What specifically characterizes an equestrian grave and what equipment do the equestrian graves from the Vendel period and early Viking Age contain? This study deals with the differences and contrasts that exist in horse equipment between Vendel period and early Viking Age times in Vendel and Valsgärde and how the horse equipment changes over time. The study deals with what are called equestrian graves and this is also where the differences in the grave material are the biggest. The contrasts that have been read shows a change in the grave material between the Vendel period and Viking Age, it goes from being an equestrian and warrior ideal where horse and riding have been a large part of the social structure with among other things like stirrups, spurs, and saddles to turn into what could be likened to a development of agriculture and the need for horses as draft and working animals. The latter grave material contains equipment such as towhooks, “rangles” and driving equipment. This material also contains other points of departure that are relevant to this thesis, including the role of the horse in human history, looting of boat graves and its disturbed context, and how it has affected the boat graves of this study and the deposition of horse equipment. The horse was of great importance in the lives of the living and in the land of the dead, but it also received both its riding equipment and working equipment in order to continue to have a centered role, even in the afterlife.

This thesis creates an osteological biography of the seven horses buried in the boat graves Valsgärde 3, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 15, and explores how the horses were placed in the graves and their part in the burial performance. The thesis focuses on the Valsgärde burial site and the final part of the Viking Age. Using the equine skeletal remains, a variety of osteological methods areapplied to answer the research questions. Archaeothanatology and performance archaeology are used for the theoretical framework for the thesis. The osteological analysis indicates that all horses except for the horse from Valsgärde 10 are of a similar size and health status. Valsgärde 3 contained two horses, and the remaining five graves contained a single horse. Five horses could be sexed as male while the remaining two are uncertain. The horses vary in age from a minimum of two and a half to eleven years and seem to have been buried whole. A definitive cause of death could not be determined, though three potential methods are discussed. The horses were placed in the burials in a few different positions, with some similarities which seem to be chronologically linked. / Den här uppsatsen skapar en osteologisk biografi av de sju hästar som begravts i båtgravarna Valsgärde 3, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 15, samt utforskar hur hästarna placerades i gravarna och deras deltagande i gravuppträdandet. Uppsatsen fokuserar på Valsgärdegravplatsen och slutet på Vikingatiden. Diverse osteologiska metoder appliceras på hästskeletten för att besvara frågeställningarna. Arkeotanatologi och performance-arkeologi formar uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk. Den osteologiska analysen visar att alla hästar utom den från Valsgärde 10 är av liknande storlek och hälsostatus. Valsgärde 3 innehöll två hästar, de resterande gravarna innehöll endast en var. Fem hästar kunde könsbedömas som hanar, de andra två är obestämda. Hästarna varierar i ålder från två och ett halvt år till elva år och samtliga verkar begravts hela. Ingen definitiv dödsorsak kunde bestämmas, men tre potentiella metoder diskuteras. Hästarna har placerats i ett par olika positioner med likheter som verkar vara kronologiskt sammanlänkade.

This thesis studies the famous boat graves in Valsgärde, Sweden and Sutton Hoo, England.  Its purpose is to understand the affects these graves had on the people who surrounded and visited them. Affect describes the first reaction when a person experience somthing new. The other focus of this thesis is the boat graves that seemingly lack buried people, and why the bodies in the graves are missing. There are some fragments of both humans and animals in the Valsgärde graves. In Sutton Hoo there are small amounts of remains from humans or animals, the osteologists have not been able to ascertain which of the two. There are some theories that the burials have been open for everyone to see, the question is then why and if this is the case, how did people react to this phenomenon, that is the boat-graves affects. The thesis concludes that the now missing bodies may have been exposed in the open for a long time, before they were buried. The soil´s acidity at Sutton Hoo is at pH 3,8 at the lowest, which has an impact on how well bodies are preserved in the ground. Both the soil and the exposing of the bodies might have done an equal amount of damage to the bodies.

This paper reviews the osteological material from birds which are found in the boat graves from Valsgärde in Sweden. Based on my own work with boat grave number 13, I have studied the avian bone material to find out what kind of bird species there are in the grave. Birds have a significant meaning in many religions from all around the world and are symbolic for different kinds of beliefs. Although many written sources from the past indicate the cultural importance of birds, there is still little zooarchaeological research done in the subject of bird findings in graves. The boat graves from Valsgärde is from the Vendel period about 550–800 AD. My interest with the species analysis is that it furthermore will lead to discussions about interpretation of the graves. I want to examine questions like what birds of certain species can tell about the individual that the grave belongs to. For example, findings of predatory birds often refer to wealth, due to fact that it’s difficult to raise them in captivity. This is an interesting fact that should be consider when a grave is examined, because it reveals many more questions. Also, I want to examine how birds at that time were used in everyday life, and if there were any other practices concerning birds like for example hunting.

The phenomenon of burying people in boat graves is a well-known aspect of the Vendel period. Although these graves are relatively rare, they appear in places like Valsgärde, Vendel, Ultuna, Tuna in Alsike and Badelunda. The 19th - and early 20th-century excavations at the grave fields at Valsgärde and Vendel, in particular, provided a new perspective on the iron age cultures which preceded those of the Viking age. These grave fields are the main focus for this thesis. I will examine the relationship between the family groups in each grave field and also study what roles they once had in life during the Vendel era. Their material culture has been examined by conducting a comparative study between boat grave 7 from Valsgärde and boat grave I from Vendel. Both tombs are dated to about 675 AD and show an archaeological material that is relatively similar. By comparing and interpreting the common find material a clear interaction was made visible. The nature of this silent interaction that is reflected through the common archaeological material culture have been addressed by using the theory Peer polity interaction, which has served as the thesis theoretical framework. Peer polity interaction aims to explain change in society and material culture. It sees the primary driver of change as the relationships and contacts between societies of relatively equal standing and has played an important role for the study and its conclusions. Furthermore it has also been found that the groups had different ways of expressing their elite status and that they probably also held various occupations during the Vendel era.