Scania

This article is a review of the Early Iron Age graves in Swedens southernmost province Scania during the past 10 years. The purpose is mainly to make this valuable material easier to grasp, but also to point out some interesting features worth further studying. Published in "Small Things Wide Horizons. Studies in honour of Birgitta Hårdh". Archaeopress Archaeology. 2015.

Phosphate mapping is a controversial issue within modern archaeology. The method is costly because a meaningful
result is depending on a large number of samples. Furthermore, the interpretation is strongly dependant on an "intelligible" relation between the phosphate pattern and the observed archaeological structures on the mapped site. It is therefore a risk that the interpreter may fall victim to circular argumentation. If a result is only accepted when it is confirming already known or expected patterns, then indeed the scientific value of the method may be questioned. To avoid making it trivial, it is important to present and discuss even the results of mappings that appear to be "failures". In the present paper some unexpected results from excavations in Denmark and Scania are presented. These examples serve as a basis for a critical discussion of the potential and limitations of the method of phosphate mapping, and some strategies to avoid circular argumentation arc pointed out.

Most of the Swedish subfossil finds of terrestrial mammals have been recovered from Scania. The contributing factors may be that the locally more abundant Late Weichselian sediment basins have been exposed through the extensive practice of peat cutting during the 19th century, and that the public awareness of the significance of the bones and antlers found, prior to the birth of the modern archaeological science, led to them being acquired to research collections. They came to form the basis for the discovery and reconstruction of the postglacial re-colonisation history of the terrestrial fauna. Here, some of these spectacular finds of faunal remains are presented. Today we know that Scania, through the recurrent establishment of a land bridge connecting it to the European mainland, represented one of the major immigration routes into Scandinavia. Already in the Late Glacial the inhabitants of the disintegrating mammoth steppe colonised the newly deglaciated land. It was, however, mainly between c. 12,400 and 9500 cal. years BP, in part due to the existence of a more long lasting land bridge and the continuing amelioration of the climate, that the postglacial fauna in Sweden was formed.

Norburg, Gabriel. 2015. The Spatial Order of the Scanian Runestones: Analysing Runestone Clustering and Pathways through GIS. Lund Archaeological Review 20 (2014), pp. 21–37. This article presents and discusses the test results of GIS-based spatial quantitative analysis conducted on the Scanian runestones. The analysis was conducted as part of a Master’s thesis at Lund University (Norburg 2013). The primary goal was to test one of the current theories on the motives behind regularities in the surrounding contexts of runestones, which suggests that runestones generally were raised along common frames of reference in the landscape, such as roads, rivers, grave fields and regional boundaries. In this article the results are re-examined and discussed further, with the purpose of highlighting the potential of using predictive modelling in Scandinavian archaeology. Spatial statistics and least-cost path analysis, used together, can be useful tools when discussing prehistoric infrastructur...

Specialized cooking pit sites have attracted some attention during the last decades. They are constituted by a large number of cooking pits either organized in rows or apparently scattered unsystematically around the site. However, even in the latter case it is very seldom that they cut each other. This gives the impression that the often quite large number of pits must have been in use over a rather limited period of time. Unfortunately, the pits are very seldom furnished with anything but fire-cracked stones and charcoal, so the use of the pits is still a matter of discussion. However, research seems to favour an interpretation of the sites as places of cult connected to the use of fire. The present investigation took the outset in these and other assumptions about the cooking pit sites and tried by means of different excavation methods and scientific analyses to get a step further. A major question was: is a cooking pit site just a cooking pit site or are the cooking pits just a symptom of the action? A phosphate mapping gave an especially intriguing hint of the answer to that question.

