Returning to Vuollerim : Geoarchaeological study of Soil Samples from a Stone Age Settlement

Abstract: The Stone Age settlement site outside the village of Vuollerim in northern Sweden was first discovered in the 1980s and has been an important part of the research regarding Mesolithic and Neolithic in Norrland. One of the houses on the site was named Norpan 2 and nearly fifteen hundred soil samples were collected and stored during the excavations between 1983 and 1987. This study has focused on analysing nearly one thousand of the collected soil samples using phosphate and magnetic susceptibility analysis to further study activity on site and social structure. Furthermore, due to the large quantity of samples, a short comparison of soil sampling density was made to perceive the effect sampling density has on the interpretation of soil mapping. The results of the study indicate that the site has a large deposit of Magnetite (Fe3O4) in the soil that gives unusual MS-readings from the collected samples. The results also show a bipolar separation of finds and geoarchaeological traces within the house. This distinctive separation has been argued as an indication of dividing the space between families, but this study indicate that this separation might be due to house being divided between different activities but the evidence is not conclusive enough without further studies. The study has also shown that while a high density soil mapping gives much greater details it is still possible to gain the necessary information with fewer samples. In conclusion, it is still too early to conclude the investigations at the Vuollerim site and with the added data from this study and new information there is still more to learn from the Vuollerim site.KeywordsPhosphate analysis, Magnetic susceptibility, Vuollerim, Norpan 2, Geoarchaeology, Soil mapping