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Papers by anders Högberg

Scientific Reports

The detection of complex poison recipes applied to ancient hunting weapons has the potential to p... more The detection of complex poison recipes applied to ancient hunting weapons has the potential to provide important insights into traditional pharmacological knowledge systems. Yet, recipes comprising many ingredients can be challenging to decipher, especially in older samples that have undergone biodegradation. We present the results of our attempt to analyze samples of poison collected from nineteenth and twentieth century arrowheads from southern Africa, and from a 1000-year-old archaeological bone point. The arrow poison residues and reference samples were analyzed by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FTIR) and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS). The ATR FTIR analysis is primarily able to separate between different arrow poison binder recipes. The extractives identified by GC–MS analysis consist of a multitude of components from both binders and active substances, confirming and adding to the results from the ATR FTIR analyses. We ...

Routledge eBooks, Dec 10, 2020

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Jun 1, 2023

Museums and cultural heritage authorities in Europe are currently engaged in safeguarding tangibl... more Museums and cultural heritage authorities in Europe are currently engaged in safeguarding tangible cultural heritage in case of future military conflict. This work is being done as part of broader mobilization processes in society, in light of the war in Ukraine. Here we discuss such work in Sweden as an example. We argue for the need to engage with possible futures in new – and we believe better – ways that take us beyond the protection and preservation of cultural heritage.

Kolten kliade och soppan smakade vatten : utvardering av tidsresor med arskurs 5 och 7 i Borgholm... more Kolten kliade och soppan smakade vatten : utvardering av tidsresor med arskurs 5 och 7 i Borgholms kommun

Current Anthropology, 2019

Cumulative Culture: An Integrated Perspective : Comment on Stout et al. : Archaeology and the Ori... more Cumulative Culture: An Integrated Perspective : Comment on Stout et al. : Archaeology and the Origins of Human Cumulative CultureA Case Study from the Earliest Oldowan at Gona, Ethiopia

Cultural Heritage and the Future, 2020

The study of human origins is one of the most fascinating branches of anthropology. Yet it has ra... more The study of human origins is one of the most fascinating branches of anthropology. Yet it has rarely been considered by social or cultural anthropologists, who represent the largest subfield of the discipline. In this powerful study Alan Barnard aims to bridge this gap. Barnard argues that social anthropological theory has much to contribute to our understanding of human evolution, including changes in technology, subsistence and exchange, family and kinship, as well as to the study of language, art, ritual and belief. This book places social anthropology in the context of a widely-conceived constellation of anthropological sciences. It incorporates recent findings in many fields, including primate studies, archaeology, linguistics and human genetics. In clear, accessible style Barnard addresses the fundamental questions surrounding the evolution of human society and the prehistory of culture, suggesting a new direction for social anthropology that will open up debate across the di...

Archaeology is accustomed to dealing with long term perspectives and to manage human legacies, th... more Archaeology is accustomed to dealing with long term perspectives and to manage human legacies, the cultural heritage. Cultural heritage management and nuclear waste management share concerns with t ...

In Situ Archaeologica

In this text we discuss how Swedish contract archaeology can develop its socialengagement by crea... more In this text we discuss how Swedish contract archaeology can develop its socialengagement by creating new areas of relevance to society, beyond the generalactivities of disseminating results. We do so by giving concrete examples of howthis can be done, using archaeological excavations as a starting point. The examplesinclude engaging the local community in future planning for a social sustainableliving environment, collaboration with the tourism sector, development of teachingmaterials for secondary schools, memory training for people with acquired braindamage, and school programs focusing on a socially sustainable and inclusive society.The purpose of the text is to inspire change, by showing development opportunitiesfor future contract archaeology that will benefit both performers and recipients,and contribute to society’s multifaceted needs.

Nordisk Museologi

This study investigates how managers and employees at County Museums in Sweden think about, work ... more This study investigates how managers and employees at County Museums in Sweden think about, work with, and relate to the future in their daily practice. We examined which tools and routines the museums employ to work concretely with different future perspectives. The study is thus about those forms of future consciousness that exist in the museums. The results show that the future is implicitly present but often remains unarticulated in the work of the museum. The museums work with short future perspectives which are often linked to concrete tasks or development work. The future perspectives at the museums are largely locked in the present or in a near future. Concrete tools, skills and routines to develop future consciousness are lacking. However, the results show that there is great interest and willingness among Swedish County Museums to implement tools, skills, and routines for a more developed engagement with futures.

