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Human-environment dynamics in past societies has been a major field of research in the Mediterranean for a long time, but has grown significantly following the increase in the number and quality of palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records in the last two decades. Here we sketch the outline of this field of research based on 1,531 author keywords from 280 peer-reviewed articles published in 78 different scientific journals during 2016–2021. Sourced from the Web of Science, the selected studies cover the time span from the Neolithic to the Roman period across the Mediterranean and provide a large number of entry points for the interested reader regardless of their prior knowledge and specific interests. The results make evident the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of this research and show that it is possible to approach questions of human-environment dynamics in many and diverse ways. Among other things, our overview outlines the importance of temporal and spatial scales, as well as the elusive nature of causality, and highlights that monocausal models connecting climate events and societal collapse are increasingly replaced by scenarios favouring more nuanced renditions of the sequence of events within which internal societal factors are given more room for play.

The Viking Age (c. 750–1050 CE) was a time of extensive upheaval and disruption across the northern world. From the late eighth century, historical sources indicate that viking groups were engaging in both short-term and extended campaigns of raiding and plunder. In addition to seeking portable wealth and commodities, it is apparent that raiders also sought captives, many of whom were taken and held in encampments where they were ransomed, exploited, or sold into slavery. While these sites served an important function as defensive strongholds and staging posts for viking raiding activity, recent studies have demonstrated that they were also militarized centres of production and exchange that, in some cases, became nodal marketplaces that were embedded within both regional and long-distance networks of communication and trade. Focusing in particular on the ninth century, this study will examine the ways in which captive-taking and slaving intersected with the emergence and development of these locales, as well as the role of these activities in shaping wider processes of communication, diplomacy, and cross-cultural interaction within landscapes of conflict and settlement.

The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 BC). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron. Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-04-13 (sofila)

Research on Roman slavery has mainly been focued on questions of market economy since the beginning of the twentieth century. With the interest in the treatment of slaves and their experience of slavery, the master-slave relationship has been the object of increased interests, until recent exploration of the influence of freed slaves' culture on traditional practices. this thesis tries to assess the construction of parallel value systems among slaves and freedmen, which not only contrasted worldviews in free society but often reshaped them. Instrumentalization of the emotional concepts of honour and dishonour in the context of the family and in funerary commemoration are central to such assessment. Forskningen om romerskt slaveri har främst varit fokuserad på frågor om marknadsekonomi sedan 1900-talets början. Genom intresset för behandlingen av slavar och deras upplevelse, har relationen mellan ägare och slavar varit objekt av växande intresse, fram till nutida forskning rörande frigivna slavars kulturella influens på traditionell praxis. Denna uppsats försöker förklara konstruktionen av parallela värdesystem bland slavar och frigivna, som inte bara kontrasterade med det fria samhällets världsbilder, utan reformerade dem. Instrumentaliseringen av de emotionella koncepten ära och vanära, kontextualiserad inom familjen och begravsningminnen är centrala för en sådan slutsats.

Studies that employ probability distributions of radiocarbon dates to study past population size often use exponential increase in radiocarbon dates with time as a standard of comparison for detecting population fluctuations. We show that in the case of early postglacial interior Scandinavia, however, the summed probability distribution of radiocarbon dates has best fit with a S-shaped logistic growth curve. Despite the logistic growth model having solid grounding in ecological theory, we further argue that what our data indicate is not logistic growth in the population ecological sense but “false logistic” growth that mainly follows from climatic and environmental forcing. In the initial postglacial phase, 9500–7500 BCE, human settlement was located almost exclusively along the Scandinavian Atlantic coast and the use of the mountainous interior remained low. Thereafter the formation of separate inland adaptations resulted in population growth in tandem with increasing climatic warming and environmental productivity. Some millennia later, when environmental productivity started to decrease after the Holocene Thermal Maximum, hunter-gatherer population size in interior Scandinavia reached a plateau that lasted at least 2000 years. Lowering productivity prevented any population growth that would be detectable in the available archaeological record.

This article explores Sámi mobilities and immobilities within colonial power dynamics. Discussing voluntary and involuntary Sámi mobilities across borders, it also touches on Sámi early modern material objects in motion, as well as the collecting and exchange of Sámi ancestral remains. Recent homecomings of Sámi material culture and ancestral remains – as part of cultural revitalisation, repatriation and decolonisation processes – illustrate the development of new mobilities and power dynamics. Challenging colonial notions of Sámi people as being bound to the perceived traditional Sámi domains, as well as the nationalist cartographies projected in much of earlier research, this article aims to stimulate a rethinking of Sámi mobility and agency, and the right to make a home. Acknowledging and examining the mobility and the homemaking of Sámi individuals and groups contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities and transformations of Nordic colonialism, and ideas of borders, identities and belonging. East and West in the North: Archaeology with and without borders in Northern Fennoscandia

This study provides a high-resolution reconstruction of the vegetation of the Argive Plain (Peloponnese, Greece) covering 5000 years from the Early Bronze Age onwards. The well dated pollen record from ancient Lake Lerna has been interpreted in the light of archaeological and historical sources, climatic data from the same core and other regional proxies. Our results demonstrate a significant degree of human impact on the environments of the Argive Plain throughout the study period. During the Early Bronze Age evidence of a thermophilous vegetation is seen in the pollen record, representing the mixed deciduous oak woodland of the Peloponnesian uplands. The plain was mainly used for the cultivation of cereals, whereas local fen conditions prevailed at the coring site. Towards the end of this period an increasing water table is recorded and the fen turns into a lake, despite more arid conditions. In the Late Bronze Age, the presence of important palatial centres modified the landscape resulting in decrease of mixed deciduous oak woodland and increase in open land, partly used for grazing. Possibly, the human management produced a permanent hydrological change at Lake Lerna. From the Archaic period onwards the increasing human pressure in association with local drier conditions caused landscape instability, as attested by a dramatic alluvial event recorded in the Pinus curve at the end of the Hellenistic Age. Wet conditions coincided with Roman times and favoured a forest regeneration pattern in the area, at the same time as we see the most intensive olive cultivation in the pollen record. The establishment of an economic landscape primarily based on pastures is recorded in the Byzantine period and continues until modern times. Overgrazing and fires in combination with arid conditions likely caused degradation of the vegetation into garrigue, as seen in the area of the Argive Plain today. Introduction Study area - Geomorphology and hydrology of the Argive Plain - Vegetation - Climate - Human occupation Materials and methods - Sediment sequence and age-depth model - Pollen analysis Results - LPAZ 1: 486–202 cm, ca. 4760–2240 BP (2810–290 BCE) - LPAZ 2: 203–42 cm, ca. 2240–270 BP (290 BCE-1680 CE) - LPAZ 3: 41–0 cm, ca. 270 BP-present Interpretation and discussion - The Early Bronze Age (5150–4000 BP) - The Middle and Late Bronze Age (4000–3150 BP) - The end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (3150–2650 BP) - Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic period (2650–2096 BP) - The Roman period (2096–1620 BP) - Byzantine and Medieval period (1620–487 BP) - Ottoman and modern Greek period (487 BP-present) Conclusions

