Isak Roalkvam

• Schülke, Almut; Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie; Mjærum, Axel Johan; Roalkvam, Isak & Solheim, Steinar (2023). New Perspectives on Old Shores: Current Approaches to the Mesolithic in South-Eastern Norway and their Potential. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Research on coastal societies in Mesolithic south-eastern Norway (9300-3900 cal. BC) has increased significantly in recent years, against the backdrop of a much larger, more substantial and constantly growing source material over the last two decades, but also through the adoption of different theoretical frameworks and methodological tools. Thus, various new insights into Mesolithic coastal living have been gathered. However, the diversity in theoretical and methodological approaches has received rather little theoretical reflection concerning the aims and potential of these various ways of dealing with the archaeological material. This article presents and discusses a number of current approaches on human relations with the shore in the Mesolithic in south-eastern Norway. It reflects on differences and similarities with respect to underlying concepts, theory, and methodology within these approaches. We ask which aspects of our topic do the different approaches actually shed light on, and whether the approaches are compatible. By comparing these approaches this article aims at clarifying the investigatory breadth present, but also at highlighting challenges and limitations pertaining to individual analytical perspectives. This can contribute a better understanding of hunter-gatherer lifeways on the Mesolithic coast, potentially through a combination of approaches that have so far been applied separately. We will focus on five thematic areas and on the potential for combining them: population dynamics and radiocarbon dates, settlement patterns and site location, adaptation and choice of place, moving and dwelling, and technology as tradition.

• Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie; Mjærum, Axel; Roalkvam, Isak; Solheim, Steinar & Schülke, Almut (2023). Coast-concepts in Norwegian Stone Age archaeology. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française. 19, p. 45–60. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The sea and coast have always been central to Norwegian Stone Age research, and most of the archaeological sites we know from the period are located along the coast. Natural conditions associated with the land uplift after the last Ice Age have provided unique opportunities for exploring the coastal settlement of the Stone Age. The general sentiment in the literature is that the Stone Age hunter-gatherers on the Scandinavian Peninsula mainly hunted, moved and settled along the coastline. Less attention has been paid to the areas behind the coast – the coastal hinterland –, although a number of sites are also known further inland and in mountain areas. Central to this perception is the ‘shoreline model’, which has developed gradually over a century of research. While this model has resulted in the identification of thousands of sites, it does have a simplistic eco-functional foundation. Is it possible that such a conceptual starting point in some ways limits our opportunities to explore the coastal landscape from other perspectives, or even prevents us from discovering archaeological material in other landscape settings? To explore this possibility, we ask whether there are conditions in our research, or circumstances in its underlying framework that have contributed to the strong coastal focus. How did today’s concepts and knowledge of the Stone Age coastal settlement come about, and what roles have been played by the natural environment and topographical character of the landscape? How has this influenced our perception of Stone Age settlement, and what other factors have been important? We identify five main factors that each work toward strengthening the coastal focus in different ways. Furthermore, we examine strengths and challenges of the coastal concepts employed in present research and suggest possible future exploration of Stone Age coasts within a broader perspective of a ‘landscape of practice’. Although the coast was central to the people of the Stone Age, this article argues that a one-sided focus on the coast and coastline may hinder a broader knowledge of Stone Age society and human life. Keywords: Stone Age, Mesolithic, shoreline displacement, coastal adaption, archipelago landscape, hinterland, site location, archaeological survey methods, site concepts, Norway.

• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). shoredate: An R package for shoreline dating coastal Stone Age sites. Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS). ISSN 2475-9066. 8(85). doi: 10.21105/joss.05337. Full text in Research Archive
• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). A simulation-based assessment of the relation between Stone Age sites and relative sea-level change along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast. Quaternary Science Reviews. ISSN 0277-3791. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107880. Full text in Research Archive
• Roalkvam, Isak (2022). Exploring the Composition of Lithic Assemblages in Mesolithic South-Eastern Norway. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. ISSN 2352-409X. 42. doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103371. Full text in Research Archive
• Roalkvam, Isak (2020). Algorithmic Classification and Statistical Modelling of Coastal Settlement Patterns in Mesolithic South-Eastern Norway. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology. ISSN 2514-8362. 3(1), p. 288–307. doi: 10.5334/jcaa.60.

