Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies

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Distance learning from 18 March
Distance learning from 18 March

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A woman´s grave at Aşıklı Höyük. Foto: Güneş Duru, Aşıklı Höyük Project Archive.

DNA analyses highlight kinship structures in early farming groups in Anatolia

An international research team with participants from Stockholm University has analyzed ancient DNA from human remains of the earliest Neolithic cultures from 10,000-8000 years ago in today's Turkey.

DNA analyses highlight kinship structures in early farming groups in Anatolia
Picture of the linen wrap with the fetus. Photo: Gunnar Menander

A kinship relation found between bishop Peder Winstrup and a fetus in his coffin

DNA-analyses prove a kinship relation between bishop Peder Winstrup (1605-1699) and a fetus found in his coffin.

A kinship relation found between bishop Peder Winstrup and a fetus in his coffin

New article by Kimmo Eriksson in Nature Communications

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries, we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors.

New article by Kimmo Eriksson in Nature Communications

New article in The Conversation by Jens Christian Moesgaard

In the autumn of 2020, I was contacted by the field archaeology unit of the Swedish National Historical Museums, who are also known as the Archaeologists. They were excavating at a Viking-age settlement at Viggbyholm just north of Stockholm. During routine metal detecting of the site, they had located a very exciting find: eight silver necklaces and other silver jewellery along with 12 coins, everything delicately wrapped up in a cloth and deposited in a pot. In other words, a genuine Viking silver hoard.

New article in The Conversation by Jens Christian Moesgaard
New film on Birka

New film on Birka

New film on Birka from the excavation in August 2020.

New film on Birka

Greater variation in Norse religion than previously thought

Recent research on pre-Christian Nordic religion demonstrates that there was much greater variation in Norse religion than previously thought. This is one of the conclusions of a new comprehensive interdisciplinary compilation of the research landscape.

Greater variation in Norse religion than previously thought
Book cover

New dissertation - Jack Dury - Dealing With Radiocarbon Reservoir Effects in Human and Faunal Skelet

Dealing With Radiocarbon Reservoir Effects in Human and Faunal Skelet

World’s oldest DNA reveals how mammoths evolved

An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old.

World’s oldest DNA
The coin from Normandy

Rare coin identified in Viking Age hoard

During the autumn of 2020, a silver hoard was found by the company Arkeologerna, part of the National Historical Museums, at a Viking Age farm in Viggbyholm, north of Stockholm. Jens Christian Moesgaard, professor of numismatics at Stockholm University, was contacted to help archaeologists identify the coins.

Rare coin identified in Viking Age hoard
Book cover

New dissertation - Maiken Hemme Bro-Jørgensen - Ancient genomics of Baltic seals

This thesis aims to study and describe the ancient populations of grey and harp seals in the Baltic Sea, and to present new methodological approaches for general use in ancient DNA studies.

Ancient genomics of Baltic seals
Geographical map showing the locations of the individuals sequenced in this study.

Ancient DNA analysis reveals Asian migration and plague

Ancient DNA reveals a history of migrations, continuity, and diseases in northeastern Asia.

Ancient DNA analysis reveals Asian migration and plague
Bokomslag

Iron and the transformation of society. Reflexion of Viking Age metallurgy

The Vikings put in a new angle as developing production of iron, which for an example, led to create preconditions for the building of societies.

Iron and the transformation of society. Reflexion of Viking Age metallurgy
Rött bokomslag med titel och en romerskrelief på.

Life and Death in a Multicultural Harbour City

In this volume includes 50 articles with numerous illustrations, written by international scholars active in the research of Ostia and Portus, the harbour city and the harbour area of ancient Rome

Life and Death in a Multicultural Harbour City
Grey seals lying on a sandy beach on the island of Helgoland in North Sea, Germany. Credit: Aikateri

How did prehistoric societies deal – culturally and economically – with environmental change?

The project propose a novel, cross-disciplinary study on how humans used culture as a means to handle sudden environmental change, and detect different patterns of human behaviour in prehistoric coastal societies in the Baltic Sea area.

