Contrasts of the Nordic Bronze Age

The Bronze Age in Northern Europe was a place of diversity and contrast, an era that saw movements and changes not just of peoples, but of cultures, beliefs, and socio-political systems, and that led to the forging of ontological ideas materialized in landscapes, bodies, and technologies. Drawing on a range of materials and places, the innovative contributions gathered here in this volume explore the disparate facets of Bronze Age society across the Nordic region through the key themes of time and trajectory, rituals and everyday life, and encounters and identities. The contributions explore how and why society evolved over time, from the changing nature of sea travel to new technologies in house building, and from advances in lithic production to evolving burial practices and beliefs in the afterlife.

This edited collection honours the ground-breaking research of Professor Christopher Prescott, an outstanding figure in the study of the Bronze Age north, and it takes as its inspiration the diversity, interdisciplinarity, and vitality of his own research in order to make a major new contribution to the field, and to shed new light on a Bronze Age full of contrasts and connections.

List of Illustrations

Preface

Contrasts of the Bronze Age — Time, Ritual and Encounters in the Nordic World: An Introduction — IVAR AUSTVOLL, MARIANNE HEM ERIKSEN, PER DITLEF FREDRIKSEN, LENE MELHEIM, LISBETH PRØSCH-DANIELSEN AND LISBETH SKOGSTRAND

Part I. Time and Trajectory in the Nordic Bronze Age

The Nordic Bronze Age Rose from Copper Age Diversity: Contrasts in the Cimbrian Peninsula —JOHANNES MÜLLER AND HELLE VANDKILDE

On the Periphery of an Agricultural Society: Traces From the Formative Agricultural Period in Norway – A Case Study From Øygarden in Hordaland, Western Norway — ARNE JOHAN NÆRØY

The Contrasting Region of Hedmark, Southeast Norway: A Border Zone Through Three Millennia — BERNT RUNDBERGET AND HILDE RIGMOR AMUNDSEN

Lithic Production in Bronze Age Norway: The Legacy of a Neolithic Mosaic — ASTRID J. NYLAND

Places to Be, or Places to Live? Transformations in Prehistoric Dwellings in the North-western Iberian Peninsula — M. PILAR PRIETO-MARTÍNEZ

A History in Prehistory: The Making of a Migration Period ‘Technology of Remembrance’ in South-West Norway — PER DITLEF FREDRIKSEN AND ELNA SIV KRISTOFFERSEN

Part II. Ritual and Everyday Life: Ontologies, Images, and Place-making Practices

Together or Apart? Identifying Ontologies in the Nordic Bronze and Iron Age through the Study of Human-Horse Relationships — JACOB KVEIBORG

The Stacked, the Partial and the Large. Visual Modes of Material Articulation in Mälaren Bay Rock Art — FREDRIK FAHLANDER

Ritual or Mundane? Scandinavian Tar Loaves from the Bronze Age — CAMILLA C. NORDBY AND KRISTINE ORESTAD SØRGAARD

Identifying and Investigating Diversity: New Perspectives and Possibilities Within Scandinavian Rock Art Research — JAMES DODD

Patterns or Contrast? A GIS-based Study of the Landscape Context and Localization of Southern Rock Art Tradition in Stjørdal, Mid-Norway — ARNE ANDERSON STAMNES AND HEIDRUN STEBERGLØKKEN

Knapped Quartz in Finnish Bronze Age Cairns — JARKKO SAIPIO

Bridging Perspectives: Social Dynamics of Houses and Households in the Nordic Bronze Age — MARIANNE HEM ERIKSEN AND KNUT IVAR AUSTVOLL

Part III. Encounters: Identity, Things, and People on the Move

A Safe Harbour: Identifying and Theorizing Harbours in Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Norway — HÅVARD KILHAVN

What Can Artefacts Tell Us About Societies? Foreign Objects in Bronze Age Central Europe and Scandinavia — LUKAS WIGGERING

Clay, Burial Urns, and Social Distinction in Late Bronze Age Southern Scandinavia — SERENA SABATINI, TORBJÖRN BRORSSO, AND PETER SKOGLUND

The Contrasts Within: Intersecting Identities in the Lusehøj Mound, Denmark — LISBETH SKOGSTRAND

Contrasting the Women in the Rege and Molkhaug Mounds: Poised Between the Here and the Beyond — KRISTIN ARMSTRONG OMA

Thy at the Crossroads: A Local Bronze Age Community’s Role in a Macro-Economic System — KRISTIAN KRISTIANSEN, LENE MELHEIM, JENS-HENRIK BECH, MORTEN FISCHER MORTENSEN, AND KARIN MARGARITA FREI