<p>Mounds of fire-cracked stones is a typical Bronze Age monument for the region around lake Mälaren. They are usually, because of their content, interpreted as piles of rubbish. But as they often have kerbs, are situated on cemeteries and sometimes contain human bones, the traditional interpretation is not fully satisfactory.</p><p>The main focus of this essay is on the mounds of fire-cracked stones which contain human bones in the region north of lake Mälaren. With a detailed study of these, and a comparison with those without human bones, my aim is to get closer to an explanation why the human bones were deposited. The essay consist of a comp­ilation  of 98 excavated mounds and a database with various information gathered from excavation reports and archive documents.</p><p>With different kinds of osteological aspects taken in consideration, the study shows that human bones have been found in about a third of the mounds. The mounds with human bones more often have kerbs. The same types of artefacts are found both in mounds with and without human bones. A significant difference is that the mounds with human bones contain more categories of artefacts and sometimes even bronze. The study also shows that there is nothing that indicates that the bones were deposited after the primary use of the mound. The human bones could therefore had been deposited contemporary to the “rubbish”. To understand this phenomenon I strongly believe that the mounds no longer only can be interpreted as heaps of garbage.</p>

Mounds of fire-cracked stones is a typical Bronze Age monument for the region around lake Mälaren. They are usually, because of their content, interpreted as piles of rubbish. But as they often have kerbs, are situated on cemeteries and sometimes contain human bones, the traditional interpretation is not fully satisfactory. The main focus of this essay is on the mounds of fire-cracked stones which contain human bones in the region north of lake Mälaren. With a detailed study of these, and a comparison with those without human bones, my aim is to get closer to an explanation why the human bones were deposited. The essay consist of a comp­ilation  of 98 excavated mounds and a database with various information gathered from excavation reports and archive documents. With different kinds of osteological aspects taken in consideration, the study shows that human bones have been found in about a third of the mounds. The mounds with human bones more often have kerbs. The same types of artefacts are found both in mounds with and without human bones. A significant difference is that the mounds with human bones contain more categories of artefacts and sometimes even bronze. The study also shows that there is nothing that indicates that the bones were deposited after the primary use of the mound. The human bones could therefore had been deposited contemporary to the “rubbish”. To understand this phenomenon I strongly believe that the mounds no longer only can be interpreted as heaps of garbage.

For a long time, the human bones that were found outside the classical graves/grave context during the late Bronze Age were severely overlooked in research. It was first during the 1990’s that research took place and archaeologist like Anders Kaliff och Joanna Brück started studying this severely overlooked phenomena. This paper aims at analyzing and discussing why human bones were used outside the classical graves/grave context. As well as what the human bones were used for and how the human bones were treated. In this study the grave concept will be discussed to understand the late Bronze Age human’s definition of grave and burial rites more fully. The distinction between what is sacred and what is profane in the handling and using of the human bones in non-classical graves/grave contexts will also be overseen. The study in this paper is focused on the East part of central Sweden and will be analyzed and supplemented by both national and international archaeological sites of similar character. The primal sites for the study are Broby in Börje parish, Apalle in Övergran parish, Ryssgärdet in Tensta parish and Ringeby in Kvillinge parish. The study is set in the late Bronze Age in Sweden (1100–500 BC). This paper is meant as an analytical research where former research and archaeologist interpretations will be compared and work as a discussion with the writer’s own interpretations of the late Bronze Age human’s use of human bones. With the writer’s own interpretation and with the help of former research, the human bones found in non-classical graves/grave contexts have been assessed with both sacred and profane contexts. The result shows that the distinction between the sacred and the profane are better left outside the context of handling and using human bones.