Northern Sweden’s petty kingdoms have been described in historical documents dating as far back as the Roman iron age, as more-or-less independent and self-governing smaller principalities. Previous examination of them has determined at least thirteen probable independent petty kingdoms during the Swedish iron age and migration period, which could be an interpretation influenced by the historical accounts of Prokopios. This paper aims to re-examine their makeup and function from historical sources, geographical and archaeologically contextual factors and whether the term “petty kingdom” is the descriptor most apt for them or not. There are possible origins from and connections to middle Sweden, to Finland, Estland and Russia which puts the independence of these pettykingdoms in question, as well as archaeological analysis of the identified kingdom sites from a perspective other than as an administrative and/or political center, which could lead to an understanding of their purpose and use.

Accompanying the rich and highly individualized Swedish Late Iron age graves are often charred remains of plants and food together with the other grave-goods. These remains have long been known but often overlooked, mainly due to low preservation. Some relatively well preserved finds are cultivated cereal grains, which have become a common archeobotanical find in Iron Age cremation graves and are a massive source of information regarding agriculture and food culture. But what do they say of the buried individual? This thesis aims to investigate the cereal grains, plants and food remains by treating the archaeobotanical remains as grave-goods in a statistical study made on macrofossil remains from Bådstorpsgravfältet, a vendel and viking age burial ground in Östergötland, Sweden. With the results from 79 graves it is researched if plant remains can be linked to certain demographics and the changings of its role in the burial practices over time.

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.

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.

When the Iron spirals investigated in this paper saw the light again no one looked at them as nothing more than decoration. It was first during the 2011 excavation in Old Uppsala that the symbolism of the items no longer could be ignored. The spirals of Old Uppsala lay along the walls of the great hall, which stood upon one of the human constructed plateaus in the area. The hall had been burned down and then cleared of all lumber. Then the iron spirals had been placed in the positions and then everything was sealed with a layer of clay. A study of the artifact began with the purpose to contextualize and interpret the iron spiral. Several others iron spirals were investigated and compared. The others comparing context were found in boat graves or boat contexts. With a new perspective on the spirals as active agents I soon realized the symbolic value of the artifact. The spiral contexts were clearly sym-bolic and connected with the belief about the Hall and Ship symbolism. Several evidences indicated that the hall in Old Uppsala was meant to look as a boat and the iron spirals helped the hall doing so as well as reinforce the symbolism of the ship. The hall and the ship stood for power and structure on land respectively on water. The spiral symbol itself may well be a symbol connected with law, power and structure. / Gamla Uppsala - framväxten av ett mytiskt centrum

The aim of this essay is to question and analyze problems surrounding the current research within the field of spikes.The latest breakout was in the early 50's,since then there haven't been any major research projects and no interpretation have been made.Not only does this  essay bring a contribution to the research of spikes but also question what has earlier been established through interpretations.The focus of this essay is on the spikes found on the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea,these are currently stored at the Museum of Gotland.What was the main area of use that these spikes had and in which context are they found? Although only 27 finds will be analyzed during this essay ,the goal is to get a greater understanding of the usage of these finds and how this will contribute to the archaelogical sites.

Jugs with tubular handles are a special type of ceramics, which is rarely discussed in the literature. The jugs has a beautiful decor and a handle with a channel. The vessels have been interpreted as puzzle vessels, mugs for kids or vessels for libation. The sites where these jugs have been found are very exclusive and the decoration on the vessels can be related to ideas from the Nordic mythology. In some cases, the decor is telling the story about Suttung’s mead. Two places are of special interest namely the ringfort at Sandby borg, Öland and the settlement on the island of Helgö in Lake Mälaren, central Sweden.

This paper investigates possible interpretations of a cremated grave material from the Vendel period in Valstad, Gamleby parish, Småland. The interpretations are based on both the osteological material and some of the archaeological finds. The focus in this paper is the excavated grave in Valstad and does not include similar burials from other locations. The source material consists of osteological material and text material that focus on the late Iron Age. The text material has been selected in order to include up-to-date discussions about ideas and interpretations. The theoretical framework of this paper is built around post-processual archaeology, process archaeology and practice theory. The osteological analysis resulted in the identification of three present animal species in addition to human remains. The analysis also revealed the species distribution in the grave and the distribution pattern of all bone fragments. The bone material was found to have been deliberately crushed, where the material is likely to have been collected or picked up before the crushing took place. The discussion treats three phases; cremation, deposition and closure, in the process from deceased individual to complete grave. In each phase identifiable practices and their interpretations are discussed for the grave as a whole. In the discussion, the interpretation is made that the cremation was the phase where the dead was considered leaving the living world. The deposition was instead interpreted as the phase that allowed the survivors to have continued contact with the dead and the closure the phase that made it possible for the established link to remain forever.

In the southern part of the county of Jämtland seven rich finds of iron artefacts from the Vendel Period have been found. These finds contain similar sets of hunting weapons and tools of iron and they are all found close to lakes or river banks in the hunting ground area. In most cases no human bones or grave structures have been found in connection with the finds. The combination of artefacts is similar to combinations found in hunting ground graves in Dalarna and Norway. Therefore, archaeologists have discussed whether the finds in Jämtland should be classified as graves or hoards. The purpose of this thesis is to widen the discussion. An important point of departure has been to refrain from classifying the archaeological material in advance as graves or hoards, as sacred or profane, or as anything else, since such assumptions risk leading to circular reasoning. The analysis and discussion in the thesis are inspired by practice theory and focus on how actions performed can reflect people's relationships. Symbolism and beliefs, or what people thought, are of secondary importance. The results suggest that the finds of iron artefacts discussed in this thesis can be considered remains of ritualised activities. These activities may have been performed for a variety of reasons. For the moment, it may be fruitful to shift the focus from the classification problem to a discussion where these rich finds of iron artefacts are considered in a broader context. The results also suggest that these iron artefacts were deposited in the ground during a time when there was an increase in the construction of trapping pit systems in Jämtland. The rich finds of iron artefacts may well reflect changes taking place in the organisation of the surrounding community as a result of the increasing importance of hunting.