Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:39:23.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Approaches and Methods for Commissioned Archaeology in Wetlands: Experience from the E4 Project in Skåne, Southern Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Per Lagerås*
Affiliation:
National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet), Lund, Sweden
*

Abstract

In this article I discuss problems and possibilities connected with commissioned archaeology in wetlands. The cultural heritage of wetlands is threatened by large-scale infrastructure projects, and there is a need within commissioned archaeology to develop approaches and techniques for systematic surveying in wetlands. With examples from an on-going project in southern Sweden, different surveying techniques are presented together with some results and interpretations. Attempts to grasp the complexity of the wetlands right from the beginning of the project proved to be fruitful, in that the palaeoenvironmental interpretations were decisive for the selection of sites for trial excavations. Interpretation of peatland expansion through time was important for the reading of the landscape and the search for settlement sites. Some techniques for trial excavations in waterlogged peat are also presented.

Résumé

Résumé

Dans ce papier, je discute des problèmes et des possibilités liés à l'archéologie commanditée dans les régions humides. L'héritage culturel des zones humides est menacé par des projets de grande envergure et il y a, au sein de l'archéologie commanditée, un besoin de développer des approches et des techniques pour faire le levé systématique de ces zones. A l'aide d'exemples provenant d'un projet actuellement en cours en Suède méridionale, différentes techniques d'inspection sont présentées ensemble avec un certain nombre de résultats et d'interprétations. Des efforts pour saisir la complexité des zones humides dès le début d'un projet ont prouvé être utiles, dans la mesure où les interprétations paléoenvironnementales sont décisives pour la sélection des sites des fouilles d'essai. L'interprétation de l'expansion des tourbes au fil du temps est importante pour la compréhension du paysage et pour la recherche des implantations humaines. De plus sont présentés quelques techniques à utiliser lors des fouilles d'essai dans de la tourbe imprégnée d'eau.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

