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The aim of this paper is to find where the earliest signs of farming are located in the municipality of Örnsköldsvik and to see if typical artefacts ascribed to farming societies are represented in that area. The study focuses especially on Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. Literature on early farming in this area was utilized as well as archaeological reports from sites with noted signs of Neolithic and Bronze Age farming. A spatial examination of previously collected material eg. pollen analysis, artefacts and excavated sites are presented using a combination of maps. The relationship between soils and artefacts is also examined. Issues concerning why, how and what type of farming was practiced as well as by whom and where is also discussed.

In this work, I have mainly aimed to show how the results of previous field surveysin Misterhult parish, Småland province, Sweden have influenced past andcurrent research. Targeted surveys may in fact still change the picture radically.Our state of knowledge may also change through reviews of previous fieldworkand new excavations targeted at knowledge gaps. I have discussed Misterhult’sBronze Age and problems in that field. I have emphasised our current state ofknowledge and made a call for further fieldwork in the area. There is still muchto be done, and this study pinpoints what, in order to approach an answer towhat attracted people to the area 3000 years ago. Misterhult is one of NorthernEurope’s most extensive and best preserved Bronze Age settled landscapes, andconditions for research are good.In addition to surveys and the spatial site distribution, my focus has been on theunderlying economy, i.e. the economy behind the burial-cairn environments. Ihave tried to show that the economy was crucial to the design and ritualisationof those environments. / <p>Seminarieupplaga</p>

Abstract Gravfält och byar - En komparativ undersökning av sex gravfält från Värend. Gravefields and villages - A comparative analysis of sex gravefields from Värend. Abstract   The basis that this study stands on, is that iron age-gravfields represents nearby village communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate if six gravefields within the old folkland Värend represent different villages, or does the six representative gravefield-villages only show dissimilarity in social differences that occurred within the villages?   A comparative method analysis was used in this study, to help examine comparisons of the different grave types within the gravefields and the social phenomena that they reflect. To help the method further, old maps of the gravefields were used and field observations were made, to get a better picture in how the different grave types were placed and arranged within the gravefields and landscape.   The results show that these six gravefields probably represents their own nearby villages, and many of the graves that occur within the different gravefields, are alike to each other, which show that these supposed representative gravefield-villages had similar grave traditions. / Sammanfattning Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka sex gravfält från det gamla folklandet Värend, varav de sex gravfälten ligger idag inom Växjö kommun. Gravfälten som undersöktes var Lilla Fjäll-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 111:1), Ingelstad-gravfältet (Östra Torsås RAÄ 1:1), Telestad-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 12:1), Skir-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 19–20:1), Orraryd-gravfältet (Nöbbele RAÄ 3:1) och Västenhaga-gravfältet (Bergunda RAÄ 25:1). Denna studie fokuserade sig på att undersöka de olika gravtyper som förekommer inom de sex gravfälten. Detta gjordes för att kunna hitta spår av hur de olika gravfältens representativa by-samhällena kan ha återspeglats. Detta gjordes genom att identifiera skillnader mellan respektive gravfält och därefter diskutera vad skillnaderna kan representera. Jag ville veta om det handlar om olikheter mellan sex skilda byar som begravt sina döda eller beror olikheten på sociala skillnader inom byarna? Resultatet visade på att det förekommer ett varierande och komplext gravstruktur där vissa av gravarna kan ha representerat olika gårdar inom byarna, medan vissa av gravarna representerades som högstatusgravar och religiösa/rituella gravar. De olika gravfälten visade även på att de representerade egna närbelägna byar.