Scientific Reports

Routledge eBooks, Dec 10, 2020

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Jun 1, 2023

Current Anthropology, 2019

Cultural Heritage and the Future, 2020

In Situ Archaeologica

Nordisk Museologi

The future is an important new topic for archaeology. Archaeologists do not only study past futur... more The future is an important new topic for archaeology. Archaeologists do not only study past futures but are also concerned with future pasts and in particular with the impact of their work on future societies. Drawing on the notion of “heritage futures”, archaeological heritage is claimed to contribute to sustainable development and address challenges posed by
climate change, human conflicts, and others.

Within the nuclear environmental humanities, it falls especially to the disciplines of Archaeolog... more Within the nuclear environmental humanities, it falls especially to the disciplines of Archaeology and Heritage Studies to develop approaches and perspectives about remembering and planning extending across long periods of time. Archaeology and Heritage Studies are versed in paying attention to both the tangible and the intangible realms and to varying perceptions and indeed, complex interrelations between past, present, and future. Archaeology, in particular, commonly adopts long-term perspectives in research. Archaeologists working in the heritage sector commonly manage tangible and intangible human legacies, the cultural heritage, with present and future needs in mind.
In this chapter we offer two arguments to the emerging field of nuclear environmental humanities: firstly, an archaeological understanding of time in the context of historical consciousness, and indeed, as we will argue, future consciousness, and how it can inspire critical thinking about the nuclear domain across disciplines; secondly, the notion of nuclear waste as cultural heritage, in particular, offers critical insights that have the potential to challenge not only current thinking in the nuclear waste sector, but also current thinking in the humanities themselves.

The ways in which people think and act are bound to particular cultural contexts and are therefor... more The ways in which people think and act are bound to particular cultural contexts and are therefore specific in time and place. Given that the cultural heritage sector should appreciate this, it is somewhat ironic that the need to preserve the heritage for the future is widely taken for granted, both in the heritage sector itself and society at large. Detailed discussions of the future in the literature about heritage are few and those that take place are often about ensuring continuity of the present rather than preparing for future change. Even at the highest international level, a potentially different significance of heritage in the future, compared with the present, is seldom considered. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.

This chapter argues that the long-term accessibility of heritage relies to a great extent on perc... more This chapter argues that the long-term accessibility of heritage relies to a great extent on perceptions of the future that are articulated in specific strategies of preservation. It addresses three perceptions of the future: one that assumes ongoing continuity, one that assumes controllable transformation, and one that assumes an eventual break in continuity. The chapter presents some examples from the village of Hallstatt that illustrate how a continuity-oriented perception of the future can facilitate accessibility over several centuries.

One of the societal challenges of our time is to design, build and operate repositories for the s... more One of the societal challenges of our time is to design, build and operate repositories for the safe disposal of long-lived nuclear waste. This chapter considers the question of how to manage transmissions of essential records, knowledge and memory concerning final repositories for nuclear waste across long time periods. Most stakeholders in the nuclear waste sector agree that it is important to empower future generations to make informed decisions during any kind of interaction with the repository to avoid inadvertent intrusion or facilitate safe retrieval of any part of the content. The long-term preservation of nuclear waste and the legacy of the nuclear age are not only technical and historical concerns but deeply cultural. Heritage negotiates people’s understanding and a society’s relationship between past, present, and future. This applies to nuclear waste to the same extent as to other forms of cultural heritage.

The heritage sector would benefit from more detailed knowledge on how specific perceptions of the... more The heritage sector would benefit from more detailed knowledge on how specific perceptions of the future inform heritage practices and how contemporary heritage management relates to those future trends that we can actually make out today. Given that heritage experts should be among those best equipped to place social practices and their underlying logics into a larger historical perspective acknowledging change over time, this is somewhat surprising. One possible concrete strategy is to add temporality to decisions about heritage conservation. This can be achieved either by adding explicit future recipients to specific conservation projects or by setting “expiry dates”. Another possible strategy aims at directly empowering future generations. Maybe the key for future benefits of heritage lies as much in educating audiences how to think and use heritage in a way that benefits people and society rather than merely in making sure that a particular kind of heritage is physically preserved.

