Røysundersøkelser i Løten, Hedmark

In 2015, the Museum of Cultural History organized a large excavation project in Løten, Hedmark with over 90 sites. During the project both clearance cairns and cairns interpreted as graves were excavated. The field at Skillingstad contained more than 100 cairns, of which approximately 40 were excavated. Although originally thought to be clearance cairns, results obtained over the course of the excavation demanded that this interpretation be reconsidered. In the area surrounding Skillingstad, four smaller cairn fields were also excavated, ranging in size from 4 to 21 cairns. Several of these were associated with small, oval, bowl-shaped fields that overlapped in time with the graves at Skillingstad. The plant macrofossil analyses returned few interesting results, but the cairns containing graves and the clearance cairns differed significantly in their micromorphological results. In addition, there were clear differences in structural organization and the relationship between the cairns in the grave and clearance fields respectively. The burial cairns were spread evenly across the site, built with uniform sized rocks and placed with respect to older monuments such that none of the monuments merged into larger units. In contrast, the clearance cairns were more randomly distributed across the site, sometimes cleared to one side of the field and at other sites in between the cultivated land and pastures. The rocks in these cairns were also more variable in size and often several cairns had grown together over time. We will also share some administrative experiences based on the reinterpretation from clearance cairns to graves at Skillingstad.

Sten som betydelsebärare i den förhistoriska föreställningsvärlden

This article discusses the meaning of stones and the practice of gathering stones, in graves, clearance cairns and stone-covered hillocks. The emphases are on stone-covered hillocks and their long-term usage (up to 1500 years), analyzed using the concept of longue durée. In this paper I propose that the stones in themselves have a cultic meaning as well as the actions, i.e. the remodeling of hillocks and the placing of clearance cairns among graves. In this, I see a connection between stone-covered hillocks, graves and clearance cairns. The underlying concept is a stable, but slowly changing, prehistoric religious tradition that lasted from the Bronze Age to the Migration Period and possibly also through the Late Iron Age. A basic change in this does not take place until the coming of Christianity in the Medieval Period. The reason that Medieval and later clearance cairns were placed together with graves is probably due to their similar appearance.

Å sjå røysa som eit objekt, ein markør og ein prosess av handlingsmønster

Cairns: graves, clearances or both, a seminar held at the Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, in February 2017, attempted to look beyond the traditional concept of cairns as objects resulting from specific or single activities, focusing instead on the idea of a more fluid symbolism, constantly changing over time. This article seeks to build upon the questions and themes raised at the seminar, combining traditional definitions of cairns with the results of more recent research. The results will then be discussed in a broader, Scandinavian context. The aim is to draw attention to the idea that cairns are the product of various ongoing processes, both active and symbolic, and that these processes continuously redefine the relevance and meaning of cairns to society. The article will also draw attention to the results of more recent research and the implications they have for the field of cultural heritage management, both administratively and practically, and cultural heritage legislation in general in Norway.

What to do when the results are insufficient: lessons from the excavation of a cairn field at Eikebakken, Øvre Øksnevad, Klepp

The cairn field at Eikebakken, Øvre Øksnevad, Klepp municipality, Rogaland, Norway, was excavated over the course of 26 weeks in the summer of 2016. The site had undergone an initial survey in 2008, indicating a total of 79 cairns. However, when the site was uncovered a total of 103 stone built structures were identified, as well as three separate settlement areas and evidence of prehistoric farming. The initial project plan and budget were written with the idea of focusing on a smaller number of more thoroughly excavated (i.e. single-context) cairns. The increased number of structures made this plan untenable. As the excavation progressed it also became clear that the single-context method was not returning the amount of data required. The excavation thus went through several major shifts in strategy in response to, primarily, the archaeology and the need to develop a representative data set, but also time/budgetary constraints and available labor resources. The strategy ultimately settled upon involved a much more rapid excavation of a larger number of cairns with a focus on the use of environmental evidence from the cairns, particularly material suitable for radiocarbon dating, but also a range of other methodologies, as a means of understanding the development of the cairn field. This article will discuss both the methodologies and prioritizations involved in the excavation and will present some brief, initial results.

