Doctoral Thesis by Anna Sörman
Sörman, A. (2018) Gjutningens arenor: Metallhantverkets rumsliga, sociala och politiska organisation i södra Skandinavien under bronsåldern. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology; 75. Stockholm University., 2018
Production and use of metalwork in southern Scandinavia during the Bronze Age (1700-500 BC) has a... more Production and use of metalwork in southern Scandinavia during the Bronze Age (1700-500 BC) has above all been attributed to emerging elites. That bronze was a source and medium for social power is evident from its use in sociopolitical and ritual spheres, the multiple skills and elaborate aesthetics involved in its crafting, and arena for influence and control offered by the acquisition of metals through long-distance
exchange. Bronze crafting is often assumed to have been organized at two levels: elite-controlled prestige goods production at centralised workshop sites, set against widespread (controlled or independent) production of utility objects in common households. However, this model is inferred from a functionalist view of finished goods (utility versus prestige) and inspired by anthropological theories, rather than from the material remains of production itself. With evidence of metalworking practices now rapidly increasing due to large-scale contract archaeology, it has become evident that these concepts and interpretations need to be reassessed.
The aim of this thesis is to develop our understanding of craft organisation through investigation of physical casting sites. Mould and crucible fragments, and their spatial relation to contemporary buildings and other activities, form the main focus of the analysis. I argue that most ceramic casting debris indicates casting loci, and was deposited as secondary waste, or accumulated immediately at the production site. Special, ritual treatment of casting debris is absent, with the exception of complete moulds occasionally found as house offerings in Late Bronze Age longhouses. The Mälar Valley area of eastern Sweden, an area which has seen particularly intensive archaeological excavation in recent decades, is selected for an in-depth case study, followed by comparisons with other regions of southern Scandinavia. These data demonstrate that bronzes were cast at most, if not all, settlements during the mid-late Bronze Age. Metalworking also occurred at small single farms; a production argued to be dependent on visiting specialists.
The results reveal a complex, user-oriented and multi-tiered craft organisation from Period III onwards. A distinction between prestigious versus utility objects did not structure production. Instead, the organisation and staging of bronze working was shaped by various social roles of the items produced. Rather than special workshop areas, castings were spatially oriented towards future owners. Prestige objects were manufactured in both longhouses and cult-houses within larger settlement complexes, in settings related to the status and gender of their intended users. Further, metalworking often appeared in central and highly visible settings, suggesting it had the character of a performance. I therefore propose that casting – the most dramatic event in the bronze-crafting sequence – was exploited in public or semi-public rituals. Taking into account the social projects and motifs behind new objects, castings were probably linked to transformations such as initiations, inaugurations or establishment of new households. Thus, metalworking played an active and conspicuous role in social reproduction at various levels and arenas in the decentralised, heterarchical societies of Bronze Age southern Scandinavia.
Casting spaces: the spatial, social and political organisation of metalworking in southern Scandinavia during the Bronze Age [Gjutningens arenor: metallhantverkets rumsliga, sociala och politiska organisation i södra Skandinavien under bronsåldern], 2018
Papers by Anna Sörman
Norwegian Archaeological Review, 2022
This paper explores the use of iron in the Late Bronze Age and the earliest Iron Age (c. 1100–300... more This paper explores the use of iron in the Late Bronze Age and the earliest Iron Age (c. 1100–300 BC) in south-eastern Sweden, with a focus on the final Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age I. The aim is to study how early iron was used, valued and perceived, particularly in relation to pre-existing bronze and gold. Choosing iron for certain object types, such as dress attributes and arm rings, and in key symbols, notably the spiral, suggests an appreciation for its metallic shine and colour in contrast to bronze. This silvery lustre was in some cases exploited intentionally, and may sometimes have been associated with the moon in a celestial mythology. The lunar connection might have been accentuated by the origin of iron from bodies of water, which were surrounded by strong beliefs and were often the focus of sacrificial depositions in this period. The qualities sought after in iron during the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition were in some ways different from those appreciated later in Iron Age and historical times. It is necessary to further consider early iron in its contemporary setting without comparison to the ‘successful’ adaptation in the late Pre-Roman Iron Age onwards.
