Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts

The article considers the importance of frontier studies in historical archaeology and discusses applicability of some of the concepts deriving from postcolonial theories for a better understanding of human relationships in the frontier zones.
The conditions of frontiers and borderlands are compared with the characteristics of the “Third Space” described by Homi Bhabha as a realm of negotiation, translation and remaking. It is argued that concepts developed in postcolonial theories, such as
“Third Space,” “in-betweeness” or hybridity, are useful not only to address cultural and social processes in borderlands that were created by colonial empires. They are also an apt way to conceptualize relationships in frontiers that lacked colonial
stigma. To illustrate this point, two different historical examples of borderlands are scrutinized in this paper: the medieval frontier region that emerged between Denmark and the Northwestern Slavic area and the creation of the colonial frontier in Northeastern America through the establishment of the Praying Indian Towns.

This is my doctoral dissertation completed at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Sweden. It addresses several key questions related to archaeological research on migration and to the processes that follow human translocations. I use a holistic and contextual approach to the studies of migration in archaeology and test it on a case study of early medieval Slavic migration to the island of Bornholm (Denmark). The analyses form the basis for a discussion on the possible effects of resettlement on the creation of immigrant identity, immigrants’ perception of themselves, and their positioning between the homelands that they have recently lost and the new landscapes that they found themselves in. The study touches upon questions related to the nature of routines, habits and everyday interactions with material things in human life and the way they might have been affected by translocation. It also
explores the process of “translation” of a foreign landscape into a homeland.

Archaeologists routinely deal with the remains of everyday life. Yet the significance and dimensions of daily practices are rarely reflected upon. Merging Bourdieu’s theory of practice, recent theories of everyday life and the materiality approach in archaeology, this study addresses the potential importance of daily practices and mundane objects in dealing with a rupture caused by migration. As a case study I use an example of medieval (eleventh century) Western Slavic migration to the island of Bornholm (Denmark) and production and daily handling of ceramic pots, the so-called Baltic ware. I explore the possible background to the introduction of the new pottery style, its significance for the local population of the island and above all the meanings these types of ceramics could have had for the immigrant Slavs.

This article focuses on the cultural and political landscape of the Danish islands of Lolland and Falster in the Middle Ages. The close economic and dynastic relationships between medieval Denmark and the Slavic area south of the Baltic Sea, as well as Slavic settlement on the islands, contributed to the emergence of complex realities and attitudes, as well as a particular ‘in-betweenness’ of the islanders. By analysing archaeological and historical sources as well as borrowing concepts from postcolonial scholarship, the processes that developed in this borderland geography are explored. The paper highlights hybridity in material culture, pays attention to the ambivalence towards ‘national’ projects and underlines the complex and multi-positional identities of the islanders.

The ecological tolerances of Neandertals, their ability to subsist in the dense forests of full interglacials, and their capacity to colonize northern latitudes are the subject of ongoing debate. The site of Hollerup (northern Denmark) lies at the northern extreme of the Neandertal range. Dated by various techniques to the Eemian interglacial (MIS 5e), this site has yielded the remains of several purportedly butchered fallow deer (Dama dama). Taphonomic reanalysis of the remains from Hollerup and a handful of other Eemian-aged fallow deer skeletons cast doubt on the interpretation that they were humanly modified. We place this revised conclusion into the wider context of human settlement of southern Scandinavia during the Eemian. Other claims of Neandertal presence in the region rest on candidate Middle Paleolithic artifacts, all of which derive from surface contexts. With the fallow deer material removed as a secure indicator of Neandertal settlement of Denmark during the last interglacial, this lithic material must be viewed with renewed skepticism. While ecological and/or topographic factors may have played an important role in preventing Neandertals from penetrating into peninsular Scandinavia, we caution that geological, taphonomic, research-historical, and demographic factors may have significantly distorted our picture of their occupation in this region.

Despite the fact that the Neanderthal – Homo neanderthalensis – is the best represented pre-modern human in the fossil record, the extent to which they were able to adapt to habitats above 55°N is still of considerable debate. In Denmark only sporadic and unsystematic attention has been given to the archaeological investigation of the possibility of a pre-modern human occupation of this region. For long only the Hollerup-locality (56.40°N, 09.78°W) prevailed as the flagship-site used to argue for a possible Neanderthal presence. Here the remains of several (MNI=8) almost complete fallow deer, Dama dama, skeletons situated in chrono-stratigraphically dated Eemian sediments were unearthed from 1897 onwards and investigated in 1955 by  Ulrik Møhl-Hansen, then curator of the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen. He argued that the nature and symmetry of the bone-breakage clearly indicated a human agent and that the bones had been manipulated in order to retrieve the nutrient-rich marrow inside the bone (Møhl-Hansen 1955). However, a recent re-investigation of these bones has challenged Møhl-Hansen original conclusion and show that no secure tool-marks are present on the bones, and that a natural explanation for the breakage is just as plausible (Egeland et al. in press, Riede et al. 2012). Apart from this site a small amount (<20 pcs) of Palaeolithic-looking handaxes are known and may suggest a pre-modern human occupation, although unfortunately none of them have been found in secure stratigraphic context (for a review of some of the artefacts see: Johansen & Stapert 1996). In order to clarify if, when, where and how Neanderthals colonised southern Scandinavia, a systematic assessment of the empirical, environmental, and ecological evidence is needed. The poster will present the results of the analysis of the Hollerup-material as well as the implications and underlying strategy for future research of the possibility of a pre-Weichselian occupation of southern Scandinavia.
Egeland, C.P, Nielsen, T.K., Byø, M., Kjærgaard, P.C., Larsen, N.K., Riede, F. xxxx: The taphonomy of fallow deer (Dama dama) skeletons from Denmark and its bearing on the pre-Weichselian occupation of northern Europe by humans. In Press/Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences: xx-xx
Johansen, L., & Stapert, D. 1996: Handaxes from Denmark: Neandertal tools or 'vicious flints'? Palaeohistoria, 37/38: 1-28.
Møhl-Hansen, U. 1955: Første sikre spor af mennesker fra interglacialtid i Denmark. Marvspaltede knogler fra diatomeforden ved Hollerup. Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1954: 101-126.
Riede, F., Egeland, C.P., Nielsen, T.K. 2012: Nyt lys på gamle ben. Skalk, 5: 6-10.

