Nordic Archaeological Abstracts (NAA) is published once a year and provides a comprehensive guide to Nordic archaeological literature mainly from the preceeding year. Each issue of NAA contains hundreds of references, with abstracts, from a wide variety of journals and books. NAA covers publications dealing with archaeological investigations, recent as well as medieval and prehistoric. Studies within other disciplines (such as environmental history, numismatics, and osteology) are also included, provided they throw light on problems on material groups relevant for the archaeologist.

The geographical limits of NAA are the Nordic countries, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Åland Islands. Papers on culturally related areas are cited as long as they bear on material treated by Nordic archaeology.

The abstracts are concise summaries of published articles, with exact bibliographical information providing access to the originals. References are grouped by main chronological period and subject. Each volume also contains author, subject and site indexes, as well as lists of consulted periodicals, serials, etc.

22 volumes (1974-1996) are now available, containing c. 22,000 abstracted or listed books and papers on Nordic Archaeology. NAA 1997 is in press and will be available winter 2000/2001. Cumulative author & site and subject indexes for NAA 1974-1988 are compiled.

You can also search our Internet-mounted database which gives you free access to NAA 1995ff. Access to Internet-NAA is achieved with a password, included in the Subscription.

Editorial for NAA 1995
Editorial for NAA 1996

PREFACE
Nordic Archaeological Abstracts - NAA - provides the archaeologist with a survey of Nordic archaeological literature from the preceeding year and thus enables the specialist to discover what is happening in fields outside her or his own. The detailed indexes make NAA a useful tool for research. Cumulative indexes for NAA 1974-1988 are in preparation. Abstracts are concise summaries of published articles, with the bibliographical information giving access to the originals. They are intended to be fair summaries of the literature but should never be used as primary sources.

The scope of NAA
The purpose of NAA is to indicate publications dealing with archaeological investigations, prehistoric, medieval, and post-medieval. In the prehistoric sections, papers dealing with all aspects of human culture within the Nordic area are included.
The limits of NAA are more restricted for periods with written sources. Thus the medieval section contains primarily papers on archaeological excavations or excavated material, but other material sources of human activity are also included in the concept "medieval archaeology". Existing medieval buildings and their decoration are examples of material also studied by medieval archaeologists. Thus papers dealing with medieval material in the fields of art history and iconography may be found in NAA. Abstracts on churches and iconography are, however, abbreviated. Papers on the postmedieval period are included in NAA only if they deal with archaeologically excavated material.
Studies within ethnology, geography, linguistics, the natural sciences, etc., are also abstracted, provided they shed light on problems or material groups commonly met with in the field, or are of special interest from a methodological or chronological point of view.
Corresponding book reviews and annual reports from institutions are included only when they bring information of special interest. For minor articles bringing little or no important new information, complete coverage is not attempted.
The geographical limits of NAA are the Nordic countries, including Greenland. Papers on culturally related areas are cited, if noticed, as long as they bear on material treated by Nordic archaeology.

How to use NAA
The basic division of the abstracts is chronological (see the Chronological keys) and within each period they are grouped according to subject (see the Subjects keys).
The classification code of the section is attached to each abstract and furthermore codes are given for subsidiary topics treated in the papers. The indexes will help the reader to find papers by a certain author or on a certain region or important site - see Index of authors and scholars and Site index. Most important for finding relevant papers is, however, the Subject index.
After the code, the nationality of the topic is indicated.
Within the section the abstracts are arranged according to the initials of the author; for alphabetization see the introduction to the index of authors and scholars.
The abstract reference number comprises two elements: the annual number of NAA and a serial number, starting from 1 each year.
The original title is set in semi-bold type, followed by a translation in parenthesis. For the sake of consistency, all titles are written with small letters, regardless of the original orthography.
The full bibliographical information is given either in the abstract heading or in one of the two bibliographical lists. The first list comprises periodicals and irregular serials mentioned in this volume; the other contains collective works, Festschrifts, etc., the titles of which are followed by an asterix* in the abstract heading.
The abstracts are always signed: (Au) = author´s abstract, (Au, abbr) author´s abstract abbreviated, (Au/editor´s initials) = author´s abstract adapted by editor, (editor´s initials) = editor´s abstract; see front cover for full names.