The reconstruction of past mortuary rituals and practices increasingly incorporates analysis of the taphonomic history of the grave and buried body, using the framework provided by archaeothanatology. Archaeothanatological analysis relies on interpretation of the three-dimensional (3D) relationship of bones within the grave and traditionally depends on elaborate written descriptions and two-dimensional (2D) images of the remains during excavation to capture this spatial information. With the rapid development of inexpensive 3D tools, digital replicas (3D models) are now commonly available to preserve 3D information on human burials during excavation. A procedure developed using a test case to enhance archaeothanatological analysis and improve post-excavation analysis of human burials is described. Beyond preservation of static spatial information, 3D visualization techniques can be used in archaeothanatology to reconstruct the spatial displacement of bones over time, from deposition of the body to excavation of the skeletonized remains. The purpose of the procedure is to produce 3D simulations to visualize and test archaeothanatological hypotheses, thereby augmenting traditional archaeothanatological analysis. We illustrate our approach with the reconstruction of mortuary practices and burial taphonomy of a Bell Beaker burial from the site of Oostwoud-Tuithoorn, West-Frisia, the Netherlands. This case study was selected as the test case because of its relatively complete context information. The test case shows the potential for application of the procedure to older 2D field documentation, even when the amount and detail of documentation is less than ideal.

Hearths and House foundations: Archaeology in the Sámi cultural landscape of southern and middle Sweden: This paper deals with the physical traces of Sámi past in southern and central Sweden. From the Norse sagas, and from archaeological sources, there is a manifold of evidence of Sámi–Norse interaction and of Sámi presence, and habitation in central and southern Scandinavia from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Ages. From the early modern period there are diverse written sources addressing Sámi habitation in southern Scandinavia, and from the 18th century we know of the so-called sockenlappsystemet, an ethnically based, indenture service employing Sámi people. To what degree these early modern Sámi kept, and developed traditional practices, has until recently been largely unknown. Through a combination of sources and methods, from archival studies to field surveys, and excavations, this paper proposes that a strong and continuous development of Sámi traditions and practices, though the use of landscape and material culture is visible well into the end of the 19th century.

This article examines northern connections in the Nordic Bronze Age, focusing on interregional contacts in middle and northern Sweden. In the article, we argue that it is important to incorporate a northern perspective in the discussions about the Scandinavian Bronze Age and its networks. We focus on the Mälaren Valley region, especially the province of Uppland, and the northern parts of Sweden, in particular the coastal areas of northern Sweden. We discuss some aspects of the archaeological material, which have been used in earlier discussions of interregional contacts in middle and northern Sweden during the Bronze Age, such as the Håga mound outside of Uppsala, and burial cairns and bronze artefacts in northern Sweden. Furthermore, we discuss eastern contacts with areas in present-day Finland and Russia, and how these have been interpreted in middle and northern Sweden. In our view, there is a need to critically examine interregional contacts and the construction of regional entities and borders in the Bronze Age. In order to better understand the relations between north and south, it is necessary to critically examine the research history behind the present-day conceptions of regions and borders, as well as the political dimensions and power relations involved.

A combination of Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and portable X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy (PXRF) was used on the clay fraction of Ertebølle ceramics from several Late Mesolithic sites in Scania, southern Sweden. The aim was to provide up‐to‐date information about clay types used during that period within the Scanian Ertebølle cultural unit, and to elucidate social aspects relevant to the organization of pottery production and the role of ceramics in the local societies. The results suggest similar clay preferences across the sites, site‐based pottery production using local clays and zero mobility of ceramics between the sites. The chemical separation of the ceramics from the site of Soldattorpet into two compositional groups suggests possible multigroup occupation. The origins of aromatic hydrocarbons, extracted previously from the ceramic matrix of the vessels during a lipid residue study, were also investigated, and a discussion is provided.

Introduction. The territory of the Northern Caspian region plays an important role in the study of the Neolithic of Eastern Europe. The main criterion of this period is clay pottery. One of the difficult issues is the time of the ceramic technology appearance. Methods and materials. The study of the pottery technology of the Neolithic population of the Northern Caspian region is carried out in the framework of the historical and cultural approach to the study of ceramics, according to the method of A. Bobrinsky. The technique is based on binocular microscopy, tracology and experiment in the form of physical modeling. The basis for identifying technological traces on ceramics is the comparative analysis of the vessels under study with the base of standards. It is made by means of physical modeling in field and laboratory conditions. The age of the Neolithic monuments was determined using traditional methods in radiocarbon laboratories in Russia and Ukraine, as well as using AMS at universities in Sweden and Finland. Analysis. Over the past 10 years, more than 68 radiocarbon dates on different materials such as charcoal, bones, organics from ceramics, charred crusts, humus have been obtained. They give the possibility to determine the time of appearance and spread of the earliest pottery in the Northern Caspian region. This is the middle 7th millennium BC. The chronological framework for the development of the Neolithic in the Northern Caspian region is ca. 6600–5500 BC. The paper establishes the main and specific features of ceramic traditions. Results.The technical and technological analysis allows to reveal the genesis, the features of dynamics and further development of pottery in this region. The complex of results obtained allows to attribute the Neolithic sites of the Caspian region to the earliest pottery areal in Eastern Europe.

