The aim of the project

The aim of the field campaign in summer 2004 was to initialize documentation and research into the mining history of Svalbard in an international comparative perspective.

The most important focus of the research project, which we plan to continue in the coming years, is the development of the coal mining industry in Svalbard with regard to technology, working conditions, settlement planning and formation of society. Very closely linked with these questions is the role of the mining industry as a tool for foreign policy in a part of the world that has been the matter of political international competition and national strategies to control the Arctic. Another aim is to discuss the role of industrial heritage in the ongoing discussion on environment and on the cultural heritage with regard to national responsibility and national rights.

With funding from The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and additional financial support from the University of Groningen, the Nerherlands and National Science Faundatian in the USA, the field course was subsequently organized to take place in mid-August 2004. The prime objective was record and analyze archaeological remains from a limited number of mining sites in the vicinity of Longyearbyen, the principal town and sea t of the Norwegian government in Svalbard. An international multi-disciplinary team of researchers and presumptive doctoral students led by Marie Nisser and Dag Avango of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Urban Wråkberg of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Patrick E. Martin and Susan Martin of Michigan Technological University, Louwrens Hacquebord of the University of Groningen, Gustav Rossnes of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Miles Oglethorpe, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Vitally important support on the ground was provided by the office of the Sysselmannen (the Governor of Svalbard). In addition, Russian interests were represented by Vadim Starkov of the Institute of Archaeology at the Russian Academy of Science in Moscow and by his colleague Eugene Bouzncy. All the actors engaged in the project represented the countries that have had some mining activities in Svalbard at some time.

Svalbard has been populated on a permanent basis for little more than 100 years. Its amazing landscape of steep-sided fjords and glaciers contains a wealth of minerals, but it was the coal seams that first attracted all-year settlement on a significant scale. Indeed, the extraordinary geology yields coal from three distinct geological ages the Carboniferous, Cretaceous and, the Tertiary periods. It was high-quality coal from the latter period that encouraged the first significant exploitation of coal by the American industrialist, John Munro Longyear, who established the Arctic Coal Company and the associated settlement of Longyear City from 1906. Coal mining around Longyearbyen has continued since that time, having been sold to Norwegian interests in 1916, and Mine 7 remains in operation. Two other centres of coal mining activity also survive today: to the south at Barentsburg and Svea.

Until it became part of Norway in 1925 Svalbard belonged to no country and was therefore terra nullius (no-mans-land). The process of laying claims to mineral rights and associated mining activities has created a wealth of physical evidence, much of which has been astonishingly well preserved both by the arctic climate, and by statutory protection from the Norwegian government.

If the expeditions concerned with the natural sciences of the Artic islands could be identified in the late nineteenth century as the first arena of international competition and national strivings and manifestation, the second arena for international competition was the exploitation of the natural resources of Spitsbergen. Two aims for those undertakings can be identified: first of all there was the matter of establishing a profitable coal-mining industry. Secondly there was the question of creating an instrument in national political power strivings. In this sense the mining industry at Svalbard is unique, with its twofold function of being not only a production site but also a political instrument during the twentieth century. After a very expansive phase in the early twentieth century, many of the nation’s gave up their mining activities – among them Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain and the U.S. Norway and the Soviet Union, however, continued to produce coal and they are still doing so today. The Russians have kept their mine in Barentsburg in production but a closure of that mine is foreseen and they now have plans to open a new mine in the Colesbukta-Grumantbyen area. Norway has recently opened up a new mine at Sveagruvan, which has proved to be profitable, and they still have activities in mine 7 at Longyearbyen as mentioned above.

The fieldwork

The major priority of the fieldwork was to record the remains of the old Longyear City, which had been destroyed by a German naval raid in 1943. The recording was achieved using two “total stations”, augmented by a GPS survey.

There was also time to carry out reconnaissance of neighboring areas by Zodiac (inflatable motor boats). These enabled an expedition to be taken to Advent City on the north side of Adventfjorden, where a Sheffield-based British company established a coalmine in 1905. The extensive remains at this site were recorded with the assistance of GPS units. A further expedition involved a trip to Coles Bay in search of Arctic Coal Company claim markers such as defense work mines and a claim hut. The search was successful but had to be aborted after a large polar bear was found lurking among some deserted Russian mine buildings. A larger boat was made available for two separate longer expeditions, one exploring remains of Arctic Coal Co. activities in the Sassen Bay area, and the other recording the Bruce City- an area claimed by the Scottish Spitsbergen Syndicate in the early 1900. On these surveys GPS technology was used for recording.

Preliminary results

The philosophies and practices of the course were clearly defined: to bring together young researchers and to build new intellectual networks. Another aim was to promote joint learning among researchers of different ages, experiences and nationalities; to build, share and exchange knowledge; to build, refine, and spread appropriate methods and theories regarding industrial historical field research and to demonstrate results of such research. With the perspective of long time international co-operation a target was also to initiate individual research interests to pursue in the future.

The major features of the learning experience during the 2004 Svalbard Project championed the nations of personal responsibility and shared commitment. With this in focus, personal responsibility and commitment to contribution/participation over the short- and long-term were the keynote features of the course.

Participants were asked repeatedly to make public declaration of their ideas and to pursue collectively ways in which they could be achieved. The assumption of the inherent strength of team practice and collective learning was another essential orientation. The eventual outcomes of the course were seen to be linked together and ambitious. Another assumption of the course was that everyone had something to contribute, not simply to learn but to amplify learning due to interaction and synergy.

Our learning and teaching approaches were ecumenical. This is to say that learning took place in multiple ways and using a variety of data and inputs, including background reading prior to the course, formal tutorials and seminars, prepared paper presentations, formal and informal discussion, guided field excursions, intensive field data collection, field recordation (creation of new knowledge) at five localities and participant reflection. The practice of learning took place across generations and nationalities, with younger researchers introducing new data collection techniques to older ones in some cases and with students teaching other students in others. The age-old practice of the experienced teaching the novice also occurred.

We conducted structured exercises in the field. The goal of these exercises was to develop the ability to recognize, organize, and record field observations of the material record of industry. The participants then produced measured (with tape) sketches of each feature to scale, using graph paper and feature forms. Each feature was then plotted using total station or GPS technologies, with most participants taking part in each technology activity. Participants then photographed each feature under the tutelage of a professional photographer. These basic procedures were taught first at Old Longyear City and then deployed at four additional sites or survey areas.

We pledged active commitment to the goals and outcomes of the research, developing ideas and commitment from participants re: short and long-term study and ways to contribute to research as a result of the course was encouraged throughout the course. Most participants identified individual interests to pursue, and discussed means by which funding could be sought to carry them out.

The results from the various survey activities will be written up, together with associated research based in archives in the USA, Great Britain, Norway, Russia, the Netherlands and Sweden. In addition to a number of publications, a report is on its way to completion, the aim of which will be to support an application for substantial funding to allow more extensive and detailed recording of Svalbard’s unique industrial heritage in the coming years.