Gamla Uppsala Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Even gods are not always above bureaucracy. Societies very different from each other have entertained the idea that the heavens might be arranged much like an earthly bureaucracy, or that mythological beings might exercise their power in... more

Even gods are not always above bureaucracy. Societies very different from each other have entertained the idea that the heavens might be arranged much like an earthly bureaucracy, or that mythological beings might exercise their power in a way that makes them resembles bureaucrats. The best-known case is the Chinese “celestial bureaucracy,” but the idea is also found in (to take nearly random examples) Ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the Hebrew Bible, Late Antiquity, and modern popular culture. The primary sources discussed in this essay pertain to an area of history where bureaucracy was historically underdeveloped, namely medieval Scandinavia. Beginning with the Glavendrup runestone from the 900s, I examine a way of thinking about divine power that seems blissfully bureaucracy-free. Moving forwards in time to Adam of Bremen’s description of the temple at Uppsala (1040s–1070s), I find traces of a tentative, half-formed bureaucracy in the fading embers of Scandinavian paganism. In the 1220s, well into the Christian era, I find Snorri Sturluson concocting a version of Old Norse myth which proposes a novel resolution between the non-bureaucratic origins of his mythological corpus and the burgeoning bureacratization of High Medieval Norway. Although my focus is on medieval Scandinavia, transhistorical comparisons are frequently drawn with mythological bureaucrats from other times and places. In closing, I synthesise this comparative material with historical and anthropological theories of the relationship between bureaucracy and the divine.

The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen the understanding of the Vendel period helmets, their meaning and who wore them. With the use of a modern theoretical framework and an updated list of helmets, and other sources like images... more

The purpose of this dissertation is to deepen the understanding of the Vendel period helmets, their meaning and who wore them. With the use of a modern theoretical framework and an updated list of helmets, and other sources like images and literature, we can understand that some parts of the helmets were more important than others in a larger picture. While the images probably had much meaning, it is the comb, eyebrows and animalhead that have been treated with special care. In the grave material, we can also see that the use of helmets in boat graves probably were to make the individual more anonymous and the role as a helmetbearer more apparent, with one exception in the Ultuna grave. In most of the cremation graves the helmets have been treated so that only some types of fragments have been left, leaving the bearer more as an individual with claims of power. Mainland cremation graves with helmets have mounds, with some exceptions. The helmet graves on Gotland are under flat land.

In the aftermath of the period referred to as the Renaissance in Sweden Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630–1702) envisaged a renaissance with his internationally acclaimed, and criticized, Atlantica. Building on the Swedish hyperborean theory... more

In the aftermath of the period referred to as the Renaissance in Sweden Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630–1702) envisaged a renaissance with his internationally acclaimed, and criticized, Atlantica. Building on the Swedish hyperborean theory by Bureus and Stiernhielm, the professor in medicine, architect and archaeologist postulated that Atlantis had been located in Old Uppsala. Rudbeck twists the notion of the rebirth of classical antiquity suggesting that ancient Swedish architecture had been the model for Greek and Roman architecture. In designing a grand scheme of academy buildings in Uppsala in accordance with Vitruvius Rudbeck comes full circle and re-establishes new Uppsala as the new Atlantis, with
reference to Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis. The paper re-evaluates this analytical perspective by also addressing the theatre as it came to expression in Rudbeck’s theatrum anatomicum. A Renaissance creation, the Vitruvian theatre not only became the prototype for building types such as the anatomical theatre, dramatic theatre and Kunstkammer, but also for schemes of memory and knowledge like Camillo’s L’Idea del theatro or Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ. In Rudbeck’s anatomical theatre the Apollonian temple and the knowledge theatre fuses into an amalgamate of native and foreign and ancient and modern prototypical relationships.

Dating two royal mounds of Old Uppsala – evaluating the elite of the 6th-7th century in Middle Sweden The perhaps most famous excavated iron age graves in Sweden are the East- and West Mounds of Old Uppsala (Gamla Uppsala) in Uppland,... more

Dating two royal mounds of Old Uppsala – evaluating the elite of the 6th-7th century in Middle Sweden
The perhaps most famous excavated iron age graves in Sweden are the East- and West Mounds of Old Uppsala (Gamla
Uppsala) in Uppland, Middle Sweden. After a debate which lasted from the 1920s to the late 1940s it was widely
accepted that these mounds belonged to the Migration period. According to the regular Swedish chronology this
means a date before the middle of the 6th century. I believe that this view is wrong and that it has not seriously been
challenged since 1948. To date the mounds to the late 6th and even the early 7th century has a serious effect upon how
elite, society and international relations should be interpreted.

