Life and death in the mesolithic of Sweden / Mats Larsson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Larsson, Mats, 1951- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mesolithic period--Sweden.

Mesolithic period.

Sweden.

Physical Description:

x, 134 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; Havertown, PA : Oxbow Books, 2017.

Summary:

Over the last 20 years a vast number of new and important Swedish Mesolithic sites have been excavated and published in different ways as articles, books and site reports. As yet there has been no study that tries to bring the loose ends together and so the main task of this important new work by one of Sweden's leading prehistorians is to provide an extensive overview of some of the main sites and results. The timespan is long: c. 10 000-4000 BC and the amount and choice of data very large so rather than attempt to describe everything in detail Mats Larsson focuses on a series of fundamental research perspectives concerning Mesolithic lifeways and settlement patterns and chooses key sites to illustrate them. The emphasis is on southern and middle Sweden, though the country's northern regions are in no way forgotten. This companion piece to the author's recent successful volume Paths Towards a New World: Neolithic Sweden, written for a general audience is also a must for all those archaeologists interested in the Mesolithic of Northern Europe and would be students of prehistory. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Mesolithic Period in Sweden: An Introduction 1

Mesolithic on the move 4

2 Hunters in the Forest 7

Ageröds mosse 11

Settlement patterns and hunting/collecting strategies 14

Life and death 15

The end of the Mesolithic in Scania 19

Segebro: an early Atlantic settlement at the coast 19

Ageröd V: an Atlantic bog site 20

Tågerup: settlement and burials 23

The old woman 23

The double burial 23

The man's grave 24

Yngsjö and Årup 28

The Last Hunters: the Ertebølle Culture 28

Soldattorpet, Limhamn 30

Löddesborg 31

Skateholm 31

Tägerup 36

Houses and burials 36

Bredasten 37

Yngsjö 40

3 Blekinge: New Discoveries 41

Bro 597 43

Damm 6 44

Norrje Sunnansund: tons of fish 44

Lussabacken norr 48

4 Hunters along the Kalmar Strait and on Öland 49

Tingby, a much, discussed house 49

New excavations at Tingby 52

Concluding remarks 52

Öland 53

5 Seal Hunters on Gotland 55

Taking care of the dead 55

6 Into the Forest: Early Hunters in the Southern Swedish Interior 59

7 Pioneers: Hunters in Eastern Middle Sweden 61

Östergötland: new discoveries 61

The Mjölby sites 63

Mörby 63

Sand covered houses: Högby 64

Srorlyckan: another site with a dwelling structure 66

The hut 67

Spatial distribution 69

Western Östergötland, Lake Tåkern 71

Sites around Linköping 71

Life and death around Motala 74

Strandvägen 74

House 1 75

House 2 75

Death in the lake 77

The Late Mesolithic in Östergötland 79

Pioneering hunters: some remarks 79

8 Pioneers in the Early Archipelagos of Eastern Middle Sweden 81

Early sites 82

Peak 85 82

Sites on the A73 84

Late sites 85

9 Moving Inland 87

10 The Western Part of Sweden 89

The earliest sites 90

Hensbacka Culture 90

Inland sites 92

Sandarna Culture 93

The dead 100

The Late Mesolithic 101

Lihult 101

Lihult inland sites 102

Transverse arrowheads 103

11 Moving North 105

Leksand 106

Along the coast: further north 109

12 Pioneers in the Interior of Northern Sweden 113

The earliest sites 113

Later Mesolithic 115.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1785703854

9781785703850

OCLC:

976305260