The authors have carried out osteological analyses on 14 cremation graves which are extremely rich in bones. The analysed Late Iron Age graves are concentrated to the Lake Mälaren valley. The resulta show tha) a great number ol animals were sacrificed on lhe funeral pyres in honour of the dead. The animals include trained falcons and bawks. They reveal that falconry already in the 6th century was pracliced by the wealthy class.

<p>This scientific paper is about the changes in the skeleton caused by the diseases osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Six males and one female from Banken 1, S:ta Gertrud  and S:t Hans in Visby were chosen for an osteological analysis. All individuals are adults and dates back to the middle ages. One male suffered from both osteoporosis and osteoarthritis and one female and three males suffered from osteoarthritis. One male might have been in the beginning faze of osteoarthritis, and one male shows no sign of any of the diseases. In addition to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, some of the individuals suffer from other pathological conditions. Some of the bones from most of the individuals were x-rayed at Visby hospital, to see if medical technique could show some additional information to the osteological analysis. The x-rays were interpreted by doctor Staffan Jennerholm from Visby hospital, but other doctors have also participated. The x-rays confirmed results from the osteological analysis in most cases, although it showed new information in several cases. Some bones from three individuals were taken to Roland Alvarssons` Doctor Practice in Visby to measure the bone density, to check if any of the individuals had osteoporosis. The result confirmed that one male had osteoporosis, as expected from the osteological analysis.</p> / Noen steder i oppgaven står det "osteoartrithis", men det skal stå "osteoarthritis"

This scientific paper is about the changes in the skeleton caused by the diseases osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Six males and one female from Banken 1, S:ta Gertrud  and S:t Hans in Visby were chosen for an osteological analysis. All individuals are adults and dates back to the middle ages. One male suffered from both osteoporosis and osteoarthritis and one female and three males suffered from osteoarthritis. One male might have been in the beginning faze of osteoarthritis, and one male shows no sign of any of the diseases. In addition to osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, some of the individuals suffer from other pathological conditions. Some of the bones from most of the individuals were x-rayed at Visby hospital, to see if medical technique could show some additional information to the osteological analysis. The x-rays were interpreted by doctor Staffan Jennerholm from Visby hospital, but other doctors have also participated. The x-rays confirmed results from the osteological analysis in most cases, although it showed new information in several cases. Some bones from three individuals were taken to Roland Alvarssons` Doctor Practice in Visby to measure the bone density, to check if any of the individuals had osteoporosis. The result confirmed that one male had osteoporosis, as expected from the osteological analysis. / Noen steder i oppgaven står det "osteoartrithis", men det skal stå "osteoarthritis"

<p>By examine cremated remains from graves dated to late Iron Age I wanted to find out what sorts of animals were placed in the graves. But also to see if the animal sacrifices had any connection to the Old Norse religion. The osteological material that were analysed were from both cremated humans and animals and had been dated to Viking Age. The material is from burial ground 59 at Laxare, Boge parish on Gotland. In addition to the human remains, the material contains bones from horse, cattle, sheep/goat, pig, dog, cat, bear, birds and fish. The combination between the species seems to be common all over Scandinavia during the late Iron Age. Except from analysing the material from Laxare I also studied litterature written by other scientist on the subject of animals in Old Norse religion. This was made to understand as much as possible about the religion and how people looked upon animals before Christianity.</p><p>It seemed that animals were very important in religion during the Viking Age in this area on Gotland. Some of the species that were sacrifices in the graves had big importance in peoples daily life but also in myths. The world needed humans, animals and gods to survive and everything were depending on the harmony between them. The horse was clearly a religious animal, and it shows both in the archaeological material and in the written stories from this time. Even cattle, goat and pig are other animals that describe to be important for the religion. The dog seems to be important in the archaeological material but is not mentioned very much in the written myths.</p><p>It is rather clear that the animal sacrificed in graves from the late Iron Age in Sweden is not only for food in the afterlife but also has a very important meaning for the religion and peoples understanding about Cosmos.</p>

<p>By examine plastic craniums from eight different hominids I wanted to find morfological characteristics that agreed with those of modern humans. The species that were selected had a plastic casting of its cranium in the laboratory at Gotland University. My focus was on species from the family <em>Australopithecius </em>and <em>Homo </em>and only working with their craniums. And this because the cranium and the theeth shows the most visible morfological characteristics between the different hominids. I also wanted,in a small part of the essay, to write about the differences in now living primates and humans skulls.</p><p>Except from analysing the plastic castings I also studied surveys written by other scientist on the same subject. And in that chapter write as much about the whole skeleton as possible, eventhough that was not my main field, but I wanted to give the readers an overview of the species before the analysis took place.</p><p>The most visible morfological characteristics is shown in the theeth because the diet changed during the million years that the evolution took place. It is possible to see the development in <em>Foramen magnum </em>too, the hole at the base of the skull were the vertebrate connects with the cranium. This hole gets more central over time showing that the species got more biped and started to walk upright on two legs just like humans do today. There are of course many more characteristics that are able to be seen that seperates us from the extinct hominids, but many of them are the same. If you look closely at the different craniums you can see how the fantastic evolution formed humans out of apes.</p><p>It has to be mentioned that the scientist have many different theoris about the evolution, the species and who are the real ancestors to humans and I think the disagreement will continue for many years to come.</p>