By analyzing the corpus of administrative seals from the late Middle Kingdom, this study attempts to identify what type of administration was in practice. This was achieved mainly through the use of an observational and comparative approach in the analysis of institutional and title-seals from four late Middle Kingdom sites. It has been concluded that royal mortuary complexes and Nubian military installations were administered on both a local and a centralized level. On the one hand, individuals mentioned on title-seals could be linked to various local departments attested on institutional seals. In most cases, they were affiliated to certain areas of activity linked to a specific institution. Additionally, at all sites represented in the study, traces of the central administration remain – evident from the accumulation of title-seals belonging to royal officials and extra-local institutional seals coming from royal donations. While each site displayed a unique institutional structure, parallels could be made between them. Late Middle Kingdom administrative seals point to a societal structure which in some sense was rigid, particularly on a local level. However, local activities appear to have also been overseen and operated by a mobile class of higher officials. Genom att analysera sena mellersta rikets administrativa sigillkorpus söker denna studie att utröna vilken typ av administration som bedrevs. Detta har genomförts framför allt genom att observationsstudier samt komparativa tillvägagångsätt har tillämpats i analysen av institutionella sigill samt titelsigill från fyra historiska platser daterade till det sena mellersta riket. Studien visar på att både kungliga gravkomplex samt nubiska militära installationer administrerades på en lokal och centraliserad nivå. Å ena sidan har individer som omnämns på titelsigill kunnat länkas samman till olika lokala institutioner som även attesterats på institutionella sigill. I de flesta fall var dessa individer anslutna till arbetsområden tillhörande en viss institution. Vid samtliga platser kvarstår dock spår av en centraladministration –vilket ter sig tydligt i förekommandet av titelsigill tillhörande kungliga ämbetsmän samt icke-lokala institutionella sigill från kungliga donationer. Även fastän varje enskild plats hade en distinkt institutionell uppbyggnad kunde paralleller dras mellan dem. Mellersta rikets administrativa sigill tyder på en samhällsstruktur som på ett antal plan, särskilt på en lokal nivå, var fast. Samtidigt styrdes dessa lokala verksamheter emellertid av en mer rörlig klass av högre tjänstemän.

The aim of this study is to analyse and interpret the distribution of white-ground lekythoi with a known context from the 5th century BCE. Exploring white-ground lekythoi in context is a complex matter, as many lekythoi lack archaeological documentation. The purpose of this study is to locate and map white-ground lekythoi with available archaeological documentation in order to lay the groundwork of their geographical distribution and interpret how they were used and could have been viewed from a socio-economic perspective in different regions. The study has shown that white-ground lekythoi were distributed throughout the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Levant, and have been found in various contexts such as funerary, domestic and religious space depending on the region. The chronological distribution indicates that white-ground lekythoi were popular in locations such as Eretria, Gela and Macedonia, before becoming adopted in Attic funerary activities during the second half of the century. This suggests a more multifunctional use of the vessel than only being a funerary libation vessel which is the traditional scholarly approach to the vessel’s function. Lastly, this thesis addresses the value of white-ground lekythoi. The hypothesis is put forward that the vessels increased in value when being found in limited numbers and with what could be considered luxurious artefacts made for both a local and foreign market. Målet med denna studie är att analysera och tolka fördelningen av vit-grundiga lekyter med en känd kontext från 500-talet f.v.t. Undersökningar av vit-grundiga lekyter med en känd kontext är en komplex fråga då många av kärlen saknar arkeologisk dokumentation. Syftet med studien är att lokalisera och kartlägga vit-grundiga lekyter med tillgänglig arkeologisk dokumentation för att lägga grunden för deras geografiska utspridning och tolka hur de användes och kunde ha blivit sedda från ett socio-ekonomiskt perspektiv i olika regioner. Studien har visat att vit-grundiga lekyter distribuerades över Medelhavet, Svarta havet och Levanten och har hittats i olika kontexter som gravar, bosättningar, och helgedomar beroende på region. Den kronologiska fördelningen indikerar att vit-grundiga lekyter var populära i områden som Eretria, Gela och Makedonien, innan de antogs i Attiska begravningsaktiviteter under andra hälften av seklet. Detta tyder på en mer multifunktionell användning av kärlen än enbart ämnat för begravningsaktiviteter som är den traditionella vetenskapliga tolkningen av kärlets funktion. Hypotesen framförs att vit-grundiga lekyter ökade i värde när de hittades i begränsat antal och tillsammans med vad man som kan betraktas som lyxiga artefakter gjorda för både en lokal och utländsk marknad.

Flyktens materialitet

This paper explores how scholars construct heritage when writing aboutpsychiatric hospital and asylum cemeteries and, furthermore, investigatesthe role that emotions play in this process. 49 articles and books on thetopic of psychiatric hospital and asylum cemeteries, published betweenthe years 1996 and 2020, are investigated. Sara Ahmed’s queer feministphenomenology is adopted as a methodological and theoreticalapproach. In this article, scholarly communication is considered a sitewhere heritage is constructed and as ways in which heritage is constructed. I show that, by positioning graves as unmarked, unidentifiedand unnamed as well as forgotten and abandoned, scholars are drawingon anti-psychiatric discourses and sentiments connected to the family.This allows the cemeteries to be constructed as a heritage of regret, whichfurther forms incentives for scholars to argue for management, conservation, and instalment of monuments.

This thesis explored the potential patterns and connections which could be uncovered through careful analysis of the royal inscriptions mentioning horses as a form of plunder or tribute, dedicated to the kings of the Neo-Assyrian empire. This was accomplished by analysing all royal inscriptions attributed to Neo-Assyrian kings found within the RINAP and RIAo projects for passages that meet said criterium. Once all the relevant texts had been tabulated, the results were sorted into larger categories and then compared to each other. This resulted in certain patterns emerging. It became clear that during the first half Neo-Assyrian period, before the great expansion of the empire started under Tiglath-Pileser III, the mountains to the north of Assyria, which for the purposes of this thesis have been designated ‘the Caucasus’, was a major source of horses through looting and extracting tribute. It was not the region which was attacked the most, that honour falls to the mountains to the east, designated as ‘Persia’ for the purposes of this thesis. Towards the end of the Neo-Assyrian period, the importance of the Caucasus as a source of horses was severely diminished, while the importance of Persia grew. Exact numbers of horses are very rarely given, making the few instances they are mentioned stand out. Because of this, no reliable numbers or estimates can be given.