In diesem Aufsatz werden Probleme und Möglichkeiten diskutiert, die mit Auftragsarchäologie in Feuchtgebieten verbunden sind. Das kulturelle Erbe von Feuchtgebieten wird durch großflächige Infrastrukturprojekte bedroht; und es besteht innerhalb der Auftragsarchäologie die Notwendigkeit, Ansätze und Techniken für die systematische Aufnahme von Feuchtgebieten zu entwickeln. Anhand von Beispielen eines laufenden Projektes in Südschweden werden verschiedenen Survey-Techniken gemeinsam mit einigen Ergebnissen und Interpretationen vorgestellt. Versuche, die Komplexität der Feuchtgebiete von Anfang des Projektes an zu erfassen, stellten sich als dahingehend fruchtbar heraus, dass die Interpretationen der Paläo-Umwelt ausschlaggebend für die Auswahl der Plätze für Sondagegrabungen waren. Interpretationen der Ausdehnung vertorfter Gebiete im Laufe der Zeit waren wichtig für das Verständnis der Landschaft und die Suche nach Siedlungsplätzen. Außerdem werden einige Techniken für Testgrabungen in vollgesogenem Torf präsentiert.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Sage Publications 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaby, Bent, 1986. Palaeoecological studies of mires. In: Berglund, B.E., (ed.), Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology: 145164. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Aaby, Bent and Gunnar, Digerfeldt, 1986. Sampling techniques for lakes and bogs. In: Berglund, B.E., (ed.), Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology: 181194. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Averdieck, F.R., Hayen, H., Heathwaite, A.L. and Willkomm, H., 1993. The chronology of mire development. In Heathwaite, A.L. and Göttlich, K., (eds), Mires – Process, Exploitation and Conservation: 123170. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Behre, Karl-Ernst, 2000. Frühe Ackersysteme, Düngemethoden und die Entstehung der nordwestdeutschen Heiden. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 30:135151.Google Scholar
Berglund, Björn E., ed., 1991. The Cultural Landscape During 6000 Years in Southern Sweden — the Ystad Project. Ecological Bulletins 41.Google Scholar
Birks, H.J.B. and Birks, H.H., 1980. Quaternary Palaeoecology. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
Blytt, Axel, 1893. Om de fytogeografiske og fytopalæontologiske grunde for at antage klimatvexlinger under kvartærtiden. Christiania Videnskabs-Selskabs Forhandlinger 1893–1895: 152.Google Scholar
Brothwell, Don, 1986. The Bog Man and the Archaeology of People. London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Charman, Dan, 2002. Peatlands and Environmental Change. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Coles, Bryony and Adrian, Olivier, eds, 2001. The Heritage Management of Wetlands. Brussels: Europae Archaeologiae Consilium (Occasional paper 1).Google Scholar
Coles, John, 1984. The Archaeology of Wetlands. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Coles, John and Bryony, Coles, 1996. Enlarging the Past – The Contribution of Wetland Archaeology. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Google Scholar
Digerfeldt, Gunnar, 1988. Reconstruction and regional correlation of Holocene lake-level fluctuations in Lake Bysjön, South Sweden. Boreas 17:165182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Digerfeldt, Gunnar, 1997. Reconstruction of Holocene lake-level changes in Lake Kalvsjön, southern Sweden, with a contribution to the local palaeohydrology at the Elm Decline. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 6:914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Kevin J., 1991. Using space in cultural palynology: the value of the off-site pollen records. In David, R. Harris and Kenneth, D. Thomas, (eds), Modelling Ecological Change - Perspectives from Neoecology, Palaeoecology and Environmental Archaeology: 6173. London: Institute of Archaeology, University College London.Google Scholar
Eggelsmann, R., Heathwaite, A.L., Grosse-Brauckmann, G., Küster, E., Naucke, W., Schuch, M. and Schweickle, V., 1993. Physical processes and properties of mires. In Heathwaite, A.L. and Göttlich, K. (eds), Mires - Process, Exploitation and Conservation: 171262. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ekström, Jonas, 1993. The late Quaternary history of the urus (Bos primigenius Bojanus 1827) in Sweden. 29:1129.Google Scholar
Frödin, Otto, 1910. En svensk pålbyggnad från stenåldern. Fornvännen: 2977.Google Scholar
Glob, Peter V., 1969. The Bog People - Iron-Age Man Preserved. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Granlund, Erik, 1932. De svenska högmossarnas geologi - Deras bildningsbetingelser, utvecklingshistoria och utbredning jämte sambandet mellan högmossbildning och försumpning. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Serie C 373:1193.Google Scholar
Hagberg, Ulf-Erik, 1967. The Archaeology of Skedemosse. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Heathwaite, A.L. and Göttlich, K., eds, 1993. Mires - Process, Exploitation and Conservation. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Heathwaite, A.L., Göttlich, K., Burgmeister, E.G., Kaule, G. and Grospietsch, T., 1993. Mires: definitions and form. In Heathwaite, A.L. and Göttlich, K. (eds), Mires - Process, Exploitation and Conservation: 175. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Jowsey, P.C., 1966. An improved peat sampler. New Phytologist 65:245248.Google Scholar
Karsten, Per, 1994. Att kasta yxan i sjön - En studie över rituell tradition och förändring utifrån skånska neolitiska offerfynd. [English summary: To throw the axe in lake - A study of ritual tradition and change from Scanian Neolithic votive offerings.] Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, Series in 8° 23).Google Scholar
