Structure and history - Social Stability and Change in the Stone Age of Eastern Norway

KHM (Museum of Cultural History) has conducted extensive Stone Age excavations at Svinesund, Halden parish in Østfold, due to the construction of a new highway between Oslo and Gothenburg. The results from these excavations will be the starting point of t his project. The excavations have revealed an extensive archaeological record and the products from the field investigations hold high scientific standard. The excavations are published in reports and all of the data are digitalised. This source material makes an excellent platform for further scientific research. The excavations were part of the law regulated cultural management, where preservation and documentation of the cultural heritage are the main goals. Cultural management has thus contributed to considerable investments in creating the archaeological material from Svinesund. A relative small extra investment in scientific research will generate considerable scientific results of both archaeological and social-political importance. The project has three main focuses, which are research, recruitment and popularisation. The core activity in the project is based on to two doctoral fellowships, one post-doc. fellowship, two master students and three international seminars. A third doctoral fellowship in Stone Age archaeology will be connected to the project from spring 2007. Several books/theses and papers dedicated to an international archaeological audience will be presented at the end of the project. It is also planned to publish a popularised boo k in Norwegian. The project will be a joint venture of the KHM and the Institute of archaeology, art history, conservation and historical studies (IAKH), to revitalise and strengthen the Stone Age research and -recruitment at the University of Oslo. The project will also connect the Stone Age research milieu in Oslo to international research milieus in an institutionalised manner.