Current Swedish Archaeology , 2019
Traces of bronze casting - fragmented moulds and crucibles - frequently occur at Late Bronze Age ... more Traces of bronze casting - fragmented moulds and crucibles - frequently occur at Late Bronze Age settlements. These traces are often assumed to represent utilitarian domestic production, in contrast to more specialised workshop production at ritual or elite locations. Moreover, settlements have usually been reduced to overall production units, while actual arrangements for bronze casting within sites have remained unexplored. The aim of this paper is to provide new insight into the organization of metalworking from an empirical and 'bottom up' perspective by examining the spatial and social contexts of bronze casting. The analysis draws on ten excavated sites in southeastern Sweden and addresses three spatial levels: site, setting and framing. The study shows that domestic arenas often hosted varied and complex metalworking staged at various indoor and outdoor hearths located in the core areas of settlements. Rather than being conceptualized as levels, the organization of Late Bronze Age metalworking was a multifaceted, communicative and user-oriented practice. These insights have consequences for excavation methods as well as for the interpretation of the role of metalworking in society.
The excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement at Rambodal, just outside the city of Norrköping, ... more The excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement at Rambodal, just outside the city of Norrköping, has provided interesting evidence for Bronze Age metalworking, including the third Bronze Age stone casting mould found to date in the county of Östergötland. The settlement consisted of a single farm with dates from Per. V of the Bronze Age to the earliest Iron Age. In addition to high-quality ceramics, the settlement yielded several traces of bronze casting, such as a copper melt and part of a soapstone mould for a small socketed axe, probably dating to Per. VI. Soapstone moulds are rarely found at settlement sites. The find provides interesting data for discussions of the molds’ use contexts. The evidence for small-scale household metal- working at a minor farmstead like Rambodal holds significant potential for future research on the spread and organisation of this craft.
Per Nilsson, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
Anna Sörman, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
Book Sections by Anna Sörman
Sörman, A., Noterman, A.A. & Fjellström, M. (eds) 2023. Broken Bodies, Places and Objects: New Perspectives on Fragmentation in Archaeology. Routledge. pp. 1-22., 2023
This introduction provides an overview of fragments and fragmentation in archaeology, aiming to m... more This introduction provides an overview of fragments and fragmentation in archaeology, aiming to map out a field that has rarely been subjected to synthesising efforts. First, it presents a background, taking John Chapman’s publication of ‘Fragmentation in Archaeology’ in 2000 as a starting point. It then moves on to explore issues within the wide range of perspectives on fragmented materials and fragmentation that have emerged during recent decades. Four themes where the archaeology of fragmentation has proven particularly creative are discussed: the ontological and existential character of fragments; fragmentation and the human body; methodological considerations regarding fragmented materials and their properties; and finally, the links between fragmentation studies and relational perspectives currently influencing many areas of archaeological thinking. Overall, it also gives an approach to the other contributions in this volume and places them in their theoretical and methodological context. Concluding reflections highlight some wider aspects of fragments as part of ever-changing assemblages, as well as the role of fragmentation as a means of embracing the complexity of past remains.
Sörman, A., Noterman, A.A. & Fjellström, M. (eds) 2023. Broken Bodies, Places and Objects: New Perspectives on Fragmentation in Archaeology. Routledge. pp. 259-273., 2023
Large quantities of hoarded metalwork were intentionally buried or drowned in landscapes througho... more Large quantities of hoarded metalwork were intentionally buried or drowned in landscapes throughout Bronze Age Europe. In Late Bronze Age (c. 1100–500 BCE) southern Scandinavia, like elsewhere, a significant part of the bronze objects deposited in hoards are broken. Depositions dominated by fragments are often called ‘scrap hoards’. Traditionally, these have been understood as raw material stocks for recycling or trade, but investigations in other regions have complicated this picture and hinted at their values and meanings beyond commodification. This study discusses a small selection of such hoards from modern-day Sweden, raising issues of temporality, the object types represented and properties of the fragments included. The results show that some object types were more often subjected to fragmentation than others, and that most fragments are recognizable, meaning that they can be attributed to the original object type. Some hoarded ‘scrap’ could probably be understood as memorabilia – a medium allowing for strategic reuse and manipulation of legacies, ancestry and prestige in Late Bronze Age communities. These observations open for new questions regarding the value, use and curation of broken bronzes in the Nordic Bronze Age, and also stimulate wider questions about the different properties of fragments from different types of wholes.
