This thesis examines the history of the cultural heritage site of Eketorp, a prehistoric ring-fort, on the island of Öland, Sweden. The archaeological excavations at Eketorp, which began in 1964, lasted for a decade and soon turned into one of the largest archaeological research projects in Sweden. The scale and the implementation of the excavations, as an interdisciplinary and international research project, fostered a whole generation of archaeologists and resulted in numerous research publications. After the excavations the archaeological site was transformed into a full-scale archaeological reconstruction by the Swedish National Heritage Board. Since the mid-1980s the site has been a popular tourist attraction and open-air museum. The history of the site itself connects to several academic fields, including archaeology, history of archaeology, cultural heritage and museum studies. Through Ludwig Fleck’s concept thought collective and Donna Haraway’s situated knowledge, which are used as analytical tools, the aim of this thesis is to explore how these different fields interacted throughout the history of Eketorp. Further, the analytical tools are used to highlight how these interactions have generated notions of time, space, and gender. The study takes an interdisciplinary approach with the history of Eketorp analysed in three analytical chapters, each of them with different chronological and empirical focus. First, Eketorp is explored as a contemporary museum space through ethnographic fieldwork. Second, archive material is used to analyse how the archaeological excavation and the following archaeological reconstruction were conducted during the 1960s and onwards. Third, scientific texts are used to analyse how interpretations of Eketorp as a prehistoric site has changed. The concluding chapter integrates the results of the three chapters in order to critically examine how notions of time, space and gender interconnect between these fields. Illustrated by a wide chronological and interdisciplinary approach, the central argument of the thesis is thus that the Eketorp thought collective and thought style, intimately connected to hierarchies in academic practice, were created, performed, and maintained through several scientific and heritage institutions.

Hunting ground graves were distinguished as a separate category during the 1930s.         There is however no clear definition of what a hunting ground grave is. They have been constructed over a large area over a long period of time (200 BC-1200 AD) and their morphology varies. This paper investigates how the archaeologists have discussed the hunting ground graves since they were distinguished as a separate category until today. It investigates what concepts that have been used to define and categorize the graves as a group. It also investigates if the choices of concepts are depending on a broader societal perspective. To find the answers to these questions two surveys have been done. In the first one, texts about the hunting ground graves, written by scientists from 1931 to 2009, are analyzed. The second survey is a questionnaire sent to archaeologists working at museums and at the County Administrative Board in the regions of northern Svealand and Norrland.     The source material in both surveys is mainly studied qualitatively, where phrases and choices of words are analyzed using the concepts and methods derived from the research tradition of conceptual history. In the second survey quantitative elements is also analyzed, which aims to show how different views on the hunting ground graves are spread over different counties. The results of the surveys show that the concepts used to define the graves contain locked dichotomies concerning location, economy and ethnicity. The research from the twenty-first century is however increasingly thinking about hunting ground graves as an expression of meetings and mixtures of cultures. The second survey shows that there is no clear consensus on the concept of lake graves (the concept lake graves was used in the questionnaire) among the archaeologists answering the questionnaire. On the contrary, they consider the concept unclear and difficult to use.

This thesis describes and theoretically illuminates perspectives on the formation of a dance teacher education in Sweden during the period 1939–65. The process is explored mainly through the visions and activities of Svenska Danspedagogförbundet, SDF (The Swedish Dance Teacher Association). Particular attention is paid to specific instances which eventually could lead toward the establishment of a government-sponsored educational program. The work is both chronologically and thematically arranged in order to enlighten time specific turning points that also encompass three major themes which can be seen as initiation, expansion and establishment. These themes summarize the problems my investigation zeroes in on. The chronological framework is bounded by the foundation of the SDF in 1939, and the first year of classes at the new pedagogical section of Koreografiska Institutet, KI (the Choreographic Institute) in 1964–65. The study focuses on the intersection of aesthetic, educational, and professional transformative processes which also includes the international field of dance. More specifically the study explores the initial process gathering practitioners in a professional association, which could lead both to unionization and the establishment of an education. As far as professional and educational questions are concerned the process toward establishing a system of dance teacher education followed a general growth and organization of the Swedish educational system as a whole. The educational alternatives which evolved between 1959 and 1965 corresponded to both internal and external needs, especially by exposing the lack of a competent corps of teachers. The study examines how these alternatives collaborated and competed with one another for a relatively short time. Though lines of contention were drawn between leading actors this work also illuminates how the profession and the art itself acquired increased status in a broader cultural context. The vision of modernizing the art of dance along with its pedagogy is shown to be as much about pedagogic matters as about aesthetic ideals. Regardless of actual differences and approaches to aesthetics and education the process was guided toward the establishment of a dance teacher education.