Kristian Kristiansen, Göteborg University

The project took place between 1998 and 2006, and was financed with a Riksbank grant from 2003-2006, and a parallel grant from the EU 5th framework program, Mari Curie 'Research Training Networks'. It included three parallel archaeological field projects in Sicily, Hungary and Sweden. It was formulated as a comparative project with a shared research strategy and methodology, with a strong emphasis on natural science analyses. It aimed at reconstructing the local environment around three major settlement locations, with a strong emphasis on household economies and settlement organisation during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It further aimed at comparing the three regions in order to understand commonalities and differences in the 'Emergence of European Communities' in later prehistory. To achieve these goals the projects were organised as joint ventures with a number of partner universities: Oslo university, Cambridge and Southampton universities, Stanford university, Northwestern university and northern Illinois university (see also homepage: www. eoec.org). Also he National Swedish Heritage Board participated and provided the digital documentation system 'intrasis'.

The three most important results of the projects were:

- We succeeded in establishing a common archaeological framework for systematic comparison between the regions, and the results turned out to be highly interesting: while environmental conditions were rather similar, the organisation of households and settlements differed radically. However, the Bronze Age turned out to represent a major social transformation in all three regions introducing a fully organised landscape.
- We succeeded in establishing a well functioning international project organisation for all three projects that included joint planning meetings, seminars and conference sessions. In addition the project produced 7 PhDs (see appendix 1), financed by the Mari Curie grant. An international project of these dimensions has never been done before in archaeology.
- We succeeded in producing a coherent synthesis book of the results with contributions from all major participants that is being published by Cambridge University Press, and will appear in 2010. We also succeeded in producing a similar book on the rock art of the Bronze Age in Sweden and northern Spain, a subproject within the larger project. In addition many publications have resulted from the project (appendix 2).
We have demonstrated that it is possible to produce archaeological and scientific data with a high degree of resolution that are robust and able to answer basic questions about the environment, the local economy (where woolly sheep for wool production can be demonstrated to occur for the first time in the Bronze Age), settlement organisation and demography. Already during the Bronze Age do we see some of the basic historical trajectories that also in later history characterise northern, central and southern Europe: individual farms spread in the landscape in northern Europe, fortified village settlements with supporting open villages in Hungary, and a change from open hamlets during the Bronze Age to semi urban life in Sicily. Animal husbandry was dominating, but during the later Bronze Age agriculture become increasingly important, to predominate from the Iron Age onwards. In the Bronze Age some of the foundations for later historical developments in Europe were laid.

The two most important publications are two edited books now in print:

Earle, T. & Kristiansen, K. (eds.) 2010 Organising Bronze Age Societies. Cambridge University Press
Fredell, Å. Kristiansen, K. & Criado, F. (eds.) 2010 Representations and Communications. New Perspectives on Bronze Age Rock Art. Oxbow Books. Oxford.
In addition several monographs with basic scientific results are in preparation, and will appear during the next 2-3 years.
The project was presented with separate sessions in two conferences of the European Association of Archaeologists, and it had an own home page, with references to other homepages among the participating institutions. The homepage is not active any longer.

Appendix 1: participating institutions.
The following universities participated as partners in the projects: University College London, Cambridge University, University of Southampton, University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, the University and later the Spanish Academy in Santiago Compostela. Other institutions: the National Heritage Boards from Denmark and Sweden, the Matrica Muzeum in Szazhalombatta, Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum, the Superintendenze in Trapani, the museum in Salemi, the Thy Archaeological Museum, the rock art museum in Vitlycke.