A detailed study of the original (Nathorst and Antevs) material of the genus Ptilozamites was undertaken, both using macromorphology and epidermal anatomy. The 9 species present in the original collection (Ptilozamites blasii (BRAUNS) NATHORST, P. carlsonii NATHORST, P. heeri NATHORST, P. falcatus NATHORST, P. fallax NATHORST, P. linearis NATHORST, P. nilssonii NATHORST, P. oldhami NATHORST, P. triangularis NATHORST) have been reduced to three species (P. blasii (BRAUNS) NATHORST, P. heeri NATHORST, P. nilssonii NATHORST). Moreover, the new combination Ptilozamites sandbergeri (SCHENK) nov. comb. was made with an emended diagnosis. Various other species are now omitted from the genus Ptilozamites; P. acuminatus NATHORST and P. acutangulatus NATHORST are conspecific and belong unequivocally, due to the cuticular pattern, to the genus Anomozamites. Ptilozamites chinensis Hsü has been transferred to Pseudoctenis chinensis (HSÜ) n. comb. Also some species, sometimes attributed to Ptilozamites are discussed and their attributions to other genera such as Dicroidium and Ctenozamites.The genus Ptilozamites, once considered restricted to the Rhaeto-Liassic is now reported also from the Middle Triassic, but the largest distribution of the genus remains in the Rhaeto-Liassic and is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, the relationship with the macromorphologically related genera Anomozamites, Dicroidium, Pseudoctenis and Ctenozamites is discussed.

Most of the Swedish subfossil finds of terrestrial mammals have been recovered from Scania. The contributing factors may be that the locally more abundant Late Weichselian sediment basins have been exposed through the extensive practice of peat cutting during the 19th century, and that the public awareness of the significance of the bones and antlers found, prior to the birth of the modern archaeological science, led to them being acquired to research collections. They came to form the basis for the discovery and reconstruction of the postglacial re-colonisation history of the terrestrial fauna. Here, some of these spectacular finds of faunal remains are presented. Today we know that Scania, through the recurrent establishment of a land bridge connecting it to the European mainland, represented one of the major immigration routes into Scandinavia. Already in the Late Glacial the inhabitants of the disintegrating mammoth steppe colonised the newly deglaciated land. It was, however, mainly between c. 12,400 and 9500 cal. years BP, in part due to the existence of a more long lasting land bridge and the continuing amelioration of the climate, that the postglacial fauna in Sweden was formed.

Militärer fick vistas i den civila delen av staden, men civila fick inte röra sig i den militära delen. Denna konkreta uppdelning av Kristianstad var bestående in på 1950-talet. I synnerhet tydlig måste den militära närvaron ha varit under ett par enskilda perioder, såsom 1800-talets slut och början av 1900-talet. Vid denna tid förfogade Wendes artilleriregemente över både Norra och Södra Kasern samtidigt, varför de dagliga transporterna dem emellan gick rakt igenom den centrala staden. Därtill fanns det vid Stora Torg militärer i både Stora Kronohuset, där staben för Wendes fanns och i Tyggården. Den absoluta kulminationen under denna tid torde ha uppstått i mitten av 1910-talet då det första världskriget rasade nere på kontinenten. Den dåvarande krigsmakten var mobiliserad och under denna tid sägs Wendes ha utgjort världens största artilleriregemente (möjligen med konkurrens från ett förband i Tyskland). Det kan vara på sin plats att påminna om hur Sverige under första världskriget faktiskt mobiliserade sin, som de då hette, krigsmakt. Tjugo år senare valde regeringen Hansson att inte mobilisera då det kunde uppfattats som aningen drastiskt, istället rådde höjd beredskap varför man idag alltjämt talar om "Beredskapen" när det gäller den svenska krigsmakten och andra världskriget. En norrlandsartillerist, Vilhelm Swedenborg, som kom till Kristianstad 1913 skrev-"den lilla staden vid Helge å [verkade] präglad av ålderns patina. Han kände sig liksom förflyttad från nutiden till det förgångna, nästan som om han trätt på sig lyckans galoscher och åter önskat sig tillbaka till den gamla goda tiden. Intrycket vid den första konfrontationen med Kristianstad var nog icke oriktigt, ty under de år som följde skulle mer än en gång den känslan göra sig gällande, att tiden måste hava glidit trettio år tillbaka och att man snarare borde skriva 1883 än 1913". Swedenborgs text visar hur 1800-talets vindar fortfarande dröjde sig kvar i den lilla utposten Kristianstad en bit in på 1900-talet. Swedenborgs text är hämtat ur artikeln "Wendes och staden Kristianstad under 200 år" av Sven Scheutz från minnesboken Kungliga Wendes artilleriregementes historia 1774-1994. Utöver artilleristerna tillkom också under 1915 ett nytt regemente i staden, nämligen de så kallade Norringarna (Norra Skånska infanteriregementet-I 6). Norringarna hade tidigare varit ett indelt regemente utan fasta anläggningar för sitt manskap, istället hade förbandet övats sommartid på Ljungbyhed och manskapet inhysts i stora tältläger tillsammans med andra indelta regementen. Den stora värnpliktsreformen av militären ändrade dock på allt detta, då de tidigare indelta regementena plötsligt fick ett behov av fasta kaserner till sina numera året-runt-inkallade soldater. I den långa rad av såväl nya som nygamla garnisonsorter som stod på tur för kasernanläggningar drog emellertid Kristianstad nitlotten och hamnade sist i kön. Dessutom hade allt detta föregåtts av en debatt, som man först trodde var avklarad, kring var I 6 skulle förläggas. Skulle man verkligen lägga förbandet till Kristianstad, där det en gång visserligen satts upp i början av 1800-talet av general von Döbeln, eller skulle man ändra sig och välja Landskrona istället? Norringarnas dåvarande regementschef Robert Marks von Württemberg var en stark förespråkare för Kristianstad och bestämde sig för att så snabbt som möjligt flytta förbandet med all materiel från Ljungbyhed till Kristianstad. Problemet var bara att det fanns ont om förläggningsplatser där till följd av att världskriget fullt ut mobiliserade staden, vilket gjorde att Norringarna fick finna sig i att bli inkvarterade i såväl skolor som gamla industrilokaler ända fram till 1922. Först då började de nya kasernbyggnaderna ute på Näsby bli färdiga.

