Fornminnen : det förflutnas roll i det förkristna och kristna Mälardalen
(2013) In Vägar till Midgård 15.- Abstract
- This thesis examine how farm-dwellers in the Mälaren region during the late Iron Age and early Middle Ages created, transferred, and preserved memory by deliberately placing new houses and graves on the houses and graves of previous generations. Focus is on memory as a social phenomenon and culture-specific resource created by these deliberate practices. The culture-specific element is oral culture.
Place is an important part of the contextualization of social memory. The pre-Christian and early Christian farm has a special quality that is so self-evident that it is seldom highligh¬ted - the presence of the graves within its territory. This distinguishes that farm from those where the dead were buried in a graveyard.... (More) - This thesis examine how farm-dwellers in the Mälaren region during the late Iron Age and early Middle Ages created, transferred, and preserved memory by deliberately placing new houses and graves on the houses and graves of previous generations. Focus is on memory as a social phenomenon and culture-specific resource created by these deliberate practices. The culture-specific element is oral culture.
Place is an important part of the contextualization of social memory. The pre-Christian and early Christian farm has a special quality that is so self-evident that it is seldom highligh¬ted - the presence of the graves within its territory. This distinguishes that farm from those where the dead were buried in a graveyard.
My theoretical framework is that of memory theory. In focus is human agency, formal and ritualized practice, and structured and constructed reality. All the media then available for memory construction are taken into consideration: formal and ritual acts such as ‘super-imposing’; material remains such as graves and buildings; sites on different scale levels in the landscape, such as farms with grave-fields and yards; narratives such as the Icelandic sagas.
The source material consists of more than 300 archaeological excavations of grave-fields and settlements conducted in the Mälaren valley. The analysis include four sub-studies of superimpositions: grave on grave, house on house, grave on house, and house on grave. It takes into account possible variations in the scope and expression of the superimpositions because of the chronological, geographical, and social context. One of the more significant results is that the superimpositions showed very deliberate patterns, implying that the practices were very conscious.
In the synthesis superimposition practices are considered as historical entities, and as functions of a possible historical culture in different eras. Down the ages, from the Migration Period up to and including the early Middle Ages, major regional changes in society have steered the contemporaneous perceptions of history. This means new social, ideological, and cultural context, which in its turn created the need for new memories. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
I vår egen tid finns ett stort intresse för släktforskning och historia hos många. Men man tänker sällan på att även människor i gångna tider kunnat blicka tillbaka på sitt förflutna och fundera på sin egen plats i släktleden. Vad var de ville minnas och hur mindes de i en tid utan skriv- och läskunnighet? Det är frågor som ställs i avhandlingen och där svaren söks i de lämningar som grävts fram från järnåldern vid många arkeologiska undersökningar i Mälardalen. En inblick i detta ger oss en större förståelse för det förflutnas roll och betydelse i såväl dåtid som vår egen tid. I avhandlingen visas hur människor på gårdar under järnåldern i Mälardalen ”byggde” minnen genom att medvetet placera... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
I vår egen tid finns ett stort intresse för släktforskning och historia hos många. Men man tänker sällan på att även människor i gångna tider kunnat blicka tillbaka på sitt förflutna och fundera på sin egen plats i släktleden. Vad var de ville minnas och hur mindes de i en tid utan skriv- och läskunnighet? Det är frågor som ställs i avhandlingen och där svaren söks i de lämningar som grävts fram från järnåldern vid många arkeologiska undersökningar i Mälardalen. En inblick i detta ger oss en större förståelse för det förflutnas roll och betydelse i såväl dåtid som vår egen tid. I avhandlingen visas hur människor på gårdar under järnåldern i Mälardalen ”byggde” minnen genom att medvetet placera nya gravar och hus på tidigare generationers gravar och hus. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3449472
- author
- Hållans, Ann-Mari LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- docent Zachrisson, Torun, Stockholms universitet
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- archaeology, memory, historical culture, ritual, practice, superimpositions, the past in the past, Mälaren region, house, grave, Migration Period, Viking Age, early Middle Age
- in
- Vägar till Midgård
- volume
- 15
- pages
- 325 pages
- publisher
- Nordic Academic Press
- defense location
- Sal 104, Kungshuset, Lundagård, Lund
- defense date
- 2013-04-12 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 1650-5905
- ISBN
- 978-91-89116-99-3
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 38bddaf4-70bd-4271-a75d-d6caf66eb751 (old id 3449472)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:05:31
- date last changed
- 2019-05-24 08:18:00
@phdthesis{38bddaf4-70bd-4271-a75d-d6caf66eb751,
abstract = {{This thesis examine how farm-dwellers in the Mälaren region during the late Iron Age and early Middle Ages created, transferred, and preserved memory by deliberately placing new houses and graves on the houses and graves of previous generations. Focus is on memory as a social phenomenon and culture-specific resource created by these deliberate practices. The culture-specific element is oral culture. <br/><br>
<br/><br>
Place is an important part of the contextualization of social memory. The pre-Christian and early Christian farm has a special quality that is so self-evident that it is seldom highligh¬ted - the presence of the graves within its territory. This distinguishes that farm from those where the dead were buried in a graveyard. <br/><br>
<br/><br>
My theoretical framework is that of memory theory. In focus is human agency, formal and ritualized practice, and structured and constructed reality. All the media then available for memory construction are taken into consideration: formal and ritual acts such as ‘super-imposing’; material remains such as graves and buildings; sites on different scale levels in the landscape, such as farms with grave-fields and yards; narratives such as the Icelandic sagas. <br/><br>
<br/><br>
The source material consists of more than 300 archaeological excavations of grave-fields and settlements conducted in the Mälaren valley. The analysis include four sub-studies of superimpositions: grave on grave, house on house, grave on house, and house on grave. It takes into account possible variations in the scope and expression of the superimpositions because of the chronological, geographical, and social context. One of the more significant results is that the superimpositions showed very deliberate patterns, implying that the practices were very conscious. <br/><br>
<br/><br>
In the synthesis superimposition practices are considered as historical entities, and as functions of a possible historical culture in different eras. Down the ages, from the Migration Period up to and including the early Middle Ages, major regional changes in society have steered the contemporaneous perceptions of history. This means new social, ideological, and cultural context, which in its turn created the need for new memories.}},
author = {{Hållans, Ann-Mari}},
isbn = {{978-91-89116-99-3}},
issn = {{1650-5905}},
keywords = {{archaeology; memory; historical culture; ritual; practice; superimpositions; the past in the past; Mälaren region; house; grave; Migration Period; Viking Age; early Middle Age}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Nordic Academic Press}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Vägar till Midgård}},
title = {{Fornminnen : det förflutnas roll i det förkristna och kristna Mälardalen}},
volume = {{15}},
year = {{2013}},
}