Appendix 2: doctoral dissertations based on the projects.
Kelertas, Kristina  1997   Changing political economy of Thy, Denmark. The paleobotanical evidence. PhD, Department of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Kovacs, Gabrielle 2007 "Geological investigations of Szazhalombatta-Foldvar
Bronze Age tell settlement in Hungary" PhD University of Cambridge.
Kreiter, Attila   2007   Technological Choices and Material Meanings in Early and Middle Bronze Age Hungary. Understanding the active role of material culture through ceramic analysis. BAR International Series 1604. Oxford.
Kulcsarne-Berzsenyi, Brigitta  n.d. "Household activities within a Bronze Age
tell settlement in Hungary. Different crop-processing stages and storing
activities at Szazhalombatta-Foldvar. PhD to be submitted. University of Cambridge.
Ling, Johan  2008   Elevated rock art. Towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden. GOTARC Serie B. Gothenburg Archaeological Theses 49.
Mühlenbock, Christian  2008  Fragments from a Mountain Society. Tradition, innovation and interaction at Archaic Monte Polizzo, Sicily. GOTARC Serie B. Gothenburg Archaeological Theses 50
Oma, Kerstin Armstron  2007   Human-animal relationships. Mutual becoming in Scandinavian and Sicilian Households 900-500 BC. Oslo Archaeological Series, vol. 9.
Sabatini, Serena  2007   House Urns. A European Late Bronze Age Trans-cultural Phenomenon. GOTARC Serie B. Gothenburg Archaeological Theses 47.
Steinberg, John  1997  Changing Patterns of Economic Organization in the Production, Distribution and Use of Flint in Thy, Denmark. Analysis of Flints from the Plowzone. PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.
Streiffert, Katarina Eikeland  2006   Indigenous households. Transculturation of Sicily and southern Italy in the Archaic period. GOTARC series B 44. Gothenburg Archaeological Theses.

