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Gustafsson Ny Björn, Casting Identities in Central Seclusion, Aspects of non-ferrous metalworking and society on Gotland in the Early Medieval Period, Thèse de doctorat soutenue en 2013, (Université de Stockholm)Résumé/abstract :The aim of this thesis has been to investigate and interpret late Iron Age and Early Medieval traces of non-ferrous metalworking on the island Gotland, Sweden. Gotland was not, based on the archaeological record, an integrated part of the common Scandinavian culture. Instead a local, endemic cultural expression had developed; a seclusion which lasted for centuries despite the islands central position in the Baltic Sea. In the past, key elements for the understanding of local settlement- and burial practices as well as the local material culture were mainly recovered and reported by local farmers. A specific category of such finds – so-called ‘bronze slag’ is discussed and partly reinterpreted in the first study of this thesis. Two further studies treat different aspects of metalworking and metalworkers – one discusses common archaeological notions of Scandinavian workshops, production sites and metalworkers from a critical perspective while the other mainly focuses on the Gotlandic finds from metal-detector surveys carried out over the last 35 years. Based on where and to which extent, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view, these finds occur a hierarchical classification into four sub groups is presented – ordinary farm sites with traces of non-ferrous metalworking, workshop sites, potential workshop sites and last, extrovert harbour settlements. A fourth study presents an attempt to evaluate the usefulness of magnetometry in delimiting extant traces of high-temperature crafts, such as metalworking. The last study of the thesis presents an attempt to use trace elements analysis of skeletal lead in human bone to identify potential non-ferrous metalworkers. As the wearing of endemic Gotlandic jewellery appears to have been central in the manifestation of the local identity it is argued that the metalworking artisans played a crucial role in defining how this identity was signalled and displayed via the jewellery and dress-related metal objects. It is further suggested that these artisans might have played an important role in upholding the local economy before the advent of local minting.[Source : http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:664112/FULLTEXT02.pdf]