Valdés, L., Cicolani, V. & Hiriart, E. (eds) Matières premières en Europe au 1er Millénaire av. n. è. Exploitation, transformation, diffusion, Actes du 45e colloque de l’AFEAF. Actes du 45e colloque de l’AFEAF. Collection AFEAF (5). Paris: AFEAF, pp. 453–456., 2023
In 1936 an intriguing deposition dating to the Bronze Age - Iron Age transition (ca 600-500 BC) w... more In 1936 an intriguing deposition dating to the Bronze Age - Iron Age transition (ca 600-500 BC) was found in a river bed in Hassle in southeast Sweden. It contained a rare combination of exotic imports originating from Continental Europe and the Mediterranean world; two bent Hallstatt swords of Mindelheim type, two
rippenzisten/ciste a cordoni buckets, two small hooks and twelve ornamental bronze discs (probably decorations for a wagon) - all found inside a reworked and repaired cauldron, possibly originating from the Etruscan or Greek area. The closest parallel to this find is the tripod cauldron from a 6th century tumulus in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine (Côte-d’Or), eastern France. How these objects reached central Sweden is debated. The find is currently being revised and its origins, dates and possible routes to Scandinavia is now being re-assessed. This article briefly presents some new insights and questions of these objects's possible areas of production and history of use.
Ojala, K. & Østigård, T. (red.) 2022. Bronsålderns Håga: fornlämningar, fynd och förbindelser. OPIA; 80. Uppsala Universitet. , 2022
Brysbaert, A. & Gorgues, A. (eds) Artisans versus Nobility: Multiple identities of elites and 'commoners' viewed though the lens of crafting from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean. Leiden: Sidestone Press , 2017
Lay-out & cover design: Sidestone Press Photograph cover: Babylon, Ishtar Gate (Irak) detail of m... more Lay-out & cover design: Sidestone Press Photograph cover: Babylon, Ishtar Gate (Irak) detail of moulded glazed bricks, 6 th Century BC, Pergamon Museum Berlin (taken by Ann Brysbaert) ISBN 978-90-8890-396-0 (softcover) ISBN 978-90-8890-397-7 (hardcover) ISBN 978-90-8890-398-4 (PDF e-book)
Book Reviews by Anna Sörman
Current Swedish Archaeology, 2018
Sessions and workshops by Anna Sörman
29th EAA Annual Meeting, 2023
Deliberate hoarding and deposition of metalwork was a widespread practice throughout the European... more Deliberate hoarding and deposition of metalwork was a widespread practice throughout the European Bronze Age. In numerous regions these assemblages did not only contain intact objects but also broken objects, incomplete bits and pieces.
Traditionally, fragments in hoards were assumed to be commodified raw material for recycling or trade. Explanations for this phenomenon have become more diverse and complex over the last decades. Now, interpretations also evoke ideas about making hoards-within-the-hoard, pars pro toto symbolism, ritual damage, fragments as keepsakes or forms of social enchainment, heirlooms and memorabilia etc. Furthermore, the analyses of their role in possible weight economies and their importance as means of transactions have developed. The last decades of studies have also shown that these hypotheses have varying applicability in different times and regions. Despite overarching similarities, there are temporal and regional variations as to how and why bronzes were broken in Bronze Age communities.
The aim of this session is to discuss similarities and differences in the phenomena of fragmented metalwork in hoards. We invite contributions dealing with different times and regions of the European Bronze Age, as well as adjacent periods (Chalcolithic, Early Iron Age) and neighbouring regions featuring this practice. Studies might concern various scales; from the individual deposit, local expressions, regional synthesis or interregional comparisons. Relevant issues might be (but are not limited to) the relation between fragmented and complete artefacts, selection of objects for fragmentation, metrology and 'hack bronze', methods for breakage, interdepositional relations etc. The intention is to contribute to an overview of studies currently working on this theme, and to start the formation of a European research network.
See: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2023/sessions/overview/preview.php?id=376
The term fragmentation, 'a breaking or separation into fragments' has been used to conceptualize ... more The term fragmentation, 'a breaking or separation into fragments' has been used to conceptualize a variety of phenomena across academic disciplines, from sociology and economics to biology and computer science. Within archaeology, fragmentation became an eye-opener at the turn of the millennium, through John Chapman's work on use of deliberately broken objects in the prehistoric societies of Central and Eastern Europe. Chapman showed that fragments were not just discarded scrap, but were sometimes distributed among people and deposited in the landscape in order to manifest social links-to create enchainments. A multitude of studies followed this theoretical framework, either implementing it or critically redefining it. It has, as Brittain and Harris note (2010:582), proven to be a potent way to think about the world.
Awareness of deliberate fragmentation adds complexity to several key archaeological issues. For instance, in relation to object biographies it demonstrates how fragments and 'scrap' can live on with continued but transformed meanings. It also enriches our understanding of how material culture can create references to the past, as one way of transmitting relationships and memories into new contexts. Fragments can invoke a sense of 'pastness' precisely because they are parts of a lost whole. Fragmentation is closely connected to the archaeological project, considering the roles of ruins and fragments in building sentiments towards and narratives about the past (Burström 2013). In terms of case studies, Jo Appleby has demonstrated how fragmentation could be a concept for understanding ageing in prehistoric societies. By studying post-mortuary handling and curation of body parts in Late Bronze Age Britain, Joanna Bruck has shown how personhood was transformed and transmitted through the circulation of body parts as relics. Fragmentation also opens for a range of methodological reflections: how to identify dispersed fragments coming from the same whole? Was fragmentation deliberate or not, and what are the tools at our disposal for its recognition and understanding before, during and after fieldwork? What skills and tools were needed in order to separate different objects into fragments?
Fragmentation-in all its variety-will be the topic of a two-day PAG workshop in Stockholm in October 2021. The workshop discussants and keynote speakers will be Professor Joanna Bruck (University College Dublin) and Professor Andrew M. Jones (Stockholm University). We warmly invite postdoctoral researchers and early career scholars to participate. This call invites papers on topics such as, but not limited to: fragments in repairs and reuse, fragments as relics, fragmentation as transformative act, partition of human or animal bodies, fragments in exchange and depositions, fragments as material memories in the present, sampling as a process of fragmentation, and more. This theme holds potential for all archaeological sub-disciplines. The aim is to create a stimulating meeting where we can share our research and advance our insight into a classic archaeological issue. As for previous PAG workshops, the intention is to present the contributions as an edited volume on fragmentation in archaeology, planned for autumn 2022. If you wish to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max 250 words) to [email protected] no later than 1 April 2021.
Popular Science Papers by Anna Sörman
Medusa, 2020
Hasslefyndet kastar ljus över kontaktvägar, metallanvändning och offerskick under bronsålderns sl... more Hasslefyndet kastar ljus över kontaktvägar, metallanvändning och offerskick under bronsålderns slutskede Genom de tusentals bronsföremål från bronsåldern som har påträffats i Sverige kan vi se spår efter bronsåldersmänniskornas kontaktnät. I Sverige brukar bronsåldern räknas som perioden mellan 1700 och 500 f.Kr. Under denna tid verkar man inte ha utvunnit koppar lokalt i Sverige, så för att få tillgång till den eftertraktade bronsen skaffade man sig koppar och tenn från andra områden. Analyser av metallerna i bronsföremål som har påträffats på olika platser i Sverige tyder på att Skandinavien var en del av ett vidsträckt utbytesnätverk i Europa vid denna tid. Kopparen som finns i de undersökta föremålen har visat sig ha sitt ursprung i olika delar av västra, centrala och södra Europa.
Other by Anna Sörman
Sörman, A., 2023. Inventory of five Swedish Late Bronze Age ‘scrap hoards.’ Data repository of the Swedish National Data Service. Available at: https://doi.org/10.58141/5x6w-mx80, 2023
This dataset contains information about metal objects and fragments of metal objects from five Sw... more This dataset contains information about metal objects and fragments of metal objects from five Swedish hoard finds from the Late Bronze Age. The main purpose of this data collection was to create a basis for a study of fragmented bronze objects in the so-called ‘scrap hoards’ from this period. The research focus in the dataset is on describing the incomplete objects in these depositions, and to determine/estimate to what degree the fragmentation is due to prehistoric actions (broken during the Bronze Age) or if it might be recent. The questions in focus for this study was which object types were fragmented versus not fragmented, and, to what degree the original object type could be recognized from the fragments. This study is presented in a scientific paper in English. This pilot study is part of a larger project run by Anna Sörman, studying the circulation, use and deposition of fragmented bronze objects, based on studies in north-western France and southern Scandinavia.
