The essay deals with the hill-fort on the mountain Halleberg, Sweden, its wall design, functionality, dating and its possible function as a central location and a place of worship of the ancestors.The Halleberg hill-fort consists of a 1500 meters long at times cohesive stonewalls which together blocked the mountain from its surroundings. Hallberg's natural vertical scree and cliffs along with the masonry blocked the whole mountain from the surroundings.The hill-forts, with few exceptions are largely not investigated archaeologically and its functionality and role in the ancient society is based on outdated research on the subject. The current archaeological interpretation is that hill-forts served as temporary defense in times of unrest or served as center of power for a social elite. The prevailing view in the archaeological sphere is that the hill-forts had a variety of functions and that its functionality and role in ancient society has varied.Halleberg´s strongest wall sections are at the mountain's south-eastern part where the natural driveway, Storgårdsklev is located. Along with the massive masonry of the walls in Bokedalen Storgårdsklev functioned as the hill-forts main entrance.

It is a well known archaeological concern that the remains of human bones left from the bronze age and early iron age Scandinavia are not nearly enough to represent the estimated population of the time. Furthermore the bones of each find rarely represent a whole individual. The majority of the bones must have been disposed of somewhere else, possibly scattered in running waters or in the fields, where they have evaporated or are securely hidden from archaeological excavations.This thesis deals with the grave concept and the problem in using a word that is so very clouded by its modern, western meaning. It also offers an alternative explanation to why the bones are handled the way they are and why they are found in such awkward contexts..

This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in.

In this essay I aim to examine how the landscape of Mönsterås might have looked like during the Bronze age in order to get a better understanding of the house urn that C J Ekerot found in a cairn in Fälle. Mönsterås is an area which has a quality of permanence, from Stone Age to Iron Age with its culmination during the Bronze Age. I will discuss the use and symbolic meaning of the house urn. The house as a symbol during the Bronze Age seemed to have had an important place in the cosmology. I will also discuss the importance of cairns, especially in the archipelago areas.

The production of ferrochromium alloys at Vargön Alloys AB contributes to formation of unwanted ferrochromium dust, which contains toxic Cr(VI). The dust is since summer 2005 treated with an iron-sulphate solution to reduce Cr(VI) to the non-toxic Cr(III). A year later the treatment technique was improved and disposal occurs in cells on the landfill. The cells can be up to 300 m3 and the edges can be made out of fro example concrete. Tests are conducted on the treated dust when it is disposed.

This thesis concerns the Gotlandic hill-forts (sw. fornborg) situated on a cliff or in an elevated position and which traditionally have been referred to as cliff-forts (sw. klintborg/höjdborg). The study derives from the notion that these monuments, diverse in size and shape, by archaeologists have been viewed and treated as a homogeneous category of ancient remains. The author?s key aim is to challenge this perception by identifying various subcategories from the 28 cliff-forts on the island.Ever since the archaeological discipline initiated the study of cliff-forts in the late 1800s and more or less to present day, the interpretations have been almost solely dominated by explanations of the military and defendable nature of them.

This essay is about two areas called Hackås and Myrviken, situated in the middle of Sweden around the lake Storsjön. In Hackås we can see traces after an early agrarian settlement, and in Myrviken we find Jämtlands largest concentration of ironmaking sites from around 400 AD. There are no clear evidence of the agrarian settlement in Myrviken, and only two ironmaking sites in Hackås. These two economies functioned at the same time, but were clearly separated. My purpose is to discuss if it was the farmers of Hackås who made iron in Myrviken, or if it was somebody else..

The aim for this essay is to identify and distinguish the metal casting of Uppåkra during late Iron Age by examine related material that primarily consist of finds made with a metal detector. I intend to, by analysing maps, concentrations in the detector material and probable constructions within the settlement, find patterns that can indicate a metal casting activity. The results of the essay show that a number of concentrations can be seen and that they both indicate metalworking activities and to some degree a structural specialization in the settlement. The exclusive artefacts also indicate that Uppåkra was a settlement with over-regional functions when it comes to traditions dealing with metal casting..

