Peter Skoglund

Professor

Department of Cultural Sciences Faculty of Arts and Humanities

peter.m.skoglund@lnu.se

+46 480-44 61 21

+46 72-594 94 05

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, 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 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.

My research groups

My ongoing research projects

My completed research projects

Publications

Article in journal (Refereed)

Skoglund, P., Nimura, C., Horn, C. (2025). 'Everything In Its Right Place' : Selective Depositions in Bronze Age Southwest Sweden. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 35 (1). 1-20.
Status: Published
Nimura, C., Skoglund, P. (2024). A Place with a View : Bronze Age Depositions at Smörkull in Southwest Sweden. Fornvännen. 119 (2). 142-148.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Ranta, M., Persson, T., Cabak Rédei, A., Gjerde, J.M. (2023). A Narrative Turn : Human Agency in Rock Carvings at Nämforsen, Northern Sweden. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 42 (4). 301-321.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Ranta, M., Persson, T., Cabak Rédei, A. (2022). Narrative Aspects of Images of Spear Use in Scandinavian Rock Carvings. European Journal of Archaeology. 25 (2). 176-195.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Larsson, L., Berg, A. (2022). Expansion and Abandonment in the South Swedish Uplands : A Study of Late Neolithic Monuments in Göteryd Parish. Acta Archaeologica. 92 (2). 187-202.
Status: Published
Goldhahn, J., Labarawke, S.L., Skoglund, P., Westergren, E. (2021). ‘I Have Done Hundreds of Rock Paintings’ : On the Ongoing Rock Art Tradition among Samburu, Northern Kenya. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 31 (2). 229-246.
Status: Published
Bradley, R., Nimura, C., Skoglund, P. (2020). Meetings Between Strangers in the Nordic Bronze Age : The Evidence of Southern Swedish Rock Art.. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 86. 261-283.
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Skoglund, P., Persson, T., Gjerde, J.M. (2020). Hunting stories in Scandinavian rock art : Aspects of 'tellability' in the north versus the south. Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 39 (3). 228-246.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Persson, T., Cabak Rédei, A. (2020). A Multisensory Approach to Rock Art : Exploring Tactile and Visual Dimensions in the Southern Scandinavian Rock Art Tradition. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 86. 95-110.
Status: Published
Nimura, C., Skoglund, P., Bradley, R. (2020). Navigating Inland : Bronze Age Watercraft and the Lakes of Southern Sweden. European Journal of Archaeology. 23 (2). 186-206.
Status: Published
Redei, A.C., Skoglund, P., Persson, T. (2020). Seeing different motifs in one picture : Identifying ambiguous figures in South Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art. Cogent Arts and Humanities. 7 (1). 1-21.
Status: Published
Rédei, A.C., Skoglund, P., Persson, T. (2019). Applying cartosemiotics to rock art : An example from Aspeberget, Sweden. Social Semiotics. 29 (4). 543-556.
Status: Published
Ranta, M., Skoglund, P., Redei, A.C., Persson, T. (2019). Levels of Narrativity in Scandinavian Bronze Age Petroglyphs. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 29 (3). 497-516.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P., Nimura, C., Bradley, R. (2017). Interpretations of footprints in the Bronze Age rock art of south Scandinavia. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 83. 289-303.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P. (2017). Ships and adzes in Scandinavian rock art : a note on shipbuilding in the Bronze Age. Lund archaeological review. 23. 151-162.
Status: Published

Article, book review (Other academic)

Skoglund, P. (2018). Review: The Metal Hoard from Pile in Scania Sweden : Place, Things, Time, Metals, and Worlds around 2000 BCE. Kuml : Årbog for Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. Aarhus, Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. 296-298.
Status: Published
Skoglund, P. (2017). Joakim Goldhahn . Sagaholm: north European Bronze Age rock art and burial ritual. 2016. viii+140 pages, numerous b&w illustrations. Oxford & Havertown (PA): Oxbow; 978-1-78570-264-8 paperback £36.. Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. 91 (357). 818-819.
Status: Published

Other (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))

Goldhahn, J., Westergren, E., Skoglund, P., Mire, S., Labarakwe, S. (2022). Kenya’s Samburu warriors still practise a rock art tradition that tells their stories.
Text published online
.