Pastoralism offers a vast field of study, and within it transhumant practices represent an important range of past and contemporary human mobility strategies. In its widest sense, transhumance may simply be described as the seasonal movement of livestock. The Oxford English Dictionary adds some environmental qualification to this by defining transhumance as “the action or practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle, typically to lowlands in winter and highlands in summer”. The wide-ranging geographic and social implications of such a definition mean, of course, that the study of transhumant practices permits a very wide perspective on human society, touching on themes as diverse as livestock management, economic responsiveness, social mobility and competition for land. Furthermore, use of the relative words ‘lowlands’ and ‘highlands’ means that a considerable proportion of the earth’s surface may be considered as potential settings for transhumance. There are consequently many ways in which people might conceive of and define the practice, and there has not been one, but many transhumant pastoralisms in Europe during historical times
This report summarises the Interreg project Biocultural heritage and alternative foodproduction (Biokuma). The project, which ran from October 2020 to September 2022,is part of Interreg’s Sweden-Norway programme. The EU program provides supportfor Swedish-Norwegian project collaborations that develop society in various fields ofaction. In accordance with the purpose of the project, Biokuma has contributed to thebuilding of knowledge that shows that alternative modes of operation in agriculturesafeguard and continue a biocultural heritage. Alternative food production thus contri-butes to the transition to a sustainable society. However, the alternative food produ-cers are mainly interested in the green parts of the biocultural heritage. In other words,a strengthening of the cultural heritage perspective would be desirable for a moreefficient reproduction and management of the biocultural heritage. Also when it comes to knowledge transfer, both in the form of formal training and practice, the green partsof the biocultural heritage are often emphasized. Another problem, demonstrated inthe Biokuma project, is that the alternative food producers face a series of challengesin their business, and several of these challenges pose threats to the sustainability ofthis form of business. Something that in turn poses a threat to the reproduction of thebiocultural heritage that the alternative food producers stand for. Small-scale farming inharmony with nature is labour-intensive. The work provides societal natural and culturalenvironmental benefits for which the farmer usually does not get paid. The sales workis also often time-consuming and takes place in a variety of ways, for example throughRekoring, outdoor markets, recurring markets or food events, farm shops, egg sheds,subscription, self-picking, e-commerce, retail, own or others’ café or restaurant. Alsoby selling to processing companies and food artisans or for institutional kitchens. Thefarms can also get income from their farming in other ways, for example by renting outanimals for clearing and land preparation, as well as nature conservation work withcows in wetlands and goats at pastures.
Shielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmsteadto sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. Thispaper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland,western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area nearKårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impactare charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca.ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250,possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomeryiron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollenassemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at thebeginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sitesin Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The studyhighlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure.
This paper aims to present a recently started project about the heritage of subaltern people in Sweden. In the paper we focus on the parts of the project that concerns the rural history of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially crofters. The background to the project is the introduction of major changes in the Swedish Historic Environments Act in 2014. A radical novelty is that remains of human activity and buildings executed before AD 1850 now are legally protected sites. With this change a large number of remains, including hitherto un- or underresearched types, are to be included in heritage management, conservation and rescue archaeology. Here we present the background and starting points of the project, in order to show the potential of archaeological studies of landless subalterns in rural areas.
This paper aims to discuss subalterns in different social environments in Sweden. Thepotential of archaeological studies of landless subalterns in rural and urban areas areshown though a number of case studies. It is argued that archaeology can show themultivocality of the lives of the subalterns, in the same way as it shows how thesubalterns organized their daily life. This is done through the use of the concepts ofmatterscape, powerscape, and mindscape. The subalterns used the physical landscape(matterscape) according to prevailing norms and power structures (powerscape), thuscreating a perceptive understanding of their daily landscape (mindscape).
Det är en strävan inför framtiden att skapa en hållbar utveckling där sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska aspekter vägs mot varandra i en kontinuerlig process. I denna bok har forskare, författare och lokalt historiskt verksamma personer samlats för att ge olika perspektiv på Klarälven med omnejder som ett bidrag för skapandet av en hållbarare framtid.
Föreliggande rapport är resultaten av en förstudie inom projektet Bebyggelse och säterdrift. Förstudien syftade till en genomgång av äldre lantmäterihandlingar, kartering av sju sätrar (fäbodar) i norra Värmland och en arkeologisk provundersökning av bebyggelselämningen Skinnerud i Dalby socken i norra Värmland. Det äldre kartmaterialet användes främst för att studera olika former av utmarksbruk, främst utmarksslåtter, och strukturen på bebyggelse och sätrar i norra Värmland. Karteringarna av de sju sätrarna påvisade förekomsten av flera husgrunder av ålderdomlig karaktär, vilket indikerar att säterdriften i området kan ha en lång historia. Vid den arkeologiska provundersökningen vid Skinnerud påträffades kulturlager och anläggningar kopplade till hus, vilka daterades till sen vikingatid - tidig medeltid. Detta påvisar att en permanent bebyggelse etablerats i området betydligt tidigare än forskningen hittills antagit
In this article, we present ongoing archaeological research into Scandinavia's forested inland region, suggesting that its people and communities were socially and economically integrated into systems of trade and in close interaction with the worlds outside, as early as the first centuries of the Common Era. The article presents a range of archaeological evidence, from ca. 500 to 1400 CE, for processes of ecological globalization, manifested by the exploitation of local landscapes and the extraction of valued products that could be transformed into commodities through crafts and trade. These forested landscapes were reliant on—and also shaped by—complex social and economic relations reflecting interrelated socio-economic systems of extraction, production, and consumption. Our main argument is that these landscapes are crucial to identifying and understanding the contours of the premodern global North.
