Denna uppsats kommer utgå i grunden från teorin om mikro- meso- och makroperspektivet. Ingångsvinkeln i uppsatsen utgår från offerfynd som påträffats under undersökningarna i Eketorp under 1900-talet. Offerfynden nivågrupperats där dem passar bäst in utifrån den valda teorin. Eketorp borg är en fornborg på Öland. Belägen på den sydöstra delen av ön på det stora alvaret. Eketorp borg har en stark koppling till många olika offerriter vilket syns i materialet. Genom det valda teoretiska perspektivet och analysen av offerfynden kan en bredare utveckling av Eketorps samhälle studeras. Detta då den rituella utvecklingen följer nära i hand med samhällets utveckling i borgen. Syftet med uppsatsen var att studera hur Eketorps samhälle utvecklades utifrån en religiös ingångsvinkel, med frågeställningar relevanta för detta. Diskussionen diskuterar de tolkningar från analysen och presenterar nya orsaker till att offerfynden offrat vid sina respektive platser. Resultatet av uppsatsen blev att genom den tydliga nivågrupperingen av offerfynden och genom den teoretiska tolkningen få nya tolkningarom hur kontexter och interaktion hängt ihop. / This thesis is based on the theory of the micro-meso- and macro perspective. The viewpoint of this text is based on sacrificial offerings found during the archaeological excavations in Eketorp during the 20th century. The offerings have been level-grouped where they fit best based on the chosen theory. Eketorp borg is an ancient castle on Öland, it’s been used in three phases and the thesis will mainly focus on the second one. Eketorp is located on the south-east part of the island on the Stora Alvaret. Eketorp borg has a strong connection to many different sacrificial rites, which can be seen in the chosen material. Through the theoretical perspective and the analysis of the victim finds, a broader development of Eketorp's society can be studied. This as the ritual development follows closely with the development of society in the fort. The aim of this thesis was to study how Eketorp's society developed from a religious viewpoint, with questions relevant to this. The first part of the text the author presents Eketorp borg and what the aim of this paper is, as mentioned before. In this part the theory and method are presented as well and how the theory has been molded to fit the different offerings and their contexts. This being referred to as the level-grouping. In the discussion the interpretations from the analysis and presents new reasons why the offerings have been sacrificed at their respective sites, the house, the bog, and the hall. The result of the thesis is the last chapter and concludes that through the level grouping and viewpoint of ritual and cult its possible to get new interpretations of how the different contexts and interactions was handled.

<p>In this essay I have chosen to do a cursory study of the spread of the figural gold foils. Emanating from foremost the Vendel time (550 – 800 e Kr) in the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I will also discuss their relationship to so called central places. Three central locations are in focus in this essay: Borg in Lofoten, Slöinge in Halland and Uppåkra in Skåne. I will also discuss when and why the religious cult changed during the Vendel period to Viking age.</p> / <p>I denna Uppsats har jag valt att göra en översiktlig studie utav spridningen av guldgubbar. De härstammar från Vendeltid (550 – 800 e Kr) i de Skandinaviska länderna Norge, Sverige och Danmark. Här kommer jag också att diskutera deras koppling till så kallade centralplatser. Det ger en fördjupningsstudier i  följande tre centralplatser: Borg i Lofoten, Slöinge i Halland och Uppåkra i Skåne. Här kommer även att diskuteras när och varför kulten förändrades under Vendeltid till Vikingatid.</p>

In this essay I have chosen to do a cursory study of the spread of the figural gold foils. Emanating from foremost the Vendel time (550 – 800 e Kr) in the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I will also discuss their relationship to so called central places. Three central locations are in focus in this essay: Borg in Lofoten, Slöinge in Halland and Uppåkra in Skåne. I will also discuss when and why the religious cult changed during the Vendel period to Viking age. / I denna Uppsats har jag valt att göra en översiktlig studie utav spridningen av guldgubbar. De härstammar från Vendeltid (550 – 800 e Kr) i de Skandinaviska länderna Norge, Sverige och Danmark. Här kommer jag också att diskutera deras koppling till så kallade centralplatser. Det ger en fördjupningsstudier i  följande tre centralplatser: Borg i Lofoten, Slöinge i Halland och Uppåkra i Skåne. Här kommer även att diskuteras när och varför kulten förändrades under Vendeltid till Vikingatid.

