ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider the ways in which the culture of the Sámi (or Saami, formerly known as Lapps) is being represented in the landscapes of the interior of northern Sweden, in the province known as Lappland. Our main focus is on the area occupied by the Sámi along the Lule river valley and its lakes and catchment, within what was once the Lule Lappmark administrative region and is today the county of Norrbotten. However, we also use examples from elsewhere in the Sámi region, ‘Sámeatnam’ or ‘Sápmi’ as it is coming to be known. Sápmi is defined as the area of present-day Sámi settlement in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland and the adjacent Kola peninsula of Russia. Archaeologists are now convinced that modern Sápmi covers a less extensive area than was previously occupied by the Sámi. It is thought that the distribution of asbestos ware in the first millennium BC indicates the former area of Sámi settlement (Carpelan 1979; Jorgensen and Olsen 1988). However, for present purposes we restrict our attention to the region of acknowledged Sámi self-identity at the present day (Figure 24.1).