The Christianization process of Middle Sweden is classic topic, not the least due to Adam of Bremen and other writers, whom c. 1070 described the Svear as a pagan people, far from being as good Christians as many other people in... more

The Christianization process of Middle Sweden is classic topic, not the least due to Adam of Bremen and other writers, whom c. 1070 described the Svear as a pagan people, far from being as good Christians as many other people in Scandinavia. This article is an attempt to date and discuss the very last cremation and chamber graves in Uppland. Most previous research has been focused upon early possible Christian burials, not the last pagans burials. The 11th and 12th centuries are of various reasons chronologically weak compared to the earlier and later phases. But it is possible to use recent town stratigraphies from Sigtuna, coins and analogies to Gotland etc., in order to make better estimations than before. It now seems like central and northern Uppland have more late graves furnished with multiple objects and animal sacrifices than previously estimated. A considerable amount of grave fields in the Uppsala region contain such graves, dated from 1050/1075 and with high probability into the 12th c. They are contemporary with Christian rune stones and the accounts from Adam of Bremen and they evoke questions on how the last pagans and the first Christians were presented in death.

"Summary: There are about 40 Migration Period chamber graves in central and northern Sweden. They display regional variation and appear to be different from such graves on the Continent. The paper gives an overview of the available... more

"Summary:
There are about 40 Migration Period chamber graves in central and northern Sweden. They display regional variation and appear to be different from such graves on the Continent. The paper gives an overview of the available material and the current state of research. It is shown that the phenomenon can only be understood by a multi-layered analysis."

Under åren 2012-2017 pågick det mest omfattan­ de arkeo logiska projektet som någonsin utförts i Gamla Uppsala. I sin samtid var platsen vida känd långt utanför Upplands gränser, at Upsalum står på två runstenar i Skåne.... more

Under åren 2012-2017 pågick det mest omfattan­ de arkeo logiska projektet som någonsin utförts i Gamla Uppsala. I sin samtid var platsen vida känd långt utanför Upplands gränser, at Upsalum står på två runstenar i Skåne. Utgrävningsområdet låg ett par hundra meter öster om kungshögarna. Både gårdsmiljöer, delar av ett gravfält och ett ti­ digare helt okänt stolp monument blev föremål för undersökningen. I denna publikation presenteras de vetenskapliga resultaten i 19 artiklar och fyra syn teser. Dessa är grupperade enligt projektets teman; Gårdarna, Näringarna, Ritualerna, Stolpmonu-mentet och Vidare perspektiv. Artiklarna utgår från det arkeologiskt framgrävda och analyserade materialet från östra delen av Gamla Uppsala, men utblickar görs också i stor utsträckning till central­ platsen som helhet, dess omland, regionen och delar av övriga Skandinavien. De krono lo giska perioder som behandlas är främst järnålder och medeltid. I och med publiceringen av detta projekt har forskningen kring Gamla Uppsala tagit ett betydan­ de steg framåt. Det arkeologiska källmaterialet och artiklarnas innehåll kommer förhoppningsvis fung­ era som underlag och inspiration för forskningsin­ satser under många år framöver. Bokens författare är de arkeologer, arkeobotani­ ker, arkeometallurger och osteologer som alltsedan fältar betet har ingått i projekt gruppen samt deltagit i analys­ och tolkningsarbetet. Stolpmonumentet, som rönte stor uppmärksamhet när det upptäcktes, behandlas även ur ett religions historiskt perspektiv. Det uppdragsarkeologiska projektet har bedrivits som ett samarbete mellan tre institutioner; Arkeo-logerna vid Statens historiska museer, Upplands-museet och Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis. Det initierades av Trafikverkets utbyggnad av järnvägen-Ostkustbanan-genom Gamla Uppsala. at Upsalum-människor och landskapande Utbyggnad av Ostkustbanan genom Gamla Uppsala at Upsalum-människor och landskapande Utbyggnad av Ostkustbanan genom Gamla Uppsala

