For this essay, 12 liters of cremated bones from the Viking age grave mound RAÄ Berga 134:1 in Trotteslöv, Berga parish, Småland have been osteologically analysed.  The aim with this paper concerned questions as sex, age, number of individuals and animal species in the grave. Further questions that have been investigated are the relationship between the osteological sexdetermination and artifacts as well as which role animals played in burial rituals and as grave goods. The grave contained a middle-aged woman and a number of sacrificed animals: two horses, two dogs, three birds, a boar and a cat. The bones were fragile and very fragmented. One of the birds was determined as a bird of prey, and that together with findings of horses and dogs indicates hunting with bird of prey, an activity performed only by powerful and wealthy individuals.  The woman was buried in a mound of notable size, and with common grave goods for the time period: combs, beads, bronze and iron items. An unusual finding was textile which indicates high status. The number of sacrificed animal species also suggests that the grave belonged to a powerful individual.  During the Viking age animals generally played an important role in grave rituals and as items to be used by their master in the next life. In RAÄ Berga 134:1none of the findings could be determined as either typical male or female items, instead they indicated high status. Graves with osteologically identified women, and rich grave goods usually found in male graves, have often been questioned. The idea of a woman being powerful and buried with valuable items has been doubted. This doubt has probably come from archaeologists’ prejudices today about prehistoric gender roles, since women during the Viking age indeed could reach high status.

I takt med att jordens befolkning ökar kommer det i framtiden krävas bättre, mer effek­tiva och hållbara begravningskoncept. De nuvarande alternativen har en del oönskade bieffekter som att: vid jordfästning tar graven upp mark under mer eller mindre långtid, på begravningsplatser sker utsläpp till mark och grundvatten av organiska och oorganiska ämnen, vid kremering sker utsläpp av luftföroreningar, samt i enlighet med den nu gällande Begravningslagen (1990:1144) så samlas metallresterna som blir över i askan ihop och jordfästs på kyrko­gård. I Sverige uppgår dessa metallrester till 22 ton per år. För att komma tillrätta med situationen tillsatte regeringen i Sverige den 29 november 2012 en särskild utredare. Utredaren kom i sitt betänkande fram till att man bör börja återvinna metallerna som blir över efter en kremation om det kan göras etiskt, ekonomiskt och miljömässigt korrekt samt att nya begravningsmetoder bör kunna användas i framtiden efter att de granskats och godkänts. Genomförda intervjuer, enkätundersökning samt litteraturgenomgång visade på att det finns en negativ miljöpåverkan från de nuvarande begravningsmetoderna, det finns en skepsis mot nya begravningsmetoder, en majoritet av de som deltog i undersökningarna är för återvinning av metaller efter kremering. / As The World population increases, there will be necessary with better, more effective and sustainable funeral concepts. Current methods have some undesirable side effects such as: at burials the grave will occupy land under a more or less longer time; emissions of organic and inorganic pollutants to soil and groundwater from burials; cremations results in emissions of air pollution. Due to the current Swedish law of burial (Begravningslagen 1990:1144) the metal residues in the ashes after a cremation will be gathered and buried at the cemetery. In Sweden these metal residues are 22 tons per year. To manage the situation the Swedish government in the 29th November 2012 issued   a special investigation concerning burial techniques. The investigation came to the conclusion that it would be best if Sweden started recycle the metals which are left after cremations if it could be done in an economical, ethical and environmental  way and new funeral methods should in the future be applied after they have been audited and approved. By conducted interviews, a survey and reviewing the literature showed that there are negative environmental impacts from the current funeral practice, there is a scepticism towards the alternative funeral methods, a majority of the persons who took part in the interviews and the survey were positive too recycle the metals after cremation.

It is a well known archaeological concern that the remains of human bones left from the bronze age and early iron age Scandinavia are not nearly enough to represent the estimated population of the time. Furthermore the bones of each find rarely represent a whole individual. The majority of the bones must have been disposed of somewhere else, possibly scattered in running waters or in the fields, where they have evaporated or are securely hidden from archaeological excavations. This thesis deals with the grave concept and the problem in using a word that is so very clouded by its modern, western meaning. It also offers an alternative explanation to why the bones are handled the way they are and why they are found in such awkward contexts.

