Swedish Archaeology Research Articles

Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković, Thede Kahl, and Biljana Sikimić, eds. Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”

Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković, Thede Kahl, and Biljana Sikimić, eds. <i>Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”</i>

Journal transition to an Open Access platform

The National Library of Sweden recently launched an Open Journal Systems-based platform for Swedish Open Access journals, known as Publicera (publicera.kb.se). So far, three peer-reviewed journals from the humanities and social sciences have completed their transition onto the platform. In this episode, the editors of the journals describe the rationale behind the transition process and reflect upon the economics, workflows, technicalities and not least the long-term strategic goals of their journals in an international open science landscape. The journals are Current Swedish Archaeology (founded 1993), Kulturella Perspektiv: Svensk etnologisk tidskrift (i.e., Swedish journal of ethnology, founded 1992), and Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap (Journal of literary studies, founded 1971). The four interviewees are editors of the three journals.&#x0D; First published online: December 9, 2021.

Kossinna, the Nordische Gedanke, and Swedish Archaeology: Discourse and politics in German and Swedish archaeology 1900-1950

This article looks at the relation between Swedish and German archaeology in the first half of the 20th century. In particular, the focus is on the question why Swedish prehistorians came to accept the archaeology of Gustaf Kossinna. Thc methodological inspiration principally comes from Carlo Ginzburg and his idea of clucs. The empirical material mainly consists of books and journals. Newspapers and archives have also been used, but to a much lesser cxtent. Gustaf Kossinna was the dominant archaeologist in Germany in the early 20th ccntury. The Siedliungsarchäologie was to a large extent his creation, and he was instrumental in making a spatial tum in archaeology. Kossinna was part of the Nordische Gedanke movement. Thus, the Nordic/Germanic blood, earth, and soil were paramount to Kossinnian archaeology. It was so important that Kossinna thought only Europe, in particular the Nordic region, which to him included parts of Germany, should be subjectcd to archaeological investigations. At the tum of the 20th ccntury, Swedish archaeology was dominated by Oscar Montelius and his chronological typology. In the 1910s, however, his position was challcngcd by proponents of a more spatially oriented archaeology. Among the opponents werc two young archaeologists, Nils Åberg and Sune Lindquist, who both had participated in the archaeological seminar organiscd by Knut Stjerna. In different ways, Åberg and Lindquist used Kossinna's archaeology in thc struggle against the Montelian dominance.

Swedish Archaeology in the Twenty-First Century - The Necessity of a (self-) Critical Dialogue

In this paper it is argued that the rapid changes that have taken place within Swedish archaeology during the last decades can be discussed under the headings of structural, economical, public and theoretical changes and problems. It is also stressed that, taken together, these problems constitute a serious "crisis" in contemporary Swedish archaeology. So far, discussions seem to have focused mainly on the structural problems, while the economical, public and theoretical problems have been more or less neglected. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to il discuss the structural, economical, public and theoretical changes that have taken place in Swedish archaeology during the last decades and point to both the problems and the possibilities created by them, and ii) discuss the present structural, economical and public problems from a theoretical perspective by stressing that these problems can, at least partly, be solved within the framework of an awareness of the (self-) critical possibilities inherent in some of the theoretical reasoning of the last decades.

A Spectre is Haunting Swedish Archaeology – The Spectre of Politics: Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and the Present Political Situation in Sweden

Today Swedish archaeology and cultural heritage management are embraced by the xenophobic party Sweden Democrats. This is a problematic situation, and once again it is therefore time to discuss the rela­ tionship between archaeology, cultural heritage and politics – not as a consequence of theoretical considera­ tions and standpoints, but against the background of the harsh political reality. The overall aim of this pa­ per is to contribute to the discussion concerning which strategy, or strategies, Swedish archaeology and cul­ tural heritage management should adopt as a response to the present political situation and as a defence of a solidaristic and multicultural Swedish society.

Vessels of Change: A Long-Term Perspective on Prehistoric Pottery Use in Southern and Eastern Middle Sweden Based on Lipid Residue Analyses

The analysis of lipid residues in prehistoric pottery has quite recently become an integrated tool in Swedish archaeology. As such it is an approach that has also been adopted in large rescue archaeology projects. This paper presents an attempt to compile the results of two such projects and shows how this new knowledge has contributed to research archaeology, especially in the form of new research projects. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

Man the Interpreter - From Natural Science to Hermeneutics in Swedish Archaeology

The epistemological principles of natural science dominate the archaeological discourse. Methods and theories developed exclusively for natural science are used in archaeology without further ado. Archaeological institutions employ experts on scientific methods. University departments, scholarship foundations and other institutions spend large amounts of money on projects and education with an explicit connection to natural science. The significance and outcome of such projects are hardly ever questioned. In this article the background of the present situation is analysed. It is also argued that archaeologists should pay more attention to life. It is in the ontology of life that we as archaeologists seek a significant meaning in history, not in explanations of present conditions constructed with methods developed for natural science. It is stated that archaeologists should tum to the first science —philosophy —if our mission, which is to explore the ontological aspects of life, shall become explicit in the discourse of archaeology.