Read more about the project
Rebun Island

New dissertation: Aripekka Oskari Junno

In this thesis, organic residues preserved in ancient pottery are used to reconstruct diversity and change in the foodways of Late Holocene hunter-gatherer communities in coastal northern Hokkaido (1750 BCE–1250 CE)

Bringing home animals
Omslag

New Dissertation: Vasiliki Papakosta

This thesis aims to provide an understanding of the dynamics underlying the adoption of pottery by pre-agrarian hunter-gatherer cultural groups around the Baltic Sea.

Early pottery use among hunter-gatherers around the Baltic
Bokomslag

New dissertation - Alison Harris

Alison Harrsi will defend her thesis, Palaeodiet and Infant Feeding in Coastal Arctic Settlements: Insights from stable isotope analysis of bone and dentine collagen and amino acids, on October the 13th.

Palaeodiet and Infant Feeding
Bild CEK-kurs

New courses in Cultural Evolution

Are you a student in the humanities, social or natural sciences? Are you interested in a broad interdisciplinary perspective on cultural change? Then these courses are for you!

New courses in Cultural Evolution
New book: The Scandinavian Early Modern World

New book: The Scandinavian Early Modern World

Researcher Jonas Monié Nordin has recently published an essential book on The Scandinavian Early Modern World

The Scandinavian Early Modern World
Pastoralism

New Book on Pastoralism and Landscape Change

Postdoctoral Fellow, Eugene Costello, has recently published an important new book, Transhumance and the Making of Ireland’s Uplands, 1550-1900.

More information about the book
DH

Digital Humanities Now

Hosted at Stockholm University on 27-29 Jan 2021, this conference will showcase new and ongoing research in the broad Digital Humanities field.

More information and registration
Two burials at the Pittd Ware Culture Ajvide on Gotland. Left, a male in burial 54 placed on his bac

New insights into Stone Age cultural and social interaction

Researchers have investigated archaeological and genetic information to investigate cultural interaction and influences between the Battle Axe Culture (BAC) and the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC)

New insights into Stone Age cultural and social interaction
Markus Fjellström

New dissertation - Marcus Fjellström - Food Cultures in Sápmi

The aim of this thesis is to highlight the heterogeneous cultural landscape in Sápmi through the study of food. By studying food and the choices of specific foodstuffs in Sápmi AD 600–1900, a greater understanding can be gained on the history of this area during the period.

Food Cultures in Sápmi
Feuerborn

Tatiana Richtman Feuerborn - Genomic Insights into the Population History of Circumpolar Arctic Dogs

The Siberian and North American Arctic have both borne witness to numerous migrations of humans and with them their dogs. This PhD thesis is based on whole genome data from 22 Siberian dogs and 72 North American Arctic dogs, in addition to 186 mitochondrial genomes Siberian and North American Arctic dogs.

Tatiana Richtman Feuerborn - Genomic Insights into the Population History of Circumpolar Arctic Dogs
Blå platta

Information for students and staff about the coronavirus

Information on the coronavirus in relation to Stockholm University's activities is updated continuously.

Distance learning from 18 March
CPG

Old genes in new centre

Mammoth, man or microbe. Severely degraded DNA is being investigated by researchers brought together by the new Centre for Palaeogenetics.

Old genes in new centre
Sigtuna

DNA studies give a new view of Sweden’s history

The Atlas of 1,000 Ancient Genomes Project (ATLAS) has changed the picture of Scandinavia’s settlement and how agriculture spread across Europe.

DNA studies give a new view of Sweden’s history
New Dissertation - Anita Malmius: Burial textiles

New Dissertation - Anita Malmius: Burial textiles

Textiles have always played an important role in human prehistory. Weaving and other types of handicraft demanded logical thinking and creativity. This thesis deals with textiles found in burials in Mälardalen, east central Sweden, in 500–800 AD.

New Dissertation - Anita Malmius: Burial textiles
Bergsgraven

The Battle Axe Culture in new light

In an interdisciplinary study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, an international research team combined archaeological, genetic and stable isotope data to understand the demographic processes associated with the iconic Battle Axe culture and its introduction to Scandinavia. The results show that the introduction of the new cultural manifestations was associated with movements of people.

The Battle Axe Culture in new light

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In case of emergency
Environmental Research in the Human Sciences area