This essay deals with a picture-stone that was found in a pre Christian grave during the archaeological excavations of the Viking Age harbour and trading place at Fröjel parish, Gotland, in 1999. The stone is at least 100 years older then the male grave in which it was found. The picture-stone can be dated to  late 8th century or early 9th century, and the grave is probably from the late 10th century. One of the main questions in this essay is why the people of that time re-used an older picture-stone in a younger burial. I believe that the stone was reused as a grave-gift. To re-use the older picture stone was to seek legitimacy for the status of the family through the forefathers. The picture-stones were originally monuments erected in the honour of dead men. The elite could display their social position and power through these monuments. The depicted figures on them can be interpreted as symbols of the transition between life and death. The Gotlandic picture-stones of this type have connections to beliefs of Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, war and death. My theoretical perspective is that through studies of picture-stones, knowledge can be gained about ideologies and social structures within the Gotlandic society during the Viking Age.

Gamla Uppsala is a spectacular area filled with archeological remains dating back to the Iron Age. There have been several excavations in the area, the biggest one carried out between 2012 and 2013 with the construction of a tunnel that is a part of the railroad Ostkustbanan.An important tool in understanding the Iron Age civilization in Gamla Uppsala is to know what houses were used for. This is where a method called macrofossil analysis can be used with great success. By analyzing earth samples from postholes, graves, wells and hearths macrofossils like seeds and slag can be found and used to interpret a house based on the material.This study is going to use samples that were not prioritized during the excavations for the analysis in order to answer what function these houses had.The macrofossil analysis conducted during this study showed a lot of fresh seeds but also charred material that consisted mostly of grain seeds. An interpretation of the houses using the material found within the earth samples was made and the postholes was likely dwelling houses.Hopefully this study can contribute to a further understanding of Gamla Uppsala during the Iron Ages.

In this essay I analyze the stone circles known as domarringar in northern Småland. In order to understand the stone circles, one must understand the society that built them, I argue. Therefore I first date them so I can put them in a context. After dating them to late Roman Iron Age and Migration period, I discuss hill forts, gold bracteates and rotary querns as a starting point for understanding the society and ideology that built the stone circles. I argue that the stone circles are a product of the midgård-ideology and that they have to be understood in that light. The stone circles are always found close to a road and often relatively high in the landscape. They manifest boundaries in the landscape.

Jugs with tubular handles are a special type of ceramics, which is rarely discussed in the literature. The jugs has a beautiful decor and a handle with a channel. The vessels have been interpreted as puzzle vessels, mugs for kids or vessels for libation. The sites where these jugs have been found are very exclusive and the decoration on the vessels can be related to ideas from the Nordic mythology. In some cases, the decor is telling the story about Suttung’s mead. Two places are of special interest namely the ringfort at Sandby borg, Öland and the settlement on the island of Helgö in Lake Mälaren, central Sweden.

This paper investigates possible interpretations of a cremated grave material from the Vendel period in Valstad, Gamleby parish, Småland. The interpretations are based on both the osteological material and some of the archaeological finds. The focus in this paper is the excavated grave in Valstad and does not include similar burials from other locations. The source material consists of osteological material and text material that focus on the late Iron Age. The text material has been selected in order to include up-to-date discussions about ideas and interpretations. The theoretical framework of this paper is built around post-processual archaeology, process archaeology and practice theory. The osteological analysis resulted in the identification of three present animal species in addition to human remains. The analysis also revealed the species distribution in the grave and the distribution pattern of all bone fragments. The bone material was found to have been deliberately crushed, where the material is likely to have been collected or picked up before the crushing took place. The discussion treats three phases; cremation, deposition and closure, in the process from deceased individual to complete grave. In each phase identifiable practices and their interpretations are discussed for the grave as a whole. In the discussion, the interpretation is made that the cremation was the phase where the dead was considered leaving the living world. The deposition was instead interpreted as the phase that allowed the survivors to have continued contact with the dead and the closure the phase that made it possible for the established link to remain forever.

The ritual practice of concealing animal bones and other objects in buildings has a long continuity, and occurs in both prehistoric as well as in late modern buildings. There is however a discrepancy between the prehistoric material and the later archaeological material, where there are a lot of signs of ritual concealments in Iron Age houses but a lack of archaeological sources from historical buildings. There are no written sources that mentions the custom of concealing objects in buildings during prehistoric times. However, folkloristic sources tell us of a practice during historical times, much like the prehistoric building concealments. This study aims to make use of different sources to gain a better understanding of the custom during multiple time periods. This could help to fill in the knowledge gaps concerning the practice of building concealments in both prehistoric times as well as in later historical times. The analysis is based on three case studies of Swedish archaeological investigations; two concerns primarily Iron Age material and the third one concerns Early Modern and Pre-industrial material. All three are delimited by the fact that concealed animal remains, as well as other objects, have been recovered. Swedish folkloristic sources are used to make analogies to the different archaeological contexts found in the case studies. The main concern of this study is not on the symbolism of the action, but rather on the actual practice and the ritualization that underlies the archaeological material. This means that contextual aspects such as spatial contexts, the treatments of the objects or choice of species are important to take into account, and could also be interpreted as distinguishing aspects in the ritualization. This study shows how the use of multiple sources can help create new knowledge and give different perspectives on the ritual practice of building concealments in both prehistoric and historical times. It also illustrates similarities of the practice between different time periods, and how we can relate the Iron Age custom to the concealments made during much later times.