This essay is focused on the re-use during the Bronze Age of the Stone Age passage grave RAÄ 85 in Mysinge, Öland. To increase the knowledge of the phenomena of re-use in general and that which occurred in Mysinge passage grave in particular I’ve looked at other forms of re-use on Öland and the re-use of passage graves in Falbygden. The research has been limited to the Bronze Age. My goal has been to see what this might tell us about the relationship people during the Bronze Age had towards the abstract subject of “non-existence”, in other words death. The research clearly shows that Mysinge passage grave is the oldest grave that were in use during the Bronze Age as a grave, of those known to us, with 1/3 of its dated burials dated to the first half of the Bronze Age and the earliest to early Neolithic. This makes the other three megalithic tombs in the area very interesting since none of them has been excavated. The other forms of re-use of graves that were observed in Öland during the Bronze Age were all later covered by a cairn or a stone packing of some sorts. This most often occurred during the late Bronze Age. However, subsequent burials continued after the construction of the cairn/stone packing throughout the Bronze Age and in most cases into the Iron Age. The cairns/stone packings have a lot in common with the entrance cairn at Mysinge passage grave which also seems to have been constructed during the late Bronze Age. However, while cairns/stone packings mark endings of something they at the same time are monuments of today and are continually being used as a grave (but now according to local burial customs). Entrance cairns on the other hand first and foremost mark endings of something, even though these endings are most likely meant to be remembered. None of the passage graves analysed in this essay in Falbygden indicate the same use of the chamber as Mysinge passage grave. With a few exceptions (Rössberga Rör and Norra Lundby 41) the chamber seems to generally stop being used during Late Neolithic and during the Bronze Age and Iron Age secondary burials in the surrounding mound is instead common. However, it mainly seems to occur during the late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. Not a single grave in the mound indicate a early Bronze Age date. It is clear that the past often had an important role in the relationship to death and burials during the Bronze Age.

A relatively unexplored phenomena of the Nordic Bronze Age is the occurrence where monumental cult houses of stone foundation are discontinued, instead smaller cult houses are constructed in wood. This change occurred during the middle of the Bronze Age, a time werethe Nordic society experienced extensive contact and trade with cultures on mainland Europe. Cult houses were misunderstood for the majority of the 20th Century and it was not until recent they were acknowledged, and this shift noticed. This paper will examine the mentioned change in cult houses with the hypothesis that they were of symbolic importance and use of the elites. It will be discussed whether the cult houses form is attached to the elites display of power and is dependent on a grander ideology in how the elites legitimize their privileged position in society. In essence the paper aims to investigate the two types of cult houses and see to what extent they can be derived to underlying institutions, set up by the elite as a strategy to stay in power.

The subject of this bachelor thesis is the study of the artefact type called simple shaft-hole axe (Swedish: enkel skafthålsyxa) that have been found in the northern region of Sweden, Norrland. In contrast to finds in southern and middle Sweden, axes of this type in Norrland have not been extensively studied. Therefor the aim of this paper is to tabulate their number and distribution and see if the axes have any spatial relation to ancient monuments (Swedish: fornlämningar) dated to the same period and to see if the axes have any spatial relationship to any specific type of geography/terrain. This study also analyzes how they compare to the axes found in the rest of Sweden and thus what they may be able to tell us about prehistoric society in Norrland. This paper can be viewed as an extension of Per Lekberg’s dissertation Yxors liv, människors landskap: en studie av kulturlandskap och samhälle i Mellansveriges senneolitikum which is the most modern and extensive analysis of axes found in southern and middle Sweden and has provided a blueprint for the research done in this paper.

This study focuses on the burial practices in the Bronze Age Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, north-west China, in order to understand how people constructed their social identities and delivered the social cognitions through generations. The Xiaohe-Gumugou cemeteries, as the main sites of the Xiaohe cultural horizon, have central roles for the understanding of the formation of the Bronze Age cultural groups and the cultural interactions between the west and the east in the Tarim Basin. However, current research is lacking in-depth examinations of the material culture of the cemeteries, and the contexts of the surrounding archaeological cultures in a timespan from Bronze Age to Iron Age. Through detailed comparisons of the construction of coffins and monuments, the dress of the dead, and the burial goods assemblages, this study provides an overview of the social structural development, from the Gumugou group’s heterogenous condition to the Xiaohe group’s homogeneous and mature state. Also, through relating to the results of biological and osteological analyses, and applying geographical analyses to the material, this study suggests that the early settlers in the Tarim Basin, the Xiaohe-Gumugou people have created their own social identities. Although the Xiaohe-Gumugou people might have migrated from southern Siberia or Central Asia, the archaeological material shows indications of their own typical features. When newcomers joined the society, the local burial customs were accepted and applied in a new cultural setting. / Denna studie fokuserar på gravskick på gravfälten Xiaohe och Gumugou i nordvästra Kina, för att förstå hur människor konstruerade social identitet och överförde kulturella föreställningar mellan generationer. Xiaohe-Gumugou-gravfälten, som de viktigaste platserna i Xiaohe-kulturhorisonten, är centrala för förståelsen av bildandet av bronsålderns kulturgrupper och de kulturella växelverkningarna mellan väst och öst i Tarimbäckenet. Tidigare forskning saknar fördjupade undersökningar av gravfältens materiella kultur samt den historiska kontexten med de omgivande arkeologiska kulturerna under tidsperioden från bronsålder till järnålder. Genom detaljerade jämförelser av konstruktionen av kistor och monument samt de dödas klädsel och gravgåvor, ger denna studie en översikt över utvecklingen av sociala strukturer, från Gumugou-gruppens heterogena situation till Xiaohe-gruppens homogena och mogna tillstånd. Genom att relatera till resultaten från biologiska och osteologiska analyser och tillämpa geografiska analyser på materialet, tyder den här studien på att de tidiga bosättarna i Tarimbäckenet, Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket, har utvecklat egna sociala identiteter. Trots att Xiaohe-Gumugou-folket kan ha migrerat från södra Sibirien eller Centralasien visar det arkeologiska materialet indikationer på egna typiska egenskaper. När nykomlingar anslöt till samhället accepterades de lokala begravningssederna och tillämpades i ett nytt kulturellt sammanhang.

