Peter Skoglund

I am an archaeologist who received my PhD from Lund University in 2005. I have worked as a researcher at the Swedish Rock Art Research Archives at the University of Gothenburg and I am currently employed as Professor in Archaeology at Linnaeus University.

Research

My research concentrates on rock art, metalwork, the Scandinavian Bronze Age, landscape archaeology and public archaeology. 

I am the principal investigator of Making Rock Art Today – Encounters with Practicing Samburu Rock Art Painters, which is a joint research project including colleagues in Archaeology and Anthropology at Adelaide University, Kenyatta University, National Museums of Kenya and staff from NGOn Empower the Northern Frontier. Kenya’s Samburu warriors still make rock art and express their cultural identity through images of humans, animals, and weapons painted and carved on cliffs and rock shelters. In this project, we will interact with different generations of Samburu painters and through conversations learn why they make rock art. Also, we will discuss with present-day painters how they are adapting or keeping to their traditions in a changing world.

I am currently concluding another major project on rock engravings titled From Shapes to Action – The Narrative Turn in Prehistoric Image-Making in Northern Europe, funded by the Swedish Research Council. In this project I have explored what is required to depict actions and narratives in visual form within an interdisciplinary and European context.

I am also involved in a project related to the monument known as Hagbard's gallows in Halland in south-west Sweden. The monument consists of two graves with standing stones decorated with rock carvings. In this project, we investigate the monument's dating, its relationship to the surrounding cultural landscape, and the importance of the site in Bronze Age society. The project is conducted in collaboration with researchers at Durham University in the UK, the University of Gothenburg, Lund University and Kulturmiljö Halland.

I have also initiated and currently lead a project focused on rock engravings in Blekinge. The majority of these engravings were created during a relatively short period in the late Bronze Age, which allows us to identify time-specific patterns. Blekinge therefore holds great potential for understanding how rock engravings functioned within the society of that time. The project is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Oxford and regional stakeholders.

In addition to rock engravings, I have a strong interest in metal depositions. For several years, I systematically studied this phenomenon in the landscape of Halland, which led to several new and interesting observations about how the choice of deposition sites changed over the course of the Bronze Age. As part of this work, I am currently conducting a special study of the findspot of the famous bronze shield from Nackhälle in Halland, which was discovered in a bog in 1865. The aim of this project is to generate new knowledge about the site through archival research and metal detection of the area. We will also carry out metallurgical analyses of several contemporary bronze objects from the site that have previously not been examined by researchers. The overall aim is to provide a new and more nuanced understanding of the context in which the Nackhälle shield was found. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Oxford, the University of Gothenburg, and Hallands kulturhistoriska museum.

Commissions

• Affiliated researcher at The National Museum of Kenya.
• Member of The Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies.
• Head of Subject: Archeology.
• Chairman of the Syllabus Committees at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.