A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Retrieving, Curating and Depositing Skulls at Pitted Ware Culture Sites

  2020. Tobias Lindström. Current Swedish Archaeology 28, 147-179

  Article

  At many Middle Neolithic sites in south-central Scandinavia associated with the huntergatherer complex known as the Pitted Ware culture, the skulls of humans and animals seemto have been treated differently from other skeletal elements. This is evident, for example, ininhumation graves lacking crania or entire skulls as well as numerous finds of cranial andmandibular fragments scattered in cultural layers or deposited in hearths and pits. Despiteparallels in overall treatment and find contexts, the selective handling of human skulls hasgenerally been regarded as a mortuary practice and thus qualitatively different from thehandling of animal skulls. Focusing primarily on the head bones themselves and relatingtheir treatment to the wider use of skeletal remains allows us to consider a more complexsystem of retrieving, modifying, curating and depositing crania and mandibles. Drawingon the overlapping general treatment of human and animal remains, it is suggested thathead bones from both humans and animals were efficacious objects that could be used indepositional acts.

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• Förbisedda föremål: gropkeramiska »facettstenar»

  2020. Tobias Lindström, Amanda Patriksdotter. Fornvännen 115 (2), 73-80

  Article

  During the 2018 excavation of a large Pitted Ware Culture site in Norvik, Nynäshamn, a large number of round-oval ground stone tools with one or more faceted sides were recovered. These probably served as hand stones and were likely used for crushing, pounding and grinding different types of materials. The abundance of these implements at Norvik stands in stark contrast to the apparent lack of them elsewhere, which raises the question of whether this reflects a prehistoric reality or sampling strategies during archaeological excavations. Through our investigation we have identified a comparatively small number of similar stone tools from Pitted Ware Culture sites on the Swedish mainland, Gotland and Åland. It would seem that these tools are somewhat hard to identify in the archaeological record, possibly due to the inconspicuous nature of ground stone tools in general. This might contribute to sampling bias during excavation as well as a tepid interest in doing research on them. We suggest that the inconsistent terminology used for these implements might present an obstacle for future research.

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• Ett huvudlöst förslag: angående den tredje individen i grav 7 från Ire

  2019. Tobias Lindström. Fornvännen 114 (4), 220-228

  Article

  In the current exhibition on Swedish prehistory at the Swedish History Museum, visitors can observe an extraordinarily emotive Stone Age grave containing the skeletons of a man and a small child. However, the grave was interpreted by the excavators as containing three skeletons. The third skeleton has for some reason been omitted from the exhibition altogether. At the time of the excavation the omitted skeleton was found without the cranium and was placed slightly below the bent legs of the other two skeletons. I argue that the three skeletons, although perhaps representing two burial episodes, should be regarded as relating to one another in a grave assemblage. Instead of presenting the cropped grave assemblage in order to discuss family norms in the past, as is the case in the current exhibition at the museum, we might instead exhibit the assemblage in its entirety as a means to discuss temporal and cultural variations in the attitudes towards "proper" graves, the body and the sacred.

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Show all publications by Tobias Lindström at Stockholm University