Kulturlandskapets korsvägar : mellersta Norrland under de två sista årtusendena f Kr

• The principal aim of this thesis is to discuss the cultural significance of the material remains in the middle of northern Sweden from the last two millennia BC. Different artefacts and monuments from the provinces of Ångermanland, Jämtland and Medelpad are analysed in order to illuminate the often debated relationship between the coast and the interior. The interpretative discussion focuses both on the spatial distribution and on the contextual significance of the material culture. One of the purposes is to examine how different material remains are distributed in the landscape and how the spatial distribution of similarities and differences can be understood in terms of social relations and culture. The material evidence consists of asbestos-tempered pottery, rhombic shafthole axes, fire-cracked stone mounds, cairns, bronze artefacts, moulds and rock art. The thesis comprises on five separate articles plus an introduction and a conclusion.The analysis of the different source materials reveals that the spatial distribution of the archaeological remains is a complex pattern of variation and overlapping between the coastal and inland areas. It is here suggested that the cultural significance of the source material from the studied area should not be described in terms of a dualism of cultures. The cultural setting can instead be described as a multitudinous structure of kinship relations, marriage exchange, ritual strategies and interactional contexts, in which various groups of mobile hunter-gatherers were involved. The distribution of long-term monuments such as fire-cracked stone mounds, cairns and rock art sites played an important role in binding groups from different parts of the landscape together in a fluctuating system of interaction and kinship relations.The analysis further reveals that there is a dramatic increase in foreign bronze artefacts as well as domestic bronze-casting activities in the studied area during the Late Bronze Age. At the same time one can also notice a change in the decorative pattern on the asbestos-tempered pottery, namely a shift from textile impressed decoration to comb-stamped impressions. The spatial distribution of cairn-monuments, fire-cracked stone mounds and rock art sites are studied in an attempt to illuminate the significance of their location in the landscape. The analysis reveals that different types of watery locations seem to have played a vital role for the rituals and communal activities taking place at these sites. Many of the monuments can also be defined as long-term monuments involved in a repeated rebuilding practice during a very long period of time.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

arkeologi

Archaeology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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