The wheeled cauldrons and the wine

Grapes appear rather early in temperate Europe: even in the cool north of Sweden, their pips occur in the Neolithic. With grapes go wine, and with wine go the artefacts of wine, amongst them the cauldron on wheels — a grand and an odd artefact type of Bronze Age Europ

Reforming habitus: Identity and the revival of the Estonian Swedish cultural heritage on a former collective farm in NW Estonia

In August 1991 Estonia became, once again, an independent nation. The subject of this thesis is an investigation of the subsequent processes of reforming habitus, or in other words the changing aspects both of everyday life and of a deeper sense of identity, in relation to the Soviet past and to the new state. More specifically, the thesis investigates the local project of restoring the Swedish cultural heritage in Estonia, in the context of the social life on a former collective farm, which, for historical reasons, was the centre of the revival. The Swedes formed Estonia's third largest minority group before the war, totalling some 8,000 people, primarily fishermen and farmers. They did not form a coherent minority until the 1920s, when interest from Sweden led to various measures to preserve the Swedish cultural heritage in Estonia, and to improve the condition of the people. During the war, the majority of the people were evacuated to Sweden, and the ones who remained rapidly became assimilated to avoid discrimination. The present revival of the culture is analysed in this thesis in the context of other aspects of Estonian identity. Throughout the thesis, the relationship between the collective farm and the larger entities of Estonia and Sweden, is central to the analysis. Following the introduction, and a discussion of place, methodology, and context, the thesis presents a historical overview, addressing the question of the cultural heritage of the Estonian Swedes, roughly from the 1870s to the Second World War. This is followed by an analysis of Soviet notions of culture, looking particularly at the objectification of ethnicity and traditional culture. The thesis then moves to the local and ethnographic, beginning with a semiotic analysis of the post-Soviet changes, followed by a chapter on the restitution of the pre-war festivities, and the abolition of the Soviet ones. Finally, two chapters deal specifically with the restoration of the Swedish cultural heritage, beginning with an analysis of the events of the revival, followed by a consideration of its economy, looking specifically at exchange, consumption, and aid. The reformations of the present, including the contemporary process of decollectivisation, is predominately a process of normative and collective change, which tends to be presented as a national movement towards 'normality'. The conclusion, therefore, focuses on the notion of the 'normal', looking at the meaning of the aspiration towards normality in the context of the post-Soviet changes

Empty spaces and the value of symbols: Estonia's 'war of monuments' from another angle

Taking as its point of departure the recent heightened discussion surrounding publicly sited monuments in Estonia, this article investigates the issue from the perspective of the country's eastern border city of Narva, focusing especially upon the restoration in 2000 of a 'Swedish Lion' monument to mark the 300th anniversary of Sweden's victory over Russia at the first Battle of Narva. This commemoration is characterised here as a successful local negotiation of a potentially divisive past, as are subsequent commemorations of the Russian conquest of Narva in 1704. A recent proposal to erect a statue of Peter the Great in the city, however, briefly threatened to open a new front in Estonia's ongoing 'war of monuments'. Through a discussion of these episodes, the article seeks to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics, nationalism and post-communist transition

Of all foods bread is the most noble: Carl von Linné (Carl Linneaus) on bread1

Carl von Linné was interested in dietetics, which in his time covered all aspects of a healthy life. As a utilitarian he understood the importance of private economy and paid attention to bread in many of his publications. Two texts, Ceres noverca arctoum and De pane diaetetico, were wholly devoted to bread and bread-making. Linné classified different types of bread, and described their nutritional value and health-related aspects, as well as milling, baking and storing, in detail. While discussing the food habits of social classes Linné accepted as a fact that the peasants and the poor should eat less tasty bread than the rich. The less palatable bread had, however, many nutritional and health advantages. Linné paid much attention to substitutes for grain to be used in times of famine, an important topic in eighteenth century Sweden. He regarded flour made of pine bark or water arum roots as excellent famine food, was enthusiastic about the new plant, maize, but considered potato only as a poor substitute for grain. Linné and his followers praised bread not only as the core component of diet, but also for its versatile role both in health and in disease

