The purpose of this study was to evaluate the age of the hillforts in the muncipality of Skara, their original purpose, why they were erected and what their function may have been. Hillforts are often thought to have been erected due to a need for protection and defence in times of political and societal turbulence. Many of the hillforts that have been subjected to archaeological investigations and partial excavations in other parts of Sweden have been dated to the iron age, mostly to the period which is known in Sweden as ”folkvandringstiden” or the migration period, 400–500 AD. Most of these fortifications share common traits such as being located on elevated areas, on hilltops and mountains. They are also often restricted in all directions by either steep slopes, cliffs and mounds. Most often they are located in areas difficult to gain access to, sometimes almost hidden away. Many of them are also located in such a way that one has a good outlook on the surrounding landscape from the location of thehillfort. All of the known hillforts of Skaraborg also share these traits, and it it possible that the hillforts of Skaraborg have had the function of being a refuge, perhaps also used for defense. Though it is hard to tell for certain. 7 of the 23 known hillforts were further investigated in this work. Only two of the 23 documented hillforts in the muncipality have been subjected to a partial excavation, which in turn showed that these remains were erected much earlier than expected. They showed signs of being inhabited as early as the stone age. Perhaps these two are the exception and should not be named ”fornborg”. However, judging by older, written sources, names, locations and remains such as walls, it seems likely that these hillforts have had a purpose of protecting and closing off a restricted area. Perhaps in the meaning of protection in times of unrest.

The five south-eastern archaeological sites in the Västerås district were probably built about 3000 years ago, thus during the younger Bronze Age. Building of fortresses was very resource-intensive, requiring large resources of materials, crew and food as well as a management and organization. The patrons should have had an important economic role in the village and, based on their location on the mountain slopes at Mälaren, should have had a trade to do. The probability is high that the citizens were trading venues where products from the east, south and west of Sweden / Scandinavian Peninsula were sold or exchanged for products from central Sweden. The products sold and purchased were, for example, leather and bronze products (Burenhult 1999: 54-58).

This paper discusses the approximately twenty Middle Iron Age hillforts located in Östra and Västra Rekarne härad in Södermanland.  "Härad", an administrative division, is likely to be derived from the earlier hundred division, which was based on equipping and manning ships at a time when society was hierarchical and the elite, through travel, had contact with the Roman Empire, inspiring new gods (such as Thor and Odin) to worship. The Tuna and Berga settlements are part of the hundred division but may also have played a role in organization of the earlier travels. There is a connection between Tuna and Berga and hillforts suggesting hillforts could be part of an early organization for equipping and manning ships. Some of the hillforts have house-terraces and possibly had textile production for the travels, some were possibly built for cult.

This paper is a study of the Swedish fornborg Torsburgen on Östergarnslandet, Gotland. This is the largest fornborg on Gotland and it has an area of 112 hectares. The northern, eastern and western parts of the plateau, on which Torsburgen is lying, has natural cliffs of up to 30 meters, while there in the southern part is a two-kilometer-long wall. During the 1980´s a part of the wall was excavated in an attempt to date the construction. The conclusion was, that it had many different building stages. The earliest find was dated to the later Roman Iron Age (AD 200-400) and that period is therefore also the focus of this paper.  The aim of this paper is to explain different hypotheses of why this wall was built (for what reason) and what purpose did it fulfill in society. Archaeological finds from Gotland, dated to the period of the later Roman Iron Age, often show connections to the Roman Empire and therefore the construction could be a result of influences from that part of the world.  It is however, with today’s knowledge, not possible to point out one specific reason why the wall of Torsburgen was built and for what reason they needed to fortify the area of 112 hectares. It could have been an invading force, but it could just as likely have been a need of a hideout to protect the inhabitants on the island from an invading force. Other hypotheses are that it could have been a place for religious practice or a hideout for exiled people, which some people claim that an episode in the Gotlandic legend Gutasagan is about. Hopefully archaeological finds in the future could lead to new knowledge and maybe result in an answer of why this monument is standing there.

This paper deals with the question of when hill forts – or enclosed mountains – were built and to what purpose, by examining two enclosed mountains (RAÄ 78 and 79) in Grödinge parish in the province of Södermanland. A phosphate analysis was conducted to trace anthropogenic activities. The analysis showed only a slight elevation of phosphate content in the soil. A histogram indicated that the elevations were not normally distributed, which could suggest that they were caused by anthropogenic activities. A focus on boundaries is evident in the material, whether it is about erecting physical barriers or the boundary between life and death.

This essay is focused on Öland during the Iron Age, with focus specifically on the Roman Iron Age and the Migration period. The study takes its starting point in the large number of fortifications that was active across Öland at the time. The essays main area of investigation will be the central and southern parts of Öland as the fortifications, together with other parts of the Iron Age society around them such as graves and settlement, will be presented. The landscape in which the fortifications and their surroundings are placed will also be described. With the Migration Period being a keyword for almost all the fortifications on Öland, the subject will also be to describe if any sort of change can be seen in the settlement patterns during this unstable and troubled time. This will all be presented trough sources describing work of the archaeological investigations that has been done in those places.

Fortifications are a common type of ancient monument found throughout Scandinavia, and while the functions of forts are studied and debated quite heavily, the re-use of these structures is less known. On Gotland, there exist 84 ancient fortifications, of which approximately one-third have burials or registered graves within or in close proximity to their locations. This thesis identifies those locations where empirical evidence can be found to identify burials as a form of secondary use of fortifications. The case study of Gudings slott, in Eke Parish, is examined to exemplify the chronological extent of secondary use of an ancient fortification by continued burial rituals from the Late Iron Age through the early Middle Ages. Ancestral worship, memory theory, burial practices, and spatial analysis are utilized to explain why these sites may have been chosen for re-use as burial grounds during the Late Iron Age. The resulting interpretations reveal a unique combination of topographic location, ancestral connectivity, and social stressors as key factors in the secondary use of the examined sites. In addition, new possibilities for the study of Gotland’s ancient fortification sites and suggestions for future research are put forward. / Fornborgar är en vanlig typ av forntida monument som finns i hela Skandinavien, och även om borgarnas funktioner har studerats och diskuterats tämligen omfattande är återanvändningen av dessa strukturer mindre känd. På Gotland finns 84 fornborgar, varav ungefär en tredjedel har begravningar eller registrerade gravar inom eller i närheten av deras lokalisering. Denna uppsats identifierar de platser där empirska blägg finns för begravningar som en form av sekundär användning av borgar. Fallstudien av Gudings slott i Eke socken används för att exemplifiera den kronologiska omfattningen av sekundär användning av en fornborg som en plats för fostsatta begravningsritualer från yngre järnålder upp i tidig medeltid. Förfädersdyrkan, minnesteori, begravningsmetoder och rumslig analys används för att förklara varför dessa platser kan ha valts för återanvändning som gravplatser under yngre järnålder. De resulterande tolkningarna avslöjar en unik kombination av topografisk lokalisering, koppling till förfäder och sociala stressfaktorer som nyckelfaktor i den sekundära användningen av de undersökta platserna. Dessutom presenteras nya möjligheter för att studera Gotlands fornborgar och förslag till framtida forskning.