Göran Tagesson

“Just nails”. The potential of archaeological finds of building iron. Although finds of nails
and fittings are common from urban, early modern archaeological sites, they are rarely
used in the interpretations of the excavated buildings. These finds are often poorly documented
and they seldom get preserved once the excavation report is completed. This
means that the finds in many cases cannot be used in future research projects.
In this article, we discuss the potential of these types of artefacts in research on early
modern buildings and house construction. We furthermore discuss what would be required
in the handling of the material in order for it to be used as a general resource.

Combining archaeological, architectural
and historical sources, Dag Lindström and Göran Tagesson uncover profound
modifications to the town houses of Linköping in Sweden during the eighteenth century.
While population density and the number of tenants and lodgers increased, the average
number of people living in a household declined. New building elements were introduced,
which enhanced indoor comfort and promoted possible seclusion. A new house type thus
developed among the merchants, separating a potentially semi-public indoor space from
more private indoor spaces.

Many of the changes discussed here are more manifest and easily observable in the residential houses of the urban elite, but it is important to notice that these tendencies also appear in more modest houses. Our focus has been on distinct effects of specific modifications of the built material structures: increased spatial separation and enhanced potentialities for seclusion. It is, however, clear that certain conceptualisations of private and public spaces were present in Linköping around 1800, and that at least some individuals took action in order to affect the urban spatial organization according to such perceptions.

During the last decades of the eighteenth century, the local book-keeper Johan Peter Frisk seems to have had a brilliant idea. He started to buy up plots and rebuild his childhood home in the small Swedish town of Linköping. The former plot had been split up into different smaller parts, and these were housing a multitude of people, households and families, tenants and lodgers, even poor dependent-free lodgers, all of whom were living on the overcrowded plot in old houses many in a state of disrepair. However, he seems to have been a coming man, and in some way obtained the financial means to successively buy the various parts and restore the former plot in order to have a new house built along the street. The resulting building, in two floors and comprising one apartment on each floor, still survives and has recently been dated to the year 1795. A couple of years after this date, the tenants in the new building appear to have been somewhat better-off, consisting of family households with some servants and engaged in middle-class occupations. The apartments, comprising a dining-room, bedroom, drawing-room and kitchen represent a new, middle-class housing standard.
Is this story of local gentrification just a single event in the town or was it part of a general change in building traditions? What does the story of this new building tell us about standards of habitation, and the social background and household structure in a small Swedish town like this? And can this kind of case-study, including a combination of archaeological and historical sources, be a part of a stronger emphasis of micro-geographical research in the period? In addressing these questions, this chapter demonstrates the dynamic interaction between individual agency and systematic changes in the built urban environment. The late eighteenth-century life story of a single individual, Johan Peter Frisk, is connected to the story of a specific house. An integrated combination of written sources, buildings archaeology applied to standing structures, and archaeology below the ground provide the necessary base for this micro-geographical analysis.  The close analyses of single individuals and houses are combined with the general lay-out of this small Swedish town in the long eighteenth century.

The history of Catharina Bergstedt, widow and competent historical agent the town of Linköping in the Early modern period, challenges our methods and theories. An integrated analysis of archaeological and historical sources and methods shows a more complex situation than hitherto believed in interpretations of historical archaeology, in which the contemporary gender system has proved to consist of both possibilities and restrictions for both sexes. With the household as the fundamental societal concept and studies on a micro-scale, a better understanding of the life courses of individuals is at hand. Furthermore, a more nuanced consideration of gender relations within traditional historical archaeology seems a suitable way to reach an understanding of the actual doings of both men and women in the household.
The present study, comprising case-studies on gender relations in some Swedish towns during the Early modern period including aspects of overseeing households as well as building projects from a gender perspective, identifies different aspects of agencies for both men and women in the household. It does not seem to have been unusual for a woman to oversee the household,  and it was also normal for a widow to own the plot and continue the business of her late husband. Another important role was to enable the functions of the plot to continue over generations, keeping the workshop in the family. On the other hand, female building projects seem to have been rather unusual.
The contextual method, important when analysing the archaeological record, seems to overestimate constructional phases, thus overestimating male agency. The phases of maintenance and use, and the periods in between the constructional contexts, are harder to explore and document, thus underestimating female agency in the stratigraphy.

