Sven Isaksson

I am Professor of Archaeological Science. My work encompasses a wide range of laboratory-based analytical techniques aimed at extracting new knowledge from archaeology’s often fragmented source material. My research is primarily focused on biomolecular archaeology, where I combine molecular and isotopic analyses of organic residues, most often to identify what these remains actually represent. In parallel, I also conduct analyses of inorganic materials such as metal artefacts, minerals, ceramics, etc.

My main research interests concern food culture and subsistence strategies, and how these have changed over long timescales. In combination with established archaeological evidence and written sources (where available), I apply laboratory analyses to food-related residues found on and within prehistoric ceramic vessels and in anthropogenic soils. In recent years, this work has expanded to include a broader focus on how people in prehistory responded to crises and catastrophes. Chronologically, my research spans from the Paleolithic to the late modern period, and geographically from the Baltic region to the Japanese archipelago, from northern Norway to southern Africa.

A recurring theme in my research is the importance of fully integrated sampling for scientific analyses during archaeological fieldwork. Drawing on my expertise in laboratory field archaeology, I led, together with colleagues, archaeological investigations at Birka (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) on Björkö in Lake Mälaren between 2018 and 2022. These investigations resulted in the identification of a previously unknown town rampart with a moat, as well as a shipyard area.

Since 2017, I have been involved in a research project on the use of arrow poisons in hunting in southern Africa, in collaboration with colleagues at Linnaeus University and the University of Johannesburg. The method-development phase of the project was based on analyses of ethnohistorical materials from the past two and a half centuries. This foundational work enabled the identification of the oldest known evidence for the use of arrow poisons, dated to approximately 60,000 years ago, published in 2026 in the journal Science Advances.

In parallel, between 2020 and 2023 I participated in a project examining the impact of three major climatic events on prehistoric coastal societies. Since 2021, I have been involved in the Nordic–Japanese research programme CALDERA – Long-term cultural responses to major natural disaster, of which the project Surviving the Apocalyps is part, which investigates hunter-gatherers’ long-term cultural responses to major natural disasters. The programme aims to improve our understanding of processes of survival, adaptation, and recovery, and of how long-term interactions between humans, animals, and the environment have contributed to the emergence of new cultural lifeways. The programme brings together researchers at Lund and Stockholm universities in Sweden and at Kanazawa University and Kyushu University in Japan. Since 2023, I have also served on the steering committee of the research programme Crisis, Conflict and Climate – Societal Change in Scandinavia AD 300–700, funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, in which I am also an active researcher.

I teach Archaeological Science at both undergraduate and graduate levels, in the laboratory as well as in the field. Between 2016 and 2021, I served as a supervisor for doctoral candidates within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Joint Doctoral Training Site ArchSci 2020.

Projects

As Principle Investigator:

2007-2010: A Spartan way of life? On the culture of food and subsistence in Bronze Age Sweden. The Swedish Research Council.

2002-2007: Research Fellowship (Bidrag för rekryteringsanställning som forskarassistent i arkeologi, samt Tilläggsbidrag till anställning som forskarassistent (arkeologi).) The Swedish Research Council.

2001-2005: By House and Hearth - The chemistry of culture layers as a document of the subsistence of prehistoric man. Co-applicant: Björn Hjulström. The Swedish Research Council.

2001 06 01-2001 08 31: Tracing ancient vegetable foods. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

As Co-applicant:

2025-2029: Surviving The Apocalyps: Modelling Multi-Scalar Impacts And Legacies Of An Anvient Mega Disaster on Human Life-Worlds, Technologies and Demography. Principle Investigators: Peter Jordan & Junzo Uchiyama. Co-applicants: Mitsuhiro Kuwahata, Kerstin Lidén, Sven Isaksson, Aripekka Junno, Felix Riede, Aikaterini Glukou & Enrico Crema. The Swedish Research Council.

2024-2025: Toxic cultural heritage? Ecological and social impacts of old mines in the Scandinavian mountin range. Principal investigator: Prof. Jonas Monié Nordin. Co-applicant: Prof. Sven Isaksson. The Swedish National Heritage Board.

2023-2030: Crisis, Conflict & Climate - societal change in Scandinavia 300-700 CE. Principal Investigator: Prof. K. Lidén, Stockholm University. Co-applicants: Dr Gunilla Eriksson, Dr Jan-Henrik Fallgren, Dr Lena Holmquist, Dr Sven Isaksson, Dr Ludvih Papmehl-Dufay, Dr Helena Victor. Riksbankens jubileumsfond.

2020-2023: How to deal with environmental change – the impact of three major environmental events on prehistoric coastal societies and their main prey species. Principal Investigator: Prof. K. Lidén, Stockholm University. Co-applicants: Dr. Gunilla Eriksson, Dr. Aikaterini Glykou, Dr. Sven Isaksson. The Swedish Research Council.

2013-2014: Whey to go - detecting prehistoric dairying practices in Scandinavia. Principal Investigator: Prof. K. Lidén, Stockholm University. Co-applicants: Dr. Sven Isaksson, Dr. Gunilla Eriksson. The Berit Wallenberg Foundation.

2011-2014: Ceramics before Farming: Prehistoric Pottery Dispersals in Northeast Asia. Principle Investigator: Dr P. Jordan, University of Aberdeen, UK. Co-applicants: Dr B. Fitzhugh, University of Washington (USA), Dr I. S. Zhushchikhovskaya, Russ.Acad.Sci. (Russia), Prof. H. Kato (Project Associate), University of Sapporo (Hokkaido), Dr S. Isaksson (Project Associate), Stockholm University (Sweden), Dr P. S. Quinn, University of Sheffield (UK). The UK Leverhulme Trust.

2010-2013: Uniquely Human. Principal Investigator: Prof. M. Enquist, Stockholm University. Co-applicants: Prof. Stefano Ghirlanda, Dr Sven Isaksson, Dr Johan Lind. The Swedish Research Council.

2007-2009: Cultaptation – "Dynamics and adaptation in human cumulative culture". Coordinator: Prof. Kimmo Eriksson. Other Principal Investigators:  Prof. Magnus Enquist, Prof. Stefano Ghirlanda, Prof. Kevin Laland, Prof. Kerstin Lidén, Prof. Pierluigi Contucci, Prof. Arne Jarrick. Co-applicants: Hanna Aronsson, Micael Ehn, Lewis Dean, Dr. Gunilla Eriksson, Dr Sven Isaksson, Fredrik Jansson, Dr. Jeremy Kendal, Elin Fornander, Dr. Jonas Sjöstrand, Dr. Luke Rendell, Pontus Strimling, Dr. Niklas Janz, Dr. Johan Lind and Christina Schierman. EUs 6th Framwork program.

Academic Awards

2024: The Ben Cullen Antiquity Prize 2024 for "outstanding work in the field of archaeology".

2008: From Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis for “his successful, multidisciplinary effort to combine the natural sciences and the humanities, by skillfully and inventively merging his own biomolecular and archaeological analyses and interpretations.”

2001: From Swedish Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, for “meritorious scientific work (Food and Rank in Early Medieval Time)”.