Vitrified hillforts as anthropogenic analogues for nuclear waste glasses : project planning and initiation

Nuclear waste must be deposited in such a manner that it does not cause significant impact on theenvironment or human health. In some cases, the integrity of the repositories will need to sustain fortens to hundreds of thousands of years. In order to ensure such containment, nuclear waste is frequentlyconverted into a very durable glass. It is fundamentally difficult, however, to assure the validity ofsuch containment based on short-term tests alone. To date, some anthropogenic and natural volcanicglasses have been investigated for this purpose. However, glasses produced by ancient cultures for thepurpose of joining rocks in stonewalls have not yet been utilised in spite of the fact that they might offersignificant insight into the long-term durability of glasses in natural environments. Therefore, a projectis being initiated with the scope of obtaining samples and characterising their environment, as well asto investigate them using a suite of advanced materials characterisation techniques. It will be analysedhow the hillfort glasses may have been prepared, and to what extent they have altered under in-situconditions. The ultimate goals are to obtain a better understanding of the alteration behaviour of nuclearwaste glasses and its compositional dependence, and thus to improve and validate models for nuclearwaste glass corrosion. The paper deals with project planning and initiation, and also presents some earlyfindings on fusion of amphibolite and on the process for joining the granite stones in the hillfort walls.Keywords: ageing, amphibolite, analogue, anthropogenic, Broborg, glass, hillfort, hill-fort, leaching,long-lived, nuclear, rampart, waste.Konferensartikel i tidskrift</p

A Scandinavian Relief Brooch: Artistic Vision and Practical Method Combined

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Medieval Archaeology on December 20, 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00766097.2018.1535384.THIS PAPER considers the craftspeople that created ornamental metalwork, the contexts in which they operated, and the communication they had with their contemporaries. The study focuses on the Dalem brooch, a 6th-century Scandinavian relief brooch from Norway. By examining an object which expresses a complex symbolic language through intricate and demanding crafting processes, we emphasise the importance of considering both ornamentation and technology when studying these exquisite dress items. The brooch was manufactured from a variety of materials and decorated in Salin Style 1. This ornamentation, with its religious, political and social connotations, was completely integrated into the object from its conception. A combination of new and old designs indicates that the craftspeople purposefully created and transformed motifs for use on the brooch, operating within a creative, cross-disciplinary and intellectual centre of expertise.acceptedVersio

The vitrified wall of Broborg hillfort in Uppland, Sweden – Response to the comments by Mr. Anders Bornfalk Back

The authors thank Mr. Anders Bornfalk Back for reading Sjöblom et al. (2022) and for presenting his comments. We also thank the Editor for granting the authors the opportunity to respond. We have chosen to limit our comments to some of what is said in the sources quoted, including Sjöblom et al. (2022)Godkänd;2023;Nivå 0;2023-05-02 (hanlid);</p

Micro- and Nanoscale Surface Analysis of Late Iron Age Glass from Broborg, a Vitrified Swedish Hillfort

Archaeological glasses with prolonged exposure to biogeochemical processes in the environment can be used to understand glass alteration, which is important for the safe disposal of vitrified nuclear waste. Samples of mafic and felsic glasses with different chemistries, formed from melting amphibolitic and granitoid rocks, were obtained from Broborg, a Swedish Iron Age hillfort. Glasses were excavated from the top of the hillfort wall and from the wall interior. A detailed microscopic, spectroscopic, and diffraction study of surficial textures and chemistries were conducted on these glasses. Felsic glass chemistry was uniform, with a smooth surface showing limited chemical alteration (&lt;150 nm), irrespective of the position in the wall. Mafic glass was heterogeneous, with pyroxene, spinel, feldspar, and quartz crystals in the glassy matrix. Mafic glass surfaces in contact with topsoil were rougher than those within the wall and had carbon-rich material consistent with microbial colonization. Limited evidence for chemical or physical alteration of mafic glass was found; the thin melt film that coated all exposed surfaces remained intact, despite exposure to hydraulically unsaturated conditions, topsoil, and associated microbiome for over 1,500 years. This supports the assumption that aluminosilicate nuclear waste glasses will have a high chemical durability in near-surface disposal facilities.</p