Den nordiska bronsålderns slutskede – kronologi, definition och forskningsproblem

Since the establishment of the Three Age System, the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition has often been difficult to pinpoint, and the final Bronze Age hard to delimit. Oscar Montelius, the founder of the six sub-periods for the Nordic Bronze Age, doubted the usefulness of the sixth and final period in his later works. Like many others since, he discussed the successive transition from bronze to iron as a challenge. This somewhat diffuse period has often “slipped through the cracks”; excluded from Late Bronze Age “proper”, but not yet embraced by Early Iron Age scholars. This paper calls attention to the varying and sometimes contradictory definitions and characterizations of the final Bronze Age Period VI. Was it a period of profound change, continuity, decline or flourishing contacts and wealth? Does it correspond to 800–650 BCE, 700–500 BCE, 700–600 BCE or perhaps 550–400 BCE? Through examples from past and current research, we identify challenges and possibilities in how this period is approached. The paper ends with six propositions for studies of Period VI: to study continental parallels in relation to new international research, to further integrate “metal-focused” academic research with results from contract archaeology, to investigate regionality, to better understand the timing and impact of the Subboreal–Subatlantic climatic transition, to increase collaborations between Bronze Age and Iron Age specialists, and to experiment with various period definitions.