Books by Magnus O. Ljunge
Dalarnas vikingatid, 2024
Dalarnas vikingatid har varit ett arkeologiskt studieområde sedan slutet av 1800-talet då de förs... more Dalarnas vikingatid har varit ett arkeologiskt studieområde sedan slutet av 1800-talet då de första inventeringarna och småskaliga utgrävningarna genomfördes. Under 1900-talet följde fördjupade forskningsinsatser, främst med fokus på landskapets gravförekomster samt lämningar av järnframställning. En bild som tidigt etableras i historien om Dalarnas järnålder och vikingatid är en uppdelning mellan de sydöstra delarna av länet och de nordliga och västliga skogsområdena. Baserat på jämförelser med fornminnesbilden i Mälardalen beskrivs tidigt slättlandet kring Dalälven i sydost som ett centralområde under vikingatiden. Skogsområdena norr och väster om Tuna- och Siljansbygderna har behandlats mer som en utmark, nyttjade för jakt, fiske och järnframställning. De senaste tjugo åren har antalet uppdragsarkeologiska insatser i Dalarnas län ökat. Ny forskning har gett en mer nyanserad bild av människors rörelser och uppehälle i skogsområdena, samt visat hur inlandets resurser spelade en central roll för samhällsutvecklingen under järnåldern och medeltiden. Syftet med den här skriften är att ge en översiktlig introduktion till studiet av vikingatiden, samt ge en generell bild av perioden och hur den framträder i Dalarna.
Alla dessa föremål. En handbok om flytt av museala samlingar, 2023
Boken syftar till att lyfta, diskutera och ge vägledning till alla de verksamheter som på ett ell... more Boken syftar till att lyfta, diskutera och ge vägledning till alla de verksamheter som på ett eller annat sätt berörs av en museal samlingsflytt. Boken ger inblickar i det museala arbetet med samlingar och syftar till att skapa förståelse för vikten och värdet av samlingsförvaltning även hos målgrupper som inte arbetar aktivt inom museisektorn. För museitjänstemän, antikvarier och andra som är verksamma inom museal organisation, kan handboken utgöra ett aktivt stöd i arbetet med att initiera, planera och genomföra en samlingsflytt. Både i praktisk bemärkelse, och i relation till mer övergripande principiella
frågor som rör den museala samlingens förvaltning och betydelse.
Metalldetektering inom arkeologi och forskning, 2020
Metall i form av föremål, mynt och slaggprodukter är ett viktigt arkeologiskt källmaterial. Det ä... more Metall i form av föremål, mynt och slaggprodukter är ett viktigt arkeologiskt källmaterial. Det är en källa till förståelse av allt från handel, rituella aktiviteter, hantverk och smide till konstruktionen av identiteter i det förflutna. Som material betraktat har metall även egenskaper som gör det tekniskt möjligt att spåra den under jord genom metalldetektering. Kunskapen om kulturarvet kan ökas och fördjupas genom samarbete med de entusiaster som utövar metalldetektering som hobby. Dessvärre motverkar regleringen av metalldetektering en sådan utveckling. Därför tog Örebro läns museum initiativ till ett seminarium kring hur samarbetet mellan metalldetekterare, arkeologer och forskare kan utvecklas. Texterna i antologin är en rapport från detta tillfälle, och belyser på olika sätt möjligheterna en ökad samverkan ger samt behovet av förändrade attityder. Samverkan med personer som vill använda metalldetektor, för att söka efter spår av forntida människor, har två syften. För det första att på ett ordnat sätt öka den arkeologiska kunskapen om det förflutna, för det andra att ge både metallsökarentusiaster och allmänhet en direktkontakt med forntiden. Vår förhoppning är att boken ger konstruktiva uppslag för att realisera dessa syften.
From grave-goods as ’personal possessions’ to debates about ’who owns the past?’, concepts of own... more From grave-goods as ’personal possessions’ to debates about ’who owns the past?’, concepts of ownership pervade archaeology. This anthology makes the case that, although the language of owning is so widespread that it passes unquestioned, it causes us to make fundamental assumptions about what humans and objects are and how they interact.