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.

Krematoriets struktur bygger på två murar. Den ena bildar en ny gräns mot norra begravningsplatsen och den andra leder besökaren ner för backen och in i krematoriet. Själva gränsen mot norra begravningsplatsen är på just denna plats inte alls lika omhändertagen som runt resten av begravningsplatsen, och viljan att ge inte bara själva krematoriet utan även omgivningarna goda kvalitéer har varit en av de viktigaste parametrarna vid gestaltningen. Krematoriet med dess murar ger platsen en tydlighet, för anhöriga, personalen och för förbipasserande. På kullen vid murens startpunkt skapas en ny entré till norra begravningsplatsen. Själva krematoriet ligger delvis under den gång/cykelväg som sträcker sig längs begravningsplatsens västra gräns. För att krematoriet inte ska skapa en tråkig baksida mot befintlig gång/cykelbana dras den på krematoriets tak. På detta sätt integreras krematoriet i landskapet och ger mer plats för en större omgivande park. Murarna kläs i stenskivor av granit. Graniten på den övre muren har en grövre yta tänkt att smälta samman med landskapet. Graniten på den nedre muren har en polerad yta som reflekterar omgivningarna och den mer bearbetade ytan gör att muren läses ihop med själva byggnaden snarare än med landskapet. För de anhöriga blir denna nedre mur ett sätt att orientera sig i byggnaden då den är exponerad i alla rum som de anhöriga besöker. Som anhörig besökare följer man muren från begravningsplatsens entré söderut ner för slänten. Muren är helt horisontell och blir högre ju längre ner för backen man kommer. Entrén utgörs av en utskjutande volym och innanför finns de rum som är avsedda för de anhöriga. Slutligen omsluter muren anhörigrummet där urnutlämningen sker, och bilar där ett rum med interiör del kopplad till en exteriör gård. Ett träd med en omgivande vattenspegel upptar större delen av denna inre gård. Trädet filtrerar solljuset och ger ett skuggspel över väggar och golv och vattenspegeln reflekterar solljuset och ger ett ljusspel mot muren på gården. Avsikten är att skapa ett tydligt avgränsat rum där naturen ändå är närvarande och ger liv åt materialen. För att skapa en god arbetsmiljö på krematoriet ordnas rummen för att logiskt passa in i processen från kistans mottagning till att urnan hämtas. Pausrum och arbetsrum finns i den södra delen i nära anslutning till kistmottagningen. De rumsliga sambanden är också avsedda att skapa möjlighet för sociala möten mellan personalen och även med begravningsentreprenörerna. / The structural principle of the crematory is based on two walls. The first creates a new border to the northern cementary. The second wall leads the visitor down the hill and in through the crematory. The actual border of the cementary is at the projects site not as well taken cared of as on the rest of the cementary, and a will to give not only the crematory but also the surroundings good qualities has been one of the most important parameters during the project. The crematory and its walls gives the site clarity and simplicity for the relatives, the employees and also for bypassers. On the hill at the starting point of the wall, a new entrance to the cementary is created. The crematory is partly situated under the pedestrian/bicycle path ranging along the cementarys western border. To prevent the crematory from turning its back on the existent destrian/bicycle path, that very path is given a new route on the rooftop of the crematory complex. In this way, the crematory naturaly integrates itself in the surrounding landscape and saves alot of space for the surrounding park. The walls have a granite facade, on the upper wall with a rough surface intended to blend into nature and on the lower wall with a polished surface to connect it to the crematory building rather than the landscape. Beeing exposed in every room intended to be visited by relatives to the deceased, this lower wall is a way for them to orient themselves during their visit. As a visitor you follow the wall from the cementary entrance, going south down a sligt hill the wall is getting higher as you move towards the main entrance to the crematory, which is a volume protruding from the lower wall. The spaces intended for the relatives are located close to the main entrance, and the most important of those rooms is the room where the relatives collect the urn. In that  rectangular room, which has an exterior and an interior space closely connected, you are surrounded by the lower wall on all sides. The exterior space a tree stands surrounded by a pond, whose reflections and shadows give life to the materials. To create a good environment for the employees, the rooms have been organized to fit the crematory process, from the recievement of the chest to handing over the urn. Paus- and officespaces are located in the south part of the building, closley connected to the chest recievement room. The connections between the crematorys different rooms are intended to create spontaneus meetings between the employees, and also with the visiting funeral directors.