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• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Håndtering og kulturhistorisk slutning fra mesolittisk stordata.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Open Science with Open Preprints, Open Code and Open Peer Review (using OSF and PCI).
• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Aspects of Open Science from the Perspective of an Open PhD Project.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Shoreline dating Fennoscandian Stone Age sites and the R package shoredate.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Corrigendum to “A simulation-based assessment of the relation between Stone Age sites and relative sea-level change along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast” [Quaternary Science Reviews 299C (2023) 107880] (Quaternary Science Reviews (2023) 299, (S027737912200511X), (10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107880)). Quaternary Science Reviews. ISSN 0277-3791. 305. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108018.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2022). Steinalderlokaliteter, strandlinjeforskyvning og strandlinjedatering langs Skagerrakkysten.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2022). Simulating the relation between Stone Age sites and relative sea-level change along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast.
• Schülke, Almut; Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie; Mjærum, Axel Johan; Solheim, Steinar; Roalkvam, Isak & Damlien, Hege (2021). Forskergruppe PrehCOAST - Status og veien videre.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2021). Et åpent doktorgradsprosjekt i arkeologi: motivasjon og gjennomføring.
• Roalkvam, Isak (2021). Assessing the Method of Dating Stone Age Sites With Reference to Relative Sea-level Change in South-Eastern Norway.
• Schülke, Almut; Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie; Mjærum, Axel & Roalkvam, Isak (2020). Forskergruppe PrehCOAST: Formål, planer, resultater .
• Solheim, Steinar; Reitan, Gaute & Roalkvam, Isak (2020). 2000 år på 200 meter. Norark.no.
• Schülke, Almut; Solheim, Steinar; Roalkvam, Isak; Mjærum, Axel & Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie (2020). New Perspectives on Old Shores: Current approaches on the Stone Age in Eastern Norway. Show summary

  The coastal and inland areas landscapes of southeastern Norway offered resource rich environments for Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to settle in. This human activity has left an extensive dataset for archaeologist to study settlement and activity from the seashores to the high mountain areas. In recent years, there has been a development in archaeological analysis of human activity in the region applying the large amount of data generated by recent archaeological excavations and surveys in novel ways, especially in the regions former coastal areas. The use of archaeological big-data, such as radiocarbon dates and surveyed sites, has given new insights to past population dynamics, and coupled with environmental data this has offered us possible explanations to variation in settlement patterns. Further, detailed analysis of lithic technology have provided insight into raw material procurement, movement of people and shifting social networks. Moreover, the identification of some hinterland sites opens up for a better understanding of the importance and use of the coastal hinterland. In this paper, we will look closer at the recent development in archaeological research on coastal societies in southeastern Norway. We will present cur-rent perspectives as well as which future avenues we will explore in order to increase our knowledge on hunter-gatherers settlement, mobility and economy in coastal areas.

• Berg-Hansen, Inger Marie; Mjærum, Axel; Roalkvam, Isak; Solheim, Steinar & Schülke, Almut (2020). Coast-concepts in Norwegian Stone Age Archaeology. Show summary

  The coast plays a major role in Norwegian Stone Age archaeology. Hundreds of sites from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods were situated close to or directly at the shorelines. They witness of the economic, social and ritual importance of the coastal zone. However, the “normality” of coastal sites seems to have prevented further reflections about the concepts that have been applied to study coastal sites and the relevance of the coast in the Stone Age. Our talk will identify concepts and epistemological perspectives of how archaeologists have dealt with coastal issues in Stone Age archaeology in a research historic perspective – from early geoarchaeological studies focus-sing on land uplift and coastal sites (“the beach model”), via more processually oriented division of landscape spaces and their environmental characteristics. We will also discuss the sites’ economic functions, based on more recent, ethnoarchaeologically influenced, perspectives on taskscapes, movement in and experience of the coastal zone.

• Wright, David Keith; Romundset, Anders; Fuglestvedt, Ingrid & Roalkvam, Isak (2023). Computational modelling of the coastal Mesolithic in south-eastern Norway. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

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