This paper is about the recent discussions (known as Denkmalpflegediskussion) on the general organization of heritage management in Germany. The main issue discussed was whether heritage management should be further denationalized (’entstaatlicht’) and made the responsibility of individual citizens in order to serve better both the monuments and the people. A number of fundamental criticisms were

The thesis identifies, via runic inscriptions and historical sources from the period, the first occurrences of personal identity and certificates in Scandinavia. Biometrical sources and cognitive, spatial, and chronological identity candidate groups as well as identity in ownership and artifacts are studied during Scandinavian Iron Age, from the Roman Iron Age (AD 1-375) to the Viking Age (AD 793-

Efforts of conservation create a conflict between the archaeological community and tourism industry. The following paper will discuss the tourism industry and the conflict between tourism goals and the conservation of archaeological material. The focus will be on open air museums and exploring the proposal that these open air museums are a valuable resource for archaeology to pursue alternative, i

New data shows that there is genetic continuity between the Scandinavian Mesolithic Ertebølle culture and the Scandinavian Neolithic Pitted Ware culture. To examine whether it is possible to demonstrate the continuity in other aspects than the genetic, this paper examines graves from three Mesolithic grave fields (Skateholm I & II and Vedbæk) and two Neolithic grave fields (Ajvide and Västerbj

The aim of this essay is to compare Migration Period chamber tombs from Central and Western Europe with Migration Period chamber tombs from Sweden, with a specific focus on the constructions, grave goods and traceable rituals in each respective geographical area’s tombs. This comparative study also features three examples of Swedish chamber tombs, located in Högom, Lilla Jored and Lilla Sylta, whi

When the Vikings settled the British Isles between the 8th and 11th centuries, they left behind numerous stone monuments in their wake. These monuments, many of which are stone crosses, utilize a combination of Christian and pagan imagery, and are found heavily in Christian contexts. This thesis sought to analyze this imagery and their contexts in order to determine how they reflected the colonial

The Viking Age saw the colonisation of most of the isles of Scotland by settlers from Norway. These newcomers brought their own customs, practices and perceptions to the Isles, maintaining close links with the Scandinavian world. However, these islands had already experienced millennia of anthropogenic change by the time of Norse settlement, and generations of previous inhabitants had populated th

The shift to agriculture as the main form of subsistence practice allowed past peoples the freedom and potential to exploit their natural and man-made environment for personal and societal gain. Decades of archaeological excavations conducted on the Swedish island of Öland have amassed a wealth of information regarding the subsistence and settlement patterns of Iron Age societies. This thesis aims

This text serves as a fresh approach to the study of Roman influence on the Scandinavian region. This is achieved through the medium of various bronze statuettes, both from the Roman Empire itself as well as in the form of locally-produced anthropomorphic figures. The study concentrates on four specific regions of Europe; Italy, southern Britain, Denmark, and southern Sweden. All of these areas ma

In archaeology, we face a unique situation where our primary research method is destructive; excavation as a recording method can only be conducted once. But with the introduction of modern 3D recording methods, much of the process of excavation can be saved and reused. But at the same time, we must overcome the difficulties of examining sites where the data recorded has been accumulated over vast

Rock art is the closest we have to a written language from the Bronze age. The different motifs make us wonder what stories they tell us, what they are representing and why they were even made in the first place. The focus of this thesis is on the placement of rock art motifs on the panel and by using digital techniques like photogrammetry and GIS, the spatial relation between different motifs is

This thesis aims to explore how specific digital field recording methods impact archaeological interpretation based on the case studies presented. Individual find recording, a more specialized digital point proveniencing system, was used in both case studies. The original excavation interpretations are compared against new interpretations based on the reconstructed excavation unit style recording

Archaeobotany and GIS are closely linked with archaeology, it is hard to imagine a modern archaeological investigation without them. The two appear to complement each other. GIS links highly complex sets of data with space, and offers a range of analytical tools. Archaeobotanists look for patterns in data over time and space to interpret human behaviour. Yet GIS is underused in archaeobotany. Ther

The Staffordshire hoard was found on 5 July 2009 outside Lichfield, close to Hammerwich. It is one of the biggest hoards that has been found in England. It consists of more than 3000 pieces and has been dated to the Anglo-Saxon period. This bachelor’s thesis in Archaeology examines some of the items in the Staffordshire hoard: two sword pommels, two pyramid- shaped sword fittings, two crosses and