Karet/kroppen/identiteten

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Historical Ecology and State Formation in the Shashi-Limpopo Region of Southern Africa: a Cross-Disciplinary Approach, 2017

The project aimed to enhance knowledge of Mapela Hill in the Shashi-Limpopo river confluence region of southern Africa, and its role in the rise of socio-political complexity and state formation in the period from the turn to the second millennium AD until AD 1900. The primary objective was to understand the ecological, environmental, culture-historical and technological transformations occasioned by the increased complexity in the region in a longterm perspective, up to the present day. Data was collected through archaeological excavations, interviews, observations of activities in workspaces, and visits to clay sources. For further information about ”Historical Ecology and State Formation in the Shashi-Limpopo Region of Southern Africa: a Cross-Disciplinary Approach, 2017”, please contact the principal investigator

Two graves - three metaphores. Changing gender identities in the Migraton Period illustrated by graves from Hardanger, western Norway

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Making in turbulent times : new insights into late 18th-and early 19th-century ceramic crafts and connectivity in the Magaliesberg region

Among Simon Hall’s influential contributions to historical archaeology are two research agendas: the need to focus attention on lower scalar levels of analysis, and broadening the concept of ceramic style to include less visible technological qualities. The latter is of particular importance to the stylistically bland and less decorated assemblages from the 18th and 19th centuries. Combining and developing the two agendas further, this article presents a new set of analyses of ceramic material from the stonewalled sites Marothodi and Lebenya in the Magaliesberg region, dating to the decades leading up to the difaqane in the 1820s. We explore households as flexible spaces for making, creativity and memory-work in turbulent times. The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw an accelerated development of pyrotechnologies such as metalworking and ceramics. This happened in tandem with significant changes to the built environment and spatial organisation of the household, which was the primary arena for craft learning. Frequent relocation and alteration of learning spaces put transmission and teacher–apprentice ties under serious strain. Seeking to trace connections across a complex and layered political landscape, we tentatively hypothesise that ceramic craftspeople became relatively less reliant on locally anchored insights and placed more emphasis on sharing knowledge and materials within extended craft-learning networks. The study includes a comparison of the results of petrographic and geochemical laboratory analyses with those from a handheld XRF device. Offering instant feedback while still in the field, such mobile tools can help in developing sampling strategies that also include a higher percentage of undecorated ceramic material.http://www.sahumanities.org/ojs/index.php/SAH2025-03-01hj2024Anthropology and ArchaeologyNon

When The Past is slipping. Value tensions and responses by heritage management to demographic changes: a case study from Oslo, Norway

Despite vibrant paradigmatic shifts in archaeological thought, Norwegian heritage legislation remains unchanged since the 1970s and is anchored in a traditional identity ideology assuming continuous links between contemporary populations and ancient societies. In the context of current and expected major demographic changes as a result of global migration, policy-makers and developers of alternative frameworks face the challenge of epistemic standstill and recycling of ideas. This article examines and seeks insights into causes for the current status, focusing on tensions between paradigms of value and between various levels of heritage management in and around Oslo, one of the fastest growing urban areas in Europe. Combining the discourse theoretical concept of nodal points with the method of qualitative coding analysis, we study responses by heritage management to perceived challenges of globalisation and demographic changes in all available official white papers produced after the year 2000. By reflecting on present narratives, our discussion relates to struggles over defining ‘Norwegianness’ and criticism of such notions. The identification of four levels of tension allows us to centre attention on key issues of importance to the societal aim of including and engaging an increasingly heterogeneous population, and to argue for a bottom-up and recursive approach. The final version of this research has been published in International Journal of Heritage Studies. © 2017 Taylor & Franci

What Happened at Augland? A Social Chronology for the Demise of a Roman Iron Age Ceramic Workshop in South Norway

The unique ceramic production site at Augland in southernmost Norway thrived for more than 250 years until its demise in the troubled Migration Period. Contrary to previous opinions, we argue that production ended around AD 450–460 and not in the sixth century. Our approach, based on the craft practices, reveals that the introduction of a novel technology accelerated the process, fuelled by a regional power shift that severed once‐resilient ties to south Scandinavia. This outcome is based on the analysis of Augland’s terminal century: 1) re‐analysis of radiocarbon data; 2) ceramic macroscopy; and 3) fine‐sorting of pastes using handheld XRF data