The discussion of a notorious non-representativeness in the emerging Viking-period harbour towns of Scandinavia is aim of this paper. Firstly, the interrelation of representativeness and monumentality is being elucidated as well as, on... more

The discussion of a notorious non-representativeness in the emerging Viking-period harbour towns of Scandinavia is aim of this paper. Firstly, the interrelation of representativeness and monumentality is being elucidated as well as, on the background of the prevailing traditional society, the otherness of the small number of early towns being stressed. Following this brief introduction examples of representativeness at traditional centres of power and cult in terms of characteristic monumental mounds and hall buildings are given. These are than opposed to the dimensions of interments and urban dwellings from Viking towns. Finally, the whereabouts of royal/ manorial or cultic/ ecclesiastical power in relationship to the emerging harbour towns are being discussed. By understanding early Scandinavian towns as »non-places« or heterogenic sites, forming a conceptual pair together with the traditional »places« or orthogenetic sites, the absence of monumentality and thus representativeness can be comprehended as a characteristic feature for the earliest phase of urbanism.

Under åren 2012-2017 pågick det mest omfattan­de arkeologiska projektet som någonsin utförts i Gamla Uppsala. I sin samtid var platsen vida känd långt utanför Upplands gränser, at Upsalum står på två runstenar i Skåne. Utgrävningsområdet... more

Under åren 2012-2017 pågick det mest omfattan­de arkeologiska projektet som någonsin utförts i Gamla Uppsala. I sin samtid var platsen vida känd långt utanför Upplands gränser, at Upsalum står på två runstenar i Skåne. Utgrävningsområdet låg ett par hundra meter öster om kungshögarna. Både gårdsmiljöer, delar av ett gravfält och ett ti­digare helt okänt stolpmonument blev föremål för undersökningen. I denna publikation presenteras de vetenskapliga resultaten i 19 artiklar och fyra synteser. Dessa är grupperade enligt projektets teman; Gårdarna, Näringarna, Ritualerna, Stolpmonumentet och Vidare perspektiv. Artiklarna utgår från det arkeologiskt framgrävda och analyserade materialet från östra delen av Gamla Uppsala, men utblickar görs också i stor utsträckning till central­ platsen som helhet, dess omland, regionen och delar av övriga Skandinavien. De kronologiska perioder som behandlas är främst järnålder och medeltid. I och med publiceringen av detta projekt har forskningen kring Gamla Uppsala tagit ett betydan­de steg framåt. Det arkeologiska källmaterialet och artiklarnas innehåll kommer förhoppningsvis fung­era som underlag och inspiration för forskningsin­satser under många år framöver. Bokens författare är de arkeologer, arkeobotani­ker, arkeometallurger och osteologer som alltsedan fältarbetet har ingått i projekt gruppen samt deltagit i analys­ och tolkningsarbetet. Stolpmonumentet, som rönte stor uppmärksamhet när det upptäcktes, behandlas även ur ett religions historiskt perspektiv. Det uppdragsarkeologiska projektet har bedrivits som ett samarbete mellan tre institutioner; Arkeologerna vid Statens historiska museer, Upplandsmuseet och Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis. Det initierades av Trafikverkets utbyggnad av järnvägen-Ostkustbanan genom Gamla Uppsala.

This paper will discuss a pedagogical approach to integrating the humanities and the natural sciences. Our approach calls for extended collaboration between the two fields and a capacity to integrate the experimental and deductive lines... more

This paper will discuss a pedagogical approach to integrating the humanities and the natural sciences. Our approach calls for extended collaboration between the two fields and a capacity to integrate the experimental and deductive lines of reasoning within the natural sciences with the holistic and critical perspectives of the humanities. This paper will describe and discuss how this notion is applied to the construction of a pedagogical framework or a learning environment constituted from landscape theory, GIS, and pedagogical principles derived from EBL and PL. The paper highlights how a landscape approach in combination with the interactive and dynamic properties of GIS can be used as an active learning environment crossing the interfaces of the disciplines.

Keramik från en stor brons- och äldrejärnåldersboplats vid Gamla Uppsala. Gjuterifynd med deglar och gjutformar från yngre bronsålder.