2011-2016

Aim of the project
The aim has been to make an inventory of the Viking Age dress details with provenance or influences from south-western Finland that have been found in the Mälaren area as well as to map and analyze the find contexts for these items. Dress details have been chosen as the primary object of study since they are a part of the outward appearance that according to historical and anthropological research has been a carrier of messages about identity, including cultural identity and group affiliation.
The objects and their find contexts have provided data for answering questions about the nature of the contacts between groups in the Mälaren area and south-western Finland during the Viking Age. Questions have been raised concerning the cultural identity and group membership expressed in the Mälaren graves with objects from south-western Finland. Also the question about a possible migration from mainland Finland to parts of the Mälaren area has been studied. During the project it emerged that in order to address issues of migration it would be fruitful to analyze Baltic Finnish pottery found in the Mälaren region and to do isotopic analysis on Mälaren graves containing objects with Finnish provenance or influence.

Three major results
1. Dress details
Until 2010 almost 40 dress items from south-western Finland or with Finnish influences had been retrieved in the Mälaren region. Of these, 13 objects came from Birka (Gustin in print A). 6 derived from Sigtuna. The most frequent objects were penannular brooches with faceted and pegged knobs and round brooches. Chronologically these objects represent a time period from the end of the 800s until the 1000's.
Where the find contexts are known the findings mostly derive from graves. The burial customs for these graves are in line with the local tradition in the Mälaren area. No graves contained more than one dress item from Finland. When the graves contained additional costume details, these were local or from other geographic areas than south-western Finland.
Since neither additional dress details, nor burial customs or isotope analyzes (see below) suggest that the appearance of Finnish dress details in the Mälaren area can be associated with a migration from Finland, other explanations for the presence of these objects have to be sought.
A likely explanation for the precense of these items in the Mälaren region, is that objects acquired from remote regions increased the status of the owner and strengthened his or her position in society. Groups in the Mälaren region and south-western Finland were part of the same trade networks, and through these networks objects as well as knowledge about foreign regions were exchanged (Gustin in print C). Penannular brooches with faceted and pegged knobs, the most commonly found Finnish dress item in the Mälaren region, may also be associated with gift giving and the formation of alliances which were vital for constructing social networks during the Viking Age (Gustin 2015).

2. Analysis of strontium isotopes
Analysis of strontium isotopes (87Sr / 86Sr) on tooth enamel and early formed bone in humans is a useful tool when mobility and migration are studied.
Therefore an analysis was made on teeth and bone (human) from 12 graves in the Mälaren area containing dress details with Finnish provenance or Baltic Finnish pottery. The analysis was done in order to determine whether the buried persons had grown up in the Mälaren area or if they had moved there from Finland later in life.
Of the analyzed human samples, 6 came from graves in Birka and 6 from other graves in the Mälaren region. In addition to the human material three samples of animal bone from Viking age graves in Uppland were analyzed in order to obtain local background values for strontium. Further analysis on samples from animals is planned (Gustin & Price).
The 87Sr / 86Sr values for the 12 graves from the Mälaren region containing dress details with Finnish provenance or Baltic Finnish pottery extend from 0.718 to 0.731. The processing of the material proceeds. Based on available figures for 87Sr / 86Sr values from water, plants and animals in the Mälaren region on one hand and southern Finland on the other, tentatively at least 11 of the 12 people analyzed were brought up in the Mälaren area.
A person with the value 0.731 can either have grown up in the Mälaren area or in southern Finland. Thus the studied Mälaren graves do not appear to support a relation between the presence of dress details from Finland or Baltic Finnish pottery and an upbringing in south-western Finland.

3. Baltic Finnish pottery in the Mälaren area (work in progress)
Baltic Finnish pottery has been found in Birka's Black Earth where it is the second largest group when it comes to imported pottery. Interestingly the distribution of Baltic-Finnish pottery in the Mälaren area deviates from other imported ceramics by being widely spread outside Birka. Dagmar Selling therefore suggested that Baltic Finnish pottery found in the Mälaren area could have been produced in this region.
To test whether the clay and temper used for the Baltic-Finnish pottery retrieved in the Mälaren area had local origin, thin section- and ICP-MS analyzes were made on 12 fragments. Seven samples came from Birka and five from other places in the Mälaren region.
Analyzes of the Baltic-Finnish pottery found in the Mälaren area shows that it was manufactured in Birka and possibly also in other places in Uppland. None of the analyzed samples contained dolorite which has been considered indicative for ceramics from Finland.
Based on a relatively large variation for shape and decoration of the Baltic-Finnish pottery found in the Mälaren area, it is likely that it derived from small scale pottery production by skilled manufacturers.
The manufacturers were most likely women who were trained in the Baltic Finnish tradition of producing pottery. These women may have emigrated from Finland to Birka and possibly also to other places in the Mälaren area for different reasons. Marriage is a possibility. They might also have been unfree women who were forced to move. Yet another possibility is that women from the Mälaren region travelled and learned the technique in Finland.