How to write for NAA
The principal rule is that the author her or himself writes the abstracts to ensure accuracy and to reduce the editor´s rather heavy - voluntary - work.
So if you are publishing a paper on a topic within the limits of NAA, we entreat you to write the abstract yourself (in English, regardless of linguistic ability) and send it to the editor for the country and period in question. Not only is translation very time-consuming, but the difficulties which inevitably attend it are aggravated by abstraction and the frequent lack of supporting explanatory material. Many Nordic words, especially archaeological terms, have no exact English equivalent and you are liable to be misinterpreted unless you make your own translation decisions. Proper names are, however, retained in the original form (e.g. Svend Tveskæg and Helgeandshuset - if it is important for clarification a translation may be added (House of the Holy Spirit). For bilingual names in Finland the Finnish and the Swedish version shall always be given. For the sake of completeness and homogeneity some abstracts have to be written or re-written by one of the editors. All abstracts are finally checked by the lingustic adviser.
The length of abstracts is restricted to 850 ems and this maximum should of course be utilized only for comprehensive and/or important works. Papers and books of special international interest may, however, be given abstracts exceeding the limits of ordinary abstracts.
For directions see Notes for authors.

Correspondence
Any suggestions for improving NAA will be welcome.
NAA regrets that it cannot undertake to provide off-prints or photo-copies of articles abstracted. The general editors are, however, always ready to forward a personal communication to an author, and he can supply the addresses of Nordic publications if required.

Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Rigsantikvarens arkæologiske sekretariat,
Copenhagen; Riksantikvaren, Oslo;
KVHAA, Stockholm; Riksantikvarieämbetet, Stockholm; Svenska
arkeologiska samfundet, Stockholm; and DABL (Danish Loan Centre),
State & University Library, Århus.

Special thanks to Augustinus Fonden, Copenhagen, who with a genorous donation made the electronic project possible.

Last but not least we wish to express our gratitude to

Statens humanistiske forskningsråd, Denmark
Statens humanistiska kommission, Finlands Akademi, Finland
Norges almenvitenskapelige forskningsråd, Norway
Humanistisk-samhällsvetenskapliga forskningsrådet, Sweden
who support NAA with an annual grant.

The Editors

Preface

EDITORIAL for NAA 1995 (1999)
This is the first volume of NAA also available in electronic form. NAA is on the Internet! You can access to the NAA database through our homepage http://www.naa.dk and then choosing NAA on line.
When searching the NAA database you can choose between using the Abstract Search or the Subject Search.
In the Abstract Search you fill in a form with details of your search. You can search in all "fields" of an abstract, one by one or combined. Available search fields are: chronological key, subject key, title, author, bibliography, site and abstract text. To help refine your search, windows pop up with adequate lists of possible entries when you click the corresponding field. Search in Chronological Key and Subject Key fields helps you to find papers within a certain subject and period.
But if you want information about a specific subject you should rather go to the Subject Search where you have access to an alphabetical list referring to the initials of the main entries of the Subject index. Then you click a main entry grouped under the chosen initial and you see the entry with all the attached detail entries, incl. links to the indexed abstracts.

With NAA on the Internet it has become easier to submit author's abstracts. Everyone can now submit an abstract of his or her work using the form on the NAA homepage and send it by clicking an editor from a list. For as it is stated in Preface "the principal rule is that the author her or himself writes the abstracts to ensure accurracy and to reduce the editor's rather heavy - voluntary - work." Yet only a small proportion of the more than 21,000 abstracts published in NAA 1974-1995 have been written by the authors. This would change if authors would make a practice of writing an abstract of their newly issued papers when receiving their offprints.

As you have doubtless already noticed, NAA 1995 is somewhat thinner than the previous volumes. This is not because the editors have adopted new, more stringent selection criteria, but because the Swedish material is present only in the form of bibliographic references. During the gathering of material for this issue, the State Antiquary for Sweden shut down the Swedish local editorial office and informed NAA that Sweden would in future supply only catalogue entries from KVHAA's library database LIBRIS. That is what we are therefore able to offer in the present issue of NAA.
This truncation of Swedish participation caused the editorial board to consider the future of NAA. In a questionnaire sent out in December 1997, we therefore asked subscribers whether we should continue to produce NAA, even if Sweden should contribute only bibliographical data.
A representative selection of subscribers stated that there is still a need for NAA, that NAA is an important and indispensable tool for archaeologists and that it would be a shameful step backwards if it were to be terminated. The conclusion was clear: NAA should continue to be produced - even with limited Swedish material.

