Ph D from Stockholm University in 1991 with the dissertation 'Arkeologisk samhällsavgränsning' (Eng. ‘Delimiting of Societies in Archaeology’) combining large-scale spatial and quantitative analyses with an interpretative approach. His research then developed in the direction of focusing the multitude of meanings that material remains from the past have been ascribed in different contexts. Lately he has been instrumental in establishing the archaeology of the contemporary past as a field of research in Scandinavia. Publications within this field include the textbook 'Samtidsarkeologi' (Eng. ‘The Archaeology of the Contemporary Past’) (2007) and several case studies dealing with sites such as a car cemetery, a World War 2 refugee camp, family belongings hidden in the ground by Estonians during the Stalin era, and a Soviet nuclear missile site in Cuba from the 1962 World Crisis.

Currently member of the editorial boards of 'Nordisk Museologi' (since 2005), 'Journal of Social Archaeology' (since 2007), 'Norwegian Archaeological Review' (since 2011), and 'Journal of Contemporary Archaeology' (since 2012).

Visiting scholar at Stanford University, USA, in 2010, La Trobe University, Australia, in 2012, and University of Oxford, United Kingdom, in 2014. Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 2016/17.

Research interests
• The archaeology of the contemporary past
• The relation between material culture and memory
• Archaeology as a field of culture and its relation to art and science
• The theory and ideology of cultural heritage management

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Ongoing research

'Ballast: Loads of History'

This project deals with ballast as a concrete material necessary to keep ships stable on one hand, while on the other also being a metaphor for the way in which the past influences us in different ways. The study draws together historical-philosophical arguments about the past as a resource or a burden for the living, and explorations of different archaeological contexts where ballast has been found and interpreted. While not artefacts in the common sense of the word, enormous amounts of stones have been transported all over the globe as ballast. Recognizing ballast stones as an archaeological material destabilizes the standard division between artefacts and natural objects.

This project is conducted within the research group 'After Discourse: Things, Archaeology, and Heritage in the 21st Century'. See: https://cas.oslo.no/research-groups/after-discourse-things-archaeology-and-heritage-in-the-21st-century-article1802-827.html