My essay is an excursion out to a sand quarry where I have done investigative work about the place. I have researched the history of the place, what materials are there, what plants and animals live there and how we humans use the place today and how we affect its design. The essay investigates the choreography of life’s movements and transformations in the physical world, and how the physical space bends according to life, but that life also adapts to the changing space at the same time. The result of the interaction between the different agents is what I've been searching for. And how that same effect happens in my work in the studio. My design of this work resulted in an installation with photographs, sculptures and a projection. Where the works have been created with inspiration from the same acting forces that take place in the sand quarry.

När andra världskriget drabbade Baltikum satte tusentals flyktbåtar kurs mot Sverige. Ombord på dessa båtar fanns inte bara människor, utan också väskor och bylten som packats med allehanda saker. Fotoalbum, silverbestick, dopklänningar, böcker och nallebjörnar fick för första gången gunga på Östersjöns vågor, tillsammans med fiskegarn, kompasser och ibland även skjutvapen. I Föremål på flykt får dessa ting, sparade i byrålådor och på vindar runt om i landet, bli vägvisare till vaf som i estnisk och lettisk historieskrivning har kallats den stora flykten. Minnessakerna speglar enskilda människors öden i det ockuperade Baltikum, men också delade minnen och erfarenheter av flykt. De bär på berättelser om hopp och förtvivlan, om vardag och strapatser och om saknad och överlevnad i tider av ofred och uppbrott. Som små men färgstarka pusselbitar utgör föremålen ett viktigt bidrag till förståelsen av migration och bildar ett unikt kapitel i Östersjöns historia. Flyktens materialitet

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A massacre took place inside the Sandby borg ringfort, southeast Sweden, at the end of the fifth century. The victims were not buried, but left where they died. In order to understand why the corpses were left unburied, and how they were perceived following the violent event, a theoretical framework is developed and integrated with the results of osteological analysis. I discuss the contemporary normative treatment of the dead, social response to death and postmortem agency with emphasis on intergroup conflict and ‘bad death’. The treatment of the dead in Sandby borg deviates from known contemporary practices. I am proposing that leaving the bodies unburied might be viewed as an aggressive social action. The corpses exerted postmortem agency to the benefit of the perpetrators, at the expense of the victims and their sympathizers. The gain for the perpetrators was likely political power through redrawing the victim's biographies, spatial memory and the social and territorial landscape. The denial of a proper death likely led to shame, hindering of regeneration and an eternal state of limbo.

Heritage management in Sweden has undergone a substantial transformation in recent decades. The process of monitoring and managing heritage information has become increasingly digital, relying on interconnected systems to monitor registered archaeological remains to manage investigations and contract archaeology excavations. This also has to work together with the digital systems of the County Administrative Boards that administer all permissions for excavations. Current developments deal with archiving and dissemination of reports, and documentation from fieldwork. Documentation of archaeological excavations has predominantly been digital for the past 20 years, which brings both possibilities and challenges in making sure the information will adhere to the FAIR Principles. This article outlines some of these developments and exemplifies the possibilities of reusing legacy data through the Urdar project.

Reading Runes : Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Nykoping, Sweden, 2–6 September 2014

This paper aims to reconstruct Middle Bronze Age (MBA; 1600–1250 BCE) land use practices in the northwestern Alpine foreland (SW Germany, Hegau). We used a multi-proxy approach including the analysis of biogeochemical proxies from colluvial deposits and buried topsoils in the surroundings of the well-documented settlement site of Anselfingen and off-site pollen data from two peat bogs. This approach allowed for in-depth insights into the MBA subsistence economy and shows that the MBA in the northwestern Alpine foreland was a period of establishing settlements with sophisticated land management and land use practices. The reconstruction of phases of colluvial deposition was based on ages from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon (AMS14C) dating from multi-layered colluvial deposits and supports the local archaeological record with the first phase of major colluvial deposition occurring during the MBA followed by phases of colluvial deposition during the Iron Age, the Medieval period and modern times. The on-site deposition of charred archaeobotanical remains and animal bones from archaeological features, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), charcoal spectra, phytoliths, soil microstructure, urease enzymatic activity, microbial biomass carbon (Cmic) and heavy metal contents from colluvial deposits, were used as proxies for on-site and near-site land use practices. The charcoal spectra indicate MBA forest management which favored the dominance of Quercus in the woodland vegetation in the surrounding area north of the settlement site. Increased levels of 5β stanols (up to 40 %) and the occurrence of pig bones (up to 14 %) support the presence of a forest pasture mainly used for pig farming. In the surrounding area south of the settlement, an arable field with a buried MBA plow horizon (2Apb) could be verified by soil micromorphological investigations and high concentrations of grass phytoliths from leaves and stems. Agricultural practices (e.g., plowing) focussed on five staple crops (Hordeum distichon/vulgare, Triticum dicoccum, Triticum monococcum, Triticum spelta, Triticum aestivum/turgidum), while the presence of stilted pantries as storage facilities and of heat stones indicate post-harvest processing of cereal crops and other agrarian products within the settlement. In the area surrounding the settlement, increased levels of urease activity, compared to microbial biomass carbon (up to 2.1 µg N µg Cmic-1), and input of herbivorous and omnivorous animal faeces indicate livestock husbandry on fallow land. The PAH suites and their spatial distribution support the use of fire for various purposes, e.g., for opening and maintaining the landscape, for domestic burning and for technical applications. The off-site palynological data support the observed change in on-site and near-site vegetation as well as the occurrence of related land use practices. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age, fire played a major role in shaping the landscape (peak of micro-charcoal during the MBA), and anthropogenic activities promoted Quercus-dominated forest ecosystems at the expense of natural beech forests. This indicates a broader regional human influence in the northwestern Alpine foreland at low- and mid-altitude inland sites during the Middle Bronze Age.

Already in the 16th century, archbishop Mogens Madsen described the area around the castle on the steep escarpment overlooking the narrowest strait in Öresund, as a vanished Troy. The historian Ludvig Magnus Bååth, who wrote the first academic work on the history of Helsingborg, promoted this narrative of an original urban settlement on the top of the escarpment. The paramount argument for an urban settlement is Canute the Holy's deed of gift to Lund Cathedral in 1085, in which it is stated that the king extracted a specific urban tax from Helsingborg. Ever since Bååth’s work in the early 1920s, archaeological investigations have been undertaken with the aim to confirm this narrative.The article is a critical examination of the hypothesis. It comprises a detailed review of archaeological observations in the area. This provides the basis for an interpretation of the original topography, as well as the development of the settlement from the Viking Age to the 14th century. It is concluded that the hypothesis of a town on the escarpment lacks empirical support. Instead the archaeological results provide evidence for five separate settlements located on conspicuous and strategic positions on the escarpment, controlling the roads down to the beach that functioned as a seasonal market and a landing place. The earliest settlement dates to the 8th and 9th centuries, and functioned as a residence for a praefectus, who maintained the peace at the seasonal market and landing place on the beach below. During the 11th century a crown estate was established at this place, which during the middle of the following century was fortified with the construction of a castle. The other four settlements were established at the same time as the crown estate, during the 11th century. They comprised noble manors, out of which four were facilitated with conspicuous Romanesque churches with adjoining cemeteries. These settlements reflect the growing importance of the seasonal market, but also the establishment of royal power structures and the feudal state. In this early period, the urban tax mentioned in the deed was extracted from the seasonal market, by the crown and the holders of the manors on the escarpment.The market place attracted permanent citizens and grew to a town during the end of the 13th century. At the same time, a Dominican convent with adjoining cemetery was established immediately south of the castle. Rather than an early medieval town, as suggested by Bååth and others, the first permanent urban settlement on the escarpment was a suburb that had been established in the vicinity of this Dominican convent.

In this thesis, a coin from the Hannibalic occupation of Taras is analysed and discussed. The method applied in the analysis is Panofsky’s iconological method, and the theoretical framework has been derived from the research questions themselves in dialogue with modern numismatic research. The focus of the discussion is on the relationship between the coin and its historical context. In the thesis, it is argued that the coin is a didrachm with heavily reduced weight, and that the weight reduction is a result of the financial difficulties caused by the Second Punic War. Denna uppsats är en analys av ett mynt from Hannibals ockupation av Taras. Den metod som tillämpas i analysdelen är Panofskys ikonologiska metod. Det teoretiska ramverket har sin utgångspunkt i uppsatsens frågeställning, och har utarbetats i dialog med modern numismatisk forskning. Diskussionsdelen fokuserar på förhållandet mellan myntet och dess historiska kontext. I uppsatsen framförs argument för att myntet är en didrachm med kraftigt reducerad vikt, och att viktreduktionen är en följd av de finansiella svårigheter som orsakades av Andra puniska kriget.

This article reports on a new project to investigate the activities of early Homo sapiens in the area of the Chotts ‘megalake’ in southern Tunisia. Excavations in 2015 and 2019 at Oued el Akarit revealed one of a number of Middle Stone Age (MSA) horizons near the top of a long sequence of Upper Pleistocene deposits. The site identified as Oued el Akarit (Sondage 8) consists of lithic artefacts, bone fragments of large ungulates and pieces of ostrich eggshell. Many of the objects are burnt. Excavation of about nine square metres revealed that these were associated with a lightly trampled and combusted occupation surface. Amongst the identified artefacts were Levallois flakes some of which could be refitted, thereby indicating the generally undisturbed nature of the occupation. The lithic finds also included side scrapers and other tools diagnostic of the MSA but significantly no bifacial or tanged tools. OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) dating of the sediments and AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating of ostrich eggshell have produced uncalibrated age determinations in the range 37,000–40,000 years ago, one of the youngest ages for MSA sites in the region. This is the first example of a securely dated later MSA occupation in a riparian environment in south-eastern Tunisia. Introduction and background The site and its context - Structural geology and sedimentological setting Sondage 8 excavation - Description of the lithostratigraphic sequence and interpretation - Soil micromorphology, chemistry and magnetic susceptibility -- Soil micromorphology -- Micromorphology results: (1A and 1B) - Dating studies (optical luminescence, radiocarbon and tephrochronology) - Description of lithic assemblage -- Raw material -- Debitage -- Refitting evidence - Faunal evidence Discussion and conclusions

More than 4000 graffiti are scattered throughout the Theban necropolis. Among them, around 2500 graffiti can be dated to Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Dynasties. These New Kingdom graffiti were made by members of the community of workmen from Deir el-Medina. Only a small group of no more than 120 graffiti consist of depictions of deities and veneration scenes. The interpretation of graffiti with depictions of Amun-Re on rock surfaces in the Valley of the Kings reveals valuable information regarding their locations. This study thus attempts to identify particular locations in the valley where the workmen of Deir el-Medina venerated Amun-Re in different forms. These spots may have been considered to be of religious significance to the workmen of Deir el-Medina.

In recent years, archaeological studies of long-term change and transformation in the human past have often been dominated by the discussion of dichotomous processes of ‘collapse’ and ‘resilience’. These discussions are frequently framed in relatively narrow terms dictated by specialist interests that place an emphasis on the role of single ‘trigger’ factors as motors for historic change. In order to address this issue, in this article I propose that the study of the ‘shatter zone’—a term with origins in physical geography and geopolitics that has been more recently harnessed in anthropological research—has the potential to facilitate multi-scalar, interdisciplinary analyses of the ways in which major historical changes unfold across both space and time, at local, regional, and inter-regional levels. This article unpacks the concept of the shatter zone and aligns this with existing archaeological frameworks for the study of long-term adaptive change. I then situate these arguments within the context of recent studies of colonial interaction and conflict in the Eastern Woodlands of North America during the sixteenth to eighteenth century. The study demonstrates how a more regulated approach to the shatter zone has the potential to yield new insights on the ways in which populations mitigate and react to instability and change while also facilitating comparative studies of these processes on a broader, global scale.

There is a considerable research gap in both maritime and military history concerning the naval use of bowmen. For over three millennia—spanning from the ancient Egyptians until around the year AD 1600—archery was a key component in maritime combat. This essay highlights the importance, flexibility, and impact of naval archery with special attention given to European waters in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period.