Ett röjningsröseområde i Farstorp – odling, begravning och ritual

This paper problematises the categories grave and clearance cairn, based on source-material from Farstorp, Småland. A central point of departure for the analysis is landuse in a long-term perspective. Parts of a clearance-cairn site, comprising clearance-cairns, graves and constructions similar to graves although less well–built, were excavated. The latter were termed complex cairns. Exterior elements were kerbs and surface layers of fire-cracked stones. Interior features resembled cremation layers with fire-cracked stones. Inside and adjacent to these, burnt animal bones and other objects, including intact pots containing food, had been deposited. The main building material was clearance stones, plausibly from surrounding arable land. Features mainly date to Late Roman Iron Age and Migration Period. Fire-cracked stones and burnt animal bones are interpreted as waste from ritual meals, consumed during spring and autumn farm work. Depositions of grinding stones support the assumption that fertility of the land was an important ritual theme. Participants of these meals might be members of the household that held the land rights. A few human bones were deposited in each grave, possibly from deceased members of the owner family who might be expected to act in favour of their living descendants, to enhance fertility in general. Such deposits may also have demonstrated and consolidated land rights.

Gamle steinsamlingar; gravminne, ryddingsrøyser – eller kva?

This article discusses how to better unlock the information potential of unremarkable, though complex, prehistoric stone-built structures, by integrating the past 30 years worth of Nordic archaeological research results into aspects of the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Management processes. Traditionally, it has been rather commonplace to interpret such manmade collections of rocks as remains of either clearance of fields for agricultural purposes or as containers for burials, but this dichotomy should now be regarded as an oversimplification. The site of Orstad in the county of Rogaland, SW Norway, excavated in 2014, serves as a case study. This paper demonstrates how difficult it can be to put updated theories and methods into proper use in the field. Since these new research results call for changes in the approach to the subject were not sufficiently considered in the planning process, neither time nor budget allowed for an adequate examination of the individual structures and their context. This is likely to cause information loss, which creates challenges for both the excavation and post-excavation phases of an archaeological investigation. This paper stresses the need to update and improve how excavations of such sites are handled within Norwegian cultural heritage management. By applying new approaches, such localities can yield more information about the past than previously assumed.

Hverken grav eller rydning – rituelle røyser fra yngre bronsealder–førromersk jernalder på Sømme i Rogaland

This article discusses cairns as ritual constructions during the Late Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Ages in Southwest Norway. The basis for the discussion are two cairns from Sømme in Sola, Rogaland. It is suggested that the cairns are part of rituals related to settlement expansion and a rapid transformation of the landscape during the period.

Maskinen i verktøykassa

We need to address the way shifting methods in archaeology affect the knowledge of the past. The current use of rural areas for cultivation or pasture, dictates our choice of survey- and excavation methods in development-led archaeology. While the focus is placed on visibility in areas currently used as pastures, there is a tendency not to discuss what might have been removed in cultivated areas. If we let the understanding of prehistoric land use be dictated by modern land use, we risk creating two sets of knowledge of the past which appear mutually exclusive. It is crucial that material from both cultivated fields and pastures are treated as differently preserved fragments of the same archaeological phenomena. The excavation at Myklebust, Sola municipality provides an example of the challenges stemming from the application of different methodologies and interpretations due to modern land use. Regarding the long-term use of sites such as Myklebust, modern historicism provides a view of temporality which runs to the heart of the discipline. The concentrated, multi-phase, chaotic nature of archaeological remains at this site is considered key to the importance of these sites, for both past and present practices. It can take time to revise or update long-held views of the past, and of what are considered the most suitable ways of deepening our knowledge of that past. If excavation and fieldwork are to play a central part in research development, it must begin with our willingness to broaden our perspectives in terms of field practices.

Røys som fenomen. Rydning eller grav?

Cairns in one form or another are the most common type of prehistoric structure encountered during archaeological surveys in Rogaland County, southwestern Norway. In Norway, the responsibility for pre-development archaeological investigations is divided between county archaeologists and regional museums with the former undertaking site identification surveys and the latter carrying out subsequent excavations. Archaeological surveying is typically non-invasive and distinguishing burial cairns from clearance cairns often proves to be a difficult task. It is frequently argued that separating the two categories based on size and form alone is not sufficient. In this article, it is shown that, in addition to visual analysis, an understanding of the surrounding prehistoric landscape within which the cairn is situated is crucial when interpreting these structures. The interpretive utility of new methodologies such as Lidar and analysis of soil identification maps are also highlighted. Arguments are based primarily on data from localities containing cairns encountered during the E39 Ålgård–Hove project carried out in 2016 by Rogaland County, as well as a site excavated by the Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger in 2011.