Examination concerning the possibility of finding prehistoric children as considerable actors through the medium of neolithic clay figurines which were discovered in the archaeological remains regarding a pitted-ware settlement excavated in Tråsättra, Stockholm parish in the year 2016. The main aim for this study is to pay attention to a group of individuals most often overlooked in archaeological research as a whole, by searching to find new angles of incidence in a material previously interpreted from a ritual perspective.

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Depåfynd och anledningarna bakom deras nedläggelser har länge varit forskningsfrågor. Begreppet har definierats olika utav diverse författare. Flera forskare har utvecklat kriterier för vad som utgör ett depåfynd, samt om det har nedlagts i sakralt eller profant syfte. Gemensamt för en rituell tolkning är att depåplatsen har extraordinära naturliga egenskaper, något vattenmiljöer uppfattas besitta. Med området Östra Ljungby i Trolle-Ljungby socken, Skåne som undersökningsområde kommer uppsatsen ställa fyndmaterialet mot dessa kriterier. Fyndmaterialet har påträffats i både fast- och våtmark samt består till stor del av olika typer av yxor, verktyg och dolkar som typologiskt dateras till tidsperioder från mesolitikum till äldre bronsålder. Utifrån en hypotes om vattens personskap utforskas även en möjlig koppling mellan vattendepåfynden och folktrossägen. Tidsmässiga likheter och skillnader analyseras samt diskuteras i syfte att förstå deponeringsplatsernas kontinuitet. Det kan slutledas att flera sakrala depåer har nedlagts i Östra Ljungby, där vissa har gjorts på samma plats över långa tidsspann. Alltså finns det tecken som hänvisar till att undersökningsområdet haft en kontinuerlig deponeringstradition. Vidare finns en koppling till seder som gjorts för att skydda sig mot näcken. Däremot bör det belysas att en sådan koppling är svår att fastställa på grund av svårigheterna att rekonstruera forntida ritualer och ideologier. / Hoards and the reason behind their depositions have long been research questions. The term has been defined differently by various authors. Several researchers have developed criteria for what constitutes a hoard, as well as whether it has been deposited for a sacred or profane purpose. Common for a ritual interpretation is that the deposition place has natural properties that are extraordinary, something watery environments are believed to possess. With the area of Östra Ljungby in the parish of Trolle-Ljungby, Skåne as the research area, the essay will compare the finds against these criteria. The material found have been discovered in both solid ground and wetlands, and consists largely of various types of axes, tools and daggers that are typologically dated to time periods from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Based on a hypothesis concerning the personhood of water, a possible connection between the wetland hoards and folklore is explored. Temporal similarities and differences are analysed and discussed in order to further understand the continuity of the deposition sites. It can be concluded that several sacral depositions have been made in Östra Ljungby, where some have been made in the same place over long periods of time. Thus, there are signs that point to the study area having a continuous depositional tradition. Furthermore, there is a connection to customs made in order to protect oneself against näcken. However, such a connection is difficult to establish due to the difficulties in reconstructing prehistoric rituals and ideologies.

This thesis has illustrated the importance of the identification of tooth marks between humans and carnivores within an archaeological context and has provided further potential for advancement to future research. Stone Age sites from Europe have acted as case studies where the bones from both experimental and archaeological research have been analysed and discussed through an is taphonomic theoretical perspective. For the osteological analysis analysed experimental bones with a microscope to see identifications of tooth marks. In a comparative analysis, the experimental bones have been compared to archaeological assemblages from the Stone Age and one site from the Bronze Age.  The result shows that the experimental material contained every tooth mark in the human-chewed material, whilst the dog-chewed material only contained the back teeth. The bones showed that the human chewing had mainly been processed with the incisors, canine and premolar. In contrast, the dog bones showed that dog chewing had mainly been processed with the premolars and molars. / Denna uppsats har illustrerat vikten av identifiering av tandmärken mellan människor och köttätare i ett arkeologiskt sammanhang och har gett ytterligare potential för avancemang till framtida forskning. Stenåldersplatser från Europa har fungerat som fallstudier där benen från både experimentell och arkeologisk forskning har analyserats och diskuterats genom ett tafonomiskt teoretiskt perspektiv. För osteologisk analys analyserade experimentella ben med ett mikroskop för att se identifieringar av tandmärken. I en jämförande analys har de experimentella benen jämförts med arkeologiska samlingar från stenåldern och en plats från bronsåldern. Resultatet visar att det experimentella materialet innehöll varje tandmärke i det mänskliga tuggade materialet, medan det hundtuggade materialet endast innehöll de bakre tänderna. Benen visade att det mänskliga tuggandet huvudsakligen hade bearbetats med framtänder, hörntand och premolar. Däremot visade hundbenen att hundtuggandet huvudsakligen hade bearbetats med premolarerna och molarerna.