Forskningsrapport från Keramiska Forskningslaboratoriets rapportserie KFL-rapport, Lunds Universitet
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Doctoral Thesis by Anna Sörman
exchange. Bronze crafting is often assumed to have been organized at two levels: elite-controlled prestige goods production at centralised workshop sites, set against widespread (controlled or independent) production of utility objects in common households. However, this model is inferred from a functionalist view of finished goods (utility versus prestige) and inspired by anthropological theories, rather than from the material remains of production itself. With evidence of metalworking practices now rapidly increasing due to large-scale contract archaeology, it has become evident that these concepts and interpretations need to be reassessed.
The aim of this thesis is to develop our understanding of craft organisation through investigation of physical casting sites. Mould and crucible fragments, and their spatial relation to contemporary buildings and other activities, form the main focus of the analysis. I argue that most ceramic casting debris indicates casting loci, and was deposited as secondary waste, or accumulated immediately at the production site. Special, ritual treatment of casting debris is absent, with the exception of complete moulds occasionally found as house offerings in Late Bronze Age longhouses. The Mälar Valley area of eastern Sweden, an area which has seen particularly intensive archaeological excavation in recent decades, is selected for an in-depth case study, followed by comparisons with other regions of southern Scandinavia. These data demonstrate that bronzes were cast at most, if not all, settlements during the mid-late Bronze Age. Metalworking also occurred at small single farms; a production argued to be dependent on visiting specialists.
The results reveal a complex, user-oriented and multi-tiered craft organisation from Period III onwards. A distinction between prestigious versus utility objects did not structure production. Instead, the organisation and staging of bronze working was shaped by various social roles of the items produced. Rather than special workshop areas, castings were spatially oriented towards future owners. Prestige objects were manufactured in both longhouses and cult-houses within larger settlement complexes, in settings related to the status and gender of their intended users. Further, metalworking often appeared in central and highly visible settings, suggesting it had the character of a performance. I therefore propose that casting – the most dramatic event in the bronze-crafting sequence – was exploited in public or semi-public rituals. Taking into account the social projects and motifs behind new objects, castings were probably linked to transformations such as initiations, inaugurations or establishment of new households. Thus, metalworking played an active and conspicuous role in social reproduction at various levels and arenas in the decentralised, heterarchical societies of Bronze Age southern Scandinavia.
Papers by Anna Sörman
Per Nilsson, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
Anna Sörman, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
Book Sections by Anna Sörman
rippenzisten/ciste a cordoni buckets, two small hooks and twelve ornamental bronze discs (probably decorations for a wagon) - all found inside a reworked and repaired cauldron, possibly originating from the Etruscan or Greek area. The closest parallel to this find is the tripod cauldron from a 6th century tumulus in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine (Côte-d’Or), eastern France. How these objects reached central Sweden is debated. The find is currently being revised and its origins, dates and possible routes to Scandinavia is now being re-assessed. This article briefly presents some new insights and questions of these objects's possible areas of production and history of use.
Book Reviews by Anna Sörman
Sessions and workshops by Anna Sörman
Traditionally, fragments in hoards were assumed to be commodified raw material for recycling or trade. Explanations for this phenomenon have become more diverse and complex over the last decades. Now, interpretations also evoke ideas about making hoards-within-the-hoard, pars pro toto symbolism, ritual damage, fragments as keepsakes or forms of social enchainment, heirlooms and memorabilia etc. Furthermore, the analyses of their role in possible weight economies and their importance as means of transactions have developed. The last decades of studies have also shown that these hypotheses have varying applicability in different times and regions. Despite overarching similarities, there are temporal and regional variations as to how and why bronzes were broken in Bronze Age communities.
