| 1. |
- Frejman, Axel
(författare)
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With Gods as Neighbours : Extra-temenal activity at Greek rural sanctuaries, 700–200 BCE
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The thesis investigates so-called extra-temenal areas at Greek rural sanctuaries 700–200 BCE. Extra-temenal areas are defined as areas located outside the temenos, which have a functional, administrative and conceptual connection to the sanctuary. The aim is to better understand the use, administration and significance of the areas and activities close to, but outside of the temenos. To facilitate this investigation a field survey project at Labraunda was devised, the Surroundings of Labraunda project, and to complement and contrast the results of this survey, all published material from the sanctuaries of Sinuri in Karia, and Nemea in Korinthia, was examined. Activities could be attested in the surroundings of all three sanctuaries, ranging from everyday household tasks such as cooking and weaving, to building activity, ceramic production, sports, and cult. Most of these activities were spatially concentrated within 500 metres of the temenos, possibly with an internal spatial organisation in which certain parts of the area were dedicated to permanent living, and others to temporary activities during the religious festivals. The activities noted appear to be focussed towards the sanctuary, i.e. they can be expected to have existed by and for the sanctuary’s needs. It can be suggested that there existed a zone around the temenos, perceived as belonging to the sanctuary, and where activities connected to the sanctuary were practised. To conceptualise the activities noted in the surroundings of rural sanctuaries, and the relationship between the extra-temenal and the temenos, the concept of commons was applied in an attempt to understand how the sanctuary could have functioned. Many parallels between ancient Greek rural sanctuaries and commons can be noted, and the sanctuaries are suggested to have functioned as ‘religious commons’, that is, places of shared interest and responsibility for the communities using them, and likewise places of social interaction and construction of identity. The commons perspective can help explain why an all-encompassing function of this type of sanctuary has been difficult to establish, as it emphasises variation rather than uniformity. Religious commons can be expected to have adapted to local conditions, leading to varying expressions of the same basic formula. The commons perspective can also help explain the resilience of rural sanctuaries, and why they had such an important role in the creation and perpetuation of identity in the ancient Greek society.
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| 2. |
- Hatlestad, Kailin
(författare)
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Exploring Uncertainty and Significance : Analysing Human Response to Environmental Risk with Computational Archaeology
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As humanity confronts the escalating challenges posed by rapid climate change, it becomes increasingly urgent to understand the complex dynamics of human-environment interactions to mitigate its multifaceted impacts. Archaeology, with its long-term perspective, offers the opportunity to examine past societal responses to environmental risks across diverse locations in Northwestern Europe and temporal scales. This dissertation aims to contribute to this critical endeavour by exploring the socio-environmental dynamics and adaptive strategies of past societies, to inform effective responses to climate change challenges in both the present and future. Utilizing computational archaeology, which integrates digital technologies and computational methods to analyse big data, the dissertation employs probabilistic approaches, including Bayesian modelling like summed probability distributions of radiocarbon (14C) data, to confront uncertainties inherent in reconstructing past human-environmental dynamics from interdisciplinary datasets. Additionally, quantitative methods, such as correlation tests and null hypothesis testing of 14C data, are employed to identify significant shifts in these dynamics, translating insights into quantitative terms for enhanced integration with policy-making processes. The primary objective of the dissertation is to illustrate how the integration of archaeological and environmental big data can enrich the understanding of human responses to environmental challenges. The papers in this thesis demonstrate how computational methods can be applied to big data to understand spatiotemporal changes in human-environmental variables, uncovering risk management strategies and societal vulnerabilities. The papers highlight cases where human communities experienced mitigated adverse effects from severe environmental shifts due to diverse socioeconomic strategies. Simultaneously, the results emphasize regional variations in the impacts of climate change, crucial for understanding the effectiveness of human responses. Moreover, the thesis exhibits how big data analytics both complement and challenge existing archaeological interpretations, contributing to the development of new theories. Importantly, it underscores the significance of diverse socioeconomic strategies in mitigating risks, especially in the face of abrupt environmental events.