År 1724 fick Maria Engel, kallad Maricken, änka efter skeppsredaren Peter Regardt, möjlighet att köpa en gård vid Fiskaregatan i Kalmar. När hennes hus undersöktes 2012 hittades ett mynt från 1724 i grovkökets spis, som visar att hon låtit reparera huset när hon tillträdde köpet. Maria kom sedan att bo kvar i trettio år, av tillnamnet Maricken framgår det att hon var en välkänd profil i kvarteret. Inte långt därifrån i samma kvarter såg sig samtidigt änkan Maria Loberg tvingad att stycka av sin lilla tomt och sälja den norra delen till handelsmannen Peter Moberger, kanske var det hennes sätt att klara livhanken som nybliven änka. Ingierd Frimolin, änka efter hästkrögaren Roting vid Smedjegatan i Jönköping, fortsatte däremot att driva gården vidare efter makens död, samtidigt som undersökningen 2008 tyder på att verksamheten på gården ändrat inriktning.
Genom att kombinera arkeologiska lämningar, bevarade byggnader, skrift och materiella lämningar har historisk arkeologi en unik möjlighet att påvisa nya och oväntade historiska kontexter och därmed väsentligen problematisera bilden av sociala förhållanden i det nära förgångna. Med hjälp av de senaste årens storskaliga arkeologiska undersökningar i städer som Kalmar, Jönköping, Linköping och Norrköping har vi fått nya möjligheter genom stora källmaterial att närstudera den byggda miljön i relation till ägare, boende och sociala relationer.
Bland olika möjliga perspektiv ställer det nya frågor kring genusrelationer i de tidigmoderna städerna. Hushållens sammansättning i en urban, tidigmodern kontext har hittills främst diskuterats av historiker. Genom att analysera byggnader i ett hushållsperspektiv, med fysiska hus i kombination med ägare och boende som livsbiografier, finns möjligheten att studera genusrelationer och kvinnors handlingsutrymme i en tidigmodern hushållskontext mer specifikt.

Proud but not contended – historic archaeology between generalists, specialists and soloists.
Archaeological excavations from the Early Modern Period have increased in number and extension during the past decades in Sweden. The time period challenges historical archaeology and calls for closer scientific co-operation between archaeologists and historians. The article starts from a certain project, House and household in Early modern Swedish towns 1600-1850, and discusses archaeological and historical from a contextual perspective. Certain features and themes seem to be important; a reciprocal interest in the aims of the project is of course a prerequisite, the different scientific agendas of history and archaeology has been one of many obstacles. Due to the last years mutual interest in spatial perspectives, as well as “the material turn”, a new foundation for closer relationship have been laid. New possibilities for dating and contextual analysis in archaeology also seem to open for placing written, material and spatial perspectives in close connection. The article strongly advocates archaeologists to be even more specialised in the archaeological analysis, but at the same time work side by side with professional historians in close interdisciplinarity.

The town of Kalmar was moved in the mid-17th century and rebuilt according to contemporary ideals using a modern regulated town plan. Recent archaeological excavations confirm previous hypotheses of a socially divided and hierarchically constructed town with two different housing cultures. Their existence is discussed as a part of a general effort of making a structured and hierarchical society. The different and contradictory currents underlying the processes in 17th-century Swedish society, the openness to new global impulses, and at the same time obsession with structuring people and space are inherent in the case of constructing the new town of Kalmar.

