Sara Gummesson Vikarierande lektor

My research is focused on taphonomy, contextual analysis and interpretation of osteoarchaeological remains, including bone tools and production waste, from the Scandinavian Stone Age.

Currently, I´m PI of the research project Retrieving Osseous Biographies: development and transmission of technologies in the Baltic Sea region c. 9500–3000 BCE, funded by the Swedish Research Council. Addressing a gap in archaeological knowledge about transmission of osseous (bones, antlers and teeth) technologies and craft traditions in the Baltic Sea region during the Stone Age. The project encompasses a series of new radiocarbon dating, ZooMS -analysis and paleoenvironmental investigations.

In addition to my research, I also engage in teaching at the osteoarchaeological research laboratory, through which I´m likewise involved in the national infrastructure ArchLab, a joint collaborative venture of high-profile laboratories for supporting archaeological science research.

From 2019, I have worked with finds of birds on Mesolithic sites. Birds have played an important role in many societies, from mythical, religious and prestigious as well as economic significance. However, an often low frequency of bird bones on Mesolithic sites have been seen as an indicator of their relatively low significance in the subsistence economy. My research aimed to question and investigate this preconception, through taphonomic and contextual analyses of avifauna. I have also been involved in the ongoing Swedish Research Council-funded Alvastra project, PI Dr Helena Malmström, Uppsala University. In this truly multi-disciplinary project, we analyse osteological assemblages together with ancient DNA data, stable dietary isotopes, mobility-indicating isotopes and radiocarbon date information to understand the unique pile-dwelling site and interpret life-history trajectories of its people.

As a result of my research and fieldwork experience of wetlands I´m currently involved in the FenScan- network, financed by NordForsk. We have held three exploratory workshops on the Future of Stone Age Wetland Archaeology in Fennoscandia. A rewarding collaboration between senior and younger scholars interested in developing wetland archaeology (methodology and theory) and the immediate situation of the, if ever so (politically), active wetlands.

A more visible contribution was my involvement in the dis- and reassemble of the skeletal remains of the famous Corded ware burial, Bergsgraven, in Linköping, due to the renovation of Östergötland's museum (https://ostergotlandsmuseum.se/aktuellt/bergsgraven-70-aar/). The burial is much appreciated visit destination and has a central role in the history of the museum. The new exhibition opened in 2022 and in 2023 the museum was awarded museum of the year in Sweden.