly visible monuments may have played as socio-economic focal points in a developing landscape. The outcome reveals complexity. Initially the brochs appear to be a focus of settlement patterns but by the end of the Late Iron Age they are rivalled by a non-broch area which shows signs of heightened Pictish influence. Elsewhere in Shetland at this period there is retrenchment to broch-settlements, raising the question of how far developments in the study area are unique to that location.

Archaeomagnetism is an area of research that utilises the magnetic properties of archaeological materials to date past human activity. This research aimed to use the evidence of past geomagnetism, as recorded by archaeological and geological materials, to identify and characterise short timescale changes in the Earth¿s magnetic field. This contribution to the discipline focused on the first millennium BC, as there is evidence that during this time the Earth¿s magnetic field experienced rapid changes in direction. This work focused on an established weakness in archaeomagnetic studies, i.e. the application of archaeological information to assign a date range to the magnetic directions. The date ranges for 232 magnetic directions from 98 Iron Age sites were reviewed and a programme of fieldwork produced 25 new magnetic directions from 11 Iron Age sites across Britain. The approach developed in this thesis has made significant improvements to the data examined, which represent the prehistoric section of the British secular variation curve (SVC). These data have been incorporated into the British archaeomagnetic dataset that now comprises over 1000 magnetic directions and will be used to generate future British SVCs. The potential of the near continuous records of geomagnetic secular variation from British lake sediment sequences to SVCs was explored. This showed that these sediments have recorded the relative changes in the Earth¿s magnetic field but the dating and method of constructing the British master curve requires revision. As SVCs are predominately used as calibration curves for archaeomagnetic dating, this work provides a foundation for a revised and extended British SVC. This revision would be to the mutual benefit of studies in archaeology and archaeomagnetism, as the latter could potentially enable highresolution dating of Iron Age material, providing a viable alternative to radiocarbon dating. / Available full-text since June 30th 2013, at the end of the embargo period. / Lab data and appendices 3 and 4 are unavailable online.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

The research contained in these papers embodies both results from direct archaeological investigation and also the development of techniques (geophysical, chronological and geoarchaeological) in order to understand long-term settlements and their associated landscapes in Orkney and Shetland. Central to this research has been the study of soil management strategies of arable plots surrounding settlements from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. It is argued that this arable system provides higher yields in marginal locations. The ability to enhance yield in good years and to store surplus can mitigate against shortage. Control and storage of this surplus is seen as one catalyst for the economic power of elite groups over their underlying or ¿client¿ population. The emergence of a social elite in the Iron Age, building brochs and other substantial roundhouses of near broch proportions, is seen as being linked to the control of resources. Evidence at the site of Old Scatness indicated that there was a continuity of wealth and power from the Middle Iron Age through the Pictish period, before the appearance of the Vikings produced a break in the archaeological record. The Viking period saw a break in building traditions, the introduction of new artefacts and changes in farming and fishing strategies. Each of the papers represents a contribution that builds on these themes.

The roman coins on the islands of Bornholm, Öland and Gotland have shownarchaeologist and historians that a connection between Scandinavia and the RomanEmpire existed. But what did the roman coins mean to the inhabitants of these islands?This essay will study the coins found on the islands and the context in which they havebeen found. The aim for this essay is to understand in what context the coins werefound and what they meant for the inhabitants. The essay also strive towardsconducting a discussion around theories, speculations and facts to form an idea of whatthe coins may have meant to the inhabitants.

During late Nordic iron age there were two main cultures in Scandinavia; the Norse and the Sami.  This essay seeks to do two things. Firstly, to determine differences and similarities in how said cultures viewed liminality, that is the border line, or threshold, between two 'areas'. Secondly, to in one text gather and discuss all these areas where liminality played an important role. If not exactly the same a clear similarity is found in how liminality in the landscape was viewed, but the Norse seems to have found more meaning in the liminality of architecture. Both cultures also found one sex preferable before the other concerning magic, but while the Sami favored men, the Norse thought it women's work. Men taking on a woman's role was, among the Norse, found to be both shameful and dangerous, while the Sami of the age seems to have had no such view.  The Norse and Sami saw power in liminality, in various ways, making use of it in burial, religious ritual and magic.