No / As the essays in this book demonstrate, Prehistoric and Romano-British landscape studies have come a long way since Hoskins, whose work reflected the prevailing 'Celtic' ethnological narrative of Britain before the medieval period. The contributors present a stimulating survey of the subject as it is in the early twenty-first century, and provide some sense of a research frontier where new conceptualisations of 'otherness' and new research techniques are transforming our understanding.

No / Tofts Ness is a peninsula at the north end of the Orcadian island of Sanday where mounds and banks represent a domestic landscape, marginal even in island terms, together with a funerary landscape. A combination of selective excavation and geophysical survey during 1985-8 revealed settlement and cultivation spanning Neolithic to Early Iron Age times, including burnt mounds and traces of plough cultivation. The Neolithic inhabitants of Tofts Ness appear not to have used either Grooved Ware or Unstan Ware, and it is suggested that this reflects a lack of status compared to the settlement at Pool. Instead, the pottery shares important links to contemporary assemblages from West Mainland Shetland, and this is echoed by the steatite artefacts. The link with Shetland remains visible into the Late Bronze Age. The upper levels of the main settlement mound contained the remains of stone-built roundhouses of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, of which the last survived to a height of 1.5m. A lack of personal items amongst the artefact assemblage again indicates the low status of the inhabitants. The economic evidence for all periods shows a mixed subsistence economy based on animal husbandry and barley cultivation, together with fishing, fowling and the exploitation of wild plants both terrestrial and marine. Important studies on the farming methods employed on Tofts Ness reveal a manuring strategy in managing small fields that was more akin to intensive gardening than field cultivation and a deliberate policy of harvesting the barley crop whilst under-ripe.

No / The use of Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopy for characterising lignocellulosics has increased significantly over the last twenty years. Here, an FT-Raman spectroscopic study of changes in the chemistry of waterlogged archaeological wood of Pinus sp. and Quercus sp. from a prehistoric assemblage recovered from northern Greece is presented. FT-Raman spectral features of biodeteriorated wood were associated with the depletion of lignin and/or carbohydrate polymers at various stages of deterioration. Spectra from the archaeological wood are presented alongside spectra of sound wood of the same taxa. A comparison of the relative changes in intensities of spectral bands associated with lignin and carbohydrates resulting from decay clearly indicated extensive deterioration of both the softwood and hardwood samples and the carbohydrates appear to be more deteriorated than the lignin. The biodeterioration of the archaeological timbers followed a pattern of initial preferential loss of carbohydrates causing significant loss of cellulose and hemicellulose, followed by the degradation of lignin.

No / Five fragments of Late Neolithic clay zoomorphic vessels from northern Greece have been analysed for organic residues by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. The results showed that the containers had been used in connection with a number of substances, in particular lower terpenoids, an oil or fat, possibly fossil fuel and in one case possibly beeswax. The paper considers likely interpretations of such combinations of materials in relation to possible functions of these symbolically enhanced artefacts. It appears that substances may have been used in the vessels because of their aromatic and/or medicinal and combustible properties, possibly in order to produce light, fragrance and/or smoke.

No / A number of charred surface residues, adhering to ceramic containers, were obtained from various coastal and inland sites in north-west Europe dating from the sixth to the fourth millennium cal bc. In order to investigate the use of these vessels and in particular to identify any marine products, the residues were subjected to carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. Variation in carbon isotope ratios between different samples indicated that some vessels may have been used to process marine products. This analysis was corroborated by specific identification of aquatic products following structural and isotopic characterization of lipids extracted from selected samples.