Territorial Behaviour and Communication in a Ritual Landscape

Landscape research in the last decade, in human geography as well as in anthropology and archaeology, has often been polarized, either according to traditional geographical methods or following the principles of a new, symbolically orientated discipline. This cross–disciplinary study in prehistoric Östergötland, Sweden, demonstrates the importance of using methods and approaches from both orientations in order to gain reasonable comprehension of landscape history and territorial structure. Funeral monuments as cognitive nodes in a prehistoric cultural landscape are demonstrated as to contain significant elements of astronomy, not unlike what has been discussed for native and prehistoric American cultures, e.g. Ancestral Pueblo. A locational analysis with measurements of distances and directions was essential in approaching this structure. A nearest neighbour method was used as a starting–point for a territorial discussion, indicating that the North European hundreds division could have its roots in Bronze Age (1700–500 BC) tribal territories, linked to barrows geographically interrelated in cardinal alignments. In the European Bronze Age faith and science, the religious and the profane, were integrated within the framework of a solar cult, probably closely connected with astronomy in a ritual landscape, organized according to cosmological ideas, associated with power and territoriality. Cosmographic expression of a similar kind was apparently used even earlier, as gallery–graves (stone cists) from the Late Neolithic (2300–1700 BC) in Östergötland are also geographically interrelated in cardinal alignments.     

Negotiating the Nation: Ethnicity,Nationalism and Nation-Building in Independent Namibia

Abstract. Employing recent anthropological perspectives on ethnicity and nationalism which have not yet been applied to any extent in research on cultural differentiation in Namibia, the article investigates problems and challenges in the process of nation-building in the recently independent state. Ethnicity and nationalism are here seen as socially constructed and ideologically practised phenomena, and the relationship between these ideologies is studied as one of ideological conflict. More particularly, the article investigates the formation, relevance and uses of ethnic identities; the relationship between ethnicity, class and the politics of ethnic nationalism; as well as some techniques, rhetorics and symbols employed in the social construction of nationalism in Namibia. In conclusion, the article argues the importance of making the nation-building project relevant to people not only through the creation of ever more effective and inclusive national symbols, but also through real economic and political reforms.     

Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones

Archaeological fish bones reveal increases in marine fish utilisation in Northern and Western Europe beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. We use stable isotope signatures from 300 archaeological cod (Gadus morhua) bones to determine whether this sea fishing revolution resulted from increased local fishing or the introduction of preserved fish transported from distant waters such as Arctic Norway, Iceland and/or the Northern Isles of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland). Results from 12 settlements in England and Flanders (Belgium) indicate that catches were initially local. Between the 9th and 12th centuries most bones represented fish from the southern North Sea. Conversely, by the 13th to 14th centuries demand was increasingly met through long distance transport – signalling the onset of the globalisation of commercial fisheries and suggesting that cities such as London quickly outgrew the capacity of local fish supplies.     

Detecting the medieval cod trade: a new method and first results

This paper explores the potential of stable isotope analysis to identify the approximate region of catch of cod by analysing bones from medieval settlements in northern and western Europe. It measures the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of cod bone collagen from medieval control samples collected from sites around Arctic Norway, the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea. These data were considered likely to differ by region due to, for example, variation in the length of the food chain, water temperature and salinity. We find that geographical structuring is indeed evident, making it possible to identify bones from cod caught in distant waters. These results provide a new methodology for studying the growth of long-range trade in dried cod and the related expansion of fishing effort—important aspects of the development of commercialisation in medieval Europe. As a first test of the method, we analyse three collections of cod bones tentatively interpreted as imported dried fish based on a priori zooarchaeological criteria. The results tentatively suggest that cod were being transported or traded over very long distances since the end of the first millennium AD.     

Framing the High North: Public Discourses in Norway after 2000

Abstract

The article presents an overview of the main public debates in Norway that can be said to have framed and defined the High North since the turn of the Millennium. It is based on a qualitative study of over 3000 articles published in four Norwegian newspapers issued between 2000 and 2006. Our discussion is structured around three overarching, interconnected narratives that we think capture the essence of the Norwegian public discourses on the High North between 2000 and 2006. These are “Fragments from the 1990s”; “The great narrative of the High North”; and “Mixing cold water with hot blood”. The first half of the 2000s is characterised by an almost total absence of the High North as a discursive and politically coherent concept. From 2004, however, usage grew fivefold, alongside an extensive, dynamic discursive mobilisation. When the Russians decided in 2006 to shelve the Shtokman project and critical voices were heard condemning Norway's environmental performance in northwest Russia, public opinion swung back again. A feeling of cold reality replaced the sense of optimism towards the energy potential of the north, and an exercise in collective soul-searching commenced – similar to that of the early years of the decade. We believe the type of discursive change we document in this article constitutes policy trends in connection both with the High North and with other sectors where policy is subject to intense public debate and appraisal. We hope that discourse analysis has enabled us to investigate and share how Norwegian public discourses on the High North are socially produced, framed and maintained but at the same time are always in flux and open to “new” directions which should be possible – at least in theory – to trace by going back in time.     

Emergence and Growth of Mjärdevi Science Park in Linköping,Sweden1

The development of science parks constitutes an interesting example of policy to enhance the technology-based development of a region. These parks, it is argued, contribute to fostering technological innovation and transfer and stimulating the growth of high-level economic activities. This article examines the role that science parks play in the promotion of regional development with particular reference to one of Sweden's most successful science parks, the Mjärdevi Science Park. During the 1990s, Mjärdevi was recognized as one of Northern Europe's most rapidly growing science parks, and it has an enviable record with respect to the launching of local, new technology-based firms. This article traces the historical events related to the creation of Mjärdevi Science Park that have influenced its technological and industrial development. It then outlines the park's path of development and subsequently addresses key factors affecting the growth dynamics of the park.     

The concept of disasters in Geography Education

In the context of current discussions on natural hazards, natural risks and (human) disasters around the world, the aspect of disaster risk reduction (DRR) is gaining more and more importance. The present contribution elucidates the didactical consequences this development has on competence-oriented Geography teacher training at universities/colleges as well as in Geography Education research.