Thanks to a generous donation by Andrea, Eva and Karl Otto Bonnier, we now have the means to produce a full Swedish bibliographic coverage in NAA 1996 and 1997. The Swedish local editorship has been re-established and consists now of Agneta Åkerlund (Stone Age), Fredrik Hallgren (Stone Age), Helena Viktor (Bronze Age and Early Iron Age), Anneli Sundqvist (Late Iron Age and Viking Age), Carolina Andersson (Middle Ages, profane) and Marcus Dahlberg (ecclesiastical culture). How the Swedish contributions to NAA 1988 and on are to be financed is not yet clear, but we are working hard to find a solution.
The solution for NAA 1995 using entries from KVHAA's LIBRIS database is clearly unsatisfactory. Selection is made there using other criteria than NAA's. For example, NAA does not include popular versions of works that have already been published in scholarly form. We therefore include as a rule only occasional abstracts from the Swedish popular journal Populär Arkeologi, although it brings excellent summaries of scientific investigations and excavations. But as it is one of the Swedish archaeological journals that are included in the Swedish article base, the 1995 issue of the journal has found its way into this issue of NAA. The difference in selection criteria for LIBRIS and NAA became evident when it turned out that the Swedish local editorship of NAA 1996 (in preparation) has included only two articles from Populär Arkeologi 1996.
At the 20th Archaeological Convention in Umeå in August 1998, the general editor explained NAA's current situation and the editors' plans for future production. The Convention maintained that NAA is a joint Nordic responsibility and found it incomprehensible and very unfortunate that the Swedish State Antiquary wishes to withdraw Sweden from NAA collaboration. The Convention carried the following motion, which was sent to the Nordic state antiquaries.

In that we find that
· Nordic Archaeological Abstracts (NAA) is the primary source for the   distribution of archaeological bibliographic information,
· that NAA cannot be replaced by existing library databases,
· that the primary users are the majority of archaeologists who work in museums,   in the administration and in Excavation departments without direct access to   central libraries, and that
· the state antiquaries are the only national archaeological bodies which can afford   the future production of NAA,
  the 20th Nordic Archaeological Convention urges the Nordic state antiquaries   to continue to fulfil their obligations.

The positive resolution and support of the Convention underline the importance of NAA for Nordic archaeology, and we hope that the Nordic state antiquaries on this basis will revaluate their attitude to NAA. A small permanent annual subvention will stabilize NAA's economy and help to secure future regular publication.

This is the first volume of NAA being produced by the new permanent central editorship. As announced in NAA editorial 1992 (1997) the first regularly employed general editor, Berit Valentin Eriksen, was appointed on March 1st 1997. However, Berit Valentin Eriksen on November 1st the same year moved into a position as assistant professor at the University of Aarhus, and the position of the general editor was vacant for 7 months until Birgit M. Rasmussen (archaeologist and librarian and former co-editor of NAA) took over.

The transition to a permanent central editorial office is, of course, a formal strengthening of the editorial function, but it also means that there is all in all less time for editing, since both secretary and student help have been taken from us. It has been necessary to rationalize, and we have in connection with the electronic NAA developed a new EDP publication system, which to a large extent automates the working process at all levels. As already mentioned, authors can via NAA's homepage transfer their abstracts to the relevant local editor, who after editing the local contributions to the volume in question will pass them on to the central editor. When the central editor has received all the abstracts of an issue, the material is collated in the LIDOS database system which can both export to an HTML document (the basis for the Internet version) and generate text files for aftertreatment in the professional LaTeX text formatting system, which sends the print files direct to the printer's. Testing and adjustment of the system are being performed on NAA 1995-1996. This has so far been trouble-free, but as always when a new EDP system is adopted, it will take a while until everything functions optimally.

Electronic searching will undoubtedly affect the way users access a subject, and changes may be necessary in the structure of the indexes. First the editors and the users have to test the electronic NAA. We would welcome feedback and corrections from users of the dataset. These will be used in our efforts to develop and improve the system. Please send your suggestions to: Nordic Archaeological Abstracts, Moesgård, DK-8270 Højbjerg, Denmark. Email: farkbr@moes.hum.aau.dk.

In order to aquaint users with the possibilities of the electronic NAA, this first issue of Internet-NAA is accessed free of charge! However, from NAA 1996 (to be issued this autumn) access to Internet-NAA will be achieved with a personal password. But as the issue of the electronic version of NAA along with the book means higher production costs, a small increase in the subscription charge for book and password will be be necessary. An innovation will be a multi-user fee for institutions in accordance with normal EDP practice.

EDITORIAL for NAA 1996 (2000)

Since the launch of the first on-line issue of NAA in October 1999, 250-300 persons per week have searched the database. The number of accesses is rather stable, in our opinion too small, but we hope there will be an increase now, when two volumes (1995 & 1996) can be searched at one time.

