Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites
The thesis discusses a category of cultural heritage that has been labelled "Sami circular offering sites", aiming to establish some basic facts about their origin, distribution and use, as well as their cultural and socio-political context and influence. The stone enclosures in question h...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133066 |
id |
ftstockholmuniv:oai:DiVA.org:su-133066 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftstockholmuniv:oai:DiVA.org:su-133066 2023-05-15T16:13:46+02:00 Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites Spangen, Marte 2016 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133066 eng eng Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur Stockholm : Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, Stockholm Univeristy Stockholm Studies in Archaeology, 0349-4128 70 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133066 urn:isbn:978-91-7649-488-2 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Sami circular offering sites northern Norway Middle Ages early modern period history of archaeology rituals religion osteoarchaeology cultural heritage authorised heritage discourse neo-shamanism rites and rights socio-politics emotional hegemony materiality Archaeology Arkeologi Doctoral thesis, monograph info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis text 2016 ftstockholmuniv 2023-02-23T21:41:38Z The thesis discusses a category of cultural heritage that has been labelled "Sami circular offering sites", aiming to establish some basic facts about their origin, distribution and use, as well as their cultural and socio-political context and influence. The stone enclosures in question have been interpreted as Sami offering sites since the mid-19th century, but a discourse analysis of the research history indicates that this may have been based on a scholarly hypothesis rather than ethnographic or archaeological evidence. Furthermore it is questioned if all the structures that are currently included in this category are in fact remains of the same cultural practice. This is investigated through surveys of 81 suggested circular offering sites in Norway, two excavations and analyses of the find material. The large stone enclosures in counties Finnmark and Troms that were first categorised in this way prove to have quite consistent builds and measurements and a find material mainly dating between the 13th and 17th centuries. These structures are here labelled type 1. In contrast, constructions that have later been added to the category, particularly in other areas, have other and less consistent characteristics and seem to include remains of a range of different activities. They are here divided into two generic types 2 and 3. The thesis further discusses alternative interpretations for the type 1 structures, concluding that their materiality, construction, location, topography and finds are consistent with archaeological, historical and ethnographic evidence for wolf traps. Their distribution indicates a regional Sami cultural practice related to inland winter habitation and travel routes, while also apparently coinciding with the Russian/Karelian taxation area in northern Norway in the Middle Ages. Thus the builds may have been inspired by the fur trade or other activities of the latter groups. It is uncertain when exactly the installations fell into disuse, as datings are calibrated to AD 1450-1650. The ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Finnmark karelian Northern Norway sami sami Finnmark Troms Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) Norway |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Stockholm University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftstockholmuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Sami circular offering sites northern Norway Middle Ages early modern period history of archaeology rituals religion osteoarchaeology cultural heritage authorised heritage discourse neo-shamanism rites and rights socio-politics emotional hegemony materiality Archaeology Arkeologi |
spellingShingle |
Sami circular offering sites northern Norway Middle Ages early modern period history of archaeology rituals religion osteoarchaeology cultural heritage authorised heritage discourse neo-shamanism rites and rights socio-politics emotional hegemony materiality Archaeology Arkeologi Spangen, Marte Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
topic_facet |
Sami circular offering sites northern Norway Middle Ages early modern period history of archaeology rituals religion osteoarchaeology cultural heritage authorised heritage discourse neo-shamanism rites and rights socio-politics emotional hegemony materiality Archaeology Arkeologi |
description |
The thesis discusses a category of cultural heritage that has been labelled "Sami circular offering sites", aiming to establish some basic facts about their origin, distribution and use, as well as their cultural and socio-political context and influence. The stone enclosures in question have been interpreted as Sami offering sites since the mid-19th century, but a discourse analysis of the research history indicates that this may have been based on a scholarly hypothesis rather than ethnographic or archaeological evidence. Furthermore it is questioned if all the structures that are currently included in this category are in fact remains of the same cultural practice. This is investigated through surveys of 81 suggested circular offering sites in Norway, two excavations and analyses of the find material. The large stone enclosures in counties Finnmark and Troms that were first categorised in this way prove to have quite consistent builds and measurements and a find material mainly dating between the 13th and 17th centuries. These structures are here labelled type 1. In contrast, constructions that have later been added to the category, particularly in other areas, have other and less consistent characteristics and seem to include remains of a range of different activities. They are here divided into two generic types 2 and 3. The thesis further discusses alternative interpretations for the type 1 structures, concluding that their materiality, construction, location, topography and finds are consistent with archaeological, historical and ethnographic evidence for wolf traps. Their distribution indicates a regional Sami cultural practice related to inland winter habitation and travel routes, while also apparently coinciding with the Russian/Karelian taxation area in northern Norway in the Middle Ages. Thus the builds may have been inspired by the fur trade or other activities of the latter groups. It is uncertain when exactly the installations fell into disuse, as datings are calibrated to AD 1450-1650. The ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Spangen, Marte |
author_facet |
Spangen, Marte |
author_sort |
Spangen, Marte |
title |
Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
title_short |
Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
title_full |
Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
title_fullStr |
Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
title_full_unstemmed |
Circling Concepts : A Critical Archaeological Analysis of the Notion of Stone Circles as Sami Offering Sites |
title_sort |
circling concepts : a critical archaeological analysis of the notion of stone circles as sami offering sites |
publisher |
Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133066 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Finnmark karelian Northern Norway sami sami Finnmark Troms |
genre_facet |
Finnmark karelian Northern Norway sami sami Finnmark Troms |
op_relation |
Stockholm Studies in Archaeology, 0349-4128 70 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-133066 urn:isbn:978-91-7649-488-2 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1765999615180537856 |