Negotiating normativities: ‘Odin from Lejre’ as challenger of hegemonic orders

This article focuses on some bodily features of the figurine called ‘Odin from Lejre’. Some corporal characteristics convey an ambivalent touch to the interpretation of the miniature. So, for example, shows the clothing close resemblance to the late Iron Age female dress. This, combined with facial attributes that have been interpreted as a moustache, can be seen as a negotiation of the contemporary hetero-normative gender order. Moreover, the eyes of the figure demonstrate certain irregularities, maybe signifying differences in the visual capacities of the eyes. This corporal exceptionality in relation to (today’s) notions of body-normativity may imply that the Viking Age abled body sometimes was extended to include reduced visual capacity. The processing of both gender-normativity and body-normativity in one and the same precious item, may imply that the high-ranked setting of Lejre included performative practices that were negotiating both heteronormative and body-normative hegemonic orders

The thing about replicas - why historic replicas matter

Reproduction of archaeological material was a significant and serious enterprise for antiquarians and museums in the long nineteenth century. Embedding many stories and embodying considerable past human energy, behind their creation, circulation, use and after-life lies a series of specific social networks and relationships that determined why, when and in what circumstances they were valued, or not. Summarising the context of their production, circulation and changing fortunes, this paper introduces the ways in which they are important and the specific benefits and aspects of a biographical approach to their study. Beyond the evidential, the study of existing replicas provides a historical and contemporary laboratory in which to explore the concepts of value and authenticity, and their application in cultural heritage and collections management, offering us a richer insight into the history of ourselves as archaeologists and curators

Viking Mortuary Citations

Introducing the European Journal of Archaeology’s special issue ‘Mortuary Citations: Death and Memory in the Viking World’, this article outlines the justification and theoretical framework underpinning a new set of studies on Viking-age mortuary and commemorative practice as strategies of mortuary citation. The contributions to the collection are reviewed in relation to strengths and weaknesses in existing research and broader themes in mortuary archaeological research into memory work in past societies

Introduction to “Binary Binds”: Deconstructing Sex and Gender Dichotomies in Archaeological Practice

YesGender archaeology has made significant strides toward deconstructing the hegemony of binary categorizations. Challenging dichotomies such as man/woman, sex/gender, and biology/culture, approaches informed by poststructuralist, feminist, and queer theories have moved beyond essentialist and universalist identity constructs to more nuanced configurations. Despite the theoretical emphasis on context, multiplicity, and fluidity, binary starting points continue to streamline the spectrum of variability that is recognized, often reproducing normative assumptions in the evidence. The contributors to this special issue confront how sex, gender, and sexuality categories condition analytical visibility, aiming to develop approaches that respond to the complexity of theory in archaeological practice. The papers push the ontological and epistemological boundaries of bodies, personhood, and archaeological possibility, challenging a priori assumptions that contain how sex, gender, and sexuality categories are constituted and related to each other. Foregrounding intersectional approaches that engage with ambiguity, variability, and difference, this special issue seeks to “de-contain” categories, assumptions, and practices from “binding” our analytical gaze toward only certain kinds of persons and knowledges, in interpretations of the past and practices in the present

Hur valet av bruk påverkar sprickbildningen i tegelmurverk

Uppsats för avläggande av högskoleexamen i Kulturvård, Bygghantverk, 7,5 hp, 201

Richard Pettersson, Den svenska kulturmiljövårdens värdegrunder. En idéhistorisk bakgrund och analys. Skrifter från Forskningsprogrammet Landskapet Som Arena

Kulturpolitiken och dess genomförande har på senare år tilldragit sig intresse från många olika discipliner, var och en med sina speciella perspektiv. Richard Pettersson har byggt vidare på erfarenheterna från doktorsavhandlingen från 2001, som förde diskussionen fram till ca 1950. Nu förs analysen till nutid. Målet är att förstå kulturmiljövården och dess argument och dess samhällsfunktion, utifrån en idéhistorisk position. Fokuseringen är lagd på hur stat och antikvariska myndigheter sammantaget utgår från en grund, som kan rekonstrueras och struktureras som tankegods som förändras över tid. Här sker - i de officiella texterna - en förskjutning, från mer inomvetenskapliga och därmed begränsade hävdanden av en kulturminnesvård till en mera öppen och ett av medborgarna förment hävdat krav på en tydligare kulturmiljövård, samtidsorienterad och nära både som upplevelse och historia. Centralt härvid är termen, eller som många hävdar, "begreppet" kulturarv.

Oscar Montelius och kvinnans frigörelse

Oscar Montelius, förgrundsgestalten i svensk arkeologi och den typologiska metodens fader, var på sin tid djupt engagerad i arbetet för kvinnans frigörelse. Han var en flitig skribent som ville ge läsarna »en riktigare bild» av kvinnans emancipation