Few helmets, dated to the Vendel period are known from Scandinavia and even fewer are known from the Viking age. Paradoxically, picture stones and sagas frequently tell about these objects as if they were very common, something that is contradicted by the archaeological material. The purpose of this thesis is to examine different literary sources and compare these to the archaeological materials and by doing so, gets a clearer picture about the emergence, use, function and of the late Iron Age helmets in Scandinavia.

Rekonstruktioner inom arkeologi är en effektiv metod för att visuellt återskapa forntida föremål och miljöer. De har potentialen att skapa och förmedla trovärdig kunskap, samt engagera allmänheten om vår gemensamma forntid. En väl utförd rekonstruktion bör vara grundad i arkeologisk dokumentation, välgrundade tidigare tolkningar och analogier. Dock har rekonstruktioners kvalité och trovärdighet varit varierande, vilket även påverkar hur tillförlitlig informationen som förmedlas till en betraktare är. I studien utförs en kritisk granskning av två rekonstruerade betsel från båtgravfältet i Vendel, benämnda som praktbetsel XII och betsel XIV. Dessa är för närvarande del av Statens historiska museums utställning ”Forntider”. Rekonstruktionernas utförande undersöks samt utvärderas utifrån parametrarna trovärdighet och funktionalitet. / Archaeological reconstructions are an effective way to visually re-create ancient objects and landscapes. They hold the power to create and convey credible knowledge and engage a broader audience about our common past. A well-made reconstruction should be based on archaeological documentations, legitimate previous interpretations, and analogies. However, the quality and reliability of archaeological reconstructions showcase a wide variety which also effect the conveyed information’s credibility. This study aims to critically examine two reconstructed bridles from the boat-grave cemetery in Vendel, referred as “praktbetsel XII” and “betsel XIV”. These are currently part of the exhibition “Forntider” at Statens historiska museum. The execution of the reconstructions is examined and evaluated based on the parameters of credibility and functionality.

The phenomenon of burying people in boat graves is a well-known aspect of the Vendel period. Although these graves are relatively rare, they appear in places like Valsgärde, Vendel, Ultuna, Tuna in Alsike and Badelunda. The 19th - and early 20th-century excavations at the grave fields at Valsgärde and Vendel, in particular, provided a new perspective on the iron age cultures which preceded those of the Viking age. These grave fields are the main focus for this thesis. I will examine the relationship between the family groups in each grave field and also study what roles they once had in life during the Vendel era. Their material culture has been examined by conducting a comparative study between boat grave 7 from Valsgärde and boat grave I from Vendel. Both tombs are dated to about 675 AD and show an archaeological material that is relatively similar. By comparing and interpreting the common find material a clear interaction was made visible. The nature of this silent interaction that is reflected through the common archaeological material culture have been addressed by using the theory Peer polity interaction, which has served as the thesis theoretical framework. Peer polity interaction aims to explain change in society and material culture. It sees the primary driver of change as the relationships and contacts between societies of relatively equal standing and has played an important role for the study and its conclusions. Furthermore it has also been found that the groups had different ways of expressing their elite status and that they probably also held various occupations during the Vendel era.

This thesis analyzes and documents the splint armor material from Valsgärde 8 and Vendel I,X, and XI. This armor is then contextualized in the warrior institutions, weapon-systems, and fighting techniques of warbands from Central Sweden. Analogies for the splint armor are sought after with the closest parallels being found around the Black Sea area, associated with Byzantine, Sassanid, and Steppe-Nomadic martial cultures. The systems of exchange between these two regions are then analyzed in order to inform as to where this armor came from, whyit is there in Central Sweden, and what this can tell us about the development of military contacts between Central Sweden and the Black Sea area during the Vendel Period. / Denna uppsats berör analysen och dokumentationen av det Vendeltida skenpansarmaterialet från Valsgärde 8 och Vendel I, X och XI, där skenpansarna sätts i kontext med krigarinstitutioner, vapensystem och stridstekniker från krigsband i Centrala Sverige. Analogier för dessa skenpansar med närmaste paralleller har påträffats i Svartahavsområdet och associeras med Bysantinska, Sasanidiska och stäppnomadiska krigarkulturer. Utbytessystem mellan dessa två regioner analyseras för att få förståelse för var denna typ av rustning härrör ifrån, varför den har hamnat i Centrala Sverige och vad de kan säga om utvecklingen av militära kontakter mellan Centrala Sverige och Svartahavsområdet under Vendeltiden.