Under senare år har det seglat upp en namndebatt på våra lärosäten. Senast ut är Karolinska institutet där man efter protester föreslog att ta bort alla personnamn från byggnader, lokaler och vägar då flera som hedrats på detta sätt kan kopplas till rasistisk verksamhet. Debatten har inte låtit vänta på sig. Är det rimligt att bara städa bort det förflutna, frågar sig en del. Kan man verkligen döma människor i det förflutna utifrån dagens värderingar, undrar andra. Den 2 november meddelade KI att namnskyltarna till minne av Anders och Gustaf Retzius som båda är sammankopplade med rasbiologisk forskning, tas bort. KI rekommenderar också Solna stad att byta namn på von Eulers väg till Ulf von Eulers väg, detta för att markera att det är sonen Ulf och inte hans far, den aktive nazisten Hans, som ger namn åt vägen. Detta är bra, men bör ses som början på ett förändringsarbete, snarare än en slutlig lösning. Ethical Entanglements. The care for human remains in museums and research.

Temporality and changeability are here considered vital characteristics of rock art, expressed through shifting light and moving bodies. Demonstrating deliberate use of non-quantifiable elements such as light is challenging. Nevertheless, there are rock art sites where its importance is apparent. For example, the results of a 3D scan of the site Hammer IX in Central Norway show how the same lines make out both an elk head and a whale. Whereas in Vingen in Western Norway, 77 panels positioned across a scree slope, non-corporeal elements appear to be as important as the motifs. Approaching rock art in a non-representational framework, we consider the involvement of intangible elements as part of the constant knowledge production and shaping of realities at sites. This is the point of departure for our discussion of the making and use of rock art as a meaning-making and storytelling practice in Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Norway.

Endometriosis is a common chronic disease that effects approximately 10–15% of the women in today’s society. However, there is a lack of research that examines if endometriosis produces pathological changes in the skeleton. This thesis addresses the association between the osteological discipline and endometriosis.The primary purpose of this thesis is to test a hypothesis which was created during a previous paper. In order to test the hypothesis, it’s fundamental to analyze female pelvises and to see if endometriosis is detectable in the skeleton and leaves pathological changes in the shape of discoloration. The source material includes 39 female pelvic bones that are available at the medical history museum in Uppsala, Sweden. The collection includes 22 pelvic bones from individuals of Swedish descent and 17 pelvic bones from individuals of diverse foreign descent. This thesis also focuses on mental illness in association with endometriosis among historical women. The analysis of pelvic bones showed that 8 of them had pathological changes in the shape of discoloration. The analysis also demonstrated how women, in today’s- and historical society, was affected mentally and socially. The discussion includes how the skeleton is affected by endometriosis and how osteologist can trace the disease if it isn’t visible in the skeleton. The discussion also includes how historical women was mentally affected by the disease and if we can reach the mental illness through modern women. The study also demonstrates how women was affected economically.Currently, there is not enough research in order to prove the hypothesis about pathological changes in the shape of discoloration. We need more research to further investigate the hypothesis. To continue further investigation of the hypothesis, we need to examine modern patients diagnosed with endometriosis.

Projektet har syftat till att, i linje med den svenska museilagen, implementera kunskapsuppbyggnad som en del i museers samlingsförvaltning och arbete med standarden Spectrum. För att uppnå detta syfte har projektet bearbetat styrdokument, internt textmaterial och genomfört intervjuer och fokusgruppssamtal. Arbetsgruppen har haft reguljära möten där analysen utvecklats och kommande steg lagts fast. Tre digitala workshops med projektets referensgrupp har genomförts med goda resultat, som sammanställts av projektledaren. Samtliga arbetande i projektet skrev PM inför och efter workshop 1 på temat vad forskning och kunskapsuppbyggnad spelar för roll i museiverksamheter. Dessa och diskussionerna kring dem bearbetades av projektgruppen och låg till grund för frågeställningar och arbetsuppgifter för workshop 2, som hade temat ’Den perfekta policyn’. Parallellt med workshoparna genomfördes analys av Spectrum, svensk museiförvaltning, samt interna styrdokument för att finna bästa vägen att stärka forskning och kunskapsuppbyggnad i samlingsförvaltning. När dessa analyser mötte resultaten av fokusgruppssamtal med personalen inom Göteborgs museer och konsthall framstod utvecklandet av en handbok för kunskapsuppbyggnad i samlingsförvaltning på Spectrumbasis som bästa sättet att fånga och sprida våra resultat. Denna handbok testades i den tredje workshopen med referensgruppen, samt i samarbete med Vadsbo museum i Mariestad för att nå så många slags museer som möjligt. Handbok för kunskapsuppbyggande samlingsförvaltning har publicerats av Kulturförvaltningen. Projektet har även producerat en samling korta utredningar av centrala begrepp, inte minst för att förstå begreppen forskning och kunskapsuppbyggnad i ett museisammanhang. Dessa ingår här, tillsammans med en redovisning av de genomförda workshoparna och fokusgruppssamtalen, samt en analys av styrdokument. Första delen följer Riksantikvarieämbetets mall för vetenskaplig slutrapport.

The development of technical tools for digital documentation of excavations has equipped archaeologists with increasingly powerful ways to generate high-quality data. With the use of digital documentation, GIS, photogrammetry and a wide range of scientific analyses, each excavation can produce large quantities of interrelated data. These new practices provide great opportunities for knowledge production, but also huge challenges. Aggregating the vast quantities of data produced by contract archaeology is still a monumental and time-consuming task due to diverse terminologies, use of proprietary software and poor digital archival practices. With the ongoing development of national and international infrastructures that can make

Maimun Palace is one of cultural heritage buildings in Medan that is interesting to study, because this building showed a mix style between traditional Malay and foreign architectural style. This research focuses on building as a representation of a cultural process, where the study is centered on the influence of foreign culture on the pillars and arches of the Maimun palace. This research use descriptive method and continued with contextual analysis. The conclusion of this study is that the pillars and arches of the Maimun Palace gained influence from the Moorish architectural style originating from the Ummayah dynasty in Spain (Andalusia) and also traditional Malay, but this influence was not a direct influence, because of the time context between the end of the Ummayah dynasty and the construction of the Maimun Palace it is not in accordance with. The influence of this style is assumed to be arised due to the use of European architect in the construction process.

