Periodkonventioner: En komparativ studie om forskningsmönster och vanor inom två arkeologiska perioder

This master thesis has its setting in the theoretical field of archaeology. The aim is to identify if there are conventional traditions in the archaeological research based on specific periods and if there are, investigate the differences and similarities. The thesis takes inspiration from the well known sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and what he says about the objective structures in society; structures which influence how we as human beings function in different fields of society due to social class. This is not, however, a sociological survey of different individuals and their background, this is an investigation of how objective structures may affect interpretations. To conduct this investigation a material has been chosen that consists of three examples of basic archaeological literature, together representing the overall research conducted in Swedish archaeology. To further investigate the question the material is supplemented by adding five syntheses, three per archaeological period. The survey of this literature is based on the theme religion at settlements during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. To get an idea of what the overall research is like a survey is made, using the basic literature in a discourse analysis. The result of the survey is presented in a table, where a statement is made for each period, regarding the chosen theme. The statements are then put to see if they match the general picture of religion at settlements in each synthesis. The statements were proven to match the syntheses and the next step is to look at specific details in the interpretations, to see what it is in the material that constitutes these ideas of religion at settlements during the Bronze Age and the Earl Iron Age. The chosen material consists of some of the most common finds at Scandinavian settlements from these periods: pits, traces of metalwork, hearths and house structures. The analysis and following discussion shows that there is a tendency towards a conventional research based solely on what period a certain context has been dated to. The result emphasize the importance of self-reflective thinking and states that the material used gives a nuanced picture of conventional thinking but with a tendency to conventional interpretations based on the different traditions within the different periods