The aim for this bachelor thesis is to find an answer for the placement of Migration and Vendel period graves on preexisting house constructions in Sweden. The reason behind these graves being built on their respective places will be analyzed, discussed and compared with similar finds in Scandinavia, where a wide contact net had been established during this time. Different kinds of social and religious meanings and functions with the grave mounds will also be taken into consideration during the discussion and analysis. The actual findings in the graves will be not be a part of this thesis, as the aim is to focus more on the grave itself as a cultural and social symbol for the people, and the values it had, during the time period it was built.

What specifically characterizes an equestrian grave and what equipment do the equestrian graves from the Vendel period and early Viking Age contain? This study deals with the differences and contrasts that exist in horse equipment between Vendel period and early Viking Age times in Vendel and Valsgärde and how the horse equipment changes over time. The study deals with what are called equestrian graves and this is also where the differences in the grave material are the biggest. The contrasts that have been read shows a change in the grave material between the Vendel period and Viking Age, it goes from being an equestrian and warrior ideal where horse and riding have been a large part of the social structure with among other things like stirrups, spurs, and saddles to turn into what could be likened to a development of agriculture and the need for horses as draft and working animals. The latter grave material contains equipment such as towhooks, “rangles” and driving equipment. This material also contains other points of departure that are relevant to this thesis, including the role of the horse in human history, looting of boat graves and its disturbed context, and how it has affected the boat graves of this study and the deposition of horse equipment. The horse was of great importance in the lives of the living and in the land of the dead, but it also received both its riding equipment and working equipment in order to continue to have a centered role, even in the afterlife.

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.

På Båtgravfältet i Vendel har det hittats fjorton gravar och den första hittas i samband med byggandet av ett dike till kyrkans nya mur. Gravplatsen undersöktes första gången 1882 och det visade sig att många av gravarna hade blivit störda och utsatts sedan tidigare. Gravarna är daterade mellan 575–1050 e.Kr.  Uppsatsen beskriver hur båtgravarna i Vendel har könsbestämts som manliga krigargravar utifrån stereotypiskt manliga vapen/krigargravar. Däremot står två av gravarna ut då det fanns kvinnlig attribut som könade artefakter (pärlor). Krigargravar har traditionellt blivit tolkade som manliga gravar utifrån de begränsade binära genusrollerna. Det kommer också diskuteras om det kan ha varit någon individ som har definierat sig som icke-normativ. / In the boat-gravefield in Vendel, fourteen graves have been found and the first one was found in connection with the construction of a trench for the new wall of the church. The burial site was first investigated in 1882 and it has been shown that many of the graves have been disturbed and exposed since before. The graves are dated between 575–1050 AD. The essay describes how the boat-graves in Vendel have been gendered as male warrior graves based on stereotypically male weapons/warrior graves. However, two of the graves stand out as there were female attributes, gendered artifacts (pearls). Warrior graves have traditionally been interpreted as male graves based on the limited binary gender roles. It will also be discussed whether it may have been that some individual has defined themself as non-normative.

The Vendel period, Early Medieval or Merovingian period as it’s called in the rest of Europe, is a time full of wonderful artefacts. Many are those that have heard of the fantastic boat-graves in Vendel and Valsgärde in Sweden and the very similar Sutton Hoo in Great Britain, but what about Gotland? Most of the papers discussing this period focus only on the area around lake Mälaren but I want to contribute by placing Gotland and its artefacts in the center. This paper will focus on disc-on-bow brooches, the special kind of gilded buckles, inlaid with garnets or niello, that are found mostly in women graves from the Vendel period on Gotland and how they can be dated from the differences in shape and the ornamentation. The aim of this text is to by analysing the grave finds in several women graves on Gotland get an idea about the woman who wore the brooch and her social status. The discussion has a gender theme and will discuss the sometimes flawed theory that graves that contain jewellery always belongs to women and graves with weapons always belongs to men. This study shows that the button-on-bow brooches does not indicate any clear differences between women with brooches and those who does not have them, but other artefacts in the graves might.

During the Vendel period the elite started to bury their men and women in the boat graves. The boat graves have been interpreted differently depending on if the graves were made for men or women. But the grave goods have one thing in common. The grave goods, consisted of weapons, jewelry, riding equipment, gaming pieces and hand craft tools, proves that the buried persons belonged to an upper-class with a connection to the religion, the gods and the fertility cult.