Time, Seasonality, and Trade: Swedish/Finnish-Sámi Interactions in Early Modern Lapland

Recent theoretical debates have identified time as a key area for research by historical archaeologists. In this paper we present evidence from Tornio, in northern Finland, and suggest that the early-17th-century colonists who founded this town developed a multidimensional conception of time that varied according to context and allowed deeply held folk beliefs to coexist alongside Lutheran doctrines and also facilitated seasonal trade with the indigenous Sámi people in the upper reaches of Lapland

Ambiguous pots:Everyday practice, migration and materiality.The case of medieval Baltic ware on the island of Bornholm (Denmark)

Archaeologists routinely deal with the remains of everyday life. Yet the significance and dimensions of daily practices are rarely reflected upon. Merging Bourdieu’s theory of practice, recent theories of everyday life and the materiality approach in archaeology, this study addresses the potential importance of daily practices and mundane objects in dealing with a rupture caused by migration. As a case study I use an example of medieval (eleventh century) Western Slavic migration to the island of Bornholm (Denmark) and production and daily handling of ceramic pots, the so-called Baltic ware. I explore the possible background to the introduction of the new pottery style, its significance for the local population of the island and above all the meanings these types of ceramics could have had for the immigrant Slavs