The size of the gold foil figures is about the size of half a postal stamp and consists of millimeter-thin gold plates with depicted motifs. They may be the smallest artefact that we have left from the Late Iron Age, more specifically 6th and 7th Century CE. Despite this, it has not stopped the craftsman from creating such detailed motifs that are almost impossible to see to the naked eye. In previous research, the gold foil figures have been treated as representative images, however, this present work shows that these small gold plates have been considered as more than just images. An investigation is conducted of phenomenological aspects that can be observed in the picture, and of different conditions in which the find arises. By studying and discussing the collection of gold foil figures from four locations in southern Sweden and comparing various aspects that arise in the material, interesting patterns and details are noted which did not receive much attention previously.

Gold Foil Figures or guldgubbar (henceforth GFFs) are precious metal artefacts from the Scandinavian Late Iron Age. This master's essay offers a new approach to GFFs. As opposed to the established understanding of GFFs as representational images with real or mythic referents, belonging to an aristocratic milieu, this essay instead attends to GFFs in terms of their material and Figural traits. The material for this study consists if 42 GFFs from the find site of Västra Vång, Blekinge, Sweden. A comprehensive presentation of this artefact material is a secondary aim of this essay. With the aid of a neomaterialist theoretical apparatus that draws heavily on the work of Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Wilhelm Worringer, the 42 GFFs undergo two separate analyses. In the first, the material traits expressed in the sequence of GFF production and deposition is studied in terms of a chaîne opératoire. In the second, I attend to the non-significatory expressive qualities of form and expression, or Figural traits, belonging to these 42 GFFs within the wider artistic milieu of Animal Style Ornamentation. I conclude that GFFs were as a rule artefacts made for purposes of immediate disposal, not display, as a mode of dispersing gold. Västra Vång’s GFFs offer several indications that handling between the cutting operation and deposition was minimal, such as the fresh, unworn edges. The thin, brittle foils are ill suited to display. Approaching the designs on these artefacts as various sets of Figural traits being expressed allows me to contextualise the GFFs within the wider artistic milieu of Animal Style Ornamentation. New territorial rhythms can be established only as certain elements are freed from a settled state, and made to act together with new elements, in new terrains. GFFs bring about new territorial rhythms of form and expression to gold matter, gold made to circulate as it becomes deterritorialised from a monetary function within the Roman economy. A flow of gold is extended as gold is brought to Scandinavia from continental economies. The influx of this flow of gold is not contained to an élite social stratum. Individuals in possession of minute amounts of gold returned to Scandinavia, having acquired gold as payment for involvement in military operations on the continent. This ownership of gold may have hindered their harmonious reintegration into a society based on other economic principles. The GFFs emerge as a vector of dispersing gold. The artistic expression of Figural traits is equally energised by movements of de- and reterritorialisation. Understanding that the Figural traits expressed on the GFFs from Västra Vång are part of a wider artistic milieu of Animal Style Ornamentation, alongside other systematised expressions making up parts of a collective assemblage of enunciation, makes their appearance on artefacts that were deposited immediately upon their manufacture easier to grasp. The particular procedures of miniaturisation allowed for an acceleration of the expression of variation in the conjunction of a flow of artistic expression onto a flow of gold matter. The dispersive handling of gold must be traced to both the material premises and the expressive artistic ones. Gold is not chosen because it is precious, or because of what it connotes, but because it is available, because the artisan smith is attendant to its traits as a metal matter.