Från Döudden till Varghalsen : en studie av kontinuitet och förändring inom ett fångstsamhälle i övre Norrlands inland, 5200 f.Kr. - 400 e.Kr

Sammanfattning: This thesis is an investigation of a prehistoric hunter-gatherer society in Arjeplog, Lappland, northern Sweden, with regard to changes in the subsistence strategies and social organization. Chronologically, the archeological record dates from 5200 BC to 400 AD.The source material comprises almost 500 registered sites with traces of a stone technology, in addition to c. 70 localities with hunting pits. A total of 24 sites have been excavated, three of which showeds evidence of stratigraphy. The oldest radiocarbon dating, c. 5200 BC comes from the site at Döudden. At Varghalsen, an overlayed part of the peninsula was dated 380 AD. The datings set the chronological limits of this thesis.Four synchronic models of subsistence strategies and social structure are constructed on the basis of inter- and intra-site analysis of spatial organization. These models were combined, thus forming a dichronic model of continuity and change over time.The data suggest that during the Late Mesolithic, the settlement system comprised small field camps occupied by a local group for short periods of time. The sites were located along the shores of the great lakes in the boreal forest region. The Early and Middle Neolithic is characterized by a limited number of field camps surrounded by extraction camps. During the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the settlement system included field camps with permanent constructions used for recurrent occupation. The resource utilization area expanded to the mountain foothill area, as shown by the presence there of field camps and extraction camps. The following period, 500 BC-400 AD, is signified by large base camps in the forest region, occupied by a microband during the autumn and winter seasons. During spring and summer, the microband was divided into local groups, each of which exploiting a specific resource area.Fishing, and the hunting of reindeer, elk, beaver and sea-birds, formed the basis of subsistence throughout the period in question. The settlement sites are located to good fishing, indicating the importance of fish as a basic resource. A successive intensification of the hunting of reindeer and elk, is however discernible. The systems of resource use were logistically organized to an increasing degree through time.By the end of the Roman Iron Age there was a radical change in the settlement pattern. The occupations at Döudden, Rappasundet and Varghalsen ceased. It is suggested that this change was caused by the transition from one subsistence system, primarily based on fishing, to another based on the intensified hunting of reindeer.