Appendix 3: Selected publications  related to the projects:
Monte Polizzo
Aspeborg, H. & Lund, K. 2004. Outline of a Project. A preliminary description of the sub project. On the infrastructure of Monte Polizzo. Riksantikvarieämbetet UV Syd.
Brorson, T. 2007. Analyses of pottery from area A, B and C at Monte Polizzo, Sicily. Pottery from the 6th century BC. Ware analyses and chemical analyses. Ceramic studies, KKS Report 14.
Holtorf, C. 2006. Studying Archaeological Fieldwork in the Field: Views from Monte Polizzo.  Ethnographies of Archaeological Practice (Edgeworth, M. ed): 81-94. Altamira Press. Lanham.
Kolb, M.J. & Tusa, S. 2001. The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age landscape of interior western Sicily. Antiquity 75: 503-504.
Kolb, M.J. & Speakerman, R. 2005. Elymian regional interaction in Iron Age western Sicily: a preliminary neutron activation study of incised/impressed tablewares. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 795-804.
Morris, I. 2003. Mediterraneanization. In Mediterranean Historical Review, Vol. 18 (2): 30 55.
Morris, I; Jackman, T; Blake, E & Tusa, S. 2001. Stanford University excavations on the Acropolis of Monte Polizzo I: preliminary report on the 2000 season. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 46.
Morris, I; Jackman, T; Blake, E & Tusa, S. 2002. Stanford University excavations on the Acropolis of Monte Polizzo II: preliminary report on the 2001 season. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 47.
Morris, I; Jackman, T; Blake, E and Tusa, S. 2003. Stanford University excavations on the Acropolis of Monte Polizzo III: preliminary report on the 2002 season. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 48.
Morris, I; Jackman, T; Garnand, B; Blake, E & Tusa,S. 2004. Stanford University Excavations on the Acropolis of Monte Polizzo, Sicily, IV: preliminary report on the 2003 season. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 49.
Morris, I. & Tusa, S. 2004 Scavi sull`acropoli di Monte Polizzo, 2000-2003. Sicilia-Archeologica 37: 35-84.
Mühlenbock, C. & Prescott, C. 2004a eds. The Scandinavian Sicilian Archaeological project Archaeological excavations at Monte Polizzo Sicily. Reports 1998-2001. Gotarc serie C nr. 56, Göteborg.
Mühlenbock, C. 2004. (ed). The Scandinavian Sicilian Archaeological Project. Excavations at Monte Polizzo Sicily. reports 2002-2003. Gotarc serie C nr 57. Göteborg.
Mühlenbock, C. 2008 Fragments  from a mountain society: tradition, innovation and interaction at Archaic Monte Polizzo, Sicily. Gothenburg Archaeological Thesis, Gotarc Series B, 50.
Prescott, C and Mühlenbock, C. 2003. Mt. Polizzo, Sicily: Preliminary Views on Elymians and Ethnicity, Landscape and Identity.  The Nordic TAG Conference, Scandinavian archaeological practice - in theory : proceedings from the 6th Nordic TAG, Oslo 2001: 26-37. Institutt for arkeologi, kunsthistorie og konservering, Universitetet i Oslo. Oslo.
Stika, H.-P., Heiss, A.G. and Zach, B. 2008 Plant remains from early Iron Age in Western Sicily – Differences in subsistence strategies of Greek and Elymian sites. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany.
Tusa, S. 2005. Fenici, Indigeni ed Elimi alla luce delle nuove scoperte, Atti del V
Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, Palermo: 533-549.
Tusa, V. 1972. Monte Polizzo-Scavi 1970. Sicilia Archeologica 5:119-121.
Szàzhalombatta
Budden, S. and Sofaer, J. 2009 Non-discursive knowledge and the
construction of identity. Potters, potting and performance at the Bronze Age Tell of Sazhalombatta, Hungary. Cambridge Archaeological Journal.
P. Ildikó and Magdolna, V. (eds.)   1998. Százhalombatta archaeological expedition (SAX). Emergence of European Communities Archaeological Research Report 1. Százhalombatta: Matrica Museum.
P. Ildikó and Magdolna, V. (eds. ) 2005. Százhalombatta archaeological expedition (SAX). Emergence of Europen Communities Research Report 2. Százhalombatta: Matrica Museum.
Sofaer, J. R. 2006 Pots, Houses and Metal: Technological Relations at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 25 (2): 127-147.
Tanum
Aulin, A and Gustavsson, A. 1997-1998. Tanumprojektet. Arkeologiska undersökningar vid lilla Oppen år 1999.   Gotarch serie D. Arkeologiska rapporter no. 46. Göteborg.
Aulin, A and Gustavsson, A. 2002. Tanumprojektet. Arkeologiska undersökningar vid lilla Oppen år 1999.  En teknisk rapport Gotarch serie D. Arkeologiska rapporter no. 47. Göteborg.
Aulin, A and Gustavsson, A. 2002. Tanumprojektet. Arkeologiska undersökningar vid lilla Oppen år 2000. Gotarch serie D. Arkeologiska rapporter no. 48. Göteborg.
Bengtsson, L. Att gräva ut bilder. In bilder av bronsålder. (ed) Goldhahn, J. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia. Series in 8, No 37. Lund.
Bengtsson, L. 2004. Bilder vid vatten. Kring hällristningar I Askum sn, Bohuslän. Gotarc Serie C. Arkeologiska Skrifter No 51. Göteborgs Universitet. Göteborg
Bengtsson, L.  in press   To excavate images. Some results from the Tanum rock art project 1997-2004. In Å. Fredell, F. Criado & K. Kristiansen (eds.): Representations and Communications in Bronze Age Rock Art. Oxbow Monographs. Oxford.
Fredell, Å., F. B. Criado,  & K. Kristiansen (eds.)   in press  Representations and Communications in Bronze Age Rock Art. Oxbow Monographs.
Ling, J. 2004. Beyond transgressive lands and forgotten seas. Towards a maritime understanding of rock art in Bohuslän. Current Swedish Archaeology 2004, 12: 121-140.
Ling, J.2008. Elevated rock art – Towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden GOTARC Serie B. Gothenburg Archaeological Thesis 49. Göteborg
Bengtsson, L, and Ling, 2008. Scandinavia's most finds associated rock art sites. Adoranten. 2007: 40-50
Bengtsson, L, and Ling, 2008. Utgrävningar vid hällristningar i Tossene. Fynd 08: 21-27. Göteborg.