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 long winters and short growing seasons. We conclude that constructed niches shaped the Boreal Forest, spanning its environmentally unique upland and lowland regions, into a more predictable environment. Tracking the diversity, multi-functionality, and intensity of these past land-use activities can provide insights for best practices in land management, not only for the Boreal Forest area, but also for elsewhere. These insights will assist in policy-making decisions, as the methodology is adaptable and replicable for various landscapes.
In this paper, we discuss the ritual practices and ritualization in the Bronze Age society on Got- land based on archaeological investigations of cairn milieus and stone ship contexts. We explore whether erected stones and demarcations on the south to south-west side of the Bronze Age cairns are the norm and whether this phenomenon oc- curred during the Bronze Age. We also discuss whether our archaeological research can support long-term use of cairn milieus for ritual purposes.
The paper compares the Bronze Age ship settings of Gotland with the vessels portrayed in rock carvings on the Scandinavian mainland. It also makes comparisons with the drawings of vessels on decorated metalwork of the same period. It considers their interpretation in relation to two approaches taken to the depictions of ships in other media. One concerns the use of boats to transport the sun, while the other emphasises the close relationship between seagoing vessels and the dead. A third possibility concerns the distinctive organisation of prehistoric communities on Gotland. It seems possible that the largest of the ship settings were equivalent to the Bronze Age cult houses found on the mainland and that they may even have represented the island itself.
The archaeological evidence of a sedentary hunter-gatherer society during the early metal ages, i.e. the first and second millennia bce, in the central Scandinavian boreal inlands has previously been overlooked. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these past societies we have combined archaeological data with landscape-scale changes based on pollen records. The combined record clearly indicates landscape use characterized by domestication strategies that started during the Late Bronze Age ca. 1000 bce and further intensified during the Early Iron Age. Indications of cultivation of plants, as well as possible burning practices to clear shrub and forest, clearly show that arable farming and grazing were practiced in the area earlier than had previously been assumed. The farming economy seems to have involved mainly small scale arable farming. Fishing and hunting continued to be important, but the investment in the landscape shown by both pitfall systems and agriculture also express a domestication that would have required settled presence.
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 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.
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