On the question of Reindeer in Scotland in postglacial times Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab

On the Question of Reindeer in Scotland in postglacial times An enigmatic reference in the Orkneyinga saga (Chapter 102) which refers to the events of the year 1159 expressly states that "the Earls (of Orkney) used to go over to Caithness every summer, hunting red deer and reindeer in the woods there". This has been taken to prove that reindeer survived in Scotland well into historical times, no matter how unlikely it seems. But is this possible? Is the statement correct? A survey by Lawson (1984) has shown that reindeer remains have been found in at least 18 different sites in Scotland: two separate sites on Rousay in the Orkneys, in brochs at Keiss and at Yarhouse in Caithness, in the Creag nan Uamh caves and in the Cill-Trolla Broch, both in Sutherland, at Tain in Ross and Cromathy, at Marlee in Fife, at Croftamie in Dumbartonshire, at Jordanhill, at Queen's Park and at Raesgill, all in Lanarkshire, at Kilmaurs and at Tarbolton in Ayrshire, at Craigton in West Lothian, at Green Craig in Mid-Lothian, at Middlestots in Berwickshire and at Shaw in Dumfriesshire. Most, if not all, of these finds are late-glacial, although some, having been found under Devensian till, must antedate that glaciation. (Kilmaur, Queen's Park, Raesgill.) The antler from Croftamie was found in blue marine clay overlain by till deposited by ice that had issued from the valley presently containing Loch Lomond, and should thus be late­glacial, and the material found in the reindeer cave on the Creag nan Uamh has been radiocarbon dated to 10080 +- 70 B.P. and 8300 +- 90 B.P. respectively. However, both the antlers found on Rousay lay in early-postglacial peat, as did those found at Shaw and at Middlestots, and the bone from Creag nan Uamh dating from 8300 B.P. is also clearly postglacial. Evidently even the youngest finds which can be dated by their geological context belong in the early postglacial period. But are there any finds of reindeer remains which might indicate that reindeer survived in Scotland until an even later period? The finds from the brochs may, or may not, date from the time of the human occupation of the brochs, at the beginning of the present millenium. Even if they date from the time when the brochs were occupied they prove nothing since they may be, and most likely are, the remains of antlers imported from Norway to serve as raw materials for the manufacture of combs. But what about the statement in the Orkneyinga Saga? We must now take the background of the Saga into account. The Orkneyinga Saga was not "written" by an Orkneyman but consists of a compilation of Orkney tales and poems, edited by an Icelander, in Icelandic, sometime around 1200 A.D. The statement that the Orkney earls "hunted red deer and reindeer in the woods of Caithness" was thus not written down in Norse but in Icelandic. It may have been a semantic mistake by either an Orkney bard or the Icelandic editor, if so almost certainly by the latter. How did it happen? The Icelandic scribe was undoubtedly more familiar with Norwegian than with any other European language. He would thus probably have used the Norwegian word for an animal which did not occur in Iceland, and for which Icelandic had no term, but which was familiar to every Norwegian, the old Norse word for reindeer, "hran". But neither are there, or were there ever, any roedeer in Iceland nor were there, at the time, any in Norway, so the scribe would almost certainly not have heard the old Norse word for this animal. When he heard the old English word for roedeer, "rah", plural "rahn", he simply understood it to refer to an animal familiar to him from Norway and from Norwegian literature, reindeer. (Ekwall, p. 82). The conclusion must be that the Orkney Earls went to Caithness to hunt red deer and "rahn", roedeer, not "hran", reindeer. NOTE There was evidently no word for "reindeer" in Old English. In Othere's account the term "wildrum" is used for "wild deer" and "tamra deora" (ack.pl.) for "tame deer", with a Norwegian word to specify which kind of deer these were: "tha deor hi hatad hranas", i.e. "these deer they call reindeer". Gad Rausing London                    &nbsp