The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the range of small finds and other materials often found deposited in the fills and stone settings above later Iron Age graves in the Mälar region of central Sweden. This study investigates how this material, especially potsherds, burnt clay, burnt and unburnt bones and teeth, flint, ice crampons, nails, rivets and knives, were distributed in eight different grave fields in the Mälar valley. The results shows that most of this material was indeed deliberately placed on or in the graves, with different object types added to particular areas of burial monuments.

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The thesis sets out to discuss the Bronze Age cosmology in Scandinavia, based on the results from the investigations at Nibble outside Enköping in Uppland. The excavations were carried out in 2007 and revealed extensive remains of a ritual place with burials, cult houses and food preparation areas. In addition, hundreds of cupmarks and two ship rock carvings were found. The cult place was constructed by moving stones around, gathering them into stone settings, stone walls and heaps of fire-cracked stones. The importance of the stones as cosmological entities is established through this special and deliberate treatment. Nature is transformed into culture. The cult place was established in connection with the construction of a large stone setting at the top of a hillock. Cremated and crushed bones of a man had been placed centrally in the construction, and close by, several cult houses had been erected, complemented by a food preparation area, where sacrificial meals were prepared and eaten.   In many cases, stone settings and heaps of fire-cracked stones are used in similar manners. At a settlement site close to the cult place, there was a heap of fire-cracked stones that contained the cremated bones of a young woman. It had been specially constructed for her burial and contained layers of coal and fire-cracked stones from several cremation pyres. The border between what is a burial and what is not is hard to define. The burnt bones of the dead were handled in much the same way as the burnt stone. They were burnt and crushed, ground to a powder, and restored to the earth. The use of stones in connection with fire and water (and smoke) suggests the existence of a system built on the four elements: stone (earth), fire, water and air. In addition, the existence of a tripartite universe is suggested. Stone settings (and some of the heaps of fire-cracked stones) were constructed as portals to the underground, and the smoke from the funeral pyres was the means of transport to the heaven above.  During the Early Bronze Age, the functions of the warrior and the shaman were often carried out by the same individual. During the Late Bronze Age, however, the functions of the warrior and the shaman seem to have been separated.   The separation of the ritual functions show that a change in ritual practice and cosmology occurred some time in the middle of the Bronze Age. A complete cosmological change was probably not involved, and many older rituals were still carried out in the Late Bronze Age. The relationship between the four elements remained the same, and the treatment of stone in particular remained unchanged. The connection between stone and bone still prevailed, as did the crushing and grinding.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the range of small finds and other materials often found deposited in the fills and stone settings above later Iron Age graves in the Mälar region of central Sweden. This study investigates how this material, especially potsherds, burnt clay, burnt and unburnt bones and teeth, flint, ice crampons, nails, rivets and knives, were distributed in eight different grave fields in the Mälar valley. The results shows that most of this material was indeed deliberately placed on or in the graves, with different object types added to particular areas of burial monuments.

Studien handlar om vikingatida kvinnogravar från Aska, Hagebyhöga och Kvarnbacken, Vadstena. Syftet med studien är att tolka variationen av religiösa föremål i båda gravarna. Gravarnas konstruktion, innehåll och religiösa föremål jämförs i syfte att analysera om det finns likheter och skillnader, tillsammans med en teoretisk utgångspunkt i rituell praktik och genusperspektiv. Endast en grav från vardera undersökta kontexter i Aska, Hagebyhöga och Kvarnbacken, Vadstena analyseras eftersom deras religiösa föremål är mer jämförbara i denna studie. Tidigare forskning och tolkningar tillämpas för ett bredare perspektiv i variationen av religiösa föremål. Jämförelser visar likheter i gravskick och föremål som exempelvis uppsättning pärlor. Skillnader är bland annat Frejasmycket och järnstaven från graven i Aska, Hagebyhöga. I Kvarnbacken, Vadstena är krucifixet särskiljande. Variation i religiösa föremål kan tolkas som en typ av förändring i rituell praktik i Kvarnbacken, Vadstena. Religiösa föremål i Aska, Hagebyhöga tolkas ha en generationsbunden betydelse men eftersom de begravs kan det tolkas som ett avslut på äldre traditioner för kommande generationer. / This thesis concern Viking Age burials from Aska, Hagebyhöga and Kvarnbacken, Vadstena. The goal of this thesis is to interpret the variety of religious objects in the graves. The formation of the grave, its content and the religious objects is compared based on the idea of ritual practice and gender perspective. The comparison is made to analyse differences and similarities which will be interpreted. The material consist of one Viking Age female burial from each place, based on the amount of religious objects and the contemporary dating of the graves. Previous research is applied to create a wider interpretive perspective on the variety of religious objects. Comparisons show, for example, that both graves contain a collection of beads. Distinctions is, for example, the Freja pendant and the iron rod in the burial from Aska, Hagebyhöga and the crucifix from Kvarnbacken, Vadstena. The variety of religious objects can be interpreted as a form of change in ritual practice from Kvarnbacken, Vadstena. The religious objects from Aska, Hagebyhöga can be interpreted as bounded by family traditions, which could indicate an end of older traditions, based on the fact that these objects is buried.