This chapter explores homesickness of the Swedish colonial employees in the settlement of New Sweden and pays attention to the potential role of material culture in instigating feelings of longing.
In the seventeenth century, in the age of wars fought far from home, colonial expansion and transoceanic resettlements, homesickness became a considerable social problem. In 1688, Johannes Hofer, a Swiss student of medicine described it as a psycho-somatic condition caused by inability to adjust to the life after relocation. Homesickness, or nostalgia, was to him “the sad mood originating from the desire for return to one’s native land”.  Homesickness was a common malady in colonial America and one of the causes of return migration. It did not spare those employed in the colony of New Sweden, including Johan Printz, one of its governors. The governor’s letters and reports sent to Sweden provide insights into dissatisfaction with the life in the colony and desperate longing to return home. In case of governor Printz and his employees, nostalgic feelings might have been instigated by the interactions with objects brought from home. Already Hofer observed that those feeling homesick “are moved by small external objects and nothing creates a stronger impression than the desire recalling the homeland”. These connections between fantasies about home and materials that bring them about are explored and theorized about in this chapter.

This article explores translocal practices of German merchants settled in the late medieval town of Kalmar, Sweden. It focuses on the dual life of migrants, their simultaneous attachments to their places of origin and residence, and the significance of this splitting for the internal dynamics of diaspora. This case study also illustrates the importance of engagement with the material world for maintaining such dual relationships and prompts general exploration of the importance of material culture in diasporic and translocal lives. It discusses how things are used to fill the spaces of physical absence in the nodal points of translocal movement.

This article explores the notion of borderlands as ambivalent and contested landscapes: as literal and figurative in-between spaces, realms of negotiation, translation and remaking. It is argued that due to the social and cultural processes taking place in borderlands, they can be usefully scrutinized using concepts developed in postcolonial scholarship. In particular, Homi Bhabha’s concept of the ‘Third Space’ and hybridity and the writings of Gloria Anzaldua on mestizaje conditions of borderlands are explored and argued to be useful in addressing the complexity of border zones. The argument is then taken further by proposing that postcolonial concepts can be fruitfully applied to describe relationships in tense and ideologically charged landscapes that lack colonial stigma. To illustrate this point, the relationships, mentalities and material conditions of the medieval (1000-1200 AD) border between Denmark and the Slavic Obodriti are examined. By analysing both archaeological and historical sources, this case study describes the complexity of the interactions in this region, highlights their effects on material culture and underlines the complex and multi-positional identities of the area’s inhabitants.

This article examines the cultural and social dynamics of a multi-ethnic medieval town. Taking the lower town of Tallinn as a case study, this paper identifies the major urban ethnic  groups living in the town and discusses their co-existence, self-definition, and processes of categorization. It explores ambiguities arising from daily interactions in the shared physical landscape of the town, such as material exchanges, and the development of new technological solutions, and the simultaneous insistence on maintenance of sharp inter-group boundaries. As material culture plays a significant role in the negotiation of identities and in visualizing sameness and difference, emphasis is placed on the ways objects were
used in the daily lives of Tallinn’s multi-ethnic communities.

The Hanseatic League, a late medieval merchant association with roots in northern German towns, is credited with the establishment of extensive economic and geographic connections and considerable impact on the development of urban culture around the Baltic and the North Sea. Its merchants, regularly crossing the Seas and settling in foreign ports, created a network of diasporic communities often maintaining close physical and emotional connections with their home towns. This chapter focuses on the late medieval German diaspora in Kalmar (Sweden) and Tallinn (Estonia) and examines cultural and material practices of these communities. It theorizes about the role and meaning of everyday material culture for Hanseatic merchants and their families, and investigates how the material objects figured in the experience of relocation. It discusses the centrality of everyday things in rebuilding the migrants’ lives after relocation, constructing a sense of diaspora community and maintaining connections with families they left behind.