By examine cremated remains from graves dated to late Iron Age I wanted to find out what sorts of animals were placed in the graves. But also to see if the animal sacrifices had any connection to the Old Norse religion. The osteological material that were analysed were from both cremated humans and animals and had been dated to Viking Age. The material is from burial ground 59 at Laxare, Boge parish on Gotland. In addition to the human remains, the material contains bones from horse, cattle, sheep/goat, pig, dog, cat, bear, birds and fish. The combination between the species seems to be common all over Scandinavia during the late Iron Age. Except from analysing the material from Laxare I also studied litterature written by other scientist on the subject of animals in Old Norse religion. This was made to understand as much as possible about the religion and how people looked upon animals before Christianity. It seemed that animals were very important in religion during the Viking Age in this area on Gotland. Some of the species that were sacrifices in the graves had big importance in peoples daily life but also in myths. The world needed humans, animals and gods to survive and everything were depending on the harmony between them. The horse was clearly a religious animal, and it shows both in the archaeological material and in the written stories from this time. Even cattle, goat and pig are other animals that describe to be important for the religion. The dog seems to be important in the archaeological material but is not mentioned very much in the written myths. It is rather clear that the animal sacrificed in graves from the late Iron Age in Sweden is not only for food in the afterlife but also has a very important meaning for the religion and peoples understanding about Cosmos.

By examine plastic craniums from eight different hominids I wanted to find morfological characteristics that agreed with those of modern humans. The species that were selected had a plastic casting of its cranium in the laboratory at Gotland University. My focus was on species from the family Australopithecius and Homo and only working with their craniums. And this because the cranium and the theeth shows the most visible morfological characteristics between the different hominids. I also wanted,in a small part of the essay, to write about the differences in now living primates and humans skulls. Except from analysing the plastic castings I also studied surveys written by other scientist on the same subject. And in that chapter write as much about the whole skeleton as possible, eventhough that was not my main field, but I wanted to give the readers an overview of the species before the analysis took place. The most visible morfological characteristics is shown in the theeth because the diet changed during the million years that the evolution took place. It is possible to see the development in Foramen magnum too, the hole at the base of the skull were the vertebrate connects with the cranium. This hole gets more central over time showing that the species got more biped and started to walk upright on two legs just like humans do today. There are of course many more characteristics that are able to be seen that seperates us from the extinct hominids, but many of them are the same. If you look closely at the different craniums you can see how the fantastic evolution formed humans out of apes. It has to be mentioned that the scientist have many different theoris about the evolution, the species and who are the real ancestors to humans and I think the disagreement will continue for many years to come.

<p>The bark from prehistory – an osteological analysis on dog bones from the Stone Age settlements of Hemmor and Gullrum at Gotland and a theoretic study of the secular and sacred roles of the dog during the Neolithic.</p><p>Dog bones from two Pitted Ware Culture (around 2500 BC) settlements, Hemmor in När parish and Gullrum in Näs parish/Havdhem parish, at southern Gotland, Sweden are analyzed. The analysis contains a study of age, withers height and size estimation as well as skeletal changes and pathologies. The attempt of the analysis is to highlight the secular and sacred role of the dog during the Neolithic at Gotland. The dog bones were collected during excavations in the years 1890 and 1903 and were found across the entire surfaces of the settlements.</p><p>Although there were no specific dog breeds during the Stone Age, the dogs at Hemmor and Gullrum show a wide range of size (withers height spans from 39,74 cm to 56,47 cm) and may therefore have been used for different purposes depending on their size. The dogs were not eaten, but evidence of skinning is found. The results are compared with other analysis made on dog bones from similar settlements.</p><p>The analysis is complemented with a theoretic study of the functions of dogs in other parts of the world. Ethnologic studies of traditional societies show the importance and wide range of functions in which the dogs are used and can give us an idea of the corresponding functions at a Neolithic Gotland. The functions vary from pet and guardian of the settlement to fishing, hunting and ritual purposes.</p>

All contemporary taurine cattle originated some 10,000 years ago when their wild ancestor, the aurochs, was domesticated in the Near East. Although the aurochs was widespread also in Europe, there is no evidence for a local domestication. The aurochs has been extinct since 1627 and therefore little is known about its biology. Following domestication, cattle were selected for traits of interest to humans. All modern cattle breeds were developed in the 19th century and the only sources of information about prehistoric breeding practices, and breeds, come from a few ancient Roman Empire and medieval European written accounts. The aim for this thesis was to investigate the effects early selection may have had on the cattle genome and to investigate genetic variation in European aurochs. Using second-generation sequencing and coalescent simulation analyses of aurochs Y chromosomal DNA, I estimated effective population size to between 20,000-80,000 aurochs bulls, indicating that a large population was present when domestic cattle entered Europe. A Y chromosomal SNP revealed that the two male lineages present in modern cattle were also present in European aurochs, and that the frequency of these lineages in domestic cattle fluctuated over time. This indicates that cattle were mobile and that bottlenecks, possibly due to selective breeding, occurred. I used nuclear SNPs to trace genetic variation in North European cattle through time and show that when genetics is combined with archaeology and osteology, even small but notable changes in the use of cattle can be detected. There has been a significant decrease in genetic variation over time, with the most dramatic changes associated with the formation of breeds during the 19th century.

Cremated remains have long been regarded as a highly complex material that often provides unsatisfactory results. This essay discusses the problems that arise when methods commonly used on unburned bone material are used in a cremated skeletal material. The present essay discusses the results from osteological analysis of seven cremations from Pre-Roman Iron Age from a large cemetery in Alvastra, Smörkullen. Several methods were ultimately not applied in the present study as they were insufficient for application on the relevant material. Since the methods were inapplicable and fragments available for gender assessments too low, no sex assessments were made. All individuals were considered adults, a more detailed age assessment were not possible.  The combustion rate for four of the graves were assessed to Grade 2, three graves to Grade 2 with the transition to Grade of 3, and only one grave has been assessed at Grade 3. The combined average size of the fragments was about 2.7 cm. In four of the graves the bone content corresponded to a whole individual, i.e. the grave contained the remains of a whole body. The study raise the issue of explore and develop further methods on cremated remains, foremost for sex- and age assessments.