Life at Bommars 1767-1874: The material culture of a decorated farmhouse of Hälsingland
(2015) ARKM22 20151Historical Archaeology
- Abstract
- In Hälsingland, Sweden, there are approximately a thousand Hälsingegårdar; big farm houses with lavishly decorated rooms typical for the region. These farmhouses have been the subjects of much research, mainly with a focus on their economical background, or restoration aspects. There has been no archaeological research done on these farmhouses, and thus an archaeological perspective is lacking in the previous research. This thesis aims to give a new perspective on the farms and their inhabitants by focusing on the dependencies between the buildings, material objects and the persons living there, inspired by the Theory of Entanglement by Ian Hodder.
The farm in focus is the decorated farmhouse Bommars in Letsbo in the years 1767 - 1874.... (More) - In Hälsingland, Sweden, there are approximately a thousand Hälsingegårdar; big farm houses with lavishly decorated rooms typical for the region. These farmhouses have been the subjects of much research, mainly with a focus on their economical background, or restoration aspects. There has been no archaeological research done on these farmhouses, and thus an archaeological perspective is lacking in the previous research. This thesis aims to give a new perspective on the farms and their inhabitants by focusing on the dependencies between the buildings, material objects and the persons living there, inspired by the Theory of Entanglement by Ian Hodder.
The farm in focus is the decorated farmhouse Bommars in Letsbo in the years 1767 - 1874. The investigation was made with help of historical maps, plans of the farm yard as well as of the main dwelling house and estate inventories.
Both the maps and the estate inventories show a notable increase in wealth and resources, much due to the fact that the owner of the farm married a socially important and wealthy jury man. This new social role for the farmers at Letsbo created a need to live up to their social status. No one was registered as tax payer in Letsbo No 2 between 1832 and 1887, and during in the 1840's Bommars burnt down. Thus we cannot know much of the previous buildings on the farm, but it was rebuilt in an impressive fashion after the fire. The choice to build such a big and lavish house even though the farm was not permanently inhabited at the time shows that it still had an important representative function for its owners. The people and their buildings were caught in a mutual dependency, shaped by social obligations and expectations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/5463980
- author
- Renström, Sofie LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ARKM22 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- entanglement, hälsingegårdar, decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland, farming
- language
- English
- id
- 5463980
- date added to LUP
- 2016-05-11 10:46:44
- date last changed
- 2016-05-11 10:46:44
@misc{5463980,
abstract = {{In Hälsingland, Sweden, there are approximately a thousand Hälsingegårdar; big farm houses with lavishly decorated rooms typical for the region. These farmhouses have been the subjects of much research, mainly with a focus on their economical background, or restoration aspects. There has been no archaeological research done on these farmhouses, and thus an archaeological perspective is lacking in the previous research. This thesis aims to give a new perspective on the farms and their inhabitants by focusing on the dependencies between the buildings, material objects and the persons living there, inspired by the Theory of Entanglement by Ian Hodder.
The farm in focus is the decorated farmhouse Bommars in Letsbo in the years 1767 - 1874. The investigation was made with help of historical maps, plans of the farm yard as well as of the main dwelling house and estate inventories.
Both the maps and the estate inventories show a notable increase in wealth and resources, much due to the fact that the owner of the farm married a socially important and wealthy jury man. This new social role for the farmers at Letsbo created a need to live up to their social status. No one was registered as tax payer in Letsbo No 2 between 1832 and 1887, and during in the 1840's Bommars burnt down. Thus we cannot know much of the previous buildings on the farm, but it was rebuilt in an impressive fashion after the fire. The choice to build such a big and lavish house even though the farm was not permanently inhabited at the time shows that it still had an important representative function for its owners. The people and their buildings were caught in a mutual dependency, shaped by social obligations and expectations.}},
author = {{Renström, Sofie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Life at Bommars 1767-1874: The material culture of a decorated farmhouse of Hälsingland}},
year = {{2015}},
}