Iron age farms in Southwest Norway the development of the agrarian landscape on Jæren

In this issue of NAR the development of the agrarian landscape and the farm structure in the Iron Age in Southwest Norway ‐ especially in the district of Jæren ‐ is taken up as a subject for discussion. Two publications by Bj?rn Myhre (Funn, fornminner og ?degårder. Jernalderens bosetning i H?yland Fjellbygd. Stavanger Museums Skrifter 7,1972 and The Iron Age Farm in Southwest Norway. NAR 6, No. 1, 1973) are commented upon by Björn Ambrosiani, Arnvid Lillehammer, Sven‐Olof Lindquist, Perry Rolfsen and Ulf Sporrong. Bj?rn Myhre's reply to the comments closes the discussion.     

The Kidney Dagger as a Symbol of Masculine Identity – The Ballock Dagger in the Scandinavian Context

During the 13th century the dagger re‐emerged as a military weapon in Europe. A variety of distinct types evolved, soon also functioning as popular civilian weapons, all over the Continent. Contrary to other European societies, Scandinavians favoured one specific type, namely the kidney dagger. These daggers are found in different archaeological contexts in the Nordic countries, and their violent use is known from both iconographic and written sources. The Scandinavian preference is noted by several authors, one of them even proposing a Scandinavian origin. Still, they do not try to explain this preference. The article presents an interpretation based on the phallic form both of the weapon and of the way of carrying it. The phallic symbolism of the ballock dagger was obvious in contemporary medieval times, but has been obscured later on, for instance by the Victorian label ‘kidney dagger’. Using daggers from Western Norway as a starting point, kidney daggers in Scandinavia are interpreted in a medieval context derived from the Norse sagas and laws. These sources draw a picture of a violent society with rigid conceptions of honour, masculine identity and sexuality. Based on this picture, our understanding of the kidney dagger and material culture of violence in medieval Scandinavian society can be brought a step further.     

Recent Norwegian archaeological publications

The part of the Helg?y Project presented here deals with the Norwegian and Sami populations in Helg?y from their supposed immigration to the Region about 13/1400 AD to approximately 1700. Some findings and the methods developed by the project to establish them will be presented, the question of how to distinguish Sami from Norwegian settlements in historical and pre‐historical times being central in the study of North Norway.     

A new technique for archaeological field measuring

Bente Magnus and Bj?rn Myhre: Forhistorien. Fra jegergruppe til h?vdingsamfunn. Norges Historie, Bind 1 (Prehistory. From hunting groups to a society of chieftainships. The History of Norway, Vol. 1). J. W. Cappelens Forlag A.S., Oslo 1976. 448 pp., 233 Figs.

Anders Hagen: Norges oldtid. Ny utgave. (Norway in Ancient Times. New edition.) J. W. Cappelens Forlag A.S., Oslo 1977. 332 pp., 86 Figs.     

De Codicibus librorum translatorum oribasii

Für die Faktizität der Briefe Senecas scheint die siebente Epistel mit einer angeblichen Kritik an Nero zu sprechen. Doch Senecas Tadel an den Gladiatorenkämpfen richtet sich nicht gegen den Princeps, sondern gegen das ungebildete, für Grausamkeiten empfängliche Volk.     

An oasis in a watery desert? Discourses on an industrial ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico Rigs‐to‐Reefs program

This article explores how in the years after 1980 a spectrum of historical actors came to see petroleum platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as a necessary part of the Gulf ecosystem and how such views affected platform removal policies. Through a discourse analysis of the Rigs‐to‐Reefs program, in which old offshore petroleum facilities were converted into artificial reefs, this article examines how actors presented to the public their notions of the relationship of the Gulf ecosystem with technological offshore structures. Through this case we see how ideas of technology and nature were mutually constructed via discourses and what affect that had on policies.     

The exiles of the Risorgimento: Italian volunteers in the Portuguese Civil War (1832–34)

Abstract

Between 1832 and 1834 during the civil war against the partisans of absolutism in Portugal about a hundred Italians fought as volunteers in the Portuguese liberal army. These Italians were motivated to participate by a Romantic culture of war that was strongly rooted in the liberal nationalism of the Italian Risorgimento, but above all, the decision to fight as a volunteer abroad was the result of an international movement of political solidarity with Portuguese liberalism in the early 1830s with which the Italian liberals came into contact during their political exile in France and in Belgium. For the Italian, fighting as volunteers in Portugal proved to be a decisive political experience which deeply shaped their own political ideas of the nation that the volunteers would subsequently draw on in their different political and professional roles in Italy where they became ministers, diplomats and generals of the Kingdom of Italy.