Papers explore the breadth of ownership in archaeological interpretations, from a tight sense of conferring certain rights and responsibilities, to a mechanism by which identity and values are transferred between persons and objects, to a broader sense of belonging to a group, period, or place. Topics range from Iron Age tattooing to Viking social valuables, from Roman taste to Anglo-Saxon grave robbery, and from Bronze Age rock art to modern folk rituals.
The thesis revolves around the central question of how pre-historic images were meaningful. The f... more The thesis revolves around the central question of how pre-historic images were meaningful. The focus is put on the material image, with the aim to discuss the meaning of south Scandinavian rock art as a relation between materiality, people and places. The empirical focus consists of the south Scandinavian rock art tradition, with a deepened analysis of the rock art area around the river Motala Ström, in south east Sweden. Initially, a connection between the practice of illustrating rock art and the interpretation of its meaning is presented as characteristic for previous research. The ambition to depict rock art as exactly as possible, has led to an archaeological focus on depiction as the primarily meaning of the images. An outlook, consisting of a historical and theoretical perspective on images, shows that the symbolic meaning of depiction cannot be presumed as most valid per se.
Books in English by Magnus O. Ljunge
Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2010
During the last few decades, there has been an immense global interest among archaeologists and a... more During the last few decades, there has been an immense global interest among archaeologists and anthropologists in studying rock art. Research in northern Europe, as elsewhere, has intensely explored a manifold number of methodological and theoretical perspectives. Most of these studies however, have been published in languages that seldom reach beyond the native speakers of Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Russian or Finnish. Changing Pictures is the result of a workshop held at Linneaus University Sweden in 2008, whose main movitation is to try and apprise some of the current movements within this field of research and present it for an international audience.
These papers explore the relevance of older ideas, such as notions about prehistoric religion, ritual performance, sympathetic magic, animism and totemism, the mindscapes of landscapes etc., as well as the present `state of the art' in order to develop a broader understanding of the phenomenon we call rock art. This aspiration can be seen as a common thread, linking the different chapters in this book. Saying that, some, if not all, of the articles presented in this volume challenge the notion of `rock art' itself. They argue that sometimes the rock, the `canvas', and the rather intangible but equally important sensual encounters-such as sound, echoes, touch, temporal phenomenological changes and the perception of decorated rock art panels - should be regarded as at least as important as the `art' itself.
By reassessing traditional approaches to Scandinavian rock art and creatively reworking these ideas, whilst also addressing significant new concepts such as the agency of rock and the performativity of rock art, this anthology of papers offers not only a snapshot of current debates, but also reflects pivotal changes in the study of rock art.
Papers by Magnus O. Ljunge
Samla på Dalarna, 2024
Vad kännetecknar ett antikvariskt samlande? Det är frågan som på ett eller annat sätt undersöks i... more Vad kännetecknar ett antikvariskt samlande? Det är frågan som på ett eller annat sätt undersöks i bokens alla kapitel. Intressant nog varierar svarets innehåll i relation till tidpunkt, plats och fokus för samlandet. En minsta gemensam nämnare finns dock för musealt samlande i alla tider: ambitionen att det som samlas in ska bevaras för framtiden. Museala samlingar kan se ut nästan hur som helst. De kan bestå av kulturella kategorier som exempelvis konst eller spegla någon specifik tidsperiod.
Fokus för detta kapitel är att teckna en historisk bakgrund till upprättandet av de breda kulturhistoriska samlingar som till exempel förvaltas av länsmuseerna. Dessa samlingar kan kallas universalsamlingar: de innehåller allt som ansetts kulturhistoriskt intressant inom en specifik geografisk avgränsning.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
The archaeological evidence of a sedentary hunter-gatherer society during the early metal ages, i... more The archaeological evidence of a sedentary hunter-gatherer society during the early metal ages, i.e. the first and second millennia bce, in the central Scandinavian boreal inlands has previously been overlooked. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these past societies we have combined archaeological data with landscape-scale changes based on pollen records. The combined record clearly indicates landscape use characterized by domestication strategies that started during the Late Bronze Age ca. 1000 bce and further intensified during the Early Iron Age. Indications of cultivation of plants, as well as possible burning practices to clear shrub and forest, clearly show that arable farming and grazing were practiced in the area earlier than had previously been assumed. The farming economy seems to have involved mainly small scale arable farming. Fishing and hunting continued to be important, but the investment in the landscape shown by both pitfall systems and agriculture also exp...
