Submerged landscapes : locating Mesolithic settlements in Blekinge, Sweden
(2015) In Student thesis series INES NGEK01 20151Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract
- Historic settlements are of great interest since they play a role in understanding our past and our cultural roots. The development of technology now makes it easier to map the seafloor and locate submerged settlements. Finding submerged Mesolithic settlements has led to hypotheses being made on what characteristics to look out for which could suggest Mesolithic settlement locations. This study focuses on such settlements between 11,600 – 6000 cal. BP in Blekinge, southern Sweden. Similar studies have already been done in this region, making it possible to compare already identified settlements to the submerged settlement locations suggested in this study. Many of the already identified settlements in Blekinge have been close to major... (More)
- Historic settlements are of great interest since they play a role in understanding our past and our cultural roots. The development of technology now makes it easier to map the seafloor and locate submerged settlements. Finding submerged Mesolithic settlements has led to hypotheses being made on what characteristics to look out for which could suggest Mesolithic settlement locations. This study focuses on such settlements between 11,600 – 6000 cal. BP in Blekinge, southern Sweden. Similar studies have already been done in this region, making it possible to compare already identified settlements to the submerged settlement locations suggested in this study. Many of the already identified settlements in Blekinge have been close to major rivers, and in this study, the suggested settlements are all in close proximity three rivers; the Bräkne, Vieryd and Ronneby rivers. Three beneficial characteristics for Mesolithic settlements and a fishing site location model are used to suggest potential Mesolithic settlement locations. Along with this, the three rivers Bräkne, Vieryd and Ronneby have been reconstructed in the submerged landscape. The main finding in this study show that only one of the nine suggested settlements in the submerged landscape met all three of the beneficial characteristics, with the other eight meeting at least one of these. When comparing the suggested settlement locations to the already identified settlement locations, there are not enough similarities to conclude that they are all located in similar landscapes. This could suggest that either more already identified settlements should be analysed before being able to compare their characteristics more accurately with suggested settlement locations, or that more research should be made into the characteristics that define the location of a Mesolithic settlement. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Historiska bosättningar är av stort intresse eftersom de kan hjälpa oss att nå en förståelse om vårt förflutna och våra kulturella rötter. Tack vare den teknologiska utvecklingen är det nu enklare att lokalisera vissa av de historiska bosättningar som blivit översvämmade genom att kartlägga havsbotten. Forskning om översvämmade mesolitiska boplatser har lett till att det finns utvecklade hypoteser om vilka egenskaper sådana boplatser kan tänkas ha. Denna studie fokuserar på mesolitiska bosättningar, från år 11 600 - 6000 cal. BP. i Blekinge, södra Sverige, som alltså idag är belägna under havsytan. Liknande studier har utförts tidigare i samma region, vilket gör det möjligt att jämföra redan identifierade bosättningar med de översvämmade... (More)
- Historiska bosättningar är av stort intresse eftersom de kan hjälpa oss att nå en förståelse om vårt förflutna och våra kulturella rötter. Tack vare den teknologiska utvecklingen är det nu enklare att lokalisera vissa av de historiska bosättningar som blivit översvämmade genom att kartlägga havsbotten. Forskning om översvämmade mesolitiska boplatser har lett till att det finns utvecklade hypoteser om vilka egenskaper sådana boplatser kan tänkas ha. Denna studie fokuserar på mesolitiska bosättningar, från år 11 600 - 6000 cal. BP. i Blekinge, södra Sverige, som alltså idag är belägna under havsytan. Liknande studier har utförts tidigare i samma region, vilket gör det möjligt att jämföra redan identifierade bosättningar med de översvämmade boplatserna som föreslås i denna studie. Många av de redan identifierade mesolitiska boplatserna i Blekinge är belägna nära stora åar, och därför är även alla de föreslagna översvämmade boplatserna i denna studie lokaliserade i närheten av tre åar; Bräkneån, Vierydsån och Ronnebyån. För att lokalisera de submarina boplatserna användes tre kända egenskaper för mesolitiska boplatser, samt en fiskeplats modell. Dessutom har de tre åarna Bräkneån, Vierydsån och Ronnebyån rekonstruerats i det nedsänkta landskapet. Studiens viktigaste slutsats är att av de nio föreslagna boplatserna i det nedsänkta landskapet uppvisade endast en alla de tre kända egenskaperna. De övriga åtta boplatserna uppvisade åtminstone en av egenskaperna. När man jämför de föreslagna submarina boplatserna med sedan tidigare identifierade boplatser, kan man se att det inte finns tillräckligt många likheter mellan dem för att dra slutsatsen att de befinner sig i liknande landskap. Detta kan tyda på antingen att fler identifierade boplatser bör analyseras innan de kan jämföras med föreslagna platser, eller att ytterligare forskning om de egenskaper som definierar läget av en mesolitisk boplats är nödvändig. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7359023
- author
- Hannon Bradshaw, Louise LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NGEK01 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- publication/series
- Student thesis series INES
- report number
- 339
- language
- English
- id
- 7359023
- date added to LUP
- 2015-06-16 16:04:14
- date last changed
- 2015-06-18 14:04:28
@misc{7359023,
abstract = {{Historic settlements are of great interest since they play a role in understanding our past and our cultural roots. The development of technology now makes it easier to map the seafloor and locate submerged settlements. Finding submerged Mesolithic settlements has led to hypotheses being made on what characteristics to look out for which could suggest Mesolithic settlement locations. This study focuses on such settlements between 11,600 – 6000 cal. BP in Blekinge, southern Sweden. Similar studies have already been done in this region, making it possible to compare already identified settlements to the submerged settlement locations suggested in this study. Many of the already identified settlements in Blekinge have been close to major rivers, and in this study, the suggested settlements are all in close proximity three rivers; the Bräkne, Vieryd and Ronneby rivers. Three beneficial characteristics for Mesolithic settlements and a fishing site location model are used to suggest potential Mesolithic settlement locations. Along with this, the three rivers Bräkne, Vieryd and Ronneby have been reconstructed in the submerged landscape. The main finding in this study show that only one of the nine suggested settlements in the submerged landscape met all three of the beneficial characteristics, with the other eight meeting at least one of these. When comparing the suggested settlement locations to the already identified settlement locations, there are not enough similarities to conclude that they are all located in similar landscapes. This could suggest that either more already identified settlements should be analysed before being able to compare their characteristics more accurately with suggested settlement locations, or that more research should be made into the characteristics that define the location of a Mesolithic settlement.}},
author = {{Hannon Bradshaw, Louise}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Student thesis series INES}},
title = {{Submerged landscapes : locating Mesolithic settlements in Blekinge, Sweden}},
year = {{2015}},
}