Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 231868 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Svein Vatsvåg |
| FAMILY NAME | Nielsen |
| SIGNATURE | NIELSEN S V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2243-9159 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 37 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Prehistoric demographic transitions in Malmö
Assessing the Development in Open Access Publishing in Archaeology
This article examines open access (OA) publishing within archaeology by using Norway as a case study. The authors present data on research publications ( n = 1,517) produced by archaeologists at Norwegian universities between 2010 and 2021 and classified according to their OA status. The aim is to analyze trends in OA publishing during this period and assess how it aligns with official policies and initiatives from lawmakers, funders, and institu…
Twigs date the second Holocene transgression in southwestern Norway
Marine flooding events occasionally interrupted the everyday lives of prehistoric coastal populations. Identification of such events are important for studies of past population dynamics and adaptive strategies. However, short-term events are rarely identified in the geological record, which puts a severe limit on our archaeological interpretive framework. This paper explores the temporality of the second Holocene transgression in southwestern No…
When farmers became foragers. Allegories of Neolithization within the cultural-historical research paradigm
This paper explores a new direction for archaeological historiography by applying the Yale approach in deconstruction to a selection of archaeological texts discussing the Neolithization process in Norway. Focus is on the cultural-historical research paradigm and publications from the period 1906-38. The analysis discovers that scholars from this period did not consider foragers and farmers to be essential social identities in the past; foragers …
Hunting, fishing, gardening
From Foragers to Fisher-Farmers
The Neolithisation process altered human dependence on wild food sources, and dominant models of the Neolithic transition in Scandinavia still focus on cultural divisions. This study emphasises the evidence of creolization processes, in particular the exploitation of Atlantic Bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) among Neolithic fisher-farmers north and east of the Skagerrak Sea in Scandinavia (4000–2350 cal BCE). The site Jortveit in Southern Norway,…
Steinalderkeramikken fra Rogaland – en kronologisk studie
From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in potter…
A Late Mesolithic Forager Dispersal Caused Pre‐agricultural Demographic Transition in Norway
Population growth has always played a key role in human mobility, even before the age of farming and husbandry. This paper explores population dynamics among early Holocene (∼9500–1700 cal BCE) hunter‐fisher‐gatherers in Southern Norway, focusing in particular on the Mesolithic‐Neolithic transition (4000/3900 cal BCE). Radiocarbon dates are calibrated and turned into summed probability distributions (SPDs). A heuristic linear method is used to ca…
Wave? What wave? Testing for impact of the Garth tsunami (3500 BCE) on Neolithic coastal settlements in Western Norway
The Jortveit farm wetland
In 1931, several osseous and lithic artefacts, as well as fish and whalebones, were discovered in the wetland at the Jortveit farm in Southern Norway. In 2018–19, a small-scale excavation at the original find location took place and a series of AMS-dates were produced. The excavation identified a mud profile with exceptional preservation conditions. At ∼125–130 cm depth, the mud contained unburnt fish and whale bones, burnt wooden sticks and lith…
The thing-in-itself. A reaction to current use of the term in archaeology
Scholars writing within symmetrical archaeology, or speculative realism, have lately claimed that archaeology should strive to grasp the thing-in-itself. This paper questions the rationale of this claim. It presents the philosophical definition of the concept of a thing-in-itself and a short presentation of its reception. The author argues that the concept of the thing-in-itself has nothing to offer archaeology, and questions why contemporary the…
De-Neolithisation in southern Norway inferred from statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates
A technological crossroads
A long‐standing debate in archaeology concerns the sources of technological diversification among prehistoric hunter‐gatherers. This includes the study of the emergence and spread of pressure blade technology in Northern Europe during the Early Holocene. Until now, there has been little technological study of lithic collections from the East Baltic region, and our knowledge of the development and spread of this technology in the area is inadequat…
Long blades and Phantom Cores