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| 3. |
- Ljungkvist, John, Docent, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Bears and the Viking Age transition in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Bear and Human. - Turnhout : Brepols. - 9782503606132 ; , s. 387-404
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main objective of this paper is to generate a deeper understanding of bear and human relationships in the 1st millennium AD. This will primarily be achieved by the analysis of a detailed chronology of bear phalanges from Iron Age burials. The aim is to note changes in the deposition patterns of bear remains in burials in order to identify human impact - which we consider significant for hunting pressure - on the Scandinavian bear populations of the 1st millennium AD. The authors suggest that bear hunting can be considered as part of the larger processes of intensified exploitation of the boreal forest in the Iron Age that contributed to the formation of interregional trade networks. It is suggested that this exploitation affected the bear population to such an extent that overused animal resources can be understood as one of several contributing factors behind the Viking expansion outside Scandinavia. An understanding of bear and human relationships will contribute to a better knowledge of the cultural history of Scandinavia’s forested region and of interregional contacts with the central agricultural regions.
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| 4. |
- Eriksson, Ove, et al.
(författare)
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Claudius' Coin in the Forest : Niche Construction and Strategies by Early Colonizers of Boreal Inlands in Central Scandinavia
- 2022
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Ingår i: Historical Ecology. - London; Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons. - 9781394169764 - 9781789450903 ; , s. 207-219
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The colonization and establishment of agriculture and iron production in the boreal forest inland regions of central Scandinavia from the Iron Age onwards implied that people must have overcome great difficulties. Climate is harsh, and vast areas are covered with forest and mires initially unsuitable for farming. The authors suggests that a combination of a mind-set based on infield systems occurring in the regions from where the colonizers came, and constraints imposed by the environment, promoted human niche construction processes specific for these regions. The landscape was basically structured as infields and outland, but the constraints imposed by the poor productivity of the forests necessitated extending forest grazing spatially, promoted use of outland mires for harvest of winter fodder, and ultimately led to development of secondary farms, shielings, as an innovative strategy of a spatially structured domesticated landscape.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Hennius, Andreas
(författare)
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Outlanders? : Resource colonisation, raw material exploitation and networks in Middle Iron Age Sweden
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Middle Iron Age, around 300–650 CE, was characterised by extensive transformations across many aspects of society in the area of present-day Sweden. Within the central agricultural regions of the southern parts of the country, these changes are evident in a re-organisation of the settlements, renewed burial practices, the building of large-scale monuments, as well as increased militarisation, social stratification and an increase in imported objects. This thesis addresses an additional aspect of Middle Iron Age societal change, namely an increase in the utilisation of raw materials and resources from forested and coastal landscapes situated beyond the settled farm. These non-agrarian landscapes are commonly referred to as the outlands. In previous research, the increased utilisation of the outlands has in general been understood as part of a Viking Age expansion.The case studies of the thesis suggest that the outlands saw an intensified resource colonisation already during the Middle Iron Age, and that a similar explanatory model can be used to accommodate the parallel developments that appear in the agrarian landscapes as well as the in the outlands. The resource colonisation contributed to a surplus production that seems to have exceeded the needs of ordinary households, along with serially produced items, distributed along far-reaching trade networks in exchange of exotic commodities. The thesis argues that these networks should be interpreted as part of systems connecting distant regions, ranging from the Far East to Arctic Scandinavia. The discussions of the cases studies illustrate interplay between different groups of people – producers and consumers, hunters and farmers – in different parts of the landscape, and how they generated complex, social and economic relations and interdependencies. This in turn resulted in specific cultural patterns in the border area between the boreal forest in the north and the agrarian region in the south. The main contribution of the study is that it highlights how the main elements of outland exploitation, such as mass production and trade in valuable non-agrarian resources, can be dated earlier than has been previously thought. Moreover, the thesis argues that outland resource colonisation was an important driving force for the societal developments that took place during the Middle Iron Age, and is crucial for our understanding of later time periods.
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| 8. |
- Lindholm, Karl-Johan, Professor, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Contesting Marginality : The Boreal Forest of Middle Scandinavia and the Worlds Outside
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Medieval Globe. - Baltimore, Maryland : Arc Humanities. - 2377-3553 .- 2377-3561. ; 7:1, s. 9-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we present ongoing archaeological research into Scandinavia's forested inland region, suggesting that its people and communities were socially and economically integrated into systems of trade and in close interaction with the worlds outside, as early as the first centuries of the Common Era. The article presents a range of archaeological evidence, from ca. 500 to 1400 CE, for processes of ecological globalization, manifested by the exploitation of local landscapes and the extraction of valued products that could be transformed into commodities through crafts and trade. These forested landscapes were reliant on—and also shaped by—complex social and economic relations reflecting interrelated socio-economic systems of extraction, production, and consumption. Our main argument is that these landscapes are crucial to identifying and understanding the contours of the premodern global North.