This article discusses the human body as a kind of material culture, an active medium for expressing values and beliefs, as well as hopes for the life after this. The excavation of the cemetery at Linköping Cathedral in 2002–2003 comprised 570 individuals from the period 1100–1810. Here we have a unique opportunity to study living conditions and changes in mortuary practice over a long period
The material has been stratigraphically divided into three medieval phases (1–3) and three post-medieval phases (4–6). The period from circa 1500 until the end of the 17th century (phase 4) saw a distinct continuity in burial traditions from the Late Middle Ages. The great change actually came in the 1680s, when burial customs became much more heterogeneous. Arm positions were allowed to vary, the deceased was buried in normal clothes and it became much more common to put personal belongings in the graves. Phase 6 comprises the period 1780–1810, which is characterized by the introduction of a linear system, with burials taking place as deaths occurred, with no consideration for family, gender, social status etc.
Finally, the material is discussed in terms of specific themes: cemetery users, the cemetery as a social arena, and changes in mortuary practice. The change in grave ritual at the end of the seventeenth century can be interpreted as an expression of a more individual attitude to the human body and the grave as a social medium. The time around 1700 was a watershed between the united church of Sweden’s Age of Greatness, perceived as the obedient instrument of the absolute monarch, and the more open attitude of the Age of Liberty, when new revival movements such as pietism began to gain influence, with their more personal and individually coloured faith. Recent studies in contemporary micro-rituals concerning changing modern grave rituals, indicates that the material culture as well spatial arrangements involved are very important for the new habits. It is possible to interpret these detectable changes in the material culture as an example of the concept of modernity and a desire of expressing new attitudes of individuality towards the deceased.
Material culture has for a long time been an important subject for cultural historians and not least archaeologists. When archaeologists and cultural historians discuss material culture it is frequently a matter of clear and manifest remains. But even the human body can be seen in the same way – as a social project, the most intimate and personal such venture. Through the body we communicate our identity © 2015 Göran Tagesson
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.
Unauthenticated
Download Date | 2/4/16 3:20 PM
20 The Human Body as Material Culture ‒ Linköping Cathedral Churchyard in...
and how we want our environment to apprehend us. We hide and we assert ourselves precisely with the body as the means, in life as in death. At the same time, the body is a meeting-place for all kinds of contradictory messages. We shape – or forbear to shape – our bodies according to ideals we may not always sympathise with (Hamilakis et al., 2002; Tarlow, 1999a, 2002b).
Latter-day research has emphasised the human’s range of choices and capacity for expression. The history of the body is in many cases the history of the individual’s relationship with the world around, for good and ill. We can see the body as an arena for differing interests, sometimes in the form of economic and social pressures, political power or the desire of commercial forces demanding that we appear in a particular way. In this way the body becomes a discursive field where different volitions meet and are reshaped (Foucault, 1998). At the same time the individual body carries the memory of our biological life and social history. The human body can be compared to an osteological database, with clear traces of the individual’s conditions of life, health and illnesses, which in their turn reflect social distinctions and changes over time. The question is how factors such as life-span, child mortality and maladies in general have changed over time and how these factors can be interpreted as differences in human living conditions (Arcini, 1999; Arcini et al., 2012).
The dead body is a particular field for transformation. Through the treatment of the body after death and in the grave, a remodelling and communication occurs with the surrounding world which is not always in agreement with the deceased’s own identity and volition. Here a transformation takes place which is frequently dependent on the wishes of the collective, the authorities or by convention. The grave can reflect the identity and social position of the deceased, but often it is even more an expression of the wishes and intentions of the surviving relatives (Tarlow, 2002a).
The following article deals with the view of the human body and Christian burial customs during a period of radical change: the Reformation and the break-through of modernity. The starting point is taken from an archaeological investigation in the cemetery of Linköping Cathedral in southern Sweden (Fig. 2.1). The cemetery functioned continuously circa 1100–1810 and the investigation in 2002–2003 comprised burials from the whole period. For Swedish circumstances, and even internationally, this investigation seems almost unique in capturing the whole sequence of burials over a 700-year period. The material is of special significance in that burial customs and osteological information can be analysed in an unbroken sequence for both the Medieval and the Early Modern periods.

The article discusses the differences between history and archaeology and especially differences in approaching space as a category of analysis. The authors are advocating better mutual understandings from both disciplines and refer to an ongoing project on artisan households and workshops and the relationship between physical space and household as well the connection between residence and workshop. The case-studies comes from Early modern Kalmar and Jönköping, where large scale archaeological excavations recently have taken place, and where historical records about the inhabitants and the plot owners have been scrutinized.
When historical and archaeological observations are combined, household, residence, and work appear as a much more complicated and diverse matter than often assumed. It also stands clear that materiality and space are necessary dimensions of household and work analyses. The combination of historical and archaeological evidence also provokes new questions and promotes new types of conclusions.

Building studies (ancient and modern) too often fall between the gaps of the disciplines of architectural history, archaeology and social anthropology. The multi-disciplinary conferences Buildings in Society International (BISI) are an attempt to bridge these gaps. The first event in the series was organized by the University of Aarhus, Denmark in 2010. Four years later this was followed up by another conference in Queen´s University, Belfast, UK, and in 2017 the third interdisciplinary conference took place in Stockholm, Sweden.

The BISI events have convincingly shown that the study of medieval and early modern buildings benefits from an interdisciplinary approach, and also a broad perspective, in terms of time and space. They have furthermore demonstrated the importance of social, economic, political and cultural contexts when working with built environments.

The articles in this volume examine how people have been making, using and transforming buildings and built environments in general, and how the buildings have been perceived. It also considers a diversity of built constructions – including dwellings and public buildings, sheds and manor houses, secular and sacral structures.
We find the comparison between different regions and parts of the globe important when addressing buildings from a social perspective. This volume presents studies from the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Mexico. And the chronological framework spans from the classical byzantine period, over the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period and ends up in the 20th century Belfast.

Under våren år 2020 gjordes arkeologiska undersökningar på norra delen av Kvarnholmen, dit Kalmar stad flyttades på 1650-talet. Undersökningarna omfattade en tidig provisorisk stadsmur från år 1657–1658, som lagts på holmens norra strandbrink. Lämningar av garveriverksamhet och en verkstadsbyggnad, kunde identifieras från 1660-talet, möjligen en barkkvarn. Bastionen Carolus Gustavus från år 1675 kunde undersökas på flera platser, en bastion som idag ligger helt dold under marken. Även den nya stadsmuren från år 1687 kunde dokumenteras. Från mitten av 1700-talet påträffades bostadshus till två stadsgårdar, anlagda på stadsvallen. Dessa finns belagda i skriftligt material från 1800-talets början, som bostäder för hantverkare och en mängd människor, vars liv här tillåts träda fram genom undersökningen.