Ett krematorium, ett maskineri, där den döda kroppen bränns till aska, skrapas ut och förs till ett rum där skelettbitar som inte brunnit mals, skruvar som en gång läkte oss plockas ut. Det som tidigare var våra kroppar hälls nu ner som pulver i små urnor. Ett vardagligt arbete för vissa, ceremoniellt för en annan, den otäckaste av process för den tredje och en fjärde som inte kunde bry sig mindre.   När någon i vår närhet går bort reagerar vi. Det kan ta sig i uttryck på olika sätt och i olika tid. Projektets viktigaste aspekt består av att låta besökaren ta del av byggnaden i olika steg, i och med olika viljor vid olika tillfällen. En rädd anhörig, en stressad dotter eller ett stort sällskap.   Lika viktigt som det är att bemöta anhöriga, är det att förhålla sig till sitt sammanhang. Platsen som är Norra begravningsplatsen i Solna är central. Den ligger precis utanför Stockholms gränser och används dagligen som passage. I och med byggnadens speciella karaktär betyder detta att kontexten blir extremt viktig och i mitt projekt har jag lika mycket arbetat med vardagen runt omkring som människorna i byggnaden. Krematoriet möter vardagen. / A crematory, a machinery, where the dead body is burnt into ashes, scraped out and taken to a room where pieces of bones that are not funny burnt milled, screws that onced healed picked out. What once was our bodies are now being held down like powder in small urns. An everyday work for some, ceremonially for another, the nastiest of process for the third and a fourth who could not care less. When someone close to us pass away, we react. It can take expression in different ways and at different times. The project's most important aspect consists of allowing the visitor to take part of the building in stages, with different interests at different times. A frightened relative, a stressed daughter or a large company. As important as it is to respond to families, it is to relate to its context. The location Norra Begravningsplatsen in Solna is central. It is located just outside Stockholm and used daily as a passage. Because of the building's special character, the context is extremely important, and in my project I have equally worked with everyday all around as the people in the building. Crematorium encounter everyday.

Kremering är en både industriell och emotionell process. Krematoriet måste således facilitera ett skeende, och samtidigt agera emotionellt filter för reaktioner på detsamma. Men vilken genomsläpplighet bör detta filter ha? Skall byggnaden vara en bastant mur eller ett skirt flor mellan levande och döda? Och hur skiljer sig de sörjandes emotionella processer från dem som har krematoriet som arbetsplats? Krematoriearkitekturen har, parallellt med samhället i stort, utvecklats över tid mot större individualism, specificering och sekularisering. Estetiken har vandrat från nationalromantik till brutalism, vikt har lagts stundom vid det modernt funktionella, stundom det ideologiskt sakrala, och intentionen har pendlat mellan teatralitet och symbolik öppen för tolkning. Men somliga särdrag har kommit att bli förhärskande. Strikta geometrier, stereotom tyngd, dramatisk ljusföring och naturmotiv som betydelsemättade konstverk är några av dem. Likaså är processionsartade rumssekvenser vanliga, och byggnaderna mystifierar i varierande grad själva kremeringsförehavandet. Dessa drag är inte bara vackra och effektfulla; det är även makt- och dignitetsmarkörer. Rummen är didaktiska; ett system av styrkeförhållanden, valörer och koder, stumt förmedlade genom fysiska element. Oavsett arkitektens ambition - retorisk monumentalitet eller “självklar” anspråkslöshet - tycks rummen vilja ingjuta vördnad, respekt och förundran. Det handlar om en form och estetik som duckar ifrågasättande tolkningar genom att framstå som orubblig. Givet att flertalet attityder kring liv och död samexisterar och utvecklas kontinuerligt, bör ett krematorium inte göra anspråk på sanning,permanens eller evighet. Den enda sanningen är att vi är lika inför döden, oavsett om vi möter lågorna inneslutna i spånskiva eller mahogny, i sällskap av nära och kära eller en skiftarbetande krematorietekniker, under ceremoniella eller pragmatiska omständigheter. Detta projekt utforskar en icke-auktoritär arkitektur, som inte reproducerar rumsliga och estetiska normer. En arkitektur som inte dikterar beteenden och sinnesstämningar; som högtidlighåller men samtidigt understryker det vardagliga; som signalerar stabilitet utan att vara statisk. En tektonisk, transparent byggnad som inte hymlar med vad den är eller gör. / The cremation process is both industrial and emotional. Thus, a crematorium must facilitate one primary course of events while also handling – filtering – secondary emotional stress generated by that very activity. But should the building as filter be a solid wall or a light veil between the dead and the living? How does one define an appropriate degree of permeability and transparency? And how do you cater to the well-being of both mourners and professionals? The architecture of crematoria has, since its introduction in the mid 19th century, evolved along with society's increasing individualism, specialization and secularization. Exploring aesthetic expressions and styles from classicism and national romanticism to brutalism, the intentions have been, in various degrees and combinations, ideological, symbolic, theatrical, functional and pragmatic. However, some features seem to be predominant. Strict geometry, material heaviness, dramatic lighting and the use of nature as a work of art are some examples, as well as processional, choreographed spatial movement and mystification of the cremation itself. These features are not only striking, atmospheric and beautiful; they are also represent power and distinction. The rooms constitute a didactic system of codes and values, silently mediated through physical elements. Irrespective of the architect's ambition and intentions – rhetorical monumentality or suggestive modesty – the spaces seem to evoke feelings of awe and wonder. Firm and unyielding, the buildings dodge any critical questioning. Given today's multitude of coexisting and continually developing philosophies of life and death, a modern crematorium should not pretend to be true, permanent or eternal. The only truth is that in death all men are equal, no matter the circumstances of our passing. This project therefore explores a non-authoritative architecture that does not reproduce spatial or aesthetical norms and conventions. An architecture that does not dictate certain moods or behaviours; that celebrates the extraordinary while attending to everyday life; that conveys dignity and stability without being imposing.

