Thesis nailing ceremony: Beatrice Krooks
- Date: 7 May 2025, 11:00–11:30
- Location: Campus Gotland, Almedalsbiblioteket
- Type: Academic ceremony
- Organiser: Institutionen för arkeologi, antik historia och kulturvård, GRASS
- Contact person: Beatrice Krooks
You are warmly invited to attend Beatrice Krook's thesis nailing ceremony.

Beatrice will present her thesis, titled 'Fishscapes: Exploring a long-term perspective of fisheries and aquatic habitat structures in the Baltic Sea region through interdisciplinary studies'.
Her doctoral dissertation project, Fishscapes, have explored fishing and relationships between fish and humans on Gotland and Åland in a long-term perspective. The project focused on three time periods with major changes in the environment and social structure where fishbone material was available. The thesis is based on the results of four scientific articles that explore different aspects of fishing based on archaeological, ecological and historical sources and methods.
An initial compilation of archaeological fish bone material on Gotland showed that, despite the very good preservation conditions on the island, the recovery and studies of fishbones are few. In order to understand why fishbones do not appear in archaeological research, a theoretical and methodological discussion was conducted. This laid the foundation for the design of the following studies. To understand the use of freshwater for fishing on Gotland over time, strontium isotopes were analysed in fish teeth from the Stone Age until the Middle Ages. As large parts of Gotland's wetlands have been drained in modern times, our knowledge of the ecosystems in these is limited. Using the strontium isotope results and ecological knowledge of fishes, the habitat of the fish in the former wetlands has been partially identified. Despite Visby and Gotland's important function in the Hanseatic network during the Middle Ages, few fishbone materials from this period were identified, to understand the role of fishing during this time, a fishbone material from Kökar Monastery was used as a comparison.
The thesis discusses the different case studies in a long-term perspective, where the results show how people have used aquatic environments for fishing over time. In addition, it discusses how fish in different roles, such as everyday food or economically important commodity, are affected and affect how people interact with them. The project as a whole, highlight how the relationships between fish - humans and the environment are multifaceted and values both in history and today affect our understanding of these intangible relationships. The results of this thesis have given us an increased understanding of fishing over time and can hopefully lay the foundation for an increased interest in archaeological studies on fishbones. As well as informing and complimenting modern ecological studies on Gotland's fisheries and aquatic environments for a sustainable future.
Beatrice's thesis nailing ceremony also inaugurates the new research area created on the second floor of the Almedalen Library.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
More information about the thesis is available in DiVA.
The thesis defence will take place on Friday, 16 May, at 13:00 in lecture hall E22. More details about the thesis defence.
About Beatrice Krooks
Beatrice Krooks is a PhD student at the Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation, as well as at the University’s interdisciplinary research school in sustainable development (GRASS).