Abstracts session 3 (part 1)

Is there life after excavation? Publishing urban archaeology, curating exhibitions and making collections accessible

Peter Kranendonk, City of Amsterdam

Between 2003 and 2018, a new metro line was constructed in Amsterdam. The integration of archaeology was a precondition for the project, so various field activities took place between 2003 and 2012.

The North/South line connects Amsterdam North via Central Station and the historic city centre (Damrak, Rokin and Vijzelgracht) with Amsterdam South/WTC station. In Amsterdam North the line is still above ground, from the IJ it disappears into the depths to connect above ground at Europaplein to Amsterdam South/WTC station.

The large-scale excavations into the (deeper) subsurface of Amsterdam, and in particular in the city centre, necessitated archaeological supervision of those interventions. The locations Damrak and Rokin station were selected for intensive archaeological research. This research mainly focused on the material remains that could provide insight into the origin and development of those parts of the (medieval) city up to the present day. Another important research theme was aimed at the origin and development of the river Amstel and its surrounding landscape.

In total, the archaeological excavations yielded about 465,000 finds from the Damrak and 230,000 from the Rokin. They mainly date to the period 1300-2005. The finds have been examined by specialists, with the data stored in a database of almost 135,000 unique find numbers. In addition to recording the basic data (such as location, object name and dimensions), all finds have been placed in an overarching functional classification.

Right from the start of the project, opportunities were sought to present the results of the archaeological research to the general public, in order to give the people of Amsterdam and its visitors back a part of their history. The opportunity arose to cooperate with the British/French artist duo Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel to design the Rokin station as an ‘archaeological station’. In doing so, more than 9,500 objects have been incorporated into a permanent exhibition in the station. In addition to physically presenting these objects, all finds can also be consulted digitally via a website. Furthermore, about 12,000 objects were incorporated in a publication, and a documentary was made during the project.

The once discarded or lost objects have now been transformed into a kind of a Gesamtkunstwerk, which forms a (digital) inspiration and source of knowledge for anyone interested in Amsterdam and its history.

Museums and collections

Sigrid Samset Mygeland, Bymuseet, Bergen

A renovation of the permanent exhibition at Bryggens Museum in Bergen – the only Norwegian museum dedicated to medieval archaeology – was initiated in November 2012. After 26 years of service, it no longer catered to the demands of its visitors; the facilities were dilapidated, and the integration of new research was long overdue. Also, a less pronounced consideration lingered, illustrated by the characterization of the exhibition as “a historical presentation of the Middle Ages, with an archaeological accessory” (pers. comm. Knut Høiaas), indirectly addressing the relationship between the fields of medieval archaeology and history as well as the actual role of archaeology and the archaeological artefact within this curated environment.

The paper examines the new permanent exhibition titled Below Ground: Medieval Finds from Bergen and Western Norway that opened its doors to a wide audience of locals and tourists more than seven years later. Based on the extensive and heterogenous medieval archaeological collections of the University Museum of Bergen and years of cross-institutional and interdisciplinary research and collaboration, the exhibition focuses on an archaeological perspective, archaeological research, and an archaeological source material – in short, an archaeological Middle Ages. More than 1,200 artefacts distributed over 77 showcases are on display – awaiting also an additional 400 artefacts in 2026. These remains provide the framework for and the source of the stories about how Bergen became a town, as well as about everyday life here and in Western Norway, medieval archaeology past and present, and how the discipline of medieval archaeology transformed Bryggen from a blight on the city into an irreplaceable piece of world heritage. Both the concept of the exhibition and the exhibition as such are presented, discussing also the legacy of its predecessors in terms of design, pedagogical methods and scientific content and perspective. In particular, this concerns the archaeological artefact on display, stressing its potential and challenges in communicating a period traditionally documented by means of written sources.

Anne Kathrine Bakstad, Anno Museum, Hamar

Innsikt i- og tilgjengeliggjøring av det byarkeologiske gjenstandsmaterialet hos museet Domkirkeodden i Hamar har vist seg å være en sentral forutsetning for en bred aktivering av samlingen med gjenstander fra middelalderens Hamarkaupang. Gjennom digitalisering av gjenstandene og samspill med nye undersøkelsesmetoder blir samlingen tilrettelagt for bred kunnskapsdeling om livet i middelalderbyen ved Hamars bispesete, samtidig som nye muligheter åpnes for forskning og formidling.

Hos Anno museum Domkirkeodden finnes et stort arkeologisk kildemateriale fra perioden da middelalderens Hamar by, Hamarkaupangen, var i funksjon i perioden 1152-1537. Samlingen omfatter i sin helhet nær 20.000 enkeltgjenstander med en stor majoritet av metallarbeid. Funnmaterialet kommer både fra eldre utgravninger av bispegårdsanlegget, prosjektbaserte søk med metalldetektor langs strendene og i kaupangsområdet, samt innleverte løsfunn fra samme område.  Samlingen oppbevares på Domkirkeodden etter avtale med Kulturhistorisk museum i Oslo. 

Funn av tusenvis av gjenstander fra den profane delen av Hamarkaupangen, vitner om et aktivitetsområde for handel og håndverk nært knyttet til bryggeområdene ut mot innsjøen Mjøsa. En spesielt stor utfordring med det byarkeologiske kildematerialet er imidlertid gjenstandenes mangel på en presis arkeologisk proveniens. I aksesjonsprotokollene leser vi om innleverte gjenstander fra turgåere som har funnet ting «ved Storhamarstranden» gjennom hele 1900-tallet. Begrepsbruken gir oss ofte lite konkret funnstedsinformasjon. Knapt noen gjenstander kommer fra funn i stratigrafiske lag.  En kildesituasjon der gjenstandene er gjort som løsfunn, helt løsrevet fra arkeologisk kontekst kunne blitt et argument for ikke å benytte samlingen til formidling og forskning på grunn av den manglende proveniensen. Imidlertid ville en slik løsning ha satt en stopper for ny kunnskapsproduksjon omkring det store kildematerialet, og dermed også for Hamarkaupangens nær 400 år lange eksistens. Utfordringen for museet er derfor å aktivere den spennende gjenstandssamlingen i forskning og formidling på en måte som genererer ny kunnskap, på tross av mangelen på presis arkeologisk kontekst.

Fra 2011 har jeg jobbet med prosjektbasert registrering av gjenstandsfunn fra middelalderen.  Erfaringer fra egen og andres forskning, registreringsarbeid og revisjon har gitt innsikt i hvilken ressurs det arkeologiske materialet er og hvordan samlingene kan aktiveres. «Hamarkaupangen» har vært et begrep om et geografisk sted som har etterlatt få synlige spor i terrenget. Gjennomgangen av gjenstandssamlingen viser imidlertid at når man setter detaljkunnskap om de ulike gjenstandstypene inn i et større perspektiv og ser de arkeologiske funnene som del av en overordnet sammenheng, kan man få bedre innsikt i Hamarkaupangens rolle og funksjon i middelalderen. 

Alle gjenstandsfunn er en del av en større historie enn den man får øye på ved forskning på en isolert gjenstandstype. Gjenstandsmengde, for eksempel påvist i forbindelse med metallsøking, kan identifisere og avgrense produksjonssted og aktivitetsnivå, løsfunn gjort i funnkonsentrasjoner forteller en større historie enn funn av enkeltgjenstander, det samme gjelder sporene etter råvareforedling, serieproduksjon og arkeologiske funn som viser foredlingsprosessen fra gjenstandsemne til helfabrikert gjenstand. Uventede forbindelser mellom gjenstandstyper kan bidra til kunnskap om konteksten gjenstandene ble formet i.  På denne måten kan løsfunn av gjenstander kan gis en form for kontekst, ved å avgrense aktivitetsomfanget som har foregått og avklare den geografiske plasseringen av tilvirkningsstedet. Det kan også fortelle noe om formålet med menneskenes aktivitet i Hamarkaupangen. Det er dermed håp om et videre liv for gjenstandene utenfor magasinet, selv uten utgravningskontekst og proveniens.  Ny innsikt i det eldre kildematerialet åpner for ytterligere forskning, både internt i museet, men også for eksterne forskere og hospiterende studenter, og kan resultere i formidling på ulike plattformer.

I 2023 bekreftet georadarundersøkelser mange av de erfaringer museet har høstet fra det arkeologiske gjenstandsmaterialet. Beliggenheten til Hamarkaupangens gatenettverk ble funnet nettopp i området der de profane gjenstandsfunnene er gjort. Vår kunnskap om den arkeologiske samlingen kan nå utvikles videre og prøves mot det som vil komme av nye funn under framtidige utgravninger. Påvisningen av kaupangen i Hamar vil dermed revitalisere samlingen i et forsknings- og formidlingsperspektiv, noe som er svært aktuelt i forbindelse med at nye utstillinger åpnes i det nye regionale historiesenteret på Domkirkeodden sommeren 2026.

