Changing Landscapes and Persistent Places : An Exploration of the Bjäre Peninsula

Changing Landscapes and Persistent Places is a study of the cultural landscape on the Bjäre peninsula in northwest Skåne. The many Bronze Age remains that give the landscape its distinctive character are the starting point for an attempt to increase our understanding of the historical depth of today’s landscape. The two perspectives of “landscape” and “places” carry the discussion forward, almost in dialogue form. From an archaeological point of view, studying the landscape itself is a relatively new way of considering landscape; usually archaeology is more geared to individual sites and their mutual relations, or to the human impact on the landscape as this can be read, for instance, in pollen diagrams. Yet there is great need for a new holistic approach to the landscape. This need arises from the European Landscape Convention which is soon to be ratified in Sweden. Among other things, the convention means that the landscape must be treated as a whole, with increased democratic influence and with greater understanding of the extensive processes of change to which today’s landscape is exposed. The dissertation studies the landscape and antiquities of Bjäre through traditional landscape archaeology and through interdisciplinary methods, in order to arrive at an understanding of the conditions in which people lived in prehistoric times. Extensive fieldwork has also been done to give a more complete and fair picture of the rock carvings in the area. Another important part of the work has been to develop new methods for understanding today’s landscape as a whole and the processes that have shaped it. The English method of landscape analysis, Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC), is very well suited to both these purposes and to the needs and demands of the European Landscape Convention, and the dissertation includes a pilot study intended to develop this method. Results that can be highlighted are: Both the landscape itself and the places within it have been active agents in the shaping of the world around us. There is a continuous dialogue between people and the landscape with its places in the constant processes of change. That is why places are so important to us; they shape us, they remember along with us, and they share in the making of our world. Detailed studies in small areas can give us a great deal of information about prehistoric society and the reality that once existed. This knowledge is important if we are to be able to get close to the people in the otherwise so large and sweeping narratives that are written about the past, in which there is no room for individual people with their choices and everyday life. The wealth of variety that one can see in local contexts must be made clear. The analysis of the Bronze Age in Bjäre has shown that there are different ways to use both places and landscape in a local context, both over time and in different geographical landscape spaces. The study shows the potential of the HLC method for satisfying the needs and demands of the everyday planning and handling of landscape, and also for research purposes and as a basis for interdisciplinary discussions. Finally, the study has shown that prehistoric remains have often been of great significance for changes that have taken place in the landscape in later periods. This tradition, of making the landscape readable, is something that we as archaeologists should stick to, allowing it to stand as our contribution to the planning and management of the landscape of the future