Norburg, Gabriel. 2015. The Spatial Order of the Scanian Runestones: Analysing Runestone
Clustering and Pathways through GIS. Lund Archaeological Review 20 (2014), pp. 21–37.
This article presents and discusses the test results of GIS-based spatial quantitative analysis
conducted on the Scanian runestones. The analysis was conducted as part of a Master’s
thesis at Lund University (Norburg 2013). The primary goal was to test one of the current
theories on the motives behind regularities in the surrounding contexts of runestones,
which suggests that runestones generally were raised along common frames of reference in
the landscape, such as roads, rivers, grave fields and regional boundaries. In this article the
results are re-examined and discussed further, with the purpose of highlighting the potential
of using predictive modelling in Scandinavian archaeology. Spatial statistics and least-cost
path analysis, used together, can be useful tools when discussing prehistoric infrastructure.
The analysis is divided into two parts. The first tests whether the Scanian runestones were
randomly clustered (through Ripley K & nearest neighbour analysis), the second whether
they were situated on a path of high energy conservatism. The results show that the Scanian
runestones were not only placed in an orderly fashion, but probably also placed along very
few routes of low energy consumption. I argue that the Scanian runestones were most likely
placed along one common frame of reference, probably the largest piece of infrastructure
in the area. I also argue for a connection between the sudden and ordered appearance of
the Scanian runestones and the higher echelons of the Danish province of Scania, which
was newly formed at the time. By discussing statistical results from a historical context in
this manner, I hope to highlight the very broad usefulness of quantitative and predictive
methods when studying prehistoric Scandinavian landscapes.

The paper discusses the relation between the east and west bank of the Oeresund (Øresund) during Roman Iron Age. There seem to be more differences than similarities leading to the impression that the two landscape Zealand and Scania were not at friendly terms. During the Late Roman Iron Age it is assumed that a dynasty at South East Zealand controlled and redistributed wealth and Roman imports, but for some reason  they chose to ignore their nearest neighbour in this redistribution.

The paper deals with the history of research of prehistoric settlements and houses in Scania. The two current attempts at establishing an independant Scanian chronology based on house-typology is critically reviewed and it is argued that its a priori assumption becomes its conclusion without being put to a test. The material does not support a unilinear development of house types but rather support the idea of several lines of development. The issue of 14C-dating houses is being critically discussed. Further more the settlement organization of Southeastern Scandinavia is discussed and it is demonstrated that "villages" or nucleated settlements existed even in Scania as early as during the Early Iron Age.

While Celtic fields are well known from Denmark this is not the case on mainland Sweden. In an attempt to test whether the absense is reflecting a real historic situation or simply a lack of research three potential scanian sites are investigated.