Landscape, History and Monuments – A Material Culture Perspective (original) (raw)
Related papers
The seashore – beyond monumentality. The case of Pitted Ware coastal sites in southern Sweden
What is the significance of a place at the seashore? What kind of a sense of place does a place by the seashore constitute in the absence of any kind of monumental structures? Today, it is obvious within the archaeological domain that archaeological material culture is not only functional, but also acts as a metaphor for people’s self-perception. In this article, my assumption is that the different archaeo- logical cultural groups in southern Sweden during the Neolithic represent different social identities and lifestyles. As a result of this, both rival and syncretic cultural encounters existed in the past. Different cultural identities are dependent on scale, very local or regional in Scandinavia, as in other parts of Europe. Undoubtedly, processes of creoli- zation occurred between groups of people and can perhaps be understood in terms of processes of domination and competition. The character of the archaeological material culture indicates a highly power-structured mentality in the Neolithic. In the case study outlined here, the location of the Pitted Ware sites at Jonstorp in the north-western part of Scania in southern Sweden far away from the monumental landscape further south in Scania is the starting point for a discussion of Neolithic coastal sites and seashores.
Monumentalising life in the Neolithic. Narratives of change and continuity., 2020
The last two decades of investigations in southwest Scania, Sweden ( .1), mainly conducted within developer-funded archaeology, have given substantial new results, producing a more complex picture of early Neolithic society (EN I 4000-3500 cal BC). These results are both on a macro scale concerning settlement pattern, landscape use and the scale of monumental landscapes, and on a micro scale concerning, for example, houses and huts, monumental places and their complexity, and pits and depositional practices on different types of sites.
The article presents new evidence from two recent, rescue excavations of Early Neolithic gathering and burial sites at Almhov and Döserygg in Scania, southern Sweden. Along with previous excavations of the Danish enclosures at Sarup, these central sites provide a sequence witnessing substantial development of monumental landscapes during a period of relatively low population density in Southern Scandinavia. An explanation for this rather surprising development is placed within a political economy approach: In situations of low-density populations, resource circumscription is thought to be ineffective as a means of political control. Rather, ceremonial monuments were built to create a strong and permanent allure of ritual spaces and ceremonies associated with mortuary practice, inheritance rights, and emergent leaders. Although inherently unstable, positive feedback apparently existed between the collection of food for feasts, labor to build ritual landscapes, and some central power based on authority. The construction of permanent monumental places helped create, we argue, overarching ownership rights represented in the engineered landscape. To demonstrate the generality of these hypothetical relations, the Southern Scandinavian sequence is compared to similar patterns of monumental construction associated with low-density populations during the prehistory of eastern North America.
Changing Scenery. Historicity in the area of Lake Hjälmaren, Sweden, c. 2800-2300 BC
The article addresses changes in the archaeological record during the Middle Neolithic B in the area of Lake Hjälmaren. The main focus is on the difference between the Pitted Ware sites and the Boat-Axe sites with regard to choice of location. Traditionally the different distributions of these two assemblages have been understood as designating two different and more or less contemporaneous “cultures”. An alternative view to the conventional understanding is that the material cultures represent use and re-use activities associated with different spaces in the landscape. In the author’s opinion, the choices and activities that constitute these spaces should be understood as reflecting activities that took place in relation to a pre-existing landscape. In order to describe and analyse the relationship, the author applies theories of historicity and landmark, pointing towards an active social reproduction of a landscape. Key words: Lake Hjälmaren, Middle Neolithic, Pitted Ware Culture, Boat Axe Culture, historicity, landmark
Nyland 2016; Significant by association_In Current Swedish Archaeology vol24.pdf
Rocks and places of rock procurement can be significant beyond pragmatic reasons. In the Early Neolithic in southern Norway, specific rock types and quarries appear to have been deeply entangled in socio-political strategies that either bound people together or set people apart. Charted variations in the character of lithic procurement and distribution indicate two parallel but diverging processes of "Neolithization" in the western and eastern region respectively. In the west, rhyolite from a quarry atop Mt. Siggjo was especially significant, demonstrated by the intense quarrying and wide distribution of rhyolite along the west coast. Indeed, in the west, certain quarries appear to have been regarded as nodal points, anchoring people's sense of identity and belonging. In the east, imported flint gained a similar role because of its association with farming and Funnel Beaker-related societies in southern Scandinavia. That is, rock was significant not only due to its physical qualities, but by its association with a specific place, social or cultural group.