The paper presents a lithic case study applying refitting and technological analysis on two long-blade deposits discovered 82 km apart in southernmost Norway. With reference to previous research on Neolithic long blades in southern Scandinavia, it is proposed that the assemblages belong to the late Middle Neolithic chronozone (2800–2350 cal. bc), i.e. the period preceding the introduction of a predominantly agrarian economy in southern Norway. An…
From Committee to Controversy
Starting in 1986 and ending in 2001, the Norwegian cultural heritage management (CHM) underwent a re-organization. Following the revised Heritage Act of 1978 the protective devise needed revision. The 19 County Councils received increased authority after the Act in 1990, while the five archaeological government museums decreased their authority, and were set to focus solely on traditional cultural historic research. The restructuring changed the …
A technological crossroads
A long‐standing debate in archaeology concerns the sources of technological diversification among prehistoric hunter‐gatherers. This includes the study of the emergence and spread of pressure blade technology in Northern Europe during the Early Holocene. Until now, there has been little technological study of lithic collections from the East Baltic region, and our knowledge of the development and spread of this technology in the area is inadequat…
De-Neolithisation in southern Norway inferred from statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates
The Jortveit farm wetland
In 1931, several osseous and lithic artefacts, as well as fish and whalebones, were discovered in the wetland at the Jortveit farm in Southern Norway. In 2018–19, a small-scale excavation at the original find location took place and a series of AMS-dates were produced. The excavation identified a mud profile with exceptional preservation conditions. At ∼125–130 cm depth, the mud contained unburnt fish and whale bones, burnt wooden sticks and lith…
Long blades and Phantom Cores
The paper presents a lithic case study applying refitting and technological analysis on two long-blade deposits discovered 82 km apart in southernmost Norway. With reference to previous research on Neolithic long blades in southern Scandinavia, it is proposed that the assemblages belong to the late Middle Neolithic chronozone (2800–2350 cal. bc), i.e. the period preceding the introduction of a predominantly agrarian economy in southern Norway. An…
From Foragers to Fisher-Farmers
The Neolithisation process altered human dependence on wild food sources, and dominant models of the Neolithic transition in Scandinavia still focus on cultural divisions. This study emphasises the evidence of creolization processes, in particular the exploitation of Atlantic Bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) among Neolithic fisher-farmers north and east of the Skagerrak Sea in Scandinavia (4000–2350 cal BCE). The site Jortveit in Southern Norway,…
The thing-in-itself. A reaction to current use of the term in archaeology
Scholars writing within symmetrical archaeology, or speculative realism, have lately claimed that archaeology should strive to grasp the thing-in-itself. This paper questions the rationale of this claim. It presents the philosophical definition of the concept of a thing-in-itself and a short presentation of its reception. The author argues that the concept of the thing-in-itself has nothing to offer archaeology, and questions why contemporary the…
A Late Mesolithic Forager Dispersal Caused Pre‐agricultural Demographic Transition in Norway
Population growth has always played a key role in human mobility, even before the age of farming and husbandry. This paper explores population dynamics among early Holocene (∼9500–1700 cal BCE) hunter‐fisher‐gatherers in Southern Norway, focusing in particular on the Mesolithic‐Neolithic transition (4000/3900 cal BCE). Radiocarbon dates are calibrated and turned into summed probability distributions (SPDs). A heuristic linear method is used to ca…
Hunting, fishing, gardening
From Committee to Controversy
Starting in 1986 and ending in 2001, the Norwegian cultural heritage management (CHM) underwent a re-organization. Following the revised Heritage Act of 1978 the protective devise needed revision. The 19 County Councils received increased authority after the Act in 1990, while the five archaeological government museums decreased their authority, and were set to focus solely on traditional cultural historic research. The restructuring changed the …
Long blades and Phantom Cores
The paper presents a lithic case study applying refitting and technological analysis on two long-blade deposits discovered 82 km apart in southernmost Norway. With reference to previous research on Neolithic long blades in southern Scandinavia, it is proposed that the assemblages belong to the late Middle Neolithic chronozone (2800–2350 cal. bc), i.e. the period preceding the introduction of a predominantly agrarian economy in southern Norway. An…
A technological crossroads