Lagga socken är ett arkeologiskt intressant område med många fornlämningar från järnåldern. Strandförskjutningen har förändrat området över tid. Långhundraleden, en viktig forntida vattenled, går genom området och är central för att förstå utvecklingen av området. Området låg i Attundaland men var en gränstrakt till Tiundaland. I Tiundaland ligger Gamla Uppsala som påverkat området. Extra stora gravhögar, så kallade storhögar, är många på en liten yta. Det finns också storhögar som är demolerade, men kan hittas på historiska kartor. Kashögen är en av dessa försvunna högar. Kashögen ligger vid Kasby och förledet i ortnamnet, -Kas, är förknippat med vårdkase och varningseldar som användes för kommunikation och varning ifall fiender var i annalkande.Uppsatsen beskriver Kashögen som att vara den första, den största och den storhög som initierar att de andra storhögarna i området byggs.

The purpose of this thesis is to address key questions concerning the status and roles of enslaved groups (thralls) in Viking-Age Scandinavia. The thesis focuses on the lives of thralls at two levels; first within the local context of the household and farm (described here as the ‘microenvironment’), and second within the wider ‘macroenvironment’ of Scandinavian society. In particular, the study seeks to uncover the different practical and economic roles that were fulfilled by thralls within these contexts, and in doing so to explore how slaveholding communities benefitted from the exploitation of these people. In order to address these issues, the thesis critically examines the archeological material associated with thralls and discusses the various issues associated with the interpretation of this evidence. Given the inherent difficulty of identifying thralls in the archaeological record, this study also utilizes a range of contemporaneous and later medieval textual sources, including the Icelandic sagas and the earliest surviving Scandinavian law codes, as a means of contextualizing the discussion of material evidence. In exploring the diverse range of archaeological evidence and textual sources available to us, the author concludes that thralls played a significant role among Scandinavian communities as a source of both domestic and economic labor. Through this, they also involuntarily helped Scandinavian communities to mount and sustain trading, raiding and settlement activity in Europe and beyond. In reaching this conclusion, the author draws upon a number of sources pointing to a significant need for (unfree?) labor, for example in tasks such as textile production. When combined with a high-level of access to slaves through raiding and trading activity, it seems logical that Viking-Age communities would have exploited thralls in this way. Given the regular appearance of thralls in both the early Scandinavian law codes and sagas, furthermore, it is likely that these people represented a prominent social group within both social and labor-related contexts.

Denna kandidatuppsats behandlar sländtrissor och vävtyngder från vikingatida lokaler samt yngre järnålderslokaler som angränsar till den vikingatida handelsplatsen Birka. Syftet är att studera sländtrissor och vävtyngder från vikingatida fyndlokaler i Birkas omland; vilket åsyftar geografiska områden i Södermanlands län (Södermanland), Stockholms län och Uppsala län (Uppland). Sländtrissor påverkar de textila råmaterialen och de spunna trådarna, vidare påverkar vävtyngderna varpen och de vävda tygerna. Vilka trådar och vilka tyger som har producerats inom vikingatida lokaler i angränsning till Birka diskuteras utifrån sländtrissornas och vävtyngdernas vikt, form och storlek (trots att fragmentariska artifakter förekommer). Studien omfattar spår av textilproduktion inom vikingatida lokaler i Birkas omland, samt en undersökning gällande om det har förekommit inhemska importer av textilier från fastlandet till Birka under vikingatiden. Resultatet påvisar om att gårdsbaserad textilproduktion har förekommit i Birkas omland och ett fåtalet gårdar i omlandet tolkas ha haft möjlighet att exportera textilier till Birka. / This bachelor thesis is regarding spindle whorls and loom weights from late Iron Age-sites and Viking Age-sites in adjoining relation to the Viking Age town Birka. The basis of this thesis concerns in which amount spindle whorls and loom weights occur at Viking Age-sites in Birka's hinterland; it refers to geographical areas in Södermanland County and Uppland County. Spindle whorls influences the textile raw materials and the spun threads, furthermore loom weights influences the warp and the woven cloths. Which threads and which cloth that were produced at the Viking Age-sites in adjoining relation to Birka will be discussed by regarding the weight, form and size of the spindle whorls and loom weights (though fragmental artifacts occur). The thesis will concern trails of textile production from Birka's hinterland and furthermore an investigation about domestic imports of textiles from the mainland to Birka could have oocurred during the Viking Age. The Results indicates that farmbased textileproduction has occured in Birka's hinterland and furthermore numerous of the farms in the hinterland can be discussed as farms with the possibility to export textiles to Birka.

<p>This paper deals with archaeological prospection of an Iron Age farm site in Toland, Fresta parish, Uppland County in Sweden. The purpose of the paper has been to see whether the geophysical methods applied (GPR & EM-38) could produce useful results that could motivate its use in similar surveys in the future. Geochemistry has been used for the purpose of identifying possible activity areas on the site. The results have shown that it is possible with a GPR survey to identify postholes originating from the Migration Period longhouse at the site. The combining of several methods have been important for the identification and interpretation of several areas of interest.</p>