Maimun Palace is one of the iconic cultural heritage buildings in Medan City, North Sumatra Province. It has a unique blend of Malay and colonial styles. The subject in this article deals with the building foundations of the Maimun Palace. The foundation part has a crucial role in a building, but it is rarely used as a research topic. The issues raised in this paper relate to the structure, composition, and function of the foundation. The purpose of writing this article besides answering the problem is also expected to be able to increase architectural treasury, especially regarding the style of building foundations that have a blend of traditional Malay and Colonial styles. Through descriptive-analytical research, the conclusion obtained from this study is that there are three kinds of building foundations that adjust to the function of supporting the buildings above which consist of one, two and three levels of the building.

Among Indigenous populations of the Arctic, domestic dogs (Canislupus familiaris) were social actors aiding in traction and subsistence activities. Less commonly, dogs fulfilled a fur-bearing role in both the North American and Siberian Arctic. Examples of garments featuring dog skins were collected during the 19th-20th centuries and are now curated by the National Museum of Denmark. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of macroscopically identified dog skin garments. We conducted stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis of the dog furs and of fur samples from contemporaneous pelts of Arctic (C. lupus arctos) and grey (C. lupus) wolves. Despite the presence of biocides used to protect the fur clothing during storage, we extracted well-preserved DNA using a minimally-invasive sampling protocol. Unexpectedly, the mtDNA genomes of one-third of the samples were consistent with wild taxa, rather than domestic dogs. The strong marine component in the diets of North American dogs distinguished them from Greenland and Canadian wolves, but Siberian dogs consumed diets that were isotopically similar to wild species. We found that dog provisioning practices were variable across the Siberian and North American Arctic, but in all cases, involved considerable human labor. ArchSci2020

Building on the body of work regarding the concepts of invention and innovation in lithic technology, we further explore the give-and-take relationship between people and their technologies in two different stone point knapping traditions. From the socio-technical framework perspective, which is one amongst many ways to look at technological trends, the acceptance and stabilisation of a tool-making tradition is not only dictated by its technology-specific properties, such as its ingenuity or usefulness. Instead, it also depends on the social conventions and practices of its spatiotemporal context, which can be explored through the notions of introduction, closure, stabilisation, destabilisation and copying. We explain the theory behind the socio-technical framework with modern examples, such as bicycle use in late nineteenth century England and electrical guitar trends in the last half of the twentieth century. Turning our attention to stone point knapping, we use Australian Kimberley point production during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to bridge into how the socio-technical framework reflects in the dynamics that might be involved in lithic traditions. Using this theoretical framework to think about aspects of deep-time point production, such as that recorded from the Still Bay techno-complex during the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa, becomes trickier though. Instead of reliable ethno-historical accounts or dense archaeological context, we have to rely on coarse-grained data sets about distribution, age, environment and population, making inferences more speculative and less testable. In the context of this special volume, we suggest, however, that a socio-technical framework approach may be a useful tool to enhance our thinking about dynamics in ancient techno-behaviours and that more work is necessary to flesh out its potential in this respect.

In the ringfort Sandby borg (A.D. 400–550) on Öland, Sweden, remains of 26 unburied humans were excavated between 2010 and 2016. Several of the skeletons display traces of lethal interpersonal violence. This study presents taphonomic analyses of unburied bodies, a situation seldom encountered archaeologically. The depositional context allows us to investigate human taphonomy in interaction with natural agents both “indoors” and “outdoors.” A set of various techniques, including documentation of preservation via zoning, weathering stages, fracture analysis, and archaeothanatology, were applied to understand the perimortem and postmortem fate of the human remains. The results of the taphonomic analysis showed no indications of manipulation postmortem. Expected differences in preservation between in-and outdoor skeletons were not observed. Perimortem fire alterations were interpreted as the result of burning hearths and smoldering roofs. The analysis indicates that the bodies have decomposed in voids. New observations for “unconfined void” taphonomy are presented. The abduction of limbs could be the result of bloating and, hence, indicate a primary deposit of bodies. Atypical lack of splaying of bones might be caused by decomposition in unconfined voids, possibly allowing quicker drainage of putrefaction liquids than in confined voids such as coffins. These observations suggest that processes behind decomposition in voids are not completely understood archaeologically, and might challenge interpretations of mortuary treatment from human remains. In der Wallburg Sandby borg (400-550 n. Chr.) auf Öland, Schweden, wurden die Überreste von 26 nicht bestatteten Menschen gefunden, die zu einem großen Teil Spuren von tödlicher Gewalteinwirkung aufwiesen. In dieser Studie werden die Ergebnisse taphonomischer Untersuchungen von nicht bestatteten menschlichen Überresten präsentiert, auf die man im archäologischen Kontext nur selten trifft. Diese Art der Niederlegung und Auffindung erlaubt es uns die Taphonomie von menschlichen Überresten unter natürlichen Einflüssen von sowohl ”drinnen—im Haus” als auch ”draußen—außer Haus” zu untersuchen. Mehrere unterschiedliche Methoden wurden angewendet um sowohl das perimortale als auch das postmortale Schicksal der menschlichen Überreste zu verstehen, darunter Dokumentation der bewahrten Knochenteile, Stadien der Verwitterung, Bruchanalysen und Archäothanatologie. Die Ergebnisse der taphonomischen Untersuchungen zeigten keine postmortalen Veränderungen. Die erwarteten Unterschiede im Zustand der drinnen und draußen bewahrten Skeletten ließen sich nicht bestätigen. Perimortale Veränderungen der verbrannten Knochen wurden als Resultat von aktiven Feuerherden und brennenden Dächern gedeutet. Die Analyse spricht dafür, dass die Körper in Hohlräumen verwesten. Neue Beobachtungen von Taphonomie in ”unbegrenzten Hohlräumen” werden ebenfalls präsentiert. Die Abduktion von Körpergliedern kann auf Aufblähungen beruhen, und spricht damit für eine primäre Niederlegung von Körpern. Der atypische Mangel an verteilten Knochenmaterial kann durch die Verwesung in unbegrenzten Hohlräumen verursacht worden sein, und damit einen schnelleren Abfluss von Verwesungsflüssigkeit erlauben, als es in begrenzten Hohlräumen wie z. B. Särgen der Fall ist. Diese Ergebnisse sprechen dafür, dass Verwesungsprozesse in Hohlräumen archäologisch noch nicht vollständig zu verstehen sind, und daher die Deutung wie menschliche Überreste behandelt wurden in Frage stellen können. Please contact the authors for full text.