Nel Risorgimento alla definizione del concetto di identità nazionale concorse una serie di fattori legati alla sfera culturale: dalle letture che ispirarono i patrioti, agli scritti che essi stessi diedero alle stampe, ai simboli ed ai miti che entrarono a fare parte del loro linguaggio, fino alla cultura teatrale e alla teatralità, e quindi al momento festivo e rituale, visti come motivo di aggregazione, partecipazione e trasmissione di valori civili fondanti. Nel presente lavoro si indagano le connessioni tra la ritualità cittadina ed il teatro e gli spiriti libertari ed i valori civili propri del periodo risorgimentale in area milanese, dal 1815 della Restaurazione al 1859 dell’entrata degli alleati in Milano. / In the Risorgimento some cultural factors contributed to the definition of the idea of national identity: readings that inspired patriots, writings they printed, symbols and myths that became part of their language, theatrical culture and theatricality and celebrations and rituals, considered like reason of aggregation, participation and transmission of civil virtues. This thesis examines relationships between rituals, theatre and libertarian feelings and civil values of the Risorgimento, in Milan, from 1815 to 1859.

The objective of this research is to analyze the ways in which the conservative,American church has been ideologically and ritualistically shaped by an imperial culture enamored with war, the military, and violence; and how those positions and practices, in effect, legitimate war and the military. While many authors have surveyed historical Christian positions regarding war and the current nationalistic tendencies of conservative Christians, little research has been conducted to assess the effects of violence, nationalism, patriotism, and military enchantment on Christian rituals, practices, and ethos. Within this research, I argue that contemporary, conservative Christians have surpassed previously held nuanced positions of pacifism, just-war, and Christian Realism into a confluence of conservative Christian theology and American nationalism because of the American culture in which it is embedded. I refer to this typology as “church militant.” In addition, ritual practices which indirectly legitimate war and violence, influenced by an adopted position of church militant, are investigated. In order to accomplish this task, I have provided a brief survey of historical Christian typologies as they pertain to attitudes toward war and violence, while paying particular attention to the social context for each of these positions. Second, a typology of Christian hyper-religious patriotism, referred to as “church militant,” will be introduced by locating my argument within personal fieldnotes recorded during multiple visits to three Christian megachurches and current literature pertaining to Christian attitudes and participation in military and war efforts. After establishing the Christian typology toward war and violence, the subsequent sections of the paper detail specific practices of the contemporary, conservative church which serve to justify American military endeavors. Although much more could be stated regarding the militaristic cultural influence on ritual practices of conservative, American Christians, I focus on ritual songs and symbols of protection, a liturgy for religious warriors, and a practice of elevating soldiers as the Christian ideal which all legitimate United States war efforts. My objective is not to defend or attack the religious institutions which were studied; but, rather to augment the growing literature regarding conservative, American Christians vis-à-vis nationalism, patriotism, and militarism by identifying and interpreting the various ways that these ideas have shaped the conservative Christian culture.

Traditional ritual studies approaches to the body are effective for illuminating how the body functions as an entity that absorbs and expresses a variety of social, and political dynamics; however, they are less productive for understanding the body as a physical organism. This interdisciplinary thesis applies theoretical models from cognitive science, social psychology and ritual studies to the Śrī Cakra Pūjā in order to develop a more complete understanding of the ritual body as a physical body. Using Lawrence Barsalou’s theory of embodied cognition, which focuses on the impact of human experiences on the creation and integration of neural pathways, this essay, argues that Śrī Cakra Pūjā affects the mind by shaping the neural architecture of the brain. This cognitive perspective on religious ritual practice is compared with the more traditional ritual studies approach of Catherine Bell in an effort to provide a more complete understanding of the religious ritual body, brain and mind.

In this paper, I discuss early complexity in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin of the Bolivian Andes. I examine a regional landscape of multi-community formations that emerged during the Late Formative Period (100 BC-AD 500). I suggest that during the Late Formative in the southern Lake Titicaca basin, the establishment of Khonkho Wankane and other disembedded centers, played an important role in the social transformations that ultimately gave rise to centralized political systems. Political activity was undoubtedly an important element of social interaction, but it was enmeshed with ritual and other activities, such as mound construction, and formed an embedded part of more encompassing, large-scale ceremonial encounters. More than they were aggrandizers, those who resided at Khonkho were social and ideological mediators. This case suggests that non-state complexity may be far more variable than most current archaeological models propose. / En este artículo se discute la complejidad temprana en la cuenca sur del lago Titicaca, en los Andes bolivianos. Se estudia un paisaje regional con formaciones de carácter multicomunal que surgieron durante el Periodo Formativo Tardío (100 a.C.-500 d.C.). Se sugiere que, en esta etapa, el establecimiento de Khonkho Wankane, junto con el de los disembedded centers, es decir, centros con poca población residente, pero a los que llegaban gente en número nutrido para la realización de ceremonias, festines u otras prácticas rituales, tuvo un papel importante en la transformación social que dio origen, por último, a los sistemas políticos centralizados. Sin duda, la actividad política fue un elemento importante de interacción social, pero estuvo involucrada con rituales y otras actividades —tales como la construcción de montículos— que constituyeron una parte primordial de los más influyentes encuentros ceremoniales a gran escala. Más que un conjunto de individuos que deseaban diferenciarse o acumular más poder que los demás (aggrandizers), aquellos que residieron en Khonkho Wankane fueron mediadores sociales e ideológicos. Este caso sugiere que la complejidad no estatal pudo ser mucho más variable de lo que diversos modelos arqueológicos proponen en la actualidad.

A phenomenon during the late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age which in its simplest form could be called ‘a culture of the Baltic Sea’ is an idea which many archaeologists have favoured. However, the term ‘a culture of the Baltic Sea’ is not the most ideal to use when discussing the Baltic Sea during this time in prehistory, as the term is rather simplifying from what would be the more diverse truth. The term entails that there should have been a cultural homogeneity across the Baltic Sea as it most certainly was not. This thesis complicates this otherwise simplified term and calls the cultural phenomenon ‘a cultural hybrid of the northern Baltic Sea area’ (i.e. the northern part of the Baltic Sea including its neighbouring gulfs). A cultural hybrid, in this sense, allows there to be cultural differences within an area. These differences are accepted by the people within the cultural hybrid which in turn allow people to live among each other, rather than to become a social obstacle making the people separate into smaller and more homogenous cultural groups. This assumed existence of a cultural hybrid is put to the test as a hypothesis. To answer the hypothesis, the cultural hybrid is studied from the perspective of the tarand-graves (an Estonian originating grave type erected and used around the shores of the northern Baltic Sea area during 500 BC–500 AD) which in turn is interpreted according to ritual practice theory. The hypothesis is proven to be true which makes it possible to apply the concept of cultural hybridity, and its connection with tarand-graves in the northern Baltic Sea area, to the Åland Islands. Although the islands have a very promising geographical position in the middle of the northern Baltic Sea area, interestingly, no tarand-graves have been registered there. Grave field Ec 6.6 on the western side of the Åland Islands becomes the object of study mainly due to grave 14, which placed on that particular grave field, carries a high tarand-grave potential. The material is partly collected from two field visits to Ec 6.6 and partly from an excavational report from 1949 of the same grave field. The result shows that the Åland Islands, as well as Ec 6.6, have a very high likeliness of being hosts for tarand-graves.