This thesis presents the results from a osteological analysis and a GIS-study aimed to examinedifferences in the located animal bones in different areas of the excavation site of Ajvde. The osteological material came from five excavated square meters on the site and was comparedwith osteological results from other researchers from different areas to create overview and try tosee differences between the areas. The GIS-study took data from all animal bone material excavated on the site, a total of about 2300kilos, and presented them in maps of spatial distribution for each layer (pictures 4, 5, 6 & appendixpicture 1) to see if there were any clusters of activity and changes between the layers. The dating ofthe culture layer and the burial field (pictures 7 & 8) were presented in maps to see if they could becorrelated with what was seen with the animal bones. Pictures of different shorelines were alsopresented (picture 9) to compare with the results that were seen in the changes of animal bones fromdifferent layers. The results of the GIS-study have shown that the activity on the site have moved over time alongthe hight differences of the land. The earlier layers show activity only on the higher elevation butlater moves down, and in the upper layers activity have been all over the excavated area. Clusters ofanimal bones were seen in the so called “black areas” of the sites (shown in picture 2) but also otherareas contained a lot of animal bones. The results of the osteological analysis have shown that there are differences in what species arefound in different areas. The most common are seal, wild boar/pig and fish. And the main differenceare shown between what are found within the black areas and outside. The bone material frominside the black areas are much more fragmented and contained more wild boar/pig bones, andoutside the black areas more bones from seal and fish were found in less fragmented condition (seepicture 10). The bone parts found from wild boar/pig were mostly cranium, teeth and bones fromthe feet, while there were all parts of the body found from seals. It is thereafter discussed that seal and fish may have been the common foods for the Ajvideinhabitants, which is also confirmed by C13-results, and the wild boar/pig may have been a morevaluable resource, not just as food at events like feasts, but also as material for tools. The black areas are discussed as maybe ritual areas for preparation for feasts in connection to burialceremonies, but this is something that needs more research to determine. The continuity of the blackareas are also discussed, but this also needs more research to know anything for certain. / Den här uppsatsen presenterar en sammanställning av osteologiska analyser och en GIS-studie medavsikten att undersöka skillnader i djurbensmaterialet på olika områden av utgrävningsytan påAjvide. Det osteologiska materialet kom från fem utgrävda kvadratmeter och jämfördes med andraosteologers resultat från andra områden på platsen för att skapa en översiktsbild av de olikaområdena och försöka se om det fanns skillnader. GIS-studien tog data från allt dokumenterat djurbensmaterial från utgrävningarna, totalt 2,3 ton, ochpresenterades i spridningskartor för varje lager (bild 4, 5 & 6) för att se om det fannskoncentrationer av aktivitet och förändringar mellan lagren. Dateringar från kulturlagret ochgravarna (bild 7 & 8) presenterades i kartor för att se de kunde kopplas samman med vad som sågs ispridningen av djurbensmaterialet. Strandlinjemodelleringar skapades också (bild 9) för att jämföramed resultaten från spridningskartorna över djurbensmaterialet. Resultatet från GIS-studien visade att aktiviteten på platsen har förflyttat sig över tid längs medhöjdskillnaderna i landskapet. De djupaste lagren visar enbart på aktivitet på de högre nivåerna,men i de övre lagren har detta förflyttats neråt och spritt sig över hela utgrävningsområdet. Storakoncetrationer av djurben kunde ses i de såkallade "svarta ytorna" men det fanns även mycketdjurben utanför dessa områden. De osteologiska resultaten visade att det fanns skillnader i vilka arter som påträffats på de olikaområdena. De vanligaste arterna var säl, svin och fisk. Den största skillnaden var vad som återfannsinom de svarta ytorna jämfört med utanför. Benmaterialet inom de svarta ytorna var mycket merfragmenterat och innehöll mer svinben, och utanför de svarta ytorna återfanns mer ben från säl ochfisk som även var betydligt mindre fragmenterade (se bild 10). Benelementen som återfanns frånsvin var mestadels kranium, tänder och fotben, medan samtliga kroppsdelar från säl påträffades. Det diskuteras därefter att säl och fisk kan ha varit den vardagliga födan för Ajvidebefolkningen,vilket också bekräftast av C13-resultat, och därmed enbart behandlats som matavfall, medan svinenkan varit en mer värdefull resurs, inte bara som mat vid exempelvis festmåltider, men även sommaterial till redskapstillverkning. De svarta ytorna diskuteras som möjliga platser för förberedelser för gravceremonier eller vid slaktvid festmåltider, men detta är något som behöver undersökas vidare för att avgöra. De svartaytornas kontinuitet och användning över tid diskuterades också, men behöver även det ytterligareundersökning och dateringar för att kartläggas.

The subject of this thesis is animal bones found in the Pitted Ware Culture site of Ajvide in Eksta parish, Gotland, Sweden. The site has been excavated since the 1980s and along with 85 graves and 7500 artefacts about 2500 kg of animal bones has been collected. Previous studies have often focused on specific areas or species, but the aim of this work has been to get a wider perspective of different areas within the Ajvide site. A total of about 20 kg of animal bones from ten different areas in Ajvide have been analysed with osteological methods. The analysis has shown that there are some differences between the areas considering amount of bone material found and the present species. The material consists of almost exclusively unburnt fragments and fragmentation is high in all areas. In the deeper layers fish is the most common species while fragments of pig are the most common considering every layer and area analysed. The difference seen between the areas most likely depend on how the sites were used by the people in the Pitted Ware Culture and discussions are made on how some of the areas could have been used for more ritual purposes while others possibly have been used in the everyday life.

This thesis deals mainly with the Middle Neolithic period (ca. 3200-2300 BC) on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how the islanders related to their surroundings, to the landscape, to places, to objects, to animals and to humans, both living and dead. The archaeological material is studied downwards and up with a focus on practices, especially the handling and deposition of materials and objects in graves, within sites and in the landscape. The study is comparative and the Middle Neolithic is described in relation to the Early Neolithic and the Mesolithic period on the island. From a long term perspective the island is presented as a region where strong continuity can be identified, regarding both way of life and economy. In contrast, substantial changes did occur through time regarding the islander’s conceptions of the world and of social relations. This in turn affected the way they looked upon the landscape, different sites and animals, as well as other human beings. During the Mesolithic, the islanders first saw it as possible to create their world, their micro-cosmos, wherever they were, and they saw themselves as living in symbiosis with seals. With time, though, they started to relate, to connect and to identify themselves with the island, its landscape and its material, with axe sites and a growing group identity as results. The growing group identity culminated during the Early Neolithic with a dualistic conception of the world and with ritualised depositions in border zones. The Middle Neolithic is presented as a period when earlier boundaries were dissolved. This concerned, for example, boundaries towards the world around the islanders and they were no longer keeping themselves to their own sphere. At the same time individuals became socially important. It became accepted and also vital to give expression to personal identity, which was done through objects, materials and animals. Despite this, group identity continued to be an important part in their lives. This is most evident through the specific Pitted Ware sites, where the dead were also treated and buried. These places were sites for ritual and social practices, situated in visible, central and easy accessible locations, like gates in and out of the islands’ different areas. The dead were very important for the islanders. In the beginning of MN B they started to adopt aspects from the Battle Axe culture, but they never embraced Battle Axe grave customs. Instead they held on to the Pitted Ware way of dealing with the dead and buried, and to the Pitted Ware sites, through the whole period, with large burial grounds as a result.

The nature of the relationship between the Pitted Ware Culture and the Boat Axe Culture has dominated Swedish Middle Neolithic research, since the question was raised a century ago. Basically, the debate is concerned with whether or not the two material cultures express two different ethnical groups. Proponents for the currently established perspective stress that the cultures represent two distinct ethnic groups. A large amount of research has focused on identifying differences between the two cultures in the archaeological record. This study will test an alternative approach to the archaeology of the Middle Neolithic. Rather than presuming an antithetical relationship between the two cultures attention will be given to investigating the relationship between the Pitted Ware Culture and the Boat Axe Culture. This will be done by a landscape centered approach. In the first case I will test the conventional opinion expressing that the two cultures are spatially separated to the coast and the inland. In addition, the analysis seeks to understand how different activities were located in relation to various landscape phenomena. In the second case study, phenomenology and current landscape theory combined with a viewshed GIS-analysis will form the basis for a discussion regarding the localisation and function of the Pitted Ware sites. In the third case I will discuss connective features of the Middle Neolithic landscapes in the Lake Hjälmaren area. Focus will be given to the long-term processes and the reproduction of the cultural landscapes over time. Based on the results, I will propose that the Middle Neolithic archaeological record, rather than being the result of two ethnic groups, express a dynamic and active society that manifests itself through a variety of different places, which were maintained for specific purposes.

This thesis analyses the decoration on the pots of the Pitted Ware Culture on Gotland. The pottery from this period is richly decorated with various ornaments, the most common are the pits but other types of decoration occur. The purpose of this study is to get an insight into what the patterns meant to the people that made and used them and what role these may have played in their lives. The author will analyse the decoration on potsherds found from the three Pitted Ware sites of Visby, Ajvide and Hemmor on Gotland. This will be used in a comparative analysis to investigate if differences and/or similarities of the pattern occur between and among the sites. A comparative study of various ceramic found in dated graves with various temporal status from the site Ajvide is also done to see if changes in the patterning occur with time. Since pits are common on most pottery from all the sites from this time they will not be used in these analyses but the focus will be on other type of pattern. / Neolitiska livsstilar

In this essay the author has chosen to analyze the similarities and differences between some of the northern Europe’s late Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures. The research is of a processual standpoint and the information is mainly gathered from secondary sources as well as ethnological studies. The material collected has been analyzed in both a processual and a post-processual manner to most accurately study the foundations of the three primary theories describing the Pitted Ware Culture’s origin. During the course of the study the author also found a possible fourth alternative, and the possibility of exogamy as a factor in the emerge of the Pitted Ware Culture has also been questioned. This work has prompted for a rigorous collection of information to be able to properly present all theories strong and weak points, without bias for any theory. The conclusion of these studies is that it is very hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that has given the Pitted Ware Culture its typical cultural traits, although a possible sequence of events has been presented in this text.

