Finding and Asking the Right People the Right Questions. On the Use of Oral Tradition in Archaeology
Finding and Asking the Right People the Right Questions. On the Use of Oral Tradition in Archaeology

Summary/Abstract: The background of this paper is extensive surveys and interviews for thirty years in maritime milieu, including a great lake environment, as well as the mountains of the interior of Scandinavia. The central theses are: 1) that you can almost be sure of a genuine tradition if a specific place for it can be pointed out in present neutral space, thus a potential archaeological site, and 2) that tradition and place names make a holistic view of culture possible, they offer extremely many-sided aspects of cultural history: mundane everyday existence, emergencies, dramatic events and aspects of life alike. Four principles for field work are outlined, geographical, social, gender and personal. By way of the study of folklore it is possible even to formulate intricate hypotheses on e.g. cultural barriers and ancient cosmology.

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