Agricultural and household activities in Vestfold,Southeast Norway,as illustrated by pollen data and the charred remains of crops and wild plants

This paper presents and interprets two data sets from Vestfold, Southeast Norway: the pollen record is from a small lake basin, isolated from the sea in Mid Mesolithic (8100–6400 cal BC), and with a record of sediment deposition up to recent time. Charred plant remains from six settlement sites ranging in date from the Late Neolithic (2400–1800 cal BC) to the Merovingian Period (cal AD 570–800). Soil from archaeological contexts that was recovered from several prehistoric settlement features (two- and three-aisled houses, a rock shelter and a pit) has also been investigated. The number and concentrations of identifiable charred macro remains are low from all features except one, but the records contribute to the interpretation of agriculture and wild plant use. Carbonised cereals dated to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age are reported from a two-aisled house. Naked barley was the main cereal identified and a few weed seeds were found with the cereal grains. In a rock shelter nearby, cereals and seeds of flax were found, demonstrating cultivation in the Late Bronze Age. Pollen of ribwort plantain recorded in lake deposits in Nordbytjern, 0·5?km to the southwest, also indicates agricultural activity in the southern part of Vestfold during the Late Bronze Age. Archaeobotanical samples from Early Iron Age houses contained low concentrations of carbonised cereal remains, mainly hulled barley, but also wheat and oat. Seeds/fruits of weeds, plants of moist/wet habitats and grasses increase in abundance from the end of Roman Period. The high concentration of hulled barley found in a pit at the site of Ringdal 13 confirms that hulled barley was a cereal used in the Iron Age. Throughout the Iron Age, cereal pollen has a continuous curve in the Nordbytjern pollen diagram, demonstrating the significance of cereal cultivation in Vestfold. Flax was also cultivated in the vicinity of and probably processed in Nordbytjern. Large numbers of rush seeds and sedge nutlets indicate a possible involvement in basketry and cordage making and/or as animal fodder.     

Pollen analysis in the context of clearance cairns from boreal forests – a reflection of past cultivation and pastoral farming

The former agricultural use of two sites located in the boreal forest of eastern Norway is investigated through pollen analysis. A peat profile was taken from the vicinity in each of two clearance cairn fields where several cairns were analysed for pollen. The pollen samples from the peat profiles give an environmental context for the pollen samples from the clearance cairns, and this combination of samples assists in evaluating the management practices that were in place on the cairn fields during different time periods. In both study areas cultivation layers under the clearance cairns are dated to the Late Roman Iron Age (cal. AD 200–400), while the oldest clearance cairns are dated to the Migration period (cal. AD 400–570), and a second phase of clearance cairn establishment is dated to the Medieval period (cal. AD 1030–1537). Abandonment of the two cairn fields is dated to c. AD 1700. Pioneer trees were a feature on or around the clearance cairn fields during most of the Iron Age, whereas the cairn fields were more open in medieval times. The investigation suggests that cereal cultivation on the clearance cairn fields is difficult to detect in local peat deposits, and that caution is needed when interpreting lack of Cerealia pollen. Management practices on the cairn fields are discussed and a change in management practice is indicated in association with medieval intensification.     

Lead Isotope Analysis of Tooth Enamel from a Viking Age Mass Grave in Southern Britain and the Constraints it Places on the Origin of the Individuals

Lead analysis of tooth enamel from individuals recovered from a Viking Age burial pit in southern England provides further evidence for their childhood origins outside Britain. All except one of the men have very low Pb concentrations that exclude anthropogenic Pb exposure. Strontium and oxygen isotope compositions identify a core group of men who have Pb isotope compositions of ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb = 2.065 ± 0.021 (n = 20, 2SD) that, when compared with data from European soils, appear to exclude a childhood in the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland, whereas areas of Northern continental Europe cannot be excluded.     

Are secessionists making the right arguments for independence?

There are roughly 70 secessionist movements around the world, and all of them advance arguments for why they deserve independence. These include restorative rights, remedial rights, primary rights, a history of conflict and functionality-based arguments. However, no one has conducted a comprehensive analysis to see how these arguments (or grievances) match reality. That is, are secessionists making the right arguments given their context? To answer this question, we utilise a data set of potential secessionist grievances to determine what normative arguments each secessionist movement ought to make given their setting. We conduct a content analysis of the normative appeals/grievances that have actually been made by specific secessionist movements since 2000. We then compare the predicted grievances against the actual grievances and summarise the patterns. The results matched our predictions where restorative rights, remedial rights and functionality-based arguments are concerned. Our analysis returned a positive and statistically significant relationship. However, we found no evidence that those making conflict-related arguments were more likely to exist in conflict settings. Interestingly, the findings for primary rights were the opposite of our expectations; it is the secessionists with the most political voice, not the least, that are the keenest to stress primary rights.     

Space-time geography of female live-in child domestic workers in Dhaka,Bangladesh

Live-in child domestic workers in Bangladesh often experience the surveilling power of their employer's gaze as a Foucauldian panopticon, which both disciplines and engages children in forms of self-discipline. I argue that female child domestic workers in particular have a form of ‘thin’ agency whereby they are severely restricted in their abilities to make independent decisions or to act to their own benefit. I ethnographically unpack the concept of thin agency by analyzing material, cultural, spatial and discursive constraints that both employers and female child domestic workers engage in their daily lives.     

Human impact and landscape utilization from the Mesolithic to medieval time traced by high spatial resolution pollen analysis and numerical methods

Pollen analysis in relation to archaeological excavations has been carried out by the coast of central Norway to investigate for the first time long-term human impact on the vegetation in this region. A total of 297 samples from eleven archaeological sites and connected bogs/peat profiles reveal the vegetation development from the Mesolithic until today. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to identify and elucidate the development through time and space, and the results of pollen diagrams from bogs are compared to the results of on-site pollen data. Human impact has transformed the vegetation to a varying degree in different time periods. A dense population connected to the shoreline is slightly visible as opening-up of the forest in the Mesolithic, whereas re-use of Mesolithic settlement sites for cultivation and grazing in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (from c. 2300 cal BC) is clearly documented by palaeobotany but weakly recorded in the archaeological record. Areas for settlement and cultivation are found from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and pollen analysis contributes to a detailed picture of utilization of the landscape. The investigation shows the potential of combining archaeological and botanical data and analysing several small pollen sequences within an excavation area to reveal spatial patterns in vegetation development and human impact through time.     

Regional Labor Market Dynamics, Housing, and Migration

Abstract.  This study explores the impact of plant‐level labor market dynamics and housing markets on gross migration flows. The internal and the external reorganizations of regional labor markets are shown to be related. An increase in internal turnover of jobs and workers in regional labor markets is found to increase net‐migration. This effect arises mainly from a reduction in out‐migration. Housing markets constitute constraints for migration. In particular, an increase in regional housing prices and a large share of owner‐occupancy housing discourages net‐migration to a region by reducing in‐migration. In contrast, the out‐migration rate remains largely unaffected by housing markets.