New research questions
The project has raised the issue of Åland's role for connections and interaction in the northern Baltic Sea region during the late Iron Age. The Åland islands had a geographical and geopolitical key position when it came to relations between the Mälaren region, Finland and the Russian region. Despite this and despite the fact that Åland has a rich archaeological material, research focusing on the material from the island is rare. Research dealing with issues such as communication and migration based on material from Åland would therefore be highly desirable.
For example analyzes of the Baltic-Finnish pottery retrieved in Åland would be relevant in order to find out where this pottery was produced and to trace the contacts that resulted in the presence of this pottery type.

The project in an international context
An important goal for the project has been to establish contacts and promote collaboration between Swedish and Finnish researchers in archeology. Therefore I organized a workshop in Helsinki about the connection between Finland and Sweden during the Late Iron Age and the early Middle Ages together with a Finnish colleague.
The project has been presented at international conferences such as the EAA / Medieval Europe in Helsinki and "New Aspects on the Viking Age Urbanism" in Stockholm. Within the framework of the project collaborations has been established with Patrick Quinn, Ceramic Petrography, Institute of Archaeology, University College London and T. D. Price, Laboratory for Archaeological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cooperation has also been initiated with FD Anna Wessman, University of Helsinki.
Results from the project are presented in articles aimed at an international circle of readers.

Two most important publications
As a part of the project, the anthology "Identity formation and Diversity in the Early Medieval Baltic and Beyond. Communicators and Communication" will be published. I have been editing this volume together with Professor Johan Callmer and Professor Mats Roslund. My contribution to the anthology is a longer article on the contacts between the Mälaren region and south-western Finland during the early Middle Ages. The article focuses on objects from the Birka graves with provenance or influences from Finland. Furthermore it discusses what find contexts and find combinations reveal about social status, gender and group membership of the buried person.
The anthology also includes an "Introduction" for which I am the author together with Johan Callmer and Mats Roslund. In this chapter the outline of the anthology is presented together with the theories on ethnicity, identity and communication that connect the chapters of the book.
The anthology was reviewed scientifically before it was accepted by the publisher. The peer-reviewer considered the book to be among the top 25% within the field of regional studies within Early Medieval Europe. Within Scandinavian and Baltic studies it was ranked among the top 5%.

Strategy for publishing
The article published in Finskt Museum will be uploaded on Lund University Publishing (LUP) and on Academia 6 months after it appeared in print. Negotiations with publishers about open access will be done for the book chapters that are forthcoming. The articles that are under preparation will be published in journals that allow open access

Publications

1.    Manuscript published or accepted

Gustin, I. 2015. Ringspännen/hästskoformade spännen, gåvogivning och kontakterna mellan Mälarområdet och sydvästra Finland under vikingatid. Finskt Museum 2013-2015, s. 44-64.
 
Gustin, I. in print A. Contacts, Identity and Hybridity. Objects from Western Finland in the Birka graves. Identity formation and Diversity in the Early Medieval Baltic and Beyond. Communicators and Communication. Callmer, J., Gustin, I., and Roslund, M. (eds.). The Northern World Series. Brill, Leiden.

Callmer, J., Gustin, I., & Roslund, M. in print B. Introduction. Identity formation and Diversity in the Early Medieval Baltic and Beyond. Communicators and Communication. Callmer, J., Gustin, I., and Roslund, M. (eds.). The Northern World Series. Brill, Leiden. 

Gustin, I. in print C. Elites, Networks and the Finnish Connection in Birka. New Aspects on Viking Age Urbanism. Hedenstierna Jonsson, Ch. (ed.). Stockholm.


2.    Work in progress  (preliminary titles)

Gustin, I. & Wessman, A. Finland and its western contacts during the Viking Age. Vikings: Beyond Boundaries. Lund Berg, H., Aannestad, H. L. & Naumann, E. (eds.).

Callmer, J. & Gustin, I. Baltic Finnish Pottery in the Mälaren region.

Gustin, I. & Price, T. D. Isotope analysis on Viking Age graves in the Mälaren region containing artefacts from Finland.