I denna rapport beskrivs en undersökning och jämförelse av två olika sorters segjärn. Detvå materialen som har studerats har varit det segjärnet som används i Parker Hannifinsnuvarande hydraulikmotorer och ett nytt segjärn, vars mekaniska egenskaper har påståttsvara mer fördelaktiga. Målet med arbetet var att få fram en tillförlitlig jämförelse av de olikamaterialen och avgöra om det fanns ett tydligt underlag för att inleda processen av ett byteav material i vissa komponenter i Parker Hannifins produkter.Det utfördes jämförelser mellan de olika materialens mekaniska egenskaper baserade delspå information som redan fanns om materialen och dels på data insamlad vid tester medskärande bearbetning. Förslitning på verktygen vid fräsning studerades tillsammans medskärkraften med olika sorters skärdata. Restspänningar efter ingreppen i de båda materialenmättes med en röntgendiffraktometer.Resultaten gav inga signifikanta indikationer på att ett materialbyte skulle innebära en lägreproduktionskostnad, dock visade analyser att det nya materialet tål att bearbetas fortare ändet traditionella segjärnet och att fler undersökningar bör göras.

The content of this essay is the critical treatment of ritual research in Uppåkra during the Iron Age in relation to Charlotte Fabechs research.From what has been concluded for Uppåkra a condensed chart of Uppåkra's rituals is produced. This chart is compared with what Fabech has put forward for Southern Scandinavia. Fabech's categories and theory have been widely used by the researchers of Uppåkra, and this is critically examined.The most important conclusion is that the similarities between the Uppåkra research and Fabech picture are not great. This source critical point indicates that the massive use of her research in order to explain the rituals in Uppåkra can have been misdirected. The mismatch is mainly due to the fact that places like Uppåkra is of extraordinary character..

This paper concerns a comparative analysis between two pre-Roman burial ground and the cremated individuals buried there, Skogome cemetery in Bohuslän and Smörkullen cemetery in Östergötland. The comparative analysis consists of several parts that concern both cemeteries inner and outer burial customs, and the osteological analysis of a total of 18 cremated invidvidulas. By studying the different parts separately, it has been possible to identify similarities and differences between the two contemporary cemeteries. There are great similarities between the cemeteries, differences were mainly observed in the osteological material relating to the amount of bone in each burial. The smaller amounts of bone in the graves of Skogome also holds a higher degree of fragmentation, but can not be explained by a higher combustion rate than the skeletal material from Smörkullen.

It is a well known archaeological concern that the remains of human bones left from the bronze age and early iron age Scandinavia are not nearly enough to represent the estimated population of the time. Furthermore the bones of each find rarely represent a whole individual. The majority of the bones must have been disposed of somewhere else, possibly scattered in running waters or in the fields, where they have evaporated or are securely hidden from archaeological excavations.This thesis deals with the grave concept and the problem in using a word that is so very clouded by its modern, western meaning. It also offers an alternative explanation to why the bones are handled the way they are and why they are found in such awkward contexts..

This thesis is a chronological survey over the hut and house remains from the Stone Age to the Early Middle Ages in Eastern Central Sweden. The thesis also contains a test which I have conducted to see which investigation method had the best results in identifying house remains at an archaeological site. I subsequently discuss the result of this test, what it represents and also what may be done differently in order to get other types of results..

High levels of Hg in fish in Swedish lakes have been a problem along time in Sweden. The major concern is production and accumulation of the most toxic form of mercury; methyl mercury (MeHg). Consequently, in about half of our 83 000 lakes fish contain concentrations above the recommended limit for human consumption of 0,5 mg mercury per kg fresh weight (most of it in the form of MeHg). Consumption of fish containing too high levels of MeHg may cause problems for both humans and animals. Three major sources of MeHg in surface waters are: 1) runoff from terrestrial areas, 2) deposition from the atmosphere, and 3) internal production of MeHg in lakes and streams. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of clear-cutting on the concentration of Hg and MeHg into draining streams.

The limit for mercury in fish, set by health authorities, is exceeded in about half of the lakes in Sweden. Methyl mercury (MeHg) is the most toxic form of mercury and accumulates in fish. Therefore transformation of inorganic mercury (Hg) to methylmercury (MeHg) is an important process that we need to understand in order to possibly counteract the negative effects of mercury in the environment. The seasonal dynamics of mercury biogeochemistry is likely of great importance for the accumulation of MeHg in the aquatic food web. In thesis the chemical speciation and transformations of Hg and MeHg in bottom waters and sediments is followed in Ängessjön, a small lake located on the east coast in the middle of Sweden. The lake is not directly affected by any industrial pollution and concentrations of Hg in the sediment reflect the atmospheric deposition in this area, as well as processes taking place along the hydrological pathways from soil to lake. Samples from sediment, bottom- and streamwater were collected in average every second month during the period Feb.