Projects

2017-2022 funded by the Norwegian Reserach Council

PIs: Charlotte Damm, Marianne Skandfer

The majority of the activities in the SARG group during this period have been within this project.

The Sørøya Survey

PIs: Charlotte Damm, Peter Jordan, Marianne Skandfer

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Revising the model for Holocene shorelines in the Altafjord-Sørøysund region

SARG is collaborating with NGU (Geological Survey of Norway) in updating the the model for shoreline displacements. This will help us reconstruct prehistoric landscapes and also provde more detailed basis for shoreline dating, often used for dating rock art and settlements.

Anders Romundset (NGU), Jan Magne Gjerde (NIKU), Charlotte Damm (UiT)

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Dynamic landscapes of Cultural Heritage – past, present and future

Jan Magne Gjerde (PI), Funded by NIKU 2021.

Collaboration with NGU (Louise Hansen and Anders Romundset) and UiT (Charlotte Damm)

Geological and archaeological investigations of mainly the Kråknes area in Altafjord with the aim of understianding the dynamics between landslides and archaeological settlements.

The resilience of settlements. Interacting and negotiating with landslides, shore displacement

Jan Magne Gjerde (PI) (NIKU) 2022. Funded by NIKU.

Collaboration with NGU (Louise Hansen and Anders Romundset) and UiT (Anja Niemi and Charlotte Damm)

Geological and archaeological surveys of the Saga area at the lower part of Tverrelvdalen and the Tverrelvdalen River in Alta, Finnmark, was the main. Results from this project have improved the understanding of prehistoric settlements and their irregular distribution in parts of the Altafjord area. These results are important from an archaeological viewpoint. This interdisciplinary study has been beneficial for both disciplines which in turn has given us a better understanding of the resilience of settlements, interacting and negotiating with landslides and shore displacement.

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Stone Age Pyrotechnologies: Fire, Fuel and Food

Charlotte Damm

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Use-wear and residue analyses of lithic artefacts from Northern Norway

A test study of a range of lithic artefacts manufactured from different raw materials was conducted in 2017. This indicated a very promising potential, and in 2018-2019 a entensive study of 200 slate knives was conducted. Extensive experiments on reproduced edges were performed and analyses are ongoing. Both use-wear and residue analyses were in the hands of Dr. Carol Lentfer, independent research from Australia, while Charlotte Damm and Marianne Skandfer dealt with the selection of knives from a variety of archaeological sites across northern Norway and the eventual contextual interpreation.

Lentfers analyses demonstrate that the slate knives from Northern Norway has extensive use-wear traces, and that a significant number also still has residues from blood, bone, identifable hairs etc. This allows us to to identify how the knives were used (cutting, scraping, slicing etc) and on which materials (which species, fresh or dried material, meat or hide etc).

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LARM Landscape and Resource Management in Interior Arctic Norway 2500 BC-AD1000

PI: Marianne Skandfer

Reports from this project: https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/SapReps/issue/view/360