During the Viking Age, the burials on Gotland consisted of both cremations and inhumations. However, inhumation became increasingly common at the end of that period. Furthermore, several children have been identified around the island, but almost all of them are in inhumation graves. Only a few analyses of cremations from the Viking Age have been conducted. At the moment, there are only two burial grounds, dating to the Viking Age on Gotland, where the remains of cremated children have been noted. This study aims to try to locate children's graves, or possible children's graves, by studying cremations from the burial ground in Stora Ihre, Hellvi parish. Hopefully, this will contribute to future studies of cremations from Gotland in the early Iron Age and bring more knowledge on how children were treated. A total of 60 cremations have been analyzed, where only two graves contain the remains of non-adult individuals, but only one of these dates to the Viking age. At Stora Ihre, children of several ages have been buried in inhumation graves, like many other places in the rest of Gotland. In several cases, they have been buried together or secondarily next to an older individual, both in or around an inhumation or cremation grave, but in some cases, children have been given their own grave. This may indicate that a shift in burial traditions of children took place from the Vendel period to the Viking age, but it may also reflect social differences between the ages.

This essay concerns the osteological cremated skeletal remains from Broe, Halla parish, Gotland of  The Late Iron Age. The focus of this essay is to determine the position of the corpse on the pyre, whether the cremated bones were crushed after or prior to the cremation and if the individual was buried in the pyre. In addition the species, age, sex and skeletal abnormalities of the bones in question will be studied. The result of the research has yielded that the cremated bones did not need to be crushed to result in the small fragment sizes. Crushing of the bones may have happened during the cremation, this conclusion has been drawn through the comparison of a pyre experiment were bone fragmentation is evident with cremated foxes, and dogs in the cremation graves from Broe. The construction of the pyre and the position of the corpse could not be determined through colouring and fragmentation of the bones. The human's were commonly buried in the pyre, and in some cases it is possible that the "grave" in fact is the remainder of a pyre. The species found are dog, horse, cow, sheep/goat and bear. The unburnt human bones in the cremation graves come from children. Of the cremated human’s, ages range from 18-44 to 50-79 occur. Three probable men and two probable women have been estimated, but there is no clear segregation between the sexes on the grave field, which is evident on some medieval church graveyards. Skeletal abnormalities in humans are found on the cranium, more specific senile osteoporosis, and on the dog’s osteophytosis.