META – Historiskarkeologisk tidskrift

Redaktionellt

Jonas Monié Nordin, Linda Qviström — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Ett nytt välmatat nummer av META är här! Vi började redigera detta i en tid av vad vi upplevde som fred. Genom åren har de politiska gränserna spelat mindre och mindre roll och den historiska arkeologin har i takt med detta expanderat och överskridit fler och fler gränser. Rysslands anfall mot Ukraina har ändrat detta. Attacken kan ses som ett veritabelt kulturarvskrig vid sidan om krigets övriga vansinne. Våra kollegor i Ukraina kämpar dagligen med att säkra museisamlingar och skydda fornlämningar och kulturarv. I den internationella solidaritetsrörelsen ingår den historiska arkeologin. Svenska arkeologers mångåriga samarbete med ukrainska kollegor vittnar om detta.

Tid, arkeologi och konst

Bodil Petersson, Jes Wienberg — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Time, Archaeology and Art – the Pillar of Culture in Lund. The article is an investigation into how archaeologists and artists may relate to time departing from the so-called “Pillar of Culture” at The Cultural Museum in Lund. The pillar is a six meter high stratigraphical section from an excavation in Lund 1913. It was exhibited in 1932 in a context of artifacts from the actual excavation. The pillar was relocated to the Medieval Hall in 1959, where the section was supplemented with a series of pottery and a wooden sculpture by the artist Torsten Treutiger. The pillar was moved again later in time and became a part of the Metropolis exhibition that opened in 1999.

Stratigraphic thinking and methodological practice are followed from the 17th century to the present. An excavated section of a “kitchen midden” exhibited at the National Museum of Copenhagen is identified as a possible model. The pillar is analyzed as a visualization of the history of Lund based on different types of sources, which are combined – soil, artifacts, written documents and monuments. From the beginning the pillar was supposed to represent 10.000 years, later a period of only 658 years, the “long Danish Middle Ages”.

Birkas svarta jord 1969–2021

Björn Ambrosiani — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Birkas black earth 1969–2021 - the development of a stratigraphic method. Birka’s role is a main reference point in discussions on land upheaval chronology, which is important in understanding prehistoric settlement in Scandinavia. Birka was also the central point of a wide-reaching hinterland throughout the Lake Mälaren region on the eastern coast of central Sweden. This was apparent at the restart of investigations into the settlement history of this area during the 1960s, and it was easy to incorporate in the post-war research into the history of West European towns. The complexity of the cultural layers of this settlement together with numerous small finds was a challenge already from the beginning of the Black Earth investigations in 1969–1971. It quickly became evident that new, more effective and rational excavation techniques and methods of documentation were needed. These were further developed at the beginning of the project, Excavations in the Black Earth 1990–1995, which was generously financed by Tetra Pak AB along with several companies and foundations. A concise account of how these problems were solved is described in this paper. The stratigraphic analysis of this extensive material is especially interesting. Thanks to these techniques and methods of documentation, it has been possible to construct a new relative chronology based on short intervals of only 5–10 years for the greater part of the Viking Age, although dendrochronological material is not preserved in these dry cultural layers.

Medeltidsstaden Örebro

Tomas Ekman — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The medieval city of Örebro – 42 years and 104 interventions later. The project "The Medieval Town" intended to compile available information about all Swedish medieval towns. The perspective was consequently archaeological, but the project had an interdisciplinary methodology. Volume no 9 about Örebro came in 1978. The town was probably founded in the 13th century, but the chronology is unclear in the early years. It grew up around a defense facility at a ford over the river Svartån. During the rest of the Middle Ages, the castle and the city were often at the front line in battles between warring factions. Therefore, in 2020 the new compilation and analysis was made. Some of the results and conclusions are presented in this article:

• The older city maps also give a good picture of the distribution of the medieval settlement.
The city is located on a narrow ridge and it is only in modern times that the city
expands outside the ridge.
• The ridge has been “improved” already during the Middle Ages with large fills and the
city's topography is mainly created by its inhabitants.
• In watching briefs, excavations rarely continue to the natural subsoil, meaning that
earlier remains may still be present in areas recorded as have been documented.
• Few traces of extensive fires have been found despite at least four city fires and at least
seven sieges. Part of the explanation may be the fills and remaking of the topography.

Kort om Sigtunafynden av medeltida klädesplomber

Rune Edberg — Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Medieval Cloth Seals from Sigtuna. A brief account of ten medieval cloth seals from the town of Sigtuna, Sweden. Seven seals are from excavations in 1996 and 1999–2000. Three are older finds. The origins of two can be confirmed as Poperinge and Tournai, both towns in the historical Flandres region well-known for producing and exporting cloth from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The other seals could not be firmly identified but are discussed with regards to imagery and alternative provenances. Stratigraphical dating of the find context, where possible, is from the late 13th to 15th centuries. The seals are testimony of trade and import of high quality textiles. However, judging from these finds only, little can be said about possible quantities.

Recensioner

Thomas Wallerström, Charlotta Hillerdal, Eva Svensson — Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Jonas Monié Nordin: Mellan medeltid och modernitet. En introduktion till historisk arkeologi från högmedeltiden till idag. Lund: Studentlitteratur (2021). 378 s.

Jes Wienberg: Heriotopia. World Heritage and Modernity. Lund/Manchester: Lund University Press/ Manchester University Press (2021). 323 sidor, 8 figurer.

Tuuli Heinonen: The Social and Material World of Medieval and Early Modern (c.1200–1650) Villages in Southern Finland. Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae, 28. Helsinki: University of Helsinki (2021). 250 p.