1. |
- Niskanen, Markku, et al.
(author)
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Scandinavia and Finland
- 2018
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In: Skeletal Variation and Adaptation in Europeans. - Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell. - 9781118627969 - 9781118628430 ; , s. 355-396
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This chapter focuses on Scandinavia, Finland, and adjacent regions of Northwest Russia (Karelia and the Kola Peninsula). Urbanization commenced relatively late in Scandinavia and Finland. The chapter examines temporal trends in body size and shape within Scandinavia and Finland across all time periods, followed by comparisons with other Europeans as well as other comparisons dealing with the Neolithic period Pitted Ware culture (PWC foragers), urban‐rural differences, and sexual dimorphism. The Neolithic PWC foragers are more similar to the Mesolithic foragers than to the Neolithic farmers in relative long bone bending strength. The PWC are a special case because, although foragers, they lived during the Scandinavian Middle Neolithic and were contemporary with Neolithic farmers. The chapter presents comparisons between Scandinavians and other Europeans in size‐standardized cross‐sectional properties for femoral A‐P and M‐L bending strengths, and torsional/average bending strengths of right and left humeri.
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2. |
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Arctic Anthropology
- 2015
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Editorial proceedings (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While researchers within Sámi archaeology have dealt with issues closely related to postcolonial theory and critique since the 1970s onwards, this has rarely been done with explicit mention or coherent use of this theoretical complex. This somewhat paradoxical situation was addressed in a session at the 14th conference of the Nordic Theoretical Archaeology Group at Stockholm University in April 2014, an initiative that eventually resulted in the present collection of articles. In this introduction we briefly present the historiographical and discursive background for the debates that are outlined in the following contributions.
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3. |
- Salmi, Anna-Kaisa, et al.
(author)
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Animal offerings at the Sámi offering site of Unna Saiva : changing religious practices and human-animal relationships
- 2015
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In: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0278-4165 .- 1090-2686. ; 40, s. 10-22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Unna Saiva is a Sámi offering site situated in Gällivare in Northern Sweden. The site was excavated in the early 20th century. It yielded a large number of finds, including objects of silver, pewter and other metals, coins, and animal bones. The metal objects and coins date mainly to the late 10th century and 11th century AD, whereas the animal bone finds date from the 6th to the 17th centuries AD. Zooarchaeological analysis, radiocarbon datings of animal bones and stable isotope analyses conducted in this study reveal new information about religious ritual, religious change, and human–animal relationships among the Sámi. We argue that there was a change in the offering tradition, intertwining with changes in the subsistence economy and especially reindeer domestication. Our results indicate that reindeer domestication, acknowledged to have had a major impact on social organization and economy, was also a major factor in the transformation of Sámi indigenous religion. However, the underlying nature of the offering tradition remained consistent although the focal species of economic and religious interest changed.
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4. |
- Salmi, Anna Kaisa, et al.
(author)
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“Most Beautiful Favorite Reindeer” : Osteobiographies of Reindeer at a Sámi Offering Site in Northern Fennoscandia
- 2023
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In: Reimagining Human-Animal Relations in the Circumpolar North. - 9781138482784 - 9781003810995 ; , s. 147-168
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Animal offerings made at various sacred sites were an integral part of the ethnic religion of the indigenous Sámi people of northern parts of present-day Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia from ca. 800 AD onwards. The offering tradition was interwoven with subsistence patterns and human-animal relationships, as in the Sámi worldview offerings were a means to communicate with gods and guardian spirits of animals to negotiate things such as success in hunting or reindeer husbandry. This chapter focuses at the unfolding life histories of the reindeer individuals selected for offering by looking at age, sex, and size of the individuals, the stable isotope composition of their teeth and bones, and the offering site context where their bones were deposited. The lives of two individuals offered at the Paddusas offering site in Northern Sweden in ca. 1170-1280 AD and 1445-1635 AD are examined in detail. The lives of these reindeer were entangled with those of humans and other animals against a backdrop of changing social and economic environments, colonial contact between the Sámi and Scandinavian state powers, and the historical process of reindeer domestication.
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5. |
- Salmi, Anna-Kaisa, et al.
(author)
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Tradition and transformation in Sámi animal-offering practices
- 2018
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In: Antiquity. - : Antiquity Publications. - 0003-598X .- 1745-1744. ; 92:362, s. 472-489
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Archaeological evidence for ritual animal offerings is key to understanding the formation and evolution of indigenous Sámi identity in Northern Fennoscandia from the Iron Age to the seventeenth century AD. An examination of such evidence can illuminate how major changes, such as the shift from hunting to reindeer pastoralism, colonialism by emerging state powers and Christianisation, were mediated by the Sámi at the local level. To explore the chronology of, and local variations in, Sámi animal-offering tradition, we provide a synthesis of archaeozoological data and radiocarbon dates from 17 offering sites across Norway, Sweden and Finland. Analysis reveals new patterns in the history of Sámi religious ritual and the expression of Sámi identity.
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6. |
- Salmi, Anna-Kaisa, et al.
(author)
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Zooarchaeological and stable isotope evidence of Sámi reindeer offerings
- 2020
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In: Journal of Archaeological Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-409X .- 2352-4103. ; 29
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents new osteometric and stable isotope evidence of Sami reindeer offerings. Previous archaeological studies have shown that reindeer domestication and intensification of reindeer herding transformed Sami indigenous religion. However, because of the methodological challenges in the identification of wild and domesticated reindeer in the archaeological record, the exact nature of the relationship between people and offered reindeer has remained elusive. To address this problem, we analyze zooarchaeological and stable isotope data from thirteen Sami offering sites situated in Finland and Sweden and dating to c. 1200-1700 CE. We employ zooarchaeological analysis of age, sex and size and explore the possibilities of these analyses to identify domestication and other characteristics of reindeer selected for offering. Analyses of stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur are utilized to identify human influence on reindeer feeding patterns and mobility. Our results show that many kinds of reindeer with different engagements with people were offered. The results confirm that people had different motives for giving offerings and that a simple dichotomy of wild/domesticated does not adequately reflect the range of relationships the Sami had with reindeer.
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7. |
- Spangen, Marte, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Sámi Archaeology and Postcolonial Theory - An Introduction
- 2015
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In: Arctic Anthropology. - : University of Wisconsin Press. - 0066-6939 .- 1933-8139. ; 52:2, s. 1-5
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- While researchers within Sámi archaeology have dealt with issues closely related to postcolonial theory and critique since the 1970s onwards, this has rarely been done with explicit mention or coherent use of this theoretical complex. This somewhat paradoxical situation was addressed in a session at the 14th conference of the Nordic Theoretical Archaeology Group at Stockholm University in April 2014, an initiative that eventually resulted in the present collection of articles. In this introduction we briefly present the historiographical and discursive background for the debates that are outlined in the following contributions.
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