The aim of this session is to discuss similarities and differences in the phenomena of fragmented metalwork in hoards. We invite contributions dealing with different times and regions of the European Bronze Age, as well as adjacent periods (Chalcolithic, Early Iron Age) and neighbouring regions featuring this practice. Studies might concern various scales; from the individual deposit, local expressions, regional synthesis or interregional comparisons. Relevant issues might be (but are not limited to) the relation between fragmented and complete artefacts, selection of objects for fragmentation, metrology and 'hack bronze', methods for breakage, interdepositional relations etc. The intention is to contribute to an overview of studies currently working on this theme, and to start the formation of a European research network.
See: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2023/sessions/overview/preview.php?id=376
Awareness of deliberate fragmentation adds complexity to several key archaeological issues. For instance, in relation to object biographies it demonstrates how fragments and 'scrap' can live on with continued but transformed meanings. It also enriches our understanding of how material culture can create references to the past, as one way of transmitting relationships and memories into new contexts. Fragments can invoke a sense of 'pastness' precisely because they are parts of a lost whole. Fragmentation is closely connected to the archaeological project, considering the roles of ruins and fragments in building sentiments towards and narratives about the past (Burström 2013). In terms of case studies, Jo Appleby has demonstrated how fragmentation could be a concept for understanding ageing in prehistoric societies. By studying post-mortuary handling and curation of body parts in Late Bronze Age Britain, Joanna Bruck has shown how personhood was transformed and transmitted through the circulation of body parts as relics. Fragmentation also opens for a range of methodological reflections: how to identify dispersed fragments coming from the same whole? Was fragmentation deliberate or not, and what are the tools at our disposal for its recognition and understanding before, during and after fieldwork? What skills and tools were needed in order to separate different objects into fragments?
Fragmentation-in all its variety-will be the topic of a two-day PAG workshop in Stockholm in October 2021. The workshop discussants and keynote speakers will be Professor Joanna Bruck (University College Dublin) and Professor Andrew M. Jones (Stockholm University). We warmly invite postdoctoral researchers and early career scholars to participate. This call invites papers on topics such as, but not limited to: fragments in repairs and reuse, fragments as relics, fragmentation as transformative act, partition of human or animal bodies, fragments in exchange and depositions, fragments as material memories in the present, sampling as a process of fragmentation, and more. This theme holds potential for all archaeological sub-disciplines. The aim is to create a stimulating meeting where we can share our research and advance our insight into a classic archaeological issue. As for previous PAG workshops, the intention is to present the contributions as an edited volume on fragmentation in archaeology, planned for autumn 2022. If you wish to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max 250 words) to [email protected] no later than 1 April 2021.
Popular Science Papers by Anna Sörman
Other by Anna Sörman
exchange. Bronze crafting is often assumed to have been organized at two levels: elite-controlled prestige goods production at centralised workshop sites, set against widespread (controlled or independent) production of utility objects in common households. However, this model is inferred from a functionalist view of finished goods (utility versus prestige) and inspired by anthropological theories, rather than from the material remains of production itself. With evidence of metalworking practices now rapidly increasing due to large-scale contract archaeology, it has become evident that these concepts and interpretations need to be reassessed.
The aim of this thesis is to develop our understanding of craft organisation through investigation of physical casting sites. Mould and crucible fragments, and their spatial relation to contemporary buildings and other activities, form the main focus of the analysis. I argue that most ceramic casting debris indicates casting loci, and was deposited as secondary waste, or accumulated immediately at the production site. Special, ritual treatment of casting debris is absent, with the exception of complete moulds occasionally found as house offerings in Late Bronze Age longhouses. The Mälar Valley area of eastern Sweden, an area which has seen particularly intensive archaeological excavation in recent decades, is selected for an in-depth case study, followed by comparisons with other regions of southern Scandinavia. These data demonstrate that bronzes were cast at most, if not all, settlements during the mid-late Bronze Age. Metalworking also occurred at small single farms; a production argued to be dependent on visiting specialists.
The results reveal a complex, user-oriented and multi-tiered craft organisation from Period III onwards. A distinction between prestigious versus utility objects did not structure production. Instead, the organisation and staging of bronze working was shaped by various social roles of the items produced. Rather than special workshop areas, castings were spatially oriented towards future owners. Prestige objects were manufactured in both longhouses and cult-houses within larger settlement complexes, in settings related to the status and gender of their intended users. Further, metalworking often appeared in central and highly visible settings, suggesting it had the character of a performance. I therefore propose that casting – the most dramatic event in the bronze-crafting sequence – was exploited in public or semi-public rituals. Taking into account the social projects and motifs behind new objects, castings were probably linked to transformations such as initiations, inaugurations or establishment of new households. Thus, metalworking played an active and conspicuous role in social reproduction at various levels and arenas in the decentralised, heterarchical societies of Bronze Age southern Scandinavia.