The development and establishment of agriculture in Northern Sweden has since long been believed to appear during the Late Iron Age, close to the Viking period, but recent finds from the Bronze Age in Umeå has opened up new discussion of when agriculture first emerged. Although too early to discuss where and when it developed, the material currently available on the topic allows for discussion for how it developed. By looking at sediment and soil conditions surrounding the settlements in combination with palaeoenvironments and past climate one aim was to try and search for settlement patterns in relation to agricultural potential, this was however unsuccessful. Cultivation practices were analysed using weed and wetland flora as well as agricultural indicators in pollen diagrams. Most settlements appear to focus firstly on animal husbandry and secondarily on cultivating crops, and they might have because of their coastal positioning also relied on fishing. The results confirmed previous hypothesis about the development of agriculture and cultivation practices in Northern Sweden during the Bronze and Iron Age, however, some issues remain concerning the lacking osteological material. / Utvecklingen och etableringen av jordbruk i Norrland har sedan länge verkat förekomma först under yngre järnåldern, nära vikingatiden, men nya fynd från bronsåldern i Umeå har öppnat upp diskussionen igen om när jordbruket först etablerade sig. Fastän det är för tidigt att behandla var och när, så tillåter det nuvarande materialet att börja till att diskutera hur jordbruket utvecklade sig. Kringliggande jordförhållanden har undersökts runtom bosättningar i relation till palaeomiljöer och forntida klimat med målet att söka efter bosättningsmönster i relation till potentialen att etablera jordbruk, men inga mönster framkom. Odlingsmetoder undersöktes genom ogräs och våtmarksväxter såväl som indikatorer på jordbruk och betning i pollendiagram. De flesta bosättningarna uppvisade ett fokus i första hand på djurhållning och i andra hand odling, samt att dess närhet till kusten och havet troligen såg ett utvecklat fiske. Resultaten bekräftade tidigare hypoteser om jordbrukets utveckling och odlingsmetoder i Norrland under Brons- och Järnåldern, dock återstår vissa problem beträffande det bristande osteologiska materialet.

Ship formed monuments from the Late Bronze Age on the island of Öland, southeast Sweden, have never been thoroughly dealt with in previous research, despite the fact that the region is suggested to have had a key-role in maritime trade networks. This thesis aims to address the ship formed monuments on Öland in relationship to the monuments in northern Småland and the island of Gotland. My goal is to discuss how the ship symbolism was practised during the Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia from a new perspective. I also aim to shed new light on the Bronze Age culture on Öland. I show that the ship formed monuments on Öland mark important maritime routes in the landscape leading to the core areas in the Late Bronze Age. These routes are not only linked to the trade which took place, but also to the landscape it self. I argue that the maritime movement in the landscape has helped to create and re-create the cosmology. Thus, the symbolic and practical function of the ship is tied together. Furthermore, I show that the memory connected to a mythological past has played a crucial role in the rituals leading up to the building of the monument. By integrating a circular view of time while interpreting the rituals instead of a linear one, I argue that this can be understood as a way of transforming the soul for rebirth.