In 2023 Västergötlands Museum and the Department of historical studies at the University of Gothenburg initiated a new research project, “The Fröslunda shields: Provenance and context for a world famous find from Bronze Age Västergötland”, in collaboration with Durham University and Västsvensk arkeologi.
The aim is to investigate the Fröslunda shields and to contextualise the hoard in its wider setting. On 20-21 October there will be an international conference at the University of Gothenburg. Researchers from Sweden and abroad will give papers on different themes connected to European Late Bronze Age society and with the Fröslunda hoard as a starting point.
For those who is interested to listen to the papers, it is possible to book a seat at the conference as follows:
- Monday 20, 9:00-12:10.
- Monday 20, 13:30-16:30.
- Tuesday 21, 9:00-12:00.
- Tuesday 21, 13-15:30.
Register to annelie.nitenberg@vastsvenskarkeologi.se. Last day to register is 16 October.
Programme
Monday 20 october
9:00-9:10 Welcome by Johan, Marion and Annelie.
Session 1. Fröslunda: shields and site
Session leader: Johan Ling
9:10-9:30 Annelie Nitenberg, Gothenburg University/Västergötlands museum/Västsvensk arkeologi: The Fröslunda shield hoard: landscape setting, deposition practice and liminality.
9:30-9:50 Marion Uckelmann, Durham University: Fröslunda Revisited: the shields, the Herzsprung type and the state of the research.
9:50-10:00 Discussion
10:00-10:30 Coffee break
Session 2. The Nordic Late Bronze Age: hoards and society
Session leader: Lena Grandin
10:30-10:55 Peter Skoglund, Kalmar University, Courtney Nimura, University of Oxford and Leif Häggström, Varbergs museum: The Nackhälle Shield in Context.
10:55-11:20 Anna Sörman, Stockholm University and Karin Ojala, Uppsala University: Scandinavian Late Bronze Age hoards – Depositional practises and exchange networks in western and eastern Sweden.
11:20-11:45 Magnus Artursson, Swedish National Historical Museums/Gothenburg University: Modelling Late Bronze Age Farmsteads and Settlements in Southern Scandinavia.
11:45-12:10 Christian Horn, Gothenburg University: Nordic Bronze Age economies and local cooperation.
Session 3. Offerings and ritual sphere in Late Bronze Age Europe
Session leader: Christian Horn
13:30-13:55 Anne Lene Melheim, University of Oslo: Synaesthesia! Metal hoards and rock art in Late Bronze Age ritual landscapes.
13:55-14:20 Regine Maraszek, State Museum of Prehistory Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany: The Fröslunda shields in the panorama of the European hoarding traditions in the Late Bronze Age.
Session 4. Connectivity across Europe: mobility, waterways, trade & exchange
Session leader: Kristian Kristiansen
14:20-14:45 Serena Sabatini, Gothenburg University: Late Bronze Age mobility and metal trade between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.
14:45-15:10 Marta Diaz-Guardamino, Durham University: Between the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean: Iberian warrior stelae and transregional connectivity in Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Europe.
15:10-15:40 Coffee break
Session 5. Warfare and prestige: functional or display weapons?
Session leader: Marion Uckelmann
15:40-16:05 Heide Wrobel Nørgaard, Aarhus University: Locally made or imported: the Viksø helmets reinvestigated.
16:05-16:30 Yannick de Raaff, Gothenburg University & Youp van den Beld: Shields in the Greek Bronze Age: warfare, ideology, and symbology.
Tuesday 21 october
Session 6. Metal provenance, mining evidence & circulation of raw materials
Session leader: Johan Ling
9:00-9:25 Lena Grandin, Historical Museum of Sweden: The sampling and the geochemical properties of the Fröslunda shields.
9:25-9:50 Daniel Berger, Mannheim University: The metals of Fröslunda: Composition and origin of the copper, tin and lead in the shields.
10:00-10:30 Coffee break
10:30-10:55 Zofia Stos-Gale, Gothenburg University & Geoffrey William Grime, University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre: A new mathematical approach to lead isotope provenancing of Bronze Age metal artefacts originating from groups of ores with similar lead isotope ratios.
10:55-11:20 Alan Williams & Benjamin Roberts, Durham University: From St Michael’s Mount and Salcombe to Sardinia, Sweden and the Southern Levant: exploring Bronze Age tin trade networks and connections.
11:20-11:45 Mark A. Hunt Ortiz, Universidad de Sevilla: Mining evidence in Iberia in the Bronze Age reconsidered.
Session 7. ‘The bigger picture’
Session leader: Marion Uckelmann
13:00-13:25 Kristian Kristiansen, Gothenburg University: Trade, mobility and colonisation in the age of the Fröslunda shields. The role of Seddin and Pommerania.
13:25-13:50 Mikael Fauvelle, Lund University: Macroeconomics and Metal Trade during the Bronze Age.
13:50-14:15 Johan Ling, Gothenburg University: The Shields, Copper Exchange and the Bronze Age World System.
14:15-15:30 Coffee break and visit to the Antiquity Museum
Welcome!