Risk management is a comparatively new, and most definitely complex, research field, combining knowledge from several other disciplines such as medicine, engineering, economics and psychology, to name a few. Consequently, risk management is important in a variety of subjects and disciplines, clearly illustrated in this festschrift. Professor Ragnar Andersson has played an important roll in not only promoting the importance of risk management and injury prevention, but also developing a deeper understanding of the field through always actively choosing a broad, multi-disciplinary perspective. In other words, he has always chosen “via spatiosa”. Or in Swedish, “den breda vägen”.
De förhållandevis sentida spåren efter de obesuttna – som torpare, backstugusittare,hantverkare och arbetare – finns överallt i jordbrukets, skogensoch städernas landskap, men har sällan uppmärksammats av den traditionellaarkeologin. Ändringen av kulturmiljölagen 2014 innebär att lämningarsom etablerats före 1850 kan vara lagskyddade vilket ger nya möjligheteratt även de obesuttnas kulturarv uppmärksammas och ges en mer framträdandeplats i historieskrivningen. I den här boken diskuteras och utvärderasmöjligheten att kombinera olika källmaterial – som skriftliga källor,kartor, inventeringar, stående byggnader och arkeologiska lämningar – föratt öka kunskapen om människors livsvillkor, boendeförhållanden och materiellalämningar från tiden omkring 1700–1900.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries there were numerous non-proprietors paupers in the Swedish countryside such as crofters, boarders and inhabitants of rural slums. With a change in the heritage legislation, increased possibilities to archaeologically investigate the non-proprietors of the recent past have emerged, but the archaeological material is still both scarce and of a repetitive character. Thus, multi source methods such as triangulation of written documents, historical maps and archaeological evidence is used to study living conditions in a number of cases. We argue for the importance of archaeology in this context, as there often are arguments against the usefulness of archaeology in a period rich in written sources. We emphasize that archaeology helps provide a more complex picture of the vulnerability and marginalization of poor and paupers. Marginalization could offer new possibilities to the poor and pauper, but also weaker security nets and increased vulnerability. The potential of archaeological studies of landless subalterns can show the multivocality of the lives of the subalterns, in the same way as it shows how the subalterns organized their daily life. We can conclude that much needs to be done on the topic of subalterns, in order to make them more visible and a mainstream topic of historical research. Archeology has a great deal to contribute in this process.
Mountain areas of Europe have been managed by humans for a long time, leading to a prevalence of semi-natural habitats in mountain landscapes today. These landscapes contain both natural and cultural heritage; however, natural and cultural heritage are rarely considered together when valuing landscapes and developing management plans in protected areas. Here we present a case study of seven protected areas in the mountains of Great Britain and Norway. We take a long-term perspective on landscape and land-use change and propose an integrated model of landscape valuation on the basis of combined natural and cultural heritage. Our model plots indicators of natural and cultural heritage along a gradient of land-use intensity, allowing simultaneous assessment and highlighting how valuation depends on what type of heritage is considered. We show that while contemporary land-use changes follow similar trajectories in Norway and Britain, different land-use histories mean that the loss of heritage differs between the regions. The model presented here thus allows for the consolidation of valuation based on both cultural and natural heritage in landscapes
This article focuses on the everyday life of ordinary households, their behaviour and responsibility with regard to environmental and sustainability issues. Previous research has shown that there is a gap between what households perceive as ideologically correct behaviour and what they actually do. It is argued here that socio-cultural dispositions, material culture and collective action need to be included in future strategies for creating more sustainable lifestyles. The investigation is based on a study of families participating in a year-long project in which the families learned to live in a more environmentally friendly way. In the study of the families, material culture interacted with routines, family relations and citizenship in a reproducing manner. The lifestyle changes were gender-biased, with the women as driving forces but also bearing most of the extra workload. From early life experiences, garbage sorting stood out as an especially powerful tool for a change towards more sustainable lifestyles.
During the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages (c. 9th-13th centuries), outland-using peasants in the hilly and forested areas of inner Scandinavia were making a good living by producing commodities for sale in external markets. Some were using the outland intensively, relying on commodity production. Others used the outland extensively in diverse ways and balanced with agrarian activities. Trade networks broke down in the 13th century, and intensive outland-using peasants had to restructure their economy, placing greater emphasis on cereal cultivation and cattle breeding. The extensive outland-using peasants did not restructure their economy in the same way. The Late Medieval Agrarian Crisis with the Black Death brought death and the desertion of farmsteads. However, permanent desertion of settlements was not noticeable in intensive outland-using communities, whereas there are far more deserted settlements in extensive outland-using communities. These communities were less resilient than the intensive outland-using communities, who had built new capacities when restructuring the economy. Many of the deserted settlements appear to have come under the ownership of the vicarages, the only agents of feudalism in the investigated areas. Crisis feudalism appears to have been an important factor in permanent desertion after the Late Medieval Agrarian Crisis.
The driving force behind agrarian settlement colonisation in the forested Scandinavian inlands in the centuries around or after AD appears to have been the hunt for luxury commodities traded to the elites, such as furs. The settlement colonisation was carried out through an innovation package encompassing farmstead – shieling – outland use, due to limited natural conditions suitable for agriculture. During the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages in the area investigated in this chapter, Northern Värmland, there was extensive pitfall hunting and production of bloomery iron aimed at an external market. When the market broke down in the High Middle Ages, the forest peasants increased the agrarian outland use and the local self-subsistence economy. In particular shielings, seasonally used sites for cattle breeding, hay making, and occasionally some cereal cultivation in the outland have proven to have been adaptable and flexible key enablers for sustainable local communities.However, pollen analyses have shown that cereal cultivation was the major land use at some historically known shieling sites, and had been so since their founding in the Early to Middle Iron Age, c. AD 0‑400. Although cereal cultivation was present on most shielings, and there were fields for outland cereal cultivation, these most often date to the second half of the Middle Ages and early modern times, and were part of the increased agrarian outland use that took place after the collapse of the market for outland commodities. In this chapter it is therefore argued that the finds of substantial cereal cultivation from the time of agrarian settlement colonisation in the Early to Middle Iron Age at some historically known shieling sites point either to outland cereal cultivation being another component of the settlement colonisation innovation package, or that the settlement colonisation could be staged through a system of satellite farmsteads.
Boreal inland Scandinavia is today a sparsely populated,and in many aspects marginalised, area. Butinterdisciplinary investigations into the past has challengedthe picture of marginality. Especially archaeologyand palaeobotany have showed that the forestpeasants used the many resources of the forested outlandsfor establishing innovative solutions for agrarianpractices, for a versatile economy, and for producingcommodities for a market. During the first centuriesAD the Scandinavian inlands saw a resource colonisation,including hunt for luxury products such as furs.In the 8th and 9th centuries, large scale commodity productionof everyday goods, such as bloomery iron,took off in many areas.The market conditions deteriorated for outlandbased commodity products starting in the 13th century.An increased royal and elite control of marketplacesand trade, together with competition from newproducts developed due to new technologies, lay behindthe downturn. The collapse of commodity productionand trade required a reorganisation of thelocal economies, which were geared more towards ahigher degree of agrarian self-subsistence, especiallycattle breeding. However, for some regions in inlandScandinavia, trade opportunities survived and werecontinuously used by the forest peasants and no reorganisationwas required.The late medieval crisis from the 14th century hadregionally different impact. Communities having reorganisedafter the collapse of the trade networksappear to have been more resilient, and little impactof the late medieval agrarian crisis is detectable. Inthe region of Jämtland there was a large scale desertionof rural settlements, which were kept desertedas the landowning peasants shared the land in betweenthem in order to control the resources, and to increase cattle breeding. In the late middle ages andearly modern times, livestock became a new commoditywhen the forest peasants traded cattle to the MiningDistricts.
Two tendencies that appear to have been relevant for most parts of Europe. First, there was a general process of increased spatial segregation in the High and Late Middle Ages within the homes and work places of the different social groups or estates. The spatial segregation included both different social groups and genders, and homes and work places were increasingly constructed to increase female seclusion. Especially in elite environments female seclusion added to aristocratic justifications of their rank in their competition with the rising bourgeoisie. Second, while there were pronounced ideologies regarding how gender should be enacted at home in different social contexts, realities contested these ideologies. As there were many ways of dealing with reality, it is likely that there existed competing conceptions for how gendred behavior should play out when confronted with real life challenges. In daily life, women transgressed increased spatial segregation when they worked in the fields, herded cattle, performed handicrafts, practiced (small-scale) trade, and defended castles. Instead of a clear dichotomy of public equals men and private equals women, there were hybrid ways of gendering life.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of heritage and participation to sustainable development in a postindustrial context. Special attention is paid to the problematic fields of attractiveness, growth and participation. New ways of working this field are called for. Design/methodology/approach – The study relies on retrospectiveparticipatory observation, citizen participation and document analysis. Findings – There is a complex relationship between experts and citizens/participants, and heritage and history are considered to be domains of experts. Therefore heritage projects have problems surviving the exodus of experts. Heritage is not perceived as asset for building new businesses by most citizens, but as values “out there”. Heritage may function as a meeting place, attracting different groups of people, but there are complex mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. A model and a method are put forward for uniting experts and citizens, and driving the integration of heritage in other sectors of society to create innovative sustainability processes. Research limitations/implications – A single case study, taking place under special conditions. However, both the results and the context correspond well with similar studies. Practical implications – Furthering of integration of heritage management and antiquarian actions in other societal sectors. Social implications – More stable networks of citizens/stakeholders and antiquarians. Originality/value – A fairly large project involving a multitude of stakeholders and societal interests.