Landskapsutnyttjande, bete och odling på Sydsvenska höglandet under äldre järnålder. Exemplet Öggestorp. : Land-use, grazing and cultivation in the south Swedish uplands. The Öggestorp case

Sammanfattning: Land-use, grazing and cultivation in the south Swedish uplands. The Öggestorp case. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Göteborg University, Department of Archaeology, 2005. Written in Swedish, with an English summary. Six main topics are discussed in the thesis. The topics emanate from regional and agrarian aspects of archaeological and antiquarian praxis concerning early Iron Age in the south Swedish uplands. The topics and discussions are in short: • The impact of technical innovations on agrarian systems during early Iron Age. It is obvious that technical innovations can exist in a society without being utilised for long periods of time. One example is the use of iron and steel in the Öggestorp area since late Bronze age. The products were for example not used for the harvesting of hay until Roman Iron age. • Dating agrarian remains. This is a complex issue and it is argued that no single method can be used when dating agrarian remains. Instead a combination of methods must be applied. • Land-use, resources and farming in early Iron Age Öggestorp. The land use of Pre-Roman Iron age in Öggestorp is hard to distinguish. However, the land use of the Roman Iron age is more intensive than earlier times. Fertiliser is used to establish one year rotation in the fields near the farms. Fields used for a short term were established in the woodlands nearby. The woodlands were also used for intensive grazing. • Prehistoric land-use in today’s woodlands. The forests of today seem more extensive than the forests in the early Iron age. This is partly shown by the extensive areas of ancient fields and other traces of prehistoric human impact in today’s forests. These traces are often better preserved in forests than in modern agricultural landscapes. • Centre – periphery relationships. These complex issues are often treated in a simplified way by Swedish archaeologists. In the thesis it is argued that a discussion of the representativity must be the initial part of a centre-periphery analysis. This basic source criticism is carried out and it is concluded that the Öggestorp area is representative of a normal situation in the area. It reflects neither the upper nor the lower strata of the regional society. • The importance of contract archaeology for archaeological knowledge in marginal areas. It is obvious that the archaeological research carried out is focused on certain areas. Which mean that there are areas not studied by university-based scholars. In these areas one of very few opportunities to gain new archaeological knowledge is through contract archaeology.