Joakim Kjellberg, The Medieval Museum, Stockholm

The Medieval Museum currently lacks a permanent exhibition hall due to a forced move of premises and is preparing to open in a new venue with updated permanent exhibitions in a few years’ time.  In the meantime, we are planning for an approach that fully incorporates the potentials of digital collections, not only in the museum and exhibitions, but also accessible in the form of guided tours of the Old Town, and for the general public from home and for third-party developers.

The Medieval Museum and City Museum of Stockholm house the archaeological artefacts from excavations in and around the town. This includes the two major assemblages collected from Helgeandsholmen excavations in the 1980´s and the still ongoing Slussen-excavations carried out by Arkeologikonsult for more than a decade. Together, these two assemblages alone comprise more than 100 000 objects. 

For the Medieval Museum, as well as for most institutions, the artefacts and their associated documentation is the primary resource for the museum’s public engagement, but visits and guided tours of the collections themselves are problematic. The rapid development of digital tools for visualisation in recent years open hitherto underutilised potential for making artefacts, hidden cultural heritage and collections accessible for the public.

New technologies open up fresh possibilities but also create new demands for the archaeological contractors in the city and museum alike. This paper will present work that is planned as well as ongoing projects at the Medieval Museum, and will also address some of the issues, potentials and pitfalls for public engagement and research encountered so far.

Reconstructions

Egil Lindhart Bauer, The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU)

In recent years, the largest urban excavations ever have been carried out in Oslo. In this paper I will present two endeavours to showcase synthesized results from these excavations. The first is “Oslo 1324”, a 3D visualization of how buildings and infrastructure in the excavated areas may have looked in the high medieval period. This visualization project allowed dissemination of areas not available to the public during the excavations, as well as showing how the town looked above the foundations and the infrastructure which are usually the only preserved remains to be excavated by archaeologists.

The second endeavour is the book “Det gamle Oslo 1000–1624”, published in December 2024. In this book, 39 scholars from different fields contributed papers relating to different aspects of old Oslo. During the period of peak activity in the excavations, we realized that we had many new stories to tell about medieval Oslo, and we wanted to take the dissemination a step further from just excavation reports, blogs, and posts in social media. The number of authors and huge spread of scientific disciplines makes the book relevant for many readers and scholars and elevates it from a book just about archaeological results. The editors were all part of the excavations in some way, which was beneficial to ensure that relevant results were included in the book. At the same time, the editors represented different fields and thus knew which scholars to contact about contributing. Excavations continued parallel with the writing and editing process, and at some point, the inclusion of new results had to stop. I will discuss some of the considerations made in this regard. I will also talk about the advantages of working with both “Oslo 1324” and “Det gamle Oslo 1000–1624” at the same time, as this gave positive synergy effects to both projects.

Both projects are available for free online:

Oslo 1324

Det gamle Oslo av Egil Lindhart Bauer | Cappelen Damm Utdanning

Michael Derrick and Therese Marie Edman, The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU)

Archaeology has been likened to a puzzle, with lots of pieces missing and more being added as time passes. A new building project or a broken water pipe provides the opportunity for archaeologists to fill in some of these spaces. Unfortunately, the process is quite random, and the archaeologist very rarely gets to choose where and how much of an area is excavated. Over time, these small holes combine to create a window which provides a more comprehensive view of the study area. This, however, is only the beginning of a time-consuming and costly process which includes dredging through archives and examining hundreds of drawings, diaries, reports and pictures.

Large-scale digital documentation of archaeological sites has only really taken off at NIKU in the last 15 years. Before this time documentation was predominately handwritten/drawn. The processing of such a large amount of non-digitalised documentation is made more difficult when taking into account the myriads of different measuring systems used throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This need for recalibration of height measurements and grid systems only adds to the complexity of the job in hand and makes it difficult to immediately identify connections between activity in different trenches.

Digitising maps, although a laborious task, provides vital assistance for researchers and project managers alike and can lay the foundation for new discoveries to be made within the old material. One such example is new research which enabled the placement of Oslo’s medieval main street: Vestre strete. The research combined documentation from several excavations dating from the 19^th and 20th centuries together with digitised documentation from recent excavations.

By digitising the old documentation and combining it with new information it is possible to create a continually evolving database which can provide a greater understanding of the city and how it functioned during the medieval period. This is what we would like to discuss in our paper.