Falkenering har varit en del av den svenska kulturen sedan 500-talet v.t. då de första spåren av rovfågel framträder i gravar från främst Mälardalsområdet och har sedan 2021 klassificeratssom ett av UNESCO:s immateriella kulturarv. Jakt med rovfågel under yngre järnåldern i Skandinavien är ett relativt outforskat ämne som främst har fokuserat på att bekräfta att rovfågel fanns närvarande, spåra praktikens ursprung eller bekräfta en individs status. En definition av falkenering och kriterier för en falkeneringsgrav har tagits fram innan en kvalitativ komparativ analys har utförts på 39 gravar innehållande rovfågelben. Även en djupare analys av gravarna i Rickeby, Sunnerby och Vårberg har genomförts. Analyserna visade att inte alla gravar innehållande rovfågel är högstatusgravar och att rovfåglarnas närvaro troligtvis är mer komplext än enbart falkenering. Jakt med rovfågel kan delas in i nöjesfalkenering och yrkesfalkenering och möjligtvis syns spår av detta bland de undersökta gravarna. Studien visar att tidigare antaganden om att rovfåglar indikerar falkenering, att de enbart hittas i högstatusgravar och att falkenering enbart är en sport för eliten inte är tillräckliga. / Falconry has been a part of Swedish culture since the 6th century AD when the first traces of birds of prey appear in graves from the Mälardalen area and has been classified as a cultural heritage by UNESCO since 2021. The practice of hunting with birds of prey during the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia is an underrepresented subject in archaeological studies. The focus has previously been on confirming the presence of raptors in graves, tracing the origin of the practice and confirming the status of an individual. A definition of falconry and criteria for identifying a falconry grave have been developed followed by a qualitative comparative analysis of 39 graves containing raptor bones. A more thorough analysis of the graves in Rickeby, Sunnerby and Vårberg has also been carried out. The results showed that not all graves containing birds of prey are high-status graves and that the presence of raptors is more complex than to be explained by falconry alone. Hunting with raptors can be divided into falconry for entertainment and professional falconry. Traces of the division might be possible to observe among the graves examined. The study shows that previous assumptions that the presence of raptors indicate falconry, that they are only found in high-status graves and that falconry is a sport for the elite are not sufficient.

The aim of this study is to examine the possibility of calculating the total weight of coins in poorly documented Viking Age silver hoards found on Gotland. A method for calculating the total weight of the silver coins in the hoards, and thus the weight relationship between minted and un-minted silver, would facilitate further and deeper studies using the hoards from Gotland. The method will be based on the average coin weights obtained from numismatic sources. Two calculations, one of Arabic coins and another with mixed coin, is attempted. Apart from the calculations of the Viking Age coins, earlier studies of the relation between silver coins and silver object will be discussed in the earlier research. The different Viking Age coins in the calculation and the development of the Viking age minting will also be discussed in earlier research. The result of the study demonstrate that an estimated total weight could be calculated for the Arabic silver coins. Unfortunately the mixed coin hoards could not achieve a calculation that could estimate an equivalent total weight of the silver coins

Denna kandidatuppsats behandlar sländtrissor och vävtyngder från vikingatida lokaler samt yngre järnålderslokaler som angränsar till den vikingatida handelsplatsen Birka. Syftet är att studera sländtrissor och vävtyngder från vikingatida fyndlokaler i Birkas omland; vilket åsyftar geografiska områden i Södermanlands län (Södermanland), Stockholms län och Uppsala län (Uppland). Sländtrissor påverkar de textila råmaterialen och de spunna trådarna, vidare påverkar vävtyngderna varpen och de vävda tygerna. Vilka trådar och vilka tyger som har producerats inom vikingatida lokaler i angränsning till Birka diskuