The Mid-Neolithic site of Ajvide on the Baltic Island of Gotland comprises the burials of 89 individuals within 85 separate burial contexts (Österholm 2008). Some of these individuals were detected with absent skeletal elements, such as the cranium, which have been believed to be represented by the considerable number of dispersed human bone fragments discovered from the site (Burenhult 2002: 33, see also Lundén 2012). These occurrences were initially proposed to be caused by agricultural ploughing, which however has not been done on the fields of Ajvide with the modern machinery of the late 20th century (Burenhult 2002: 31). It was hence the intention of this study to investigate the alternative motives behind these phenomena, by reviewing the statistics between these skeletal materials. The correspondence was additionally analysed with some other selected variables on the available data from these burial contexts. Based on the attained results, it was concluded that the human skeletal remains from the disturbed burials were likely intentionally retrieved to be used in the different ritual activities of the PWC populations on Gotland. / Den mellanneolitiska Ajvidelokalen på Gotland omfattar 85 begravningar av totalt 89 individer (Österholm 2008, Burenhult 2002). Vissa av individerna påträffades utan specifika skelettelement, såsom kraniet. Dessa individer har använts som representanter för tolkningen av den markanta kvantiteten av spridda mänskliga benfragment, som hittats via arkeologiska utgrävningar på lokalen (Burenhult 2002: 33, se även Lundén 2012 och Wallin 2015). Till en början ansågs jordbruksplogningen vara ansvarig för detta fenomen, dock har inga plöjningar utförts med moderna maskiner, eller sedan 1900-talet (Burenhult 2002: 31). Därmed, var syftet med studie att undersöka alternativa tolkningar bakom dessa fenomen. Studien är på analyser av de två olika grupperna med skelettmaterial, som inkluderats i en statistisk modell. Dessutom utfördes en korrespondensanalys mellan andra särskilt utvalda variabler från varje gravkontext. Studien har konkluderat, att de mänskliga skelettresterna från de förstörda begravningarna, hämtades sannolikt avsiktligen för olika rituella aktiviteter som praktiserades av den mellanneolitiska befolkningen på Gotland.

In South Sweden the third millennium BC is characterised by coastal settlements of marine hunter-gatherers known as the Pitted Ware culture, and inland settlements of the Battle Axe culture. This thesis outlines the history of research of the Middle Neolithic B in general and that of the pottery and burial practices in particular. Material culture must be understood as the result of both conscious preferences and embodied practices: technology can be deliberately cultural just as style can be un-selfconscious routine. Anthropological and ethnoarchaeological research into craft and the transmission of learning in traditional societies shows how archaeologists must take into consideration the interdependence of mind and body when interpreting style, technology and change in prehistory. The pottery crafts of the Pitted Ware and Battle Axe cultures were not just fundamentally different technologically, but even more so in the attitudes toward authority, tradition, variation and the social role of the potter in the community. The Battle Axe beakers represent a wholly new chaîne opératoire, probably introduced by a small group of relocated Beaker potters at the beginning of the period. The different attitudes toward living bodies is highlighted further in the attitudes toward the dead bodies. In the mortuary ritual the Battle Axe culture was intent upon the creation and control of a perfect body which acted as a representative of the idealised notion of what it was to belong to the community. This focus upon completeness, continuation and control is echoed in the making of beakers using the ground up remains of old vessels as temper. In contrast, the Pitted Ware culture people broke the bodies of the dead by defleshing, removal of body parts, cremation, sorting, dispersal and/or reburial of the bones on the settlements. The individuality of the living body was destroyed leaving the durable but depersonalised bones to be returned to the joint collective of the ancestors. Just as the bodies were fragmented so were the pots, sherds and bases being deposited in large quantities on the settlements and occasionally in graves. Some of the pots were also tempered with burnt and crushed bones. At the end of the Middle Neolithic the material and human remains show evidence of a growing effort to find a common ground in the two societies through sharing certain mortuary rituals and making beakers with a mix of both traditions, stylistically and technologically.