To suit the new content, NAA's Web pages -- http://www.naa.dk -- have been re-designed. The aim is to give some of the background information you find in the book.
Information on organization, publication, database, etc., is included in links, such as

• About NAA - with links to 'Preface' and 'Editorial'.
• Subscription - with link to 'Order Form' by means of which you can send your order directly to NAA with a mouse click.
• NAA On line contains the NAA database where you can choose between 'Abstract Search' and 'Subject Search' -- the latter giving you access to the hierarchical NAA thesaurus.
• Bibiographical information gives you the place of publication and publisher of 'Periodials & Irregular serials' and of 'Collective works, Festschrifts, series, symposia, etc.'
• Editorial board lists the names and addresses of the general and local editors.
• Deliver an abstract offers you the possiblity of submitting an abstract of your just published article or book by filling in a form with the data of your publication and with a click of the Submit button sending it to NAA.
• The link Editors only is reserved for internal communication between the members of the editorial board.

  We welcome any suggestions for improving NAA, and notice of any amendments from users of the NAA dataset. If you have questions, regarding abstracts, you should not hestitate to make contact, possibly by using the link 'E-mail' where you have a direct line to the general editor.

  The first Internet-NAA (NAA 1995) was accessed free of charge, but as reported in the last editorial, from NAA 1996 access is achieved only with a personal password included in the subscription. To obtain a password you merely have to pay the billl included in the printed version of NAA. When your payment has been registered, you will receive the password.

  As stated in previous editorials, NAA does not give a complete list of printed works; our guiding line has rather been to list publications of relevance to Nordic archaeology. The criteria for selection of relevant papers have always been difficult , and a subject of discussion at the annual meeting of the editorial board.
  "Reports" have for many years posed a problem. They have been hard to locate, subject to more or less haphazard editing, and definitely of varying quality. Their status as a scientific tool has varied, making it difficult for both the national and the general editors to decide how much of the reports should be abstracted.
  Reports have been field and excavation documentation, to be followed by a more complete edition, based on a more profound analysis. Very often, however, the report remains the only source publication in which outstanding new findings are presented. This fact has caused changes in archaeological report writing and subsequently in the way they are reported in NAA. In Sweden excavations carried out by Riksantikvarieämbetet (the Central Board of Antiquities) were published in various report series, e.g. Riksantikvarieämbetet. Undersökningsverksamheten. Rapport UV, disseminated to libraries, relevant authorities and university institutes. In NAA, they are included as portmanteau abstracts in the multiperiod-section 11A. However, in the past few years the excavating institutions have also begun to publish reports in a digital form. Some reports may be issued in a printed form either suited to inform the general public or the commissioner, of the results of fieldwork.
  In Denmark, excavation reports are in principal not printed. They are filed in the archives of the excavating institution and of Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen. The excavation data are also registered in the database of DKC - Det kulturhistoriske centralregister (the Cultural Historical Central Register) housed at Nationalmuseet and through a password searchable on the Internet.
  In addition, Det Arkæologiske Nævn (the Board of Archaeology) issues a printed annual compilation of excavations carried out in Denmark, Arkæologiske udgravninger i Danmark (Archaeological Excavations in Denmark) with period surveys and a catalogue with short descriptions of the investigations from the year in question. Especially in Norway, reports have also come to include theses, Festschrifts, proceedings, etc., and ISBN or ISSN numbers are nowadays mostly present on the publications. So, if there still is a difference, it is often that these reports are less elaborate in layout.
  As the traditional printed reports have gradually moved from the grey-zone publication sphere to the open, with better editing and accessibility, their status has been raised, as shown in reference lists in other scientific papers. The distinction between reports and other publications on the the basis of content are no longer easily detected.
  New publications take their grey-zone place, for example, preliminary reports, and the yearly reports from larger projects, etc. Thus the challenge for the board of editors remains the same: how to find the works, and how to select those of relevance to Nordic Archaeology.
  

  Erratum: NAA 1995/653: The author of "Invisible handicrafts" in Lund Archaeological Review 1995, pp 7-20, is Eva Andersson (not Eva Svensson).

  In NAA 1994 (produced in Sweden) compound names of authors were in the author index arranged according to the Swedish principle, i.e. the names are noted according to the middle name, instead of according to the final surname as normal in Denmark and Norway. As the central editorship has now moved back to Denmark and is supposed to stay there for a longer period, we have decided to stick to the linguistic principles of the previous volumes: Compound names are noted according to the initial of the final surname (Petersen, Peter Vang). These names are furthermore noted according to the initial of the middle name with reference to the main entry. (Karlsson Lönn, Marianne. See Lönn, Marianne Karlsson).

  The editors would welcome comments and suggestions for improvements or modifications from the users of the NAA dataset. These will be used in our efforts to develop and improve the system. Please send your suggestion to:

  Nordic Archaeological Abstracts
  Department of Prehistoric Archaeology
  Moesgård, DK-8270 Højbjerg, Denmark
  Phone: ++45-8942 4622
  Fax: ++45-8627 2378
  Email: farkbr@moes.hum.aau.dk