Becoming Urban? Actors and social identity in a Medieval Scandinavian town (c. 1100–1300 AD)
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-04-19

During the last decades there has been a significant change in Scandinavian urban archaeology in terms of direction and perspective. The research has turned towards a wider regional and international time-space perspective and issues regarding everyday life, the individual, identity and gender are increasingly discussed. In my PhD project I study how a Swedish Medieval small town (Nykoping) developed to become a living urban community with different functions, activities, inhabitants and visitors, and how this changes over time (c. 1100– 1500 AD). Qualitative analyses are conducted on a highly resolved source material from two large scale excavations in Nykoping, applying social practice theory and studies on social identity. In this paper I will discuss how different types of material culture (artefacts, botanical remains and structures) can be used to understand different aspects of social identity (in this paper in regards to age, gender and class) on a group of traditionally voiceless actors – the ordinary people. The examples may also serve as a basis of discussion for the concept of becoming urban, how ordinary people used the opportunity of a new setting to negotiate the ‘urban way of life’. 

Annika Nordstrom (Uppsala University)