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| 9. |
- Lindholm, Karl-Johan, Professor, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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TERRANOVA: a landscape-based response to the main challenges of our time : POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
- 2020
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Ingår i: Zenodo. ; , s. 1-20
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Forskningsöversikt (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- This is the first out of three white papers from the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative an Innovative Training Network consortium of the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.1 TERRANOVA investigates the deep history of human-environment interactions and how these interactions have shaped European landscapes as a foundation to design sustainable environmental policies in Europe. In 2019–2023, fifteen PhD students will be trained to conduct interdisciplinary research around this topic in order to promote a long-term understanding of the structure and functioning of European landscapes to meet current challenges caused by reduced biodiversity and climate change.TERRANOVA seeks knowledge through landscape energy regimes and transitions, which will help in the transition to future low-carbon society. In this paper, we will present our starting point and briefly describe the project design and expected outcomes of the project.RECOMMENDATIONS - POLICYMAKERS TO RECOGNISE AND SUPPORT:The importance of a nuanced understanding of the deep history of European landscapes and past changes in human-environment interactions that are required in order to address the climate and the biodiversity crises.Potential reservoirs of knowledge and experience that landscapes encompass, for nature conservation, landscape planning and sustainable livelihoods, which now remain unexplored.Sustainable research and training networks, like TERRANOVA, which means shifting academic curricula to demonstrate intelligent and innovative solutions for problems of land abandonment, landscape management and stewardship, rewilding and the process of transitioning to a low-carbon society.
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| 10. |
- Lindholm, Karl-Johan, 1970-
(författare)
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Wells of Experience : A pastoral land-use history of Omaheke, Namibia.
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The conventional view on the Kalahari in southern Africa expresses that the area is unsuitable for livestock herding. For this reason, it is argued that livestock herders avoided the Kalahari in the past and were only able to establish themselves in the later half of the twentieth century, when deep-reaching boreholes were introduced in the area. An effect of this concept was that the archaeological record of pastoralists in the Kalahari either was perceived as non-existent or received little attention from scientific enquiry.Based on an archaeological survey in the Kalahari of the northeastern part of Namibia, the purpose of this study is to construct an alternative approach to the archaeology of livestock herding. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the areas unrecorded land-use history. I depart from the notion that the main ecological constraint for dryland pastoralism is the availability of dry season water and fodder resources. For this reason, the fundamental basis for a pastoral land-use system is places that contain dry season resources. By reviewing recent ecological research, historical and anthropological accounts and previous archaeological research, I establish a link between livestock herders’ procurement of dry season key resources and the practice of digging wells. The link can be motivated from the pastoral ambition of accumulating livestock and high water requirements in the restrained dry season. On this basis, I suggest that artificial wells are useful indicators of pastoral land use in the Kalahari. The most crucial task for the study is to address the archaeological visibility of pastoral well sites. By a research approach integrating the theoretical understanding of pastoralism and a methodology including ecology, archaeology, history and the knowledge of the people who keep livestock in the region today, the archaeological survey revealed 40 well sites, including nearly 200 well structures that have all been used for watering livestock. However, it would be unfortunate if a study of pastoral wells would solely address the ecological foundation and the archaeological visibility of pastoralism. I suggest that the wells signify the labour of peoples with common or separate histories, with or without own herds, but probably talked about in relation to herds. I will also argue that the wells can be used for tracking and reconstructing a pastoral land-use system that predated the colonial era. Furthermore, the wells can be used to identify changes of the land-use that took place during the twentieth century, which involved that livestock herding was more or less abandoned in large parts of northwestern Kalahari. The study surmises that the critical historical perspective is valuable for development projects and conservationist interventions active in the region, especially in the light of the recent trends in the dryland ecology, which shows a larger appreciation for the indigenous understanding of the management of dryland ecosystems. With modifications, the developed approach can be applicable for land-use historical research elsewhere in southern Africa.
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