SARG - Sub-Arctic Stone Age Research Group

SARG is a research group which connects scholars from the Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology and the Arctic University Museum (both at UiT-Arctic University of Norway) as well as from NIKU (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research) for collaboration on early northern hunter-gatherer societies. The group is lead by Charlotte Damm and Marianne Skandfer. The group receives funding from the Faculty of Humanities, Social Science and Education for the period 2015-2023.

The key aim of the group is to advance research on hunter-fisher-gatherer communities during the early prehistoric periods in the North. The focus in on the period 9500-0 BC, covering the traditional Stone Age periods as well as the early metal using phases.

The objectives of the group are multiple:

to provide a forum for high-level discussion of research issues pertaining to the early prehistoric periods
to encourage collaboration between institutions
to initiate externally funded research projects
to re-activate the comprehensive material from development-led excavations in Northern Norway
to increase awareness of the northern archaeological material as uniquely positioned to address current international debates
to establish a Nordic network Group

The group will focus on a number of interrelated themes:

Demographic fluctuations and settlement variability
Regional and inter-regional mobility
Cultural transmission and social networks