Bergsbrukets tider: från medeltid, via samtid, mot framtid, 2024
Artikeln behandlar kulturarvets emotionella relevans, med fokus på bergsbrukets lämningar kring N... more Artikeln behandlar kulturarvets emotionella relevans, med fokus på bergsbrukets lämningar kring Noraskog. Den estetiska kvalitén hos det övergivna kan i sina stunder skapa upplevelser som liknande de konst, musik och litteratur gör. Mötet med ruinerade lämningar innebär reflektioner kring det att vara människa i en föränderlig värld. Bergsbrukets lämningar är i vissa avseenden lämningar av kriser. Minnet av storhetstiderna ligger dolt i dess ruiner. Men bland hyttrester, slaggvarp, och längs gruvhålens kanter, kryllar det liv.
Sommarens surrande insekter, höstens kantareller och vårvinterns första blommor. Som alla innerliga konstupplevelser bjuder upplevelsen av kulturarvet på många lager av känslor.
In: Life and afterlife in the Nordic Bronze Age (eds Tornberg, A., Svensson, A. & Apel, J), pp. 11-26. , 2022
Research dealing with the Scandinavian Bronze Age period has often been related to the notion of ... more Research dealing with the Scandinavian Bronze Age period has often been related to the notion of a society organized around metal trade, both in terms of social organization and networks. The central area for this development has been located to the southernmost parts of Scandinavia. However, the rich southern material in the form of a combination of metals, monumental mounds and longhouses is not relatable to most other parts of the Nordic area. In this paper we outline a study of several co-existing Bronze Ages, with the purpose of understanding the distribution and chronology of the vast and varied archaeological record
of the Nordic area without any reference to a central area in the south. We argue for the possibility of studying Bronze Age movements, contacts, networks, and social organization directly based on the archaeological material at hand, rather than in relation to the norm set by the southern Bronze Age paradigm. This enables possibilities of studying intersections
of archaeological material that change in relation to both time and space.
Journal of contemporary Archaeology, 2021
Between the late nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century numerous ski-jumping towers were built ... more Between the late nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century numerous ski-jumping towers were built all across Sweden. This accumulation of large, monumental sporting facilities occurred even though ski jumping never attracted large numbers of practitioners. The building of such towers in the southern and central parts of Sweden, where snowy winters are far from guaranteed, is of particular interest. Today, most of the ski-jumping towers in the southern half of Sweden have been torn down, but they have left a hidden and forgotten material heritage. This paper examines the abandoned places of ski jumping, where fragmented material remains give witness to a phenomenon that once was of central importance in shaping and expressing ideals and social identities in the modernization of Sweden. The ski jumps became arenas for a new and spectacular sport that drew large crowds, but they also became landmarks and monuments of progress and prosperity in the new modern age.
Göteborg 400 år. Platser med historia, 2021
In: Henrik Alexandersson & Maria Persson (red.). Göteborg 400 år: platser med historia. Göteborgs... more In: Henrik Alexandersson & Maria Persson (red.). Göteborg 400 år: platser med historia. Göteborgs fornminnesförening, pp. 77-85.
Metalldetektering inom arkeologi och forskning, 2020
Ting av metaller är ett källmaterial som återfinns i många olika arkeologiska sammanhang. Liksom ... more Ting av metaller är ett källmaterial som återfinns i många olika arkeologiska sammanhang. Liksom keramik eller föremål av stenmaterial återfinns de i gravar och på boplatser och så klart i form av lösfynd. Traditionellt har metallföremål inte lyfts som ett arkeologiskt massmaterial på samma sätt som till exempel keramik, vilken ofta återfinns i stora mängder vid arkeologiska utgrävningar. Metallen har dock alltid haft en speciell status i antikvariska (och arkeologiska) sammanhang. Ett skäl till detta är givetvis metallens ekonomiska värde, då främst värdet av ädelmetaller. Belöningssystemet, där allmänheten kan ”växla” in arkeologiska fynd av ädelmetall mot ersättning som motsvarar metallvärdet, har en lång historia. Bruket av metalldetektor visar alltjämt att stora mängder metallföremål förblir oupptäckta av olika anledningar. Ur en forskares perspektiv innebär detta en hittills outforskad potential hos ett dolt källmaterial. Frågan om ett allmänt detekterande sätter fingret på två principiella utmaningar i relation till det arkeologiska källmaterialet. Den ena är av antikvarisk natur och relaterar till vem som tillåts dokumentera och samla in fyndmaterial, men även hur kulturarvet bäst skyddas och bevaras. Den andra relaterar till en grundläggande syn på hur ett arkeologiskt material är av betydelse och hur det skall förstås.
Primitive tider Nr 20 (2018), 2018
During the great wars, the remains of hundreds of killed soldiers ended up on Swedish territory. ... more During the great wars, the remains of hundreds of killed soldiers ended up on Swedish territory. They were either sailors, killed in battles at sea and taken by currents to the Swedish coast, or shot down pilots. When discovered, the remains were buried at local cemeteries. During the 1960s a process of re-burial was initiated, and close to 500 bodies was moved to a cemetery at Kviberg in the city of Gothenburg. Two war cemeteries were created, separating German soldiers from soldiers that served in the Commonwealth.
In this paper we address the materiality and spatiality of the two war cemeteries in order to understand how these war graves take part in commemoration practices, and also how they create and manifest post-war narratives of the area of the great wars. Starting at the perceived differences in the setting and design of the two cemeteries, we argue that visitors of the war graves encounter a feeling of being close to global historic events. The war graves materialize abstract narratives of great histories at a micro-level in a place far away from the actual conflicts. Simultaneously, the war graves manifest post-war national identities that has very little to do with the individuals buried in the graves or the geographical context of their setting.
In: Current Swedish Archaeology, Vol. 16
The paper presents a reflective overview of the recursi... more In: Current Swedish Archaeology, Vol. 16
The paper presents a reflective overview of the recursive relation between the archaeological practice of picturing Scandinavian rock art in printed works since the mid-19th century, and how archaeologists have constructed its meaning. There seem to be an intimate connection between graphic representations of rock art and an interpretative bias
towards the mimetic qualities of images. When picturing rock art, the identification of motifs is prioritized at the expense of the materiality of rock art. Ultimately, the production of graphic representations
has influenced the antiquarian alteration of the archaeological remains. Today, major Scandinavian rock art sites are frequently painted red, with the purpose of highlighting the engraved imagery for visitor legibility. This practice transforms the materiality of stone into a visual language of graphic representations.
Tidens landskap. En vänbok till Anders Andrén., 2019
In: Own and be owned. Archaeological approaches to the concept of possession. Eds: Klevnäs, A. & ... more In: Own and be owned. Archaeological approaches to the concept of possession. Eds: Klevnäs, A. & Hedenstierna-Jonson, C. Stockholm: Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 62, pages 133-156.
Finskt Museum, 2017
During the first half of the 20th century, a large quantity of ski jumps was raised in all parts ... more During the first half of the 20th century, a large quantity of ski jumps was raised in all parts of Sweden. Despite the fact that Swedish ski jumping never reached any international success in mayor sporting events, ski jumping was a popular public event all over the country, attended by crowds of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. At present, ski jumping is marginalized as a sport in Sweden, but the material heritage of ski jumping tower lives on in the landscape in the form of hidden and fragmented material remains. The heritage of ski jumping has the potential of shedding light on the history of modern, industrialist Sweden in an alternative manner. By studying the remains at sites used for ski jumping, the paper examines how the monumental arenas functioned as a materialization of ideals connected to progress, modernity and constructed local and regional collective identities.