A long‐standing debate in archaeology concerns the sources of technological diversification among prehistoric hunter‐gatherers. This includes the study of the emergence and spread of pressure blade technology in Northern Europe during the Early Holocene. Until now, there has been little technological study of lithic collections from the East Baltic region, and our knowledge of the development and spread of this technology in the area is inadequat…
The thing-in-itself. A reaction to current use of the term in archaeology
Scholars writing within symmetrical archaeology, or speculative realism, have lately claimed that archaeology should strive to grasp the thing-in-itself. This paper questions the rationale of this claim. It presents the philosophical definition of the concept of a thing-in-itself and a short presentation of its reception. The author argues that the concept of the thing-in-itself has nothing to offer archaeology, and questions why contemporary the…
De-Neolithisation in southern Norway inferred from statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates
Wave? What wave? Testing for impact of the Garth tsunami (3500 BCE) on Neolithic coastal settlements in Western Norway
The Jortveit farm wetland
In 1931, several osseous and lithic artefacts, as well as fish and whalebones, were discovered in the wetland at the Jortveit farm in Southern Norway. In 2018–19, a small-scale excavation at the original find location took place and a series of AMS-dates were produced. The excavation identified a mud profile with exceptional preservation conditions. At ∼125–130 cm depth, the mud contained unburnt fish and whale bones, burnt wooden sticks and lith…
Steinalderkeramikken fra Rogaland – en kronologisk studie
From the 1800’s and onwards, pottery sherds have been found at a number of Neolithic occupation sites in Rogaland County, Southwestern Norway. In this paper, pottery assemblages from nine contexts are analyzed in order to produce an interpretative chronology. Typological analysis is combined with correspondence analysis and Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The result is a coherent chronological model that accounts for variations in potter…
A Late Mesolithic Forager Dispersal Caused Pre‐agricultural Demographic Transition in Norway
Population growth has always played a key role in human mobility, even before the age of farming and husbandry. This paper explores population dynamics among early Holocene (∼9500–1700 cal BCE) hunter‐fisher‐gatherers in Southern Norway, focusing in particular on the Mesolithic‐Neolithic transition (4000/3900 cal BCE). Radiocarbon dates are calibrated and turned into summed probability distributions (SPDs). A heuristic linear method is used to ca…
From Foragers to Fisher-Farmers
The Neolithisation process altered human dependence on wild food sources, and dominant models of the Neolithic transition in Scandinavia still focus on cultural divisions. This study emphasises the evidence of creolization processes, in particular the exploitation of Atlantic Bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) among Neolithic fisher-farmers north and east of the Skagerrak Sea in Scandinavia (4000–2350 cal BCE). The site Jortveit in Southern Norway,…
Hunting, fishing, gardening
When farmers became foragers. Allegories of Neolithization within the cultural-historical research paradigm
This paper explores a new direction for archaeological historiography by applying the Yale approach in deconstruction to a selection of archaeological texts discussing the Neolithization process in Norway. Focus is on the cultural-historical research paradigm and publications from the period 1906-38. The analysis discovers that scholars from this period did not consider foragers and farmers to be essential social identities in the past; foragers …
Assessing the Development in Open Access Publishing in Archaeology
This article examines open access (OA) publishing within archaeology by using Norway as a case study. The authors present data on research publications ( n = 1,517) produced by archaeologists at Norwegian universities between 2010 and 2021 and classified according to their OA status. The aim is to analyze trends in OA publishing during this period and assess how it aligns with official policies and initiatives from lawmakers, funders, and institu…
Twigs date the second Holocene transgression in southwestern Norway
Marine flooding events occasionally interrupted the everyday lives of prehistoric coastal populations. Identification of such events are important for studies of past population dynamics and adaptive strategies. However, short-term events are rarely identified in the geological record, which puts a severe limit on our archaeological interpretive framework. This paper explores the temporality of the second Holocene transgression in southwestern No…
Prehistoric demographic transitions in Malmö
Archaeology (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Geography (10 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (10 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (6 works) · History (5 works) · Mesolithic (5 works) · Radiocarbon dating (5 works) · Geology (4 works) · Norwegian (4 works)