Per Nilsson, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
Anna Sörman, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet, SE–106 91, Stockholm.
[email protected]
rippenzisten/ciste a cordoni buckets, two small hooks and twelve ornamental bronze discs (probably decorations for a wagon) - all found inside a reworked and repaired cauldron, possibly originating from the Etruscan or Greek area. The closest parallel to this find is the tripod cauldron from a 6th century tumulus in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine (Côte-d’Or), eastern France. How these objects reached central Sweden is debated. The find is currently being revised and its origins, dates and possible routes to Scandinavia is now being re-assessed. This article briefly presents some new insights and questions of these objects's possible areas of production and history of use.
Traditionally, fragments in hoards were assumed to be commodified raw material for recycling or trade. Explanations for this phenomenon have become more diverse and complex over the last decades. Now, interpretations also evoke ideas about making hoards-within-the-hoard, pars pro toto symbolism, ritual damage, fragments as keepsakes or forms of social enchainment, heirlooms and memorabilia etc. Furthermore, the analyses of their role in possible weight economies and their importance as means of transactions have developed. The last decades of studies have also shown that these hypotheses have varying applicability in different times and regions. Despite overarching similarities, there are temporal and regional variations as to how and why bronzes were broken in Bronze Age communities.
The aim of this session is to discuss similarities and differences in the phenomena of fragmented metalwork in hoards. We invite contributions dealing with different times and regions of the European Bronze Age, as well as adjacent periods (Chalcolithic, Early Iron Age) and neighbouring regions featuring this practice. Studies might concern various scales; from the individual deposit, local expressions, regional synthesis or interregional comparisons. Relevant issues might be (but are not limited to) the relation between fragmented and complete artefacts, selection of objects for fragmentation, metrology and 'hack bronze', methods for breakage, interdepositional relations etc. The intention is to contribute to an overview of studies currently working on this theme, and to start the formation of a European research network.
See: https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2023/sessions/overview/preview.php?id=376
Awareness of deliberate fragmentation adds complexity to several key archaeological issues. For instance, in relation to object biographies it demonstrates how fragments and 'scrap' can live on with continued but transformed meanings. It also enriches our understanding of how material culture can create references to the past, as one way of transmitting relationships and memories into new contexts. Fragments can invoke a sense of 'pastness' precisely because they are parts of a lost whole. Fragmentation is closely connected to the archaeological project, considering the roles of ruins and fragments in building sentiments towards and narratives about the past (Burström 2013). In terms of case studies, Jo Appleby has demonstrated how fragmentation could be a concept for understanding ageing in prehistoric societies. By studying post-mortuary handling and curation of body parts in Late Bronze Age Britain, Joanna Bruck has shown how personhood was transformed and transmitted through the circulation of body parts as relics. Fragmentation also opens for a range of methodological reflections: how to identify dispersed fragments coming from the same whole? Was fragmentation deliberate or not, and what are the tools at our disposal for its recognition and understanding before, during and after fieldwork? What skills and tools were needed in order to separate different objects into fragments?
Fragmentation-in all its variety-will be the topic of a two-day PAG workshop in Stockholm in October 2021. The workshop discussants and keynote speakers will be Professor Joanna Bruck (University College Dublin) and Professor Andrew M. Jones (Stockholm University). We warmly invite postdoctoral researchers and early career scholars to participate. This call invites papers on topics such as, but not limited to: fragments in repairs and reuse, fragments as relics, fragmentation as transformative act, partition of human or animal bodies, fragments in exchange and depositions, fragments as material memories in the present, sampling as a process of fragmentation, and more. This theme holds potential for all archaeological sub-disciplines. The aim is to create a stimulating meeting where we can share our research and advance our insight into a classic archaeological issue. As for previous PAG workshops, the intention is to present the contributions as an edited volume on fragmentation in archaeology, planned for autumn 2022. If you wish to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max 250 words) to [email protected] no later than 1 April 2021.