The future has seldom been an object of archaeological study even though there are some very prof... more The future has seldom been an object of archaeological study even though there are some very profound and deep-reaching links between past, present, and future. At the same time, archaeologists work to preserve places, environments, and associated values and knowledge for future generations. But although it is not far-fetched to claim that the future will differ from what we are used to in the present, in managing archaeological heritage, most assumptions about the future do not build on an understanding of how the future will be different from today. We argue in this paper that archaeologists should not only promote historical consciousness but also future consciousness.

We need to define in advance a response to the great issues of the next two decades, to define a ... more We need to define in advance a response to the great issues of the next two decades, to define a future just as we have always presumed to create the past. Archaeology is about change and time; future time differs only from past time in its pace, and as a profession we should be able to adjust to the future, and direct it, more than most.

World Archaeology, 2017

Although the future is mentioned frequently in overarching aims and visions, and it is a major dr... more Although the future is mentioned frequently in overarching aims and visions, and it is a major drive in the daily work of archaeological heritage managers and indeed heritage professionals more generally, it remains unclear precisely how an overall commitment to the future can best inform specific heritage practices. It seems that most archaeologists and other heritage professionals cannot easily express how they conceive of the future they work for, and how their work will impact on that future. The future tends to remain implicit in daily practice which operates in a continuing, rolling present. The authors argue that this needs to change because present-day heritage management may be much less beneficial for the future than we commonly expect.

In this text, we present a conceptual model for discussing and analysing what happens when cultur... more In this text, we present a conceptual model for discussing and analysing what happens when culture, in the form of heritage, and regional development, in the form of entrepreneurship, is juxtaposed (=heritagepreneurship). By comparing case studies from Mexican and South West Scandinavian regions our ambition is to elucidate potentials and limits in different ways of working with regional development using heritage as a mean.
Our case studies showed that heritage becomes staged, enacted, and perceived in very differing ways depending on the ways memories are embraced, constructed or repressed in the heritagepreneurship process. Different meanings thereby give different societal effects, influencing the heritagepreneurship process.
The strategies used in these case studies tend to be located “in the extremes”, from unconscious ignorance or a conscious effort to forget, to efforts to provide full attention and an active awareness of what has happened. We believe that more nuanced strategies for more long-term sustainable heritagepreneurship and regional development are located in-between these extremes.

Dokumentation från seminariet "Arkeologi -splittring eller mångfald?" den 7 och 8 december 2004. ... more Dokumentation från seminariet "Arkeologi -splittring eller mångfald?" den 7 och 8 december 2004. Dokumentationen är producerad vid Riksantikvarieäbetets Kulturmiljöavdelning, Stockholm, december 2005. Omslagsfoto: Arbete i schaktet vid en arkeologisk utgrävning av kvarteret Professorn 1 i Sigtuna.

This session will explore the tensions between geographically specific cultural heritage delineat... more This session will explore the tensions between geographically specific cultural heritage delineated by borders and boundaries, and what happens when these lines of division are being put into question by various processes of globalization linking everything with everything else. The session aims at exploring the future impact and role of cultural heritage in an increasingly interconnected world of differences and variation which at the same time becomes ever more alike.

Virtually all contemporary societies display historical or on-going migration, and global migrati... more Virtually all contemporary societies display historical or on-going migration, and global migration is profoundly changing how people perceive their societies. This raises questions of how archaeology and heritage can be resources for all citizens of the 21st century. A consequence of migration is societies that are increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse. Traditional questions concerning diversity related to national minorities or traditional multi-ethnic societies are but one matter concerning ethnic diversity. Understandings shaped from an immigrant perspective raise a series of other, little explored issues. Diversity in ethnic nationalist terms is not the same as diversity assessed from a regionalist perspective. Questions that arise are: What is the role of archaeology, museums and heritage in a world of migration? How can archaeology and heritage studies contribute to how societies define themselves, now and in the future?
We invite speakers to explore how archaeology and heritage in contemporary societies is evolving in relation to the forces of migration, cultural diversity and diaspora cultures. Suggested topics may be how archaeology is related to transnational and transitional knowledge, the development of heritage in the future as a result of migration, contemporary migration in light of historical movements, neo-colonialism, global tourism, cosmopolitanism, and segmentation vs. dialogues between groups.
Keywords: Migration, multiculturalism, internationalism, public archaeology, world archaeology, archaeological theory