Archaeology and Religious Studies

Fyrst og fremst vil eg rette ei stor og hjarteleg takk til rettleiaren min, Thomas Wallerström, for uthaldande og inspirerande støtte i arbeidet. Vi har trossa både språkvanskar og kommunikative barrierar, og har kome oss i hamn på ordentleg vis. Du er utan tvil den mest kunnskapsrike personen eg har møtt. Takk også til Ian Reed på NIKU-kontoret i Trondheim, som har vore eit vandrande leksikon. Utan di innsikt i materialet hadde ikkje denne oppgåva blitt rare greiene. Frank Asprem skal også ha takk for all hjelp med NTNU-databasen og uthenting av materiale frå denne. Axel Christophersen skal også takkast for hjelp med fasekarta frå Folkebiblioteket. Elles vil eg også takke Marièl Eikeset Koren og Martin Eikeset Koren for korrekturlesing og for fysiske og musikalske innslag i kvardagen. Til slutt vil eg takke studievener på Det Ensomme Fengsel og familien min for oppmuntring og gode ord.

This study is an interpretation of the Muslim jurist Abû Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarîr al-Tabarî's (d. 923 CE) universal history The History of Messengers and Kings (Ar. Ta'rîkh al-Rusul wa'l-Mulûk). It is one of the most frequently consulted sources in studies of Islamic history, ...

The article describes and analyzes the founding and development of Muslim Society Trondheim (MST), a jâmi‘ mosque and Islamic organization in Norway’s third largest city, Trondheim. The aim is to explore the significance for integration policy on ‘active citizenship’ and two-way accommodation between majority and minority of MST’s dialogues with the church and public institutions, with reference to Casanova’s concept ‘de-privatized public religion’ and Roy’s ‘churchification of Islam’. Main findings are that the dialogue with the church was the one which achieved the best results in terms of two-way accommodation; that MST’s dialogues have contributed towards the city’s Muslims claiming their civil and human rights; and that because this does represent a ‘churchification’ of Islam, it does not make MST a case of ‘de-privatized public Islam’ in Casanova’s sense.

The article is a study of the Norwegian Salafi organization Islam Net, which aims at defining Islam Net in terms of recent research on European Salafism and assessing its capacity for public civic engagement. With reference to de Certeau’s concept of discourse, and Habermas’ concepts of democratic legitimacy and religion in the public sphere, it is found that Islam Net’s capacity for civic engagement is severely restricted by its non-acceptance of human rights-based values, since this non-acceptance justifies for public institutions to deny the organization presence and refuse dialogue with Islam Net. From Habermas’ viewpoint this is a potential democratic deficiency, since it may weaken the legitimacy of democracy among Islam Net’s members.

This is not a stand-alone article but the introduction to the special issue ‘Public Islam and the Nordic Welfare State: Changing Realities?’ The introduction surveys the emergence of the Nordic welfare state model with the Reformation and its development to the present day, focusing on religion, welfare and institutional order, and how national identities correspond and change with the institutional orders, as they develop. Included in this survey is the academic debate about de-secularization, actualized in the European and Nordic contexts by immigration of Muslims. It is argued that the Nordic states are moving towards an increasingly secularized institutional order and national identity, which in itself explains why Muslims are publicly perceived as a potentially problematic group.

Predictive models and the location of the Iron-Age farm. An example from the county of North-Trøndelag.

This article shows how predictive modeling using GIS-systems can lead to a more effective cultural heritage management, as well as how predictive modeling can be used to analyze known archaeological sites. By comparing the locations of sites to mapable features, new knowledge can be derived, and theories and our understanding of their location can be revisited. The article gives a brief history to predictive modeling and explains how different methodical angles can be used to create a predictive model, and a newly developed model for locating Iron- Age settlements in the county of Nord-Trøndelag is used as an example. Thoughts on how these methods can be used by planning authorities and developers are discussed, and some suggestions for improvements are made.

A geophysical survey of prehistoric graves and boathouses at Gustad, Ekne in North-Trøndelag County in Norway yielded very interesting results. The survey  can be used as an example of the benefits of a multi-method approach, and how more information about a site can be investigated by geophysical surveys on Norwegian archaeology.

Language: Norwegian.

A popular archaeological article on a multi-method geophysical survey over ploughed over Iron Age burial mounds and boat houses undertaken at the farm of Gustad, Ekne in Nortg-trøndelag County. The survey confirmed the presence of two or three boat houses and several burial mounds, as well as helping to delimit the activity area around these boat houses. Methods: Topsoil Magnetic Susceptibility, Fluxgate Gradiometer, Earth Resistance and Ground Penetrating Radar.