Under 2017 genomförde Arkeologerna en arkeologisk undersökning i Vreta kloster inför ombyggnation och iordningsställande av
ett besökscentrum i det så kallade Klosterhuset, en magasinsbyggnad från 1200-talets andra hälft. Undersökningen omfattade ledningsschakt
i och intill byggnaden, samt en förundersökning inför uppförande
av en ny magasinsbyggnad söder om Klosterhuset.
Inne i Klosterhuset påträffades äldre golvnivåer, och utanför byggnaden
framkom byggnationslager. I området öster om Klosterhuset påträffades ett äldre odlingslager med fynd som tyder på datering till äldre medeltid. I området påträffades även grunder till hittills okända byggnader, som hör till den äldre prästgårdens byggnader, men med möjligen äldre datering.

I samband med planering för omgestaltning av det s k Klosterhuset i
Vreta kloster till besökscentrum har Arkeologerna på uppdrag av
Vreta klosters församling genomfört en dokumentation av
Klosterhusets äldre utställning av gravstenar och andra stenfynd
från arkeologiska undersökningar.
Under våren 2017 genomfördes en inventering av stenar i det
äldre museet i Vreta kloster. Sammanlagt kunde 674 stenar
registreras och fotograferas.

The report presents a case-study of two plots in central Linköping, Sweden, comprising wooden buildings from 18th and 19th centuries, including buildings archaeology, timber analysis and dendro-chronological datings. The report is part of the research project House and household in Early-modern Swedish towns, report no. 7.

The report presents a case-study of eight plots in central Linköping, Sweden, with houses from the 17th - 19th centuries, moved and reerected in the open-air museumm of Gamla Linköping. The study comprises buildings archaeology, timber analysis, household reconstructions and dendro-chronological datings. The report is part of the research project House and household in Early-modern Swedish towns, report no. 5.

The report presents a case-study of one plot in central Linköping, Sweden, comprising wooden buildings from 18th centuries, including buildings archaeology, timber analysis, household reconstructions and dendro-chronological datings. The report is part of the research project House and household in Early-modern Swedish towns, report no. 2.

The report presents a case-study of three plots in central Linköping, Sweden, comprising wooden buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, including buildings archaeology, timber analysis, household reconstructions and dendro-chronological datings. The report is part of the research project House and household in Early-modern Swedish towns, report no. 1.

Vid mitten av 1600-talet beslöt man flytta hela
Kalmar stad, från det medeltida läget vid slottet och
till den närbelägna Kvarnholmen. Den nya staden
utformades som en modern rutnätsplan, med raka
gator och kvarter, omgiven av ett befästningsverk.
Stora delar av detta syns fortfarande i dagens
stadsbild.
År 2011–12 genomförde Riksantikvarieämbetet,
Arkeologiska uppdragsverksamheten, UV,
tillsammans med Kalmar läns museum en
arkeologisk undersökning av kv Gesällen,
i norra delen av Kvarnholmen.
Undersökningen omfattade 12 hela tomter,
samt de inre delarna av bastionen Carolus Nonus
samt delar av stadsmuren och ett spontverk.
Undersökningen är den hittills största i det
tidigmoderna Kalmar, och ingår som en del
av en serie arkeologiska undersökningar på
Kvarnholmen under åren 2008–2012.

Vid mitten av 1600-talet beslöt man flytta hela
Kalmar stad, från det medeltida läget vid slottet
och till den närbelägna Kvarnholmen. Något tiotal
år efter beslutet var flyttningen i det närmaste helt
klar. Den nya staden utformades som en modern
rutnätsplan, med raka gator och kvarter, omgiven
av ett befästningsverk. Stora delar av detta syns
fortfarande i dagens stadsbild.
Under sommaren 2009 genomförde Riksantikvarieämbetet,
UV Öst en arkeologiska undersökning i
kv Mästaren i de norra delarna på Kvarnholmen.
Anledningen till undersökningen var planerade
nybyggnation av huvudkontor och banklokaler för
Länsförsäkringar i Kalmar län.
Den arkeologiska undersökningen omfattade fyra
hela tomter (233–236) i södra delen samt delar av
ytterligare fem tomter (244–246) i norra delen.
Kronologiskt omfattar undersökningen perioden
från etableringen av området under 1660-talet,
med omfattande markplanering i den tidigare
havsviken samt flera olika bebyggelsefaser fram
till sekelskiftet 1800. Ett omfattande fyndmaterial
har tagits tillvara, framför allt keramik, kritpipor,
djurben, medan organiskt material var sämre bevarat.

Buildings archaeology in Strå church, Vadstena, Östergötland county, Sweden. The church from the second half of the 12th century was documented thanks to a buildings renovation, comprising he medieval tower and southern part of the nave from 12 century, as well as the northern aisle from 1640s and the choir from 1703.