Project Manager
Botwid, KatarinaProject manager
Lund UniversityAmount granted
143 500 SEKYear
2017In the project Grave Fields and Farms - Life and Death in the Swedish Bronze Age, grave field ceramics are being revitalized through studies of material from the Norrköping area. New settlements are currently being excavated. The possibility of linking the new excavations with previously researched burial sites such as Fiskeby and Ringeby and large Bronze Age settlements such as the nearby Pryssgården makes the project particularly interesting. The investigation sheds new light on the craftsmen who worked and lived on the farms and who placed their cremated relatives in burial urns. The area around Bråviken's inlet from the Baltic Sea is known for its extensive Bronze Age remains and, not least, it is a rich rock carving area. The new method used in the project is craft interpretation, which provides knowledge of the ancient potter and the craft. The analysis is carried out by the applicant himself, who is both a doctor of archaeology and a professional potter. Investigating the level of knowledge of ancient potters has yielded interesting results, including an earlier study of artifacts from Pryssgården, which showed that a Bronze Age child had already developed good craftsmanship at the age of nine. The method has enabled completely new interpretations of how knowledge was transmitted and the importance of children in society to gain a foothold in our picture of the Bronze Age in Sweden. The practical research field is linked to a long tradition of interdisciplinary cooperation and, together with natural science disciplines, has opened up a new and exciting archaeology.