Joakim Wehlin

This paper is a first step towards an understanding of how to locate and decode archaeological sites from the Early Metal Age 2000-1 BCE in Dalarna, Sweden. Sites from the Early Metal Age are rare in this region, but numerous locations have been identified as Stone Age sites. To search for Early Metal Age sites, the bifacial arrowheads, which chronologically belong to this time frame, have been examined. By doing this, two more extensive sites have been identified. The study shows that sites with a large number of preforms are a better indicator of extensive sites from the Early Metal Age than finished arrowheads. The study also problematizes the settlement concept and how to approach different types of sites. The spread of finds and the variation of different types of sites indicate that these settlements should be understood as part of larger settlement zones in which people moved over large geographical areas.

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 ...

In addressing the current climate crisis, research into how past societies have coped with risk and ecological uncertainty can provide old solutions to new problems. Here, we examine how human niche construction can be seen as risk management in the face of uncertainty by exploring the spatial patterning of land-use activities over time. Dalarna county, an agriculturally marginal boreal forest environment, provides the opportunity for addressing change in terms of agricultural responses and other activities. C14 archaeological records complied by Dalarna Museum were the base of this analysis. The spatial and temporal components of these Boreal Forest records were analyzed in the open-source software QGIS, guided by a historical ecology framework. Human niches diversified and intensified during specific periods in the Boreal forest environment; our focus has been on how humans managed resource risk related to the ecological uncertainty within this forest environment characterized by ...

Vallen i Gothemshammar har länge intresserat både fackmän och allmänheten, det är därför ingen överdrift att säga att vi närmade oss denna fornlämning med stort intresse, om än också med viss bävan inför dess storhet. Vilka möjligheter skulle vi ha att kunna lösa gåtan om vad detta är för en konstruktion? Vilka är oddsen att med en begränsad forskningsinriktad grävning kunna få några svar? I efterhand kan vi bara konstatera att resultaten av 5 veckors seminariegrävning måste ses som en stor landvinning när det ...

På Uggarderojrområdet finns ett antal stora rösen som sannolikt härstammar från äldre bronsåldern. Bland dessa finns Gotlands största rösen (ca. 50x50x7 m), kallat Uggarderöset. En arkeologisk undersökning gjordes 2009 av en stensättning, en skärvstenshög och ...

During field work in 2005 our attention was drawn to an interesting prehistoric remain at the Malaefono organicplantation close to Salei'moa village on 'Upolu. Several stone platforms/stone heaps and remains have been reported removed due to farming activities during the last ...

" My interest in ethno-archaeology and a Minor Field Study grant brought me to Samoa. There I had a chance to participate in a multinational project “The Pulemelei project, the origins and Development of Monumental architecture”. On the former copra plantation Letolo situated on the SE part of the Island of Savai’i, is an extensive pre-historic settlement with over 3000 remains situated. The remains are now heavily overgrown but when the vegetation was cleared an extensive survey was carried out (1977-78). By using these records my aim is to understand more about how chiefdom society works in pre-historic times as well as in the present. The archaeological study is carried out with the aid of a correspondence analysis using the survey data as well as through a practical fieldwork (excavations) study of the settlement pattern at the Letolo plantation. The settlement shows large variations between the inland and the coastal region and those actions opened for whole new questions and ideas about the Samoan prehistory. During my journey I also got a better understanding for ethno-archaeology, and the problems that can meet us using these analogies and carrying out archaeological studies in a global setting and traditional society. To date, quite limited archaeology has been carried out on Samoa but the archaeological “revival” boosted by the project which started in this area in 2002 has created an opportunity to train the first generation of Samoan archaeologists and give them a good platform to stand on! "

Although the Bronze Age is a period when travel and interaction over large areas has been intensively discussed, not least in the Baltic Sea, the role of seafaring and maritime knowledge in the society has seldom been considered. Maritime archaeology has been viewed as peripheral in ...

När solen försvinner ned bakom horisonten, och de flesta människorna i Skandinavien lägger dagens möda bakom sig och kryper ned i sängen, så gryr en ny dag på andra sidan jorden. Samma sol som för en stund sedan värmt oss skandinaver lägger nu sitt värmande täcke över den Polynesiska övärlden. Denna sol, samma livets källa som bronsåldersmänniskorna dyrkade så högt, lyser än idag över jordens befolkning. I Norden finns det en generellt uttalad idé om att vi under bronsåldern levde i ett samhälle som kan ...

En av de förhistoriska tidsperioderna som vi vet minst om i Dalarna är den som vanligen benämns bronsålder, 1700–500 f.Kr. Vid denna tid tycks livet ha förändrats för människorna. Det syns tydligt i det arkeologiska materialet. Helt nya typer av fornlämningar och föremål dyker upp. Främst rör det sig om gravar i form av stora stenrösen och många av dessa finns ännu kvar.
På Fornäs udd vid sjön Runn i Vika socken finns flera sådana gravrösen. De kan sannolikt dateras till bronsålder. Den förmodade dateringen bygger på
rösenas utseende, placering och storlek, detta i en jämförelse med stenrösena som finns i södra Sverige och längs östersjökusten. Endast ett par sådan rösen har tidigare undersökts av arkeologer i Dalarna, och inga fynd har gjorts som kan säkerställa en datering. För att fylla denna kunskapslucka i Dalarnas förhistoria genomförde Dalarnas museum en forskningsundersökning av det ena röset på Fornäs udd, fornlämning Vika 55, i juli 2015. Vid undersökningen medverkade frivilliga, främst från Vika–Hosjö hembygdsförening.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med undersökningen var att klargöra om röset var en grav från bronsålder. Utöver detta fanns frågeställningar kring vem eller vilka som begravts i röset? Hur länge har rösets använts och har det möjligen återanvänts vid något tillfälle i historien? Hur är röset konstruerat och hur lång tid tog det att bygga?