• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• Open Access close
• Publications close
• Publikationer från Umeå universitet close
• Lund University Publications close
• Digital Humanities and Cultural Her... close

AbstractBy-products of metal corrosion, when coming into contact with organic matter, have the capacity to preserve it from decay. A pilot study was conducted aiming to explore the potential and limitations of plant remains preserved in by-products of metal corrosion for archaeobotanical research. The organic remains considered come from the surface/immediate proximity of the metal funerary artefacts of two ancient cemeteries—Varna and Messambria, Eastern Bulgaria. Metal corrosion by-products were observed and sampled, under a low magnification stereo microscope. Subsequently, the plant macrofossils recognised were analysed under reflected light and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Additionally, pollen was extracted from the metal corrosion by-products, using standard acetolysis. The analyses from the graves of both cemeteries allowed identification of textiles and plant fibres, as well as wood (Cornus sp., Pinus sp., Viburnum sp.). At Varna cemetery epidermis fragments of Juncus sp. were recognized, while at Messambria necropolis fruits of almond were found. The pollen analysis from Varna points to use of flowers in the ritual (Daphne tetrads were recorded) and shows a notably open landscape with 77% non-arboreal pollen (NAP). The palynological analysis from the Messambria necropolis revealed the use of flowers in the burial ritual indicated by clusters of Vitis, Cistus and Rosaceae pollen. The surrounding vegetation was dominated by open oak woodland and open habitats (43% NAP) with a strong presence of anthropogenic indicators. The outcome of the study proved to be promising for reconstructing details of the burial rituals including associated plant materials, as well as the surrounding plant habitats during the functioning of the cemeteries.

Reconstructions of past land use and related land-cover changes at local and regional scales are needed to evaluate the potential long-term impacts of land use on the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. In this purpose, we selected the Gamleby area at the Swedish Baltic Sea coast for a case study. We use a new, high resolution pollen record from a small lake (Lillsjön) located 3.6 km NNW of the bay Gamlebyviken and detailed analysis of the available archeological data to reconstruct local land-use changes over the last 3000 years. To estimate land-cover change at local (2–3 km radius area) and regional (50 km radius area) scales we use four additional, published pollen records from two small and two large lakes (25–70 km S of Lillsjön) and the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm, a pollen-vegetation modeling scheme. Results show that regional and local (small lakes Lillsjön and Hyttegöl) land-cover changes are comparable over the last 1500 years (Late Iron Age to present), and that landscape openness was much larger locally than regionally (difference of 20–40% cover over the last 500 years). The periods of largest potential impacts on the Gamlebyviken Bay from regional and local land use are 200–950 CE (Late Iron Age) and 1450 CE to present, and of lowest potential impacts 950–1450 CE. The question on whether the large landscape openness 1150–50 BCE and significant afforestation 50 BCE–200 CE reconstructed for Lillsjön’s area are characteristic of the Gamlebyviken region will require additional pollen records in the catchment area.

Triticum timopheevii sensu lato ('new glume wheat', NGW) was first recognised as a distinct prehistoric cereal crop through work on archaeobotanical finds from Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in northern Greece. This was later followed by its identification in archaeobotanical assemblages from other parts of Europe. This paper provides an overview of the currently known archaeobotanical finds of Timopheev's wheat in southeastern and eastern Europe and observes their temporal span and spatial distribution. To date, there are 89 prehistoric sites with these finds, located in different parts of the study region and dated from the Neolithic to the very late Iron Age. Their latest recorded presence in the region is in the last centuries bce. For assemblages from the site as a whole containing at least 30 grain and/or chaff remains of Timopheev's wheat, we take a brief look at the overall relative proportions of Triticum monococcum (einkorn), T. dicoccum (emmer) and T. timopheevii s.l. (Timopheev's wheat), the three most common glume wheats in our study region in prehistory. We highlight several sites where the overall proportions of Timopheev's wheat might be taken to suggest it was a minor component of a mixed crop (maslin), or an unmonitored inclusion in einkorn or emmer fields. At the same sites, however, there are also discrete contexts where this wheat is strongly predominant, pointing to its cultivation as a pure crop. We therefore emphasise the need to evaluate the relative representation of Timopheev's wheat at the level of individual samples or contexts before making inferences on its cultivation status. We also encourage re-examination of prehistoric and historic cereal assemblages for its remains. Errata: Filipović, D., Jones, G., Kirleis, W. et al. Correction: Triticum timopheevii s.l. (‘new glume wheat’) finds in regions of southern and eastern Europe across space and time. Veget Hist Archaeobot. 2024. DOI: 10.1007/s00334-023-00968-4

Bland den litteratur som vänder sig till studenter i konstvetenskap och andra bildtolkande vetenskaper finns en mängd texter som behandlar teorier och teoretiska begrepp. Vad som däremot i hög grad saknas, och som studenter ofta efterlyser, är texter på svenska som visar hur teorier och begrepp kan tillämpas i konkreta tolkningssituationer. Serien Teoretiska tillämpningar i konstvetenskap avser att fylla den luckan, där boken Materialitet är den fjärde i serien. Boken introducerar och aktiverar ett begrepp som under de senaste decennierna kommit att ta en allt viktigare plats i humanistisk forskning. Konstvetare – men också arkeologer, antropologer, litteraturvetare, etnologer och andra humanistiska forskare – intresserar sig i allt högre grad för de materiella förutsättningarna för, och manifestationerna av, människors sociala och kulturella liv och utbyte. Men trots sin aktualitet i dagens vetenskapliga samtal kan materialitetsbegreppet te sig undanglidande och svårfångat. Det rör sig hela vägen från de mest handfasta analyser av en kulturell artefakts materiella beståndsdelar, till de bitvis svårgenomträngliga teoretiseringar av föremålslighet, agens och nätverk som brukar sorteras under etiketten ”new materialism”. Boken Materialitet ger emellertid konkreta exempel på hur materialitetsbegreppet kan öppna för tolkningar av viktiga meningslager i konstverk och andra kulturella artefakter. Efter den inledande introduktionen där olika perspektiv och begreppsliggöranden kring materialitet diskuteras gör sex forskare var sin analys utifrån sitt ämnesområde. Kapitlen baseras på ny forskning och är skriva särskilt för denna bok. De olika kapitlen visar tillsammans materialitetsbegreppets mångfacetterade karaktär men låser inte låser fast det vid en definition utan öppnar ögonen för ett flertal olika tolkningsvägar.

During the twentieth century, a number of actors and institutions acrossthe global north set out to develop hierarchical social taxonomies of their national populations. Mainly used for the making of statistics, these divisions soon came to be influential in policy and public debates. Using mainly Swedish examples, this article offers new ways of understanding social taxonomies, thereby adding insights into an understudied research object within the field of history of knowledge. Social taxonomies connect mundane and practical aspects of knowledge in the making – in terms of how actors order empirical material to through these create statistics – with larger public debates on society. They are, moreover, linked to different epistemic and political projects. I argue that social taxonomies should be understood as difference technologies; that is, ways of ordering and studying the social by producing differences between and sameness within its classifications.