The Roman sites in Edlington Wood, three miles west-south-west of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, first came to wider notice as a result of finds by the woodman in the 1930s and the material was of sufficient interest for Philip Corder to use it as the basis for a paper in a festschrift to O. G. S. Crawford. Most of these finds and later material were deposited in Doncaster Museum, although others went to the owners and local metal detectorists. In 1970 a threat of quarrying led to a detailed survey of the site by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments and limited excavation on one site. Two large areas within the Wood were cleared but remain as improved grassland. The recent availability of Lidar imagery allows the occupation sites and fragments of field system located by ground survey to be placed in a broader context of small rectangular fields and some attempt at a landscape chronology to be made. The cultivation of the fields in a system of cord rig is discussed.

The purpose of this study is to address long-standing interpretative frameworks for the discussion of the ‘Danelaw’, a term that has been applied since the medieval period to a large area of eastern and northern England that was occupied by viking raiding groups and other immigrant settlers during the ninth and tenth centuries ad. The article highlights several potential issues concerning widely held perceptions of the Danelaw and its main subsidiary element — the ‘Five Boroughs’ — as geopolitical and cultural entities. On the basis of a lack of historical and archaeological evidence for coordinated territorial defence and cooperation between the groups occupying the landscape, the study calls the concepts of the Danelaw and Five Boroughs into question. I argue that a shift in scholarly focus to more local and regional processes of consolidation and social development would provide fresh insights into political and military organization in Viking-Age England, while also shedding light on processes of violence, colonization, and creolization as these played out across the settled landscape.

Norén, A. 2020. The Reign of Akhenaten: The Inhabitants of Tell el-Amarna through a Religious Perspective. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the complex religious climate of Tell el-Amarna, the capital city of ancient Egypt in the 18th dynasty, during the reign of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (1353–1336 B.C.E.). These complex elements refer to the devotion of pharaoh and his new-established ideology of Atenism and the simultaneously ongoing worship of traditional gods of which many were actively persecuted by the state during this time. The conclusions of this study presents a general picture of the lives of the inhabitants of el-Amarna by drawing on examples of religious objects which have been excavated from the city and what these may suggest about the religious beliefs of the people. However, the study does not focus primarily on the distribution of objects or social stratification. The sources which have been employed in this study consists of books and articles published by Barry J. Kemp and Anna Stevens, among others. The primary source material by Kemp and Stevens comprises archaeological theories and methods which in this study have been employed in an attempt to bring the material one step further, namely to analyse the religious climate at el-Amarna through the perspective of its inhabitants and place the material evidence in relation to the ideologies of Akhenaten. Norén, A. 2020. Akhenatens regeringstid: Invånarna i Tell el-Amarna ur ett religiöst perspektiv. Syftet med studien är att redogöra för det komplexa religiösa klimatet i Tell el-Amarna, som var huvudstaden i det antika Egypten under den 18nde dynastin, under Amenhotep IV/Akhenatens regeringstid (1353–1336 f.v.t.). Med komplexa element menas den hängivenhet som uttrycktes inför farao och hans nyetablerade ideologi som kallas Atenism samtidigt som det existerade en fortsatt tro på de traditionella gudarna som aktivt förföljdes och raderades av staten under den här tiden. Slutsatserna i den här studien presenterar en generell bild av livet för invånarna i el-Amarna genom att återge exempel på religiösa objekt som har hittats i staden och vad dessa må berätta gällande det religiösa utövandet hos människorna som bodde här. Studien fokuserar inte primärt på spridningen eller mängden av objekt och heller inte på social stratifikation. De källor som använts i den här studien består av böcker och artiklar som publicerats av Barry J. Kemp och Anna Stevens samt andra forskare. Det primära källmaterialet av Kemp och Stevens utgörs av arkeologiska teorier och metoder som används i den här studien med avsikten att ta materialet ett steg längre genom att analysera det religiösa klimatet i el-Amarna ur invånarnas perspektiv och sätta de materiella lämningarna i relation till Akhenatens ideologier.

In this thesis, I explore and analyse narratives around toxic and scarred landscapes. The aim of the thesis is to understand human views and experiences of anthropogenic environments through narratives of contamination and toxicity. Some concepts used throughout the thesis are landscape, heritage, ghost, and trauma. The research is situated in the transdisciplinary field of environmental history and utilises multidisciplinary academic research, art works, and several different media outlets as sources of data. Many brief examples of toxic sites are given along the way to demonstrate discussed themes in practice, but two specific landscapes are explored in detail. These are Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands, an island remaining radioactive to date due to Cold War era weapon testing, and the town of Teckomatorp in Sweden, a remediated site of a chemical industry scandal. Furthermore, an academic environmental justice project Toxic Bios (KTH, Stockholm) is analysed as a medium of narrative creation and several visual artists’ works are brought up alongside news articles and cinematography. This thesis is an exploratory journey and it aspires to contribute to bridging academic disciplines as well as encouraging expression of individual stories and subjective viewpoints in narrations of scarred landscapes. Findings of the thesis link to previous research on landscapes as experienced and temporal – toxic landscapes are narrated constantly through many perceptions, storylines, and branches of research. Some reoccurring themes are sickness, environmental justice, tensions between local and global levels of narration, fascinating but controversial depictions of toxicity’s aesthetics and individual experiences of dramatic pasts in non-dramatic present. Individual stories, counter-hegemonic narratives, and transdisciplinary practices are needed in order to create deeper understanding of living in the Anthropocene.

The European Migration Period (c. AD 400–550) was characterised by political, social and economic instability. Recent excavations at Sandby borg ringfort on the island of Öland in Sweden have revealed indisputable evidence of a massacre which occurred at that time. Osteological, contextual and artefactual evidence strongly suggest that the fort was abandoned immediately following the attack and was left undisturbed throughout antiquity. Sandby borg offers a unique snapshot of domestic life and abrupt death in the Scandinavian Migration Period, and provides evidence highly relevant to studies of ancient conflict, and on social and military aspects of Iron Age and Migration Period societies.