In what way can an artisanal perspective and artisanal knowledge contribute to current archaeology? How can theories about skill and expertise explain and affect research on artisanal issues? These are the questions that are in focus and have been explored in the four collected papers and in the concluding article in this thesis. The author proposes an artisanal perspective from an interdisciplina

Källa on Öland is used as a point of departure in a discussion of the so-called defensive churches or multi-functional churches at the Baltic Sea. The categorization of medieval society into four separate spheres, the church, the castle, the town and the countryside, is criticised as having created a heterogenous group of deviant churches. The deviant churches have been interpreted in three compet

Pseudo archaeology and sacred topography: Is it possible and desirable to separate between science and pseudo science, between archaeology and pseudo archaeology? And should archaeologists igonore, understand or criticise pseudo archaeology? My experiences from the study of four traditions within the field of “sacred topographies” show, that it is rather difficult or even impossible to separate ar

The Middle Ages without mystery: A critical reply on Erling Haagensens answer to my review of his books.

Gentrification is a current and often debated concept that concerns social changes in our cities. The concept relates to a development whereby areas earlier inhabited by less wealthy social groups are taken over by middle and upper middle-class residents. In the discussions of these changes, two perspectives have dominated. Representatives for the consumer perspective argue that gentrification occ

Canon and oblivion. The memorials of archaeology The Sun-Chariot from Trundholm is world famous, and the finding place is marked with a monument. In the same way the finding places for The golden horns from Gallehus, the Egtved girl, the Dejbjerg chariots, the Gundestrup cauldron, the Nydam boat and many other finds have been remembered during the 20th Century with memorials, often a stone monum

Memorials wanted: A call for information on memorials in Denmark, where archaeological finds have been discovered.

Review of Andersson, Hans et al (eds) "De første 200 årene – nytt blik på 27 skandinaviske middelalderbyer" (Bergen 2008)

Review of Engberg, Nils et al (eds) "Archaeology of Medieval Towns in the Baltic and North Sea Area" (Copenhagen 2009)

The paper examines three late nineteenth–early twentieth century Pacific Northwest coast objects—a Nuu-chah-nulth kuxmin (bird rattle), a Haida sGaaga (medicine man) figure, and a Kwakwaka’wakw or Wuikinuxv wooden model of a totem pole—from the collections of the Ehlers museum in Haderslev, Denmark. Drawing on multiple sources and epistemologies and structuring the study as a weaving of different

When survivors from the Ravensbrück concentration camp arrived in Sweden in spring 1945, some of the objects they brought with them from the camp were collected and preserved. These are modest in appearance, but were – as oral testimonies show – invaluable in camp. The concentration camp context of obliteration stretches the limits of interpretation of material culture to its extreme. In this arti