”Här vandra sålunda fornforskningen och geologien hand i hand vid hvarandras sida”

Abstract

Archaeology and Geology, side-by-side or hand-in-hand. On the Scientifization of the Swedish Landscape in the 19th Century In order to understand the establishment of the present dichotomy between cultural and natural landscapes, Bosse Sundin and Sverker Sörlin, historians of ideas and science, have developed a theory based on two separate discourses: the environmental and the antiquarian discourse. Through these discourses the cultural and the natural landscapes have been constructed and constituted respectively. This process has taken place during the last two centuries, and, according to the authors, without any fundamental interests or points in common between the two discourses. The aim of this article is to discuss and problematize Sundin’s and Sörlin’s theoretical outline. On a structural and ideological level, they agree on the theory as a general framework, but, as shown in our text, the theory does not fit on an individual level. On the contrary we suggest that the scientifization of the landscape in Sweden, at least in natural history, historical geology and archaeology during the 19th century, should be looked upon as a cooperative enterprise among individuals associated with both discourses. That is, there were indeed points in common between the two discourses. Three different cases are discussed: travelling as a scientific method, the methodological and theoretical use of shoreline displacement related to the glaciation theory, and finally, environmental and antiquarian discourses as parts of a more general discourse, Swedish nationalism. Several examples based on empirical research are presented in the text. Starting with the research instructions to antiquarians in the 17th century and to natural historians in the 18th century, we continue with a comment on Sven Nilsson and his comparative ethnography, Axel Erdmann and the development of the glaciation theory, Gerard De Geer and the meaning of quaternary geology, and the development of archaeological geography. The article ends with a short reflection on the significance of and the relationship between the construction of cultural and natural heritage in the nationalisation process in Sweden.