2015
Bronze Age settlements and burials in the Swedish provinces around Lakes Mälaren and Hjälmaren yield few bronze objects and fewer of the era's fine stone battle axes. Instead, these things were found by people working on wetland reclamation and stream dredging for about a century up to the Second World War. Then the finds stopped because of changed agricultural practices. The objects themselves have received much study. Not so with the sites where they were deposited. This book reports on a wide-ranging landscape-archaeological survey of Bronze Age deposition sites, with the aim to seek general rules in the placement of sites. How did a person choose the appropriate site to deposit a socketed axe in 800 BC? The author has investigated known sites on foot and from his desk, using a wide range of archive materials, maps and shoreline displacement data that have only recently come on-line. Over 140 sites are identified closely enough to allow characterisation of their Bronze Age landscape contexts. Numerous recurring traits emerge, forming a basic predictive or heuristic model. Bronze Age deposition sites, the author argues, are a site category that could profitably be placed on contract archaeology's agenda during infrastructure projects. Archaeologists should seek these sites, not wait for others to report on finding them.
2013
In 2011 we excavated the remains of a complex Iron Age structure at Degeberga in the province of Scania in southern Sweden. The occasion was a rescue excavation of a Bronze Age settlement site. The discovery of the large-scale linear structure-consisting of hearths, pits, and postholesalong with an Iron Age cemetery required an extension of the excavated area (Björk & Wickberg 2012). The structure may at first sight seem unique, but it has many points in common with other cult and burial sites in Scandinavia. Ritual sites of the Scandinavian Iron Age are often associated with weapons, pots, human wetland sacrifices, hillforts and richly equipped graves. This paper focuses on ritual space in the Iron Age and how it changed over time, with brief looks at similar monumental configurations in the landscape and what they represent. Landscape and monuments Degeberga is in a topographically dramatic location where three types of landscape meet: undulating, light sandy soils descending towards the Baltic Sea to the southeast , the slope of the Linderödsåsen ridge to the west, and the good farmland and low wetlands of the Kristianstad plain to the north. There is a notable concentration of archaeological sites along the eastern slope of the ridge between the hamlets of Västra Vram and Degeberga. These are mainly fossil fields and burial monuments such as barrows and stone settings, many likely dating from the Bronze Age and
Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia: agency and environmental change
2015
Scandinavia is home to prolific and varied rock art images among which the ship motif is prominent. Because of this, the rock art of Scandinavia has often been interpreted in terms of social ritual, cosmology, and religion associated with the maritime sphere. This comprehensive review is based on the creation of a Scandinavia-wide GIS database for prehistoric rock art and re-examines theoretical approaches and interpretations, in particular with regard to the significance of the ship and its relationship to a maritime landscape Discussion focuses on material agency as a means to understanding the role of rock art within society. Two main theories are developed. The first is that the sea was fundamental to the purpose and meaning of rock art, especially in the Bronze Age and, therefore, that sea-level/shoreline changes would have inspired a renegotiation of the relationship between the rock art sites and their intended purpose. The fundamental question posed is: would such changes to the landscape have affected the purpose and meaning of rock art for the communities that made and used these sites? Various theories from within and outside of archaeology are drawn on to examine environmental change and analyse the rock art, led to second theory: that the purpose of rock art might have been altered to have an effect on the disappearing sea. The general theory that rock art would have been affected by environmental change was discussed in tandem with existing interpretations of the meaning and purpose of rock art. Imbuing rock art with agency means that it could be intertwined in an active web of relations involving maritime landscapes, shoreline displacement and communities. Though created in stone and fixed in time and place, rock art images have propagated belief systems that would have changed over time as they were re-carved, abandoned and used by different groups of inhabitants. In the thousands of years rock art was created, it is likely that shoreline displacement would have inspired a renegotiation of the purpose and meaning of the imagery situated alongside the Scandinavian seas. This journey through a prehistoric Scandinavian landscape will lead us into a world of ancient beliefs and traditions revolving around this extraordinary art form.