Mats P Malmer: An Intellectual Biography

The article, which is a biography of the Swedish archaeologist Mats P. Malmer, tries to identify some of the characteristics of Scandinavian archaeology. In particular, Malmer's discussion ofthe concept oftypology is of great importance for this tradition. Another intention ofthe article is to supplement the historiographic discussions in Swedish archaeology. In these discussions there is a significant need to investigate the ways in which we have come to think as archaeologists

Archaeological University Education and Professional Archaeology in Sweden

During the 19th century very few persons in Sweden recieved a doctoral degree in archaeology. Most of them found prestigious top-positions. Today there are about 100 persons with Ph. D.'s working in Swedish archaeology in positions from the top to the bottom of the professional hierarchy. Each year 150-200 students finish their basic education in archaeology. Most of them will never find a permanent full-time job as an archaeologist. The future of Swedish archaeology will very much depend on the ambitions of the general public, including tens of thousands of persons with a formal university education in archaeology but no job within the profession.

Swedish Archaeology in Perspective and the Possibility of Reflexivity

In exploring the possibilities of reflexivity in the Cultural Resource Management archaeology in Sweden, a comparison is made between the excavation at Çatalhöyük in Turkey and an excavation at Burlöv in Malmö, Sweden. The former, a large-scale research project that aims at implementing post-processual ideas, differs in many ways from the latter, which is part of a large-scale rescue project, Öresundsförbindelsen. There are also similarities, and in different ways reflexivity seems to be achieved in both cases.

Compressed Air Technology in Swedish Archaeology: An Example of the Social Construction of Technology in Practice

In this paper the authors problematize the relation between technological and social aspects of archaeological fieldwork through a historical case study of the introduction and use of compressed air technology in archaeology. They do this by incorporating aspects of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor Network Theory (ANT) into the history of archaeology. Apart from archive material, fieldwork reports and interviews with colleagues have been the primary sources. The study shows how technology is negotiated and renegotiated, and how the technical and the social form each other. Finally, the authors draw attention to issues of technological development in the present.

Fulfilling the Promise. . . An Essay on Swedish Archaeology and Archaeology in Sweden

This paper presents a vision of archaeology in Sweden intended to transcend traditional Nordic and Euroamerican perspectives and build on the potentials of Swedish diversity and geography. Sweden is viewed as the northwestern corner of Eurasia and a meeting ground of longterm European and circumpolar cultural and environmental forces. As a player in world archaeology, Sweden can make major contributions to the growth of new theoretical and methodological perspectives incorporating western and non-western lindigenous) ways of knowing. The subject of archaeology is undergoing post-national reformation and must redefine its institutions, better assert its public roles and clarify its message to achieve its full promise.

Creolised Swedish Archaeology

This is on one level a story of a meeting between Swedish archaeologists, Laotian archaeologists and villagers in the Ban Nabong village in central Laos. It is also about the structurcs of Swedish archaeology, as revealed in this meeting with alternative views of the past and its material remains. Two central concepts: eaolisatinn and crenlisnrion, are derived from the so-called post-colonial theory to serve as models for describing different attitudes to 'the other' that we meet in any archaeological research. It is argued that a creolised archaeology is worth striving for, becausc it has the active meeting as a central principle. It produces a multitude ol' localised knowledges that enrich cach other, and is built upon a constant open-ended discussion which prevents us from coming to solutions with the problems of the archaeological praxis.

On Giants in Swedish Archaeology

Before the development of archaeology there were speculations that prehistory had been populated by giants. Giants are often seen in opposition to a scientific worldview and basic archaeological concepts. It has been emphasised that during the early 19th century there was a break between old beliefs and scientific archaeology. The author wants to show that the belief in giants in prehistory was essentially already gone. It was revived around rgoo by an intensified interest in prehistory. It was central in formulating basic archaeological notions, such as the existence of a Stone Age. The belief in giants and the historicity of folk tales were part of romantic philosophy. The romantic roots of archaeology have been denied but are central for archaeological thinking.