Analysis of organic residue absorbed in to the walls of ceramic vessels has proved to be a valuable contributor to the knowledge of prehistoric societies. Based on the analysis of absorbed lipids in the wall of ceramic vessels and existing knowledge and theories about the Pitted Ware culture, an attempt of understanding of the Pitted Ware site Vendel is made. Based on the obtained results and evidences presented throughout the paper it is argued that the Vendel site is a permanent or seasonal settlement, and furthermore that the results seem to reflect a change in vessel use towards the end of the Pitted Ware Culture, and possibly even a change of society, ideology and economy.

Investigating Neolithic pottery and vessel use could elucidate the duality between the farming Funnel Beaker Culture and the hunter-gathering Pitted Ware Culture during the Neolithic. The two archaeological groups differ on several accounts that are of great importance when interpreting past societies. However, it is the suggested differential subsistence economies that are of specific interest for this particular investigation. A comparative study based on the absorbed fatty acids in the ceramic material from two different Neolithic sites addresses the food cultures of the farming subsistence and the contrasting, contemporary hunter-gatherer society and the differences in resource-use. The investigation argues that food acts as an active social binder, and stress the importance of incorporating this aspect when discussing past cultures. The results of the analyses display difference in vessel use between the two sites as well as an intra-site difference at Korsnäs. It is argued that these differences are indicative of deviating food-cultures and spatial organisation at Korsnäs respectively. These results are combined with the previously conducted osteological analyses and stable isotopic analyses an approach that contribute to a more dynamic understanding of the Neolithic food cultures than what has been available before. Investigating Neolithic pottery and vessel use could elucidate the duality between the farming Funnel Beaker Culture and the hunter-gathering Pitted Ware Culture during the Neolithic. The two archaeological groups differ on several accounts that are of great importance when interpreting past societies. However, it is the suggested differential subsistence economies that are of specific interest for this particular investigation. A comparative study based on the absorbed fatty acids in the ceramic material from two different Neolithic sites addresses the food cultures of the farming subsistence and the contrasting, contemporary hunter-gatherer society and the differences in resource-use. The investigation argues that food acts as an active social binder, and stress the importance of incorporating this aspect when discussing past cultures. The results of the analyses display difference in vessel use between the two sites as well as an intra-site difference at Korsnäs. It is argued that these differences are indicative of deviating food-cultures and spatial organisation at Korsnäs respectively. These results are combined with the previously conducted osteological analyses and stable isotopic analyses an approach that contribute to a more dynamic understanding of the Neolithic food cultures than what has been available before.

As humans we function with a biological side and a psychological side. Both of these sides have their needs. We need to put food in our stomach to stop feeling hungry and we need to give things meaning. In a Human Behavioral Archaeological perspective, which focuses a lot on the economical aspect of the animal and the human, the animal was killed for food. But, how was the animal perceived in a cultural perspective, what was the meaning of this animal? This is the question that will have its answer in this thesis. The animal handling of the Pitted Ware culture  will be analyzed from an animistic point of view - meaning, that human, animals and object can have a soul or a personality. This makes the world seem more fluent. The sharp lines between culture and nature, life and death, human and animal get wiped out and we see a world view the modern Western human is not used to. As much as the animal was a prey, it also was a being with a purpose in the Pitted Ware culture. On the Pitted Ware sites at Jettböle on the Aland Island and at Ajvide on Gotland, the seal was the most prominent animal in both the economic and cultural sphere. The clay figurines of Jettböle show some sort of worship of the seal. Among many of the anatomical parts of the animal and human body, the head seems to be of most importance. Even differences within the same culture appear. At Ajvide, there is a clear burial tradition of the deceased humans, whereas at Jettböle, there is not. And as much as the seal is of dominance at Ajvide, the swine comes in at a close second, whereas at Jettböle, there is almost no swine at all.

In this paper, I analyze body position and orientation based on material from nine grave fields belonging to the Pitted ware culture (3300-2400 BC) on Gotland, Sweden. The archeological sites consist of Ajvide, Fridtorp, Grausne, Gullrum, Hemmor, Ire, Visby, Västerbjers and Västerbys. The aim of the thesis is to generate information, through the use of Correspondence Analysis, about the individuals and similarities and differences in an attempt to discern possible structures in ritual practice. The subject of the thesis is discussed with a focus on ritual based on Pierre Bourdieu's (1977) theories relating to practice and habitus. The analysis shows that specific body positions were preferred, which expressed minor variations between the archaeological sites. At the same time, it was possible to discern specific practices that were more frequent in certain areas. The dead were most often arranged either in a supine position or on their sides with knees straight or flexed, in a crouched position. The placement of the body in flexed position expressed a distinct differentiation linked to the degree of contraction of the knee- and hip joint, which show that there existed guidelines or standards in the practice of body position. The result also indicated age and gender differentiations expressed through skeletal position and orientation, which were expressed differently within some of the populations. The study has identified both regional and local patterns in ritual practice in relation to body position and orientation. Possible interpretations relating to similarities and differences in the material are further discussed in the thesis in order to identify a ritual context.