Trashed and Treasured
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TRASHED AND TREASURED Fossils in archaeological contexts in prehistoric Scania Terese Ljunggren ARKM21, VT 2019 Supervisor: Åsa Berggren Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Lund University Thanks to My mother for constant love and support My supervisor for motivation and feedback The staff at LUHM for welcoming and helping me Coffee for always being there for me Front image: Terese Ljunggren, 2019 1 Abstract Humans have always been fascinated with and collected fossils, regardless of any pre-existing knowledge of their ancient origins. But, there is very little research on the subject, especially in Swedish archaeology. This thesis explores the relationship between people and fossils in prehistoric Scania through contextual analysis and the affordances of different fossilized organisms. What is revealed is a multifarious relationship with both continuity and changes throughout prehistory. The little research that has been published on the subject is expanded upon, and it is determined that fossils have held a place in the material cultures, practices and worldviews of people in the region from the Mesolithic to the Viking Age and beyond. Keywords: Fossils, prehistory, Scania, contextual archaeology, affordance. 2 Abbreviation guide Chronology BA: Bronze Age EBA: Early Bronze Age EIA: Early Iron Age EN: Early Neolithic LBA: Late Bronze Age LIA: Late Iron Age LN: Late Neolithic Meso: Mesolithic MN: Middle Neolithic Neo: Neolithic PRIA: Pre Roman Iron Age RIA: Roman Iron Age VA: Viking Age VP: Vendel Period Fossils Be: Belemnite Bi: Bivalve Co: Coral Su: Sea urchin Un: Unidentified/undefined 3 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8 A long fascination .................................................................................................................. 8 What fossils are .................................................................................................................... 10 Fossilisation processes ..................................................................................................... 10 Research history: Fossils in… .............................................................................................. 10 … Prehistoric Scandinavia ............................................................................................... 10 … Folklore ....................................................................................................................... 14 Purpose and research questions ................................................................................................ 17 Fossils as material culture .................................................................................................... 17 Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 18 Setup and implementation .................................................................................................... 18 Finding and describing the material ................................................................................. 18 Analysing the material ..................................................................................................... 19 Source criticism .................................................................................................................... 19 Bias ................................................................................................................................... 20 Methodological approaches ...................................................................................................... 22 Studying fossils - What is the thing? .................................................................................... 22 Literary sources ................................................................................................................ 22 Visual analysis .................................................................................................................. 22 Contextual analysis – where is the thing? ............................................................................ 22 Physical context ................................................................................................................ 22 Con-text: Reading the archaeological record ................................................................... 23 Similarities and differences .............................................................................................. 24 Theoretical approaches ............................................................................................................. 26 Materiality – Why is the thing? ............................................................................................ 26 Materiality and affordance ............................................................................................... 26 Materiality and contexts ................................................................................................... 28 Material .................................................................................................................................... 29 The fossils ............................................................................................................................ 29 Sea urchins ....................................................................................................................... 29 Belemnites ........................................................................................................................ 30 Shells, bivalves, molluscs and oysters ............................................................................. 30 Coral and Shark tooth ....................................................................................................... 31 Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 32 4 What are the things? ............................................................................................................. 32 Visual analysis – a small case study ................................................................................. 32 Affordances ...................................................................................................................... 34 Where are the things? ........................................................................................................... 39 Physical contexts .............................................................................................................. 39 Find compositions ................................................................................................................ 52 Graves and tombs ............................................................................................................. 52 Offerings and ritual depositions ....................................................................................... 54 Fossil origins ........................................................................................................................ 57 Sea urchins, bivalves and coral ........................................................................................ 57 Belemnites ........................................................................................................................ 57 Shark teeth ........................................................................................................................ 58 Discussion – Why fossils? ........................................................................................................ 59 Continuity and changes over time ........................................................................................ 59 Local phenomena ................................................................................................................. 60 The dolmens at Döserygg ................................................................................................. 60 Depositions at Hindby Fen ............................................................................................... 61 Used fossils in Svågertorp ................................................................................................ 61 Continuity in Svågertorp .................................................................................................. 62 Fossils and people ................................................................................................................ 62 Future possibilities ............................................................................................................... 64 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 65 The fossils found .................................................................................................................. 65 What they were used for ....................................................................................................... 65 Where they have been found ................................................................................................ 65 What they have been found with .......................................................................................... 66 Where they are from ............................................................................................................