Comment on “A Spectre Is Haunting Swedish Archaeology” From A Danish Point Of View

Comment on “A Spectre Is Haunting Swedish Archaeology” From A Danish Point Of View

Comments on Quality from the Ivory Tower

Andersson, Lagerlof and Skyllberg raise several important questions concerning the issue of quality in development-led archaeology. Their analysis of the system is precise and thought provoking. From a Norwegian point of view, however, one has to notice a blind spot in their argumentation. This area of debate was originally of great importance to Swedish archaeology and is still in prime focus in the Norwegian management of cultural heritage. The authors point out that in Scandinavia there now exist two different systems of doing developmentled archaeology, that is, inside a state monopoly and as part of a competitive system. The main trend in public life in Scandinavia has been to break down the state monopolies and replace them by different systems of private or semi-private competition. One might ask why development-led archaeology in countries such as Norway has not been reorganised in a similar manner, as the idea of such a reform has regularly been suggested by several politicians and bureaucrats. I think the main reason for the Norwegian hesitance has been a continuous regeneration of the intellectual fundament of development-led archaeology. Development-led archaeology is primarily done in order to secure source material and documentation of past societies for research, when development plans are threatening the heritage. The importance of using this knowledge in public life is still sub-ordered such an ambition. There are two interrelated consequences of this stand. Firstly, in this system the developer is not expected or obliged to pay for any research or public appropriation of the past. The developer only pays for securing the source material for storage and future research. Secondly, this

Introduction: Human-Animal Relationships From a Long-Term Perspective

Humans, like other animals, are inextricably bound to their local complex web-of-life and cannot exist outside of relationally interwoven ecosystems. Humans are, as such, rooted in a multispecies universe. Human and non-human animals in their variety of forms and abilities have been commensal, companions, prey, and hunters, and archaeology must take this fundamental fact – the cohabiting of the world – to heart. Human societies are, there-fore, not so much human as web-of-species societies. Recently, anthropological theory has explored non-modern societies from the perspective of an anthropology of life which incorporates relationality of local humans and non-human animals, a pursuit that is significant for the diverse contributions in this special section of Current Swedish Archaeology: a themed section which deals with past multispecies intra-actions in a long-term perspective.

Awkwardness of becoming a boundary object: Mangle and materialities of reports, documentation data, and the archaeological work

ABSTRACTInformation about an archaeological investigation is documented in an archaeological report, which makes it the boundary object par excellence for archaeological information work across stakeholder communities such as field archaeologists, heritage managers, and land developers. The quality of reports has been a subject of debate, and recently it has been argued that more emphasis should be placed on making primary research data at least similarly available. This study explores the changing materialities and reciprocal formation of documents and their users with the advent of digitization, and how documents form and lose their status as boundary objects in these processes. The study posits that in order to be functional, a boundary object needs to provide a disclosure that makes it accessible to cognate communities. Further, it shows how assumptions about the functioning of the human and nonhuman (material artifacts) influence the ways in which archaeologists conceptualize the preservation and archiving of archaeological information and the role and potential of different types of digital and paper-based documents. This article is based on an interview study of Swedish archaeology professionals (N = 16) with theoretical underpinnings in the notions of boundary objects, mangle of practice, and disclosure.

Research outside academia? – An analysis of resources in extra‐academic report writing

ABSTRACTA significant part of all research takes place in extra‐academic organizations. Practitioner researchers often present their results in publications different from those in academia, e.g. in reports, sometimes (and here) referred to as “gray literature”. Gray literature is increasingly available online. However, availability does not mean that reports are exploited to their full potential in research. Disciplines like archaeology have substantial problems with the scholarly communication and knowledge sharing between extra‐academic and academic research. This paper approaches this problem from a report‐user perspective. For the benefit of potential report users' gray literature literacies, report‐writing practices are analyzed by means of practice theory. Qualitative interviews with six practitioner researchers in Swedish archaeology firms make up the material. The analysis focuses on how report writers draw on regulative, institutional, and infrastructural resources in their practices. Based on the findings about the practices in which reports are written and become informative, the paper presents seven suggestions supporting report users' potential to critically analyze and use report content. The results contribute to the information science field with insights into extra‐academic information practices, and as input in a wider critical discussion of the information‐related conditions for research outside academia.

Information Policies for (Digital) Information in Archaeology: current state and suggestions for development

The introduction of digital data capturing and management technologies has transformed information practices in archaeology. Digital documentation and digital infrastructures are integrated in archaeologists' daily work now more than ever. International and national institutions and projects have contributed to the development of digital archiving and curation practices. Because knowledge production in archaeology depends heavily on documentation and information dissemination, and on retrieval of past documentation, the question of how information is managed is profoundly intertwined with the possibilities for knowledge production. Regulations at different levels articulate demands and expectations from the emerging digital information practices, but how are these different regulations coordinated, and do they support archaeological knowledge production?In this article we look into the state of information policy - the sum of principles guiding decisions about information - in archaeology and related areas. The aim of the article is to shed light on how information policy directs practice in archaeology, and to show that analysis of such policies is therefore vital. Information policy in legislation and guidelines in Swedish archaeology serves as a case study, and examples from development-led archaeology and the museum sector illustrate how information policies have varied roles across different heritage sectors. There are historical and local trajectories in the policy documents specific to Sweden, but the discussion shows that the emergence of Swedish policies have many parallels with processes in other countries. The article provides recommendations for information policy development for archaeology and related areas.