Karsten, Per and Bo, Knarrström, eds, 2001a. Skånska spår – arkeologi längs Västkustbanan. Tågerup – Specialstudier. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Karsten, Per and Bo, Knarrström, 2001b. Tågerup – fifteen hundred years of Mesolithic occupation in western Scania, Sweden: a preliminary view. European Journal of Archaeology 4(2):165174.Google Scholar
Lagerås, Per, 1996. Farming and forest dynamics in an agriculturally marginal area of southern Sweden, 5000 BC to present: a palynological study of Lake Avegöl in the Småland Uplands. The Holocene 6:301314.Google Scholar
Larsson, Lars 1983. Ageröd V – An Atlantic Bog Site in Central Scania. Lund: Acta Archaeologica Lundensia (Series in 8° 12).Google Scholar
Liljegren, Ronnie and Per, Lagerås, 1993. Från mammutstäpp till kohage - Djurens historia i Sverige. Lund: Liljegren & Lagerås.Google Scholar
Louwe Kooijmans, L.P., ed., 2001. Archeologie in de Betuweroute: Hardinxveld-Giessendam De Bruin – Ein kampplaats uit het Laat-Mesolithicum en het begin van der Swifterbant-cultur (5500–4450 v. Chr.). Amersfoort: Rapportage Archeologische Monumentenzorg 88.Google Scholar
Malmer, MATS P., 1978. Forskningsprojektet Alvastra pålbyggnad. [English summary: The Alvastra pile dwelling Research Project.] Fornvännen 73:149158.Google Scholar
Montelius, Oscar, 1917. Minnen från vår forntid 1. Stenåldern och bronsåldern. Stockholm: Norstedt.Google Scholar
Nilsson, Tage, 1958. Pollenanalytisk datering av stodthat. Skanes Hembygdsfirbunds Arsbok: 7281.Google Scholar
Nilsson, Tage, 1968. Pollenanalytische Datierung def Pfeilfunde aus Loshult im nördlichsten Schonen. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar 90:537546.Google Scholar
Oldeberg, Andreas, 1954. Två förhistoriska vagnfynd från Skåne och Småland. Fornvännen 54:193210.Google Scholar
Olsson, Margareta, Lasse, Wallin and Per, Lagerås, 1999. From arable lowland to wooded uplands. A linear project in northern Scania, Sweden. Abstract In Charlotte, Fabech and Jytte, Ringtved, (eds), Settlement and Landscape. Proceedings of a Conference in Århus, Denmark, 47 May 1998: 119121. Moesgård: Jutland Archaeology Society.Google Scholar
Olsson, Siv, Joachim, Regnéll, Anders, Persson and Per, Sandgren, 1997. Sediment-chemistry response to land-use change and pollutant loading in a hypertrophic lake, southern Sweden. Journal of Paleolimnology 17:275294.Google Scholar
Pedersen, Lisbeth, Anders, Fischer and Bent, Aaby, eds, 1997. Storebælt i 10.000 år – Mennesket, havet og skoven. Copenhagen: A/S Storebæltforbindelsen.Google Scholar
Petersson [Malmeri], Mats, 1951. Mikrolithen als Pfeilspitzen - Ein Fund aus dem Lilla Loshult-Moor, Ksp. Loshult, Skåne. Meddelanden från Lunds Universitets Historiska Museum: 123137.Google Scholar
Pfadenhauer, J., Schneekloth, H., Schneider, R. and Schneider, S., 1993. Mire distribution. In Heathwaite, A.L. and Göttlich, K., (eds), Mires - Process, Exploitation and Conservation: 77121. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Raftery, Barry, 1992. Recent developments in Irish wetland research. In Bryony, Coles, (ed.), The Wetland Revolution in Prehistory: 2936. Exeter: University of Exeter (WARP occasional paper 6).Google Scholar
Regnell, Mats, Marie-José Gaillard, Thomas Seip Bartholin and Per, Karsten, 1995. Reconstruction of environment and history of plant use during the late Mesolithic (Ertebølle culture) at the inland settlement of Bökeberg III, southern Sweden. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 4:6791.Google Scholar
Salomonson, Bengt, 1958. Om stockbåtar. Skånes Hembygdsförbunds Årsbok: 5671.Google Scholar
Sandklef, Albert, 1943. Bockstensmannen och hans olycksbröder Stockholm: Saxon & Lidström.Google Scholar
Sernander, Rutger, 1908. On the evidence of Postglacial changes of climate furnished by the peat-mosses of northern Europe. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar 30:465473.Google Scholar
Skoglund, Peter and Per, Lagerås, 2002. En vendeltida vagn från södra Småland – fyndet från Skirsnäs mosse i ny belysning. Fornvännen 97:7386.Google Scholar
Speranza, Alessandra, Juliane Hanke, Bas Van Gel and Josef, Fanta, 2000. Late-Holocene human impact and peat development in the Cerná Hora bog, Krkonose Mountains, Czech Republic. The Holocene 10:575585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stjernquist, Berta, Tage, Nilsson and Orvar, Nybelin, 1953. Some Stone Age fishing tackle from Scania. Meddelanden från Lunds Universitets Historiska Museum 1952–1953: 123148.Google Scholar
Sundelin, Uno, 1920. Om stenåldersfolkets och sjönötens invandring till Smäländska höglandet. Ymer: 131195.Google Scholar
Van De Noort, Robert, William, Fletcher, Gavin, Thomas, Ian, Carstairs and David, Patrick, 2002. Monuments at Risk in England's Wetlands. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.Google Scholar
Von Post, Lennart, 1913. Über stratigraphische Zweigliederung schwedischer Hochmoore. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Ser. C 248:152.Google Scholar
Von Post, Lennart, 1918. Skogsträdpollen i sydsvenska torvmosselagerföljder. Forhandlingar ved 16. Skandinaviske Naturforskermøte 1916: 433465. [Translated into English in 1967 in Pollen and Spores 9: 375–401.]Google Scholar
Wallin, Lasse, Margareta, Olsson, Pär, Connelid, Per, Karsten, Bo, Knarrström, Per, Lagerås, Anna, Mattisson, Marie, Olsson and Sten, Skansjö, 1997. Arkeologisk utredning från Örkelljunga till länsgränsen. Riksantikvarieämbetet UV Syd Rapport 1997: 58. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet.Google Scholar
Welinder, Stig, 1971. Tidigpostglacialt mesoliticum i Skåne. Lund: Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, Series in 8° Minore 1.Google Scholar