Scandinavian rock art has been of major interest for archaeological studies of a phenomenological... more Scandinavian rock art has been of major interest for archaeological studies of a phenomenological character. By reflecting on the experience of rock art it has been argued that images choreograph movement and that this embodied interaction reflects both social order and world views. This perspective has been applied in studies of both open-air rock art and images in the confined spaces of caves. When critically evaluating these efforts, it seems clear that these phenomenological studies reduce rock art to a mere representation of the experience of place. Phenomenology also fails to challenge the assumption that the meaning of images is created primarily by the intentions of its creator. It is therefore suggested that, in order to discuss the experience of images as meaningful, we need to develop the phenomenological theory of embodiment into a material phenomenology. This material turn enables us to problematize the relationship between intentionality and the meaning of images, which could lead to a perspective where rock art affects both the experience of place and of landscape and the creation of new images. Consequently, an archaeology of images should treat rock art as an expression which creates and maintains practices and relations with places and landscapes.
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Books by Magnus O. Ljunge
frågor som rör den museala samlingens förvaltning och betydelse.
Papers explore the breadth of ownership in archaeological interpretations, from a tight sense of conferring certain rights and responsibilities, to a mechanism by which identity and values are transferred between persons and objects, to a broader sense of belonging to a group, period, or place. Topics range from Iron Age tattooing to Viking social valuables, from Roman taste to Anglo-Saxon grave robbery, and from Bronze Age rock art to modern folk rituals.
Books in English by Magnus O. Ljunge
These papers explore the relevance of older ideas, such as notions about prehistoric religion, ritual performance, sympathetic magic, animism and totemism, the mindscapes of landscapes etc., as well as the present `state of the art' in order to develop a broader understanding of the phenomenon we call rock art. This aspiration can be seen as a common thread, linking the different chapters in this book. Saying that, some, if not all, of the articles presented in this volume challenge the notion of `rock art' itself. They argue that sometimes the rock, the `canvas', and the rather intangible but equally important sensual encounters-such as sound, echoes, touch, temporal phenomenological changes and the perception of decorated rock art panels - should be regarded as at least as important as the `art' itself.
By reassessing traditional approaches to Scandinavian rock art and creatively reworking these ideas, whilst also addressing significant new concepts such as the agency of rock and the performativity of rock art, this anthology of papers offers not only a snapshot of current debates, but also reflects pivotal changes in the study of rock art.
Papers by Magnus O. Ljunge
Fokus för detta kapitel är att teckna en historisk bakgrund till upprättandet av de breda kulturhistoriska samlingar som till exempel förvaltas av länsmuseerna. Dessa samlingar kan kallas universalsamlingar: de innehåller allt som ansetts kulturhistoriskt intressant inom en specifik geografisk avgränsning.
Sommarens surrande insekter, höstens kantareller och vårvinterns första blommor. Som alla innerliga konstupplevelser bjuder upplevelsen av kulturarvet på många lager av känslor.
of the Nordic area without any reference to a central area in the south. We argue for the possibility of studying Bronze Age movements, contacts, networks, and social organization directly based on the archaeological material at hand, rather than in relation to the norm set by the southern Bronze Age paradigm. This enables possibilities of studying intersections
of archaeological material that change in relation to both time and space.
In this paper we address the materiality and spatiality of the two war cemeteries in order to understand how these war graves take part in commemoration practices, and also how they create and manifest post-war narratives of the area of the great wars. Starting at the perceived differences in the setting and design of the two cemeteries, we argue that visitors of the war graves encounter a feeling of being close to global historic events. The war graves materialize abstract narratives of great histories at a micro-level in a place far away from the actual conflicts. Simultaneously, the war graves manifest post-war national identities that has very little to do with the individuals buried in the graves or the geographical context of their setting.
The paper presents a reflective overview of the recursive relation between the archaeological practice of picturing Scandinavian rock art in printed works since the mid-19th century, and how archaeologists have constructed its meaning. There seem to be an intimate connection between graphic representations of rock art and an interpretative bias
towards the mimetic qualities of images. When picturing rock art, the identification of motifs is prioritized at the expense of the materiality of rock art. Ultimately, the production of graphic representations
has influenced the antiquarian alteration of the archaeological remains. Today, major Scandinavian rock art sites are frequently painted red, with the purpose of highlighting the engraved imagery for visitor legibility. This practice transforms the materiality of stone into a visual language of graphic representations.
frågor som rör den museala samlingens förvaltning och betydelse.
Papers explore the breadth of ownership in archaeological interpretations, from a tight sense of conferring certain rights and responsibilities, to a mechanism by which identity and values are transferred between persons and objects, to a broader sense of belonging to a group, period, or place. Topics range from Iron Age tattooing to Viking social valuables, from Roman taste to Anglo-Saxon grave robbery, and from Bronze Age rock art to modern folk rituals.
These papers explore the relevance of older ideas, such as notions about prehistoric religion, ritual performance, sympathetic magic, animism and totemism, the mindscapes of landscapes etc., as well as the present `state of the art' in order to develop a broader understanding of the phenomenon we call rock art. This aspiration can be seen as a common thread, linking the different chapters in this book. Saying that, some, if not all, of the articles presented in this volume challenge the notion of `rock art' itself. They argue that sometimes the rock, the `canvas', and the rather intangible but equally important sensual encounters-such as sound, echoes, touch, temporal phenomenological changes and the perception of decorated rock art panels - should be regarded as at least as important as the `art' itself.
By reassessing traditional approaches to Scandinavian rock art and creatively reworking these ideas, whilst also addressing significant new concepts such as the agency of rock and the performativity of rock art, this anthology of papers offers not only a snapshot of current debates, but also reflects pivotal changes in the study of rock art.
Fokus för detta kapitel är att teckna en historisk bakgrund till upprättandet av de breda kulturhistoriska samlingar som till exempel förvaltas av länsmuseerna. Dessa samlingar kan kallas universalsamlingar: de innehåller allt som ansetts kulturhistoriskt intressant inom en specifik geografisk avgränsning.
Sommarens surrande insekter, höstens kantareller och vårvinterns första blommor. Som alla innerliga konstupplevelser bjuder upplevelsen av kulturarvet på många lager av känslor.
of the Nordic area without any reference to a central area in the south. We argue for the possibility of studying Bronze Age movements, contacts, networks, and social organization directly based on the archaeological material at hand, rather than in relation to the norm set by the southern Bronze Age paradigm. This enables possibilities of studying intersections
of archaeological material that change in relation to both time and space.
In this paper we address the materiality and spatiality of the two war cemeteries in order to understand how these war graves take part in commemoration practices, and also how they create and manifest post-war narratives of the area of the great wars. Starting at the perceived differences in the setting and design of the two cemeteries, we argue that visitors of the war graves encounter a feeling of being close to global historic events. The war graves materialize abstract narratives of great histories at a micro-level in a place far away from the actual conflicts. Simultaneously, the war graves manifest post-war national identities that has very little to do with the individuals buried in the graves or the geographical context of their setting.
The paper presents a reflective overview of the recursive relation between the archaeological practice of picturing Scandinavian rock art in printed works since the mid-19th century, and how archaeologists have constructed its meaning. There seem to be an intimate connection between graphic representations of rock art and an interpretative bias
towards the mimetic qualities of images. When picturing rock art, the identification of motifs is prioritized at the expense of the materiality of rock art. Ultimately, the production of graphic representations
has influenced the antiquarian alteration of the archaeological remains. Today, major Scandinavian rock art sites are frequently painted red, with the purpose of highlighting the engraved imagery for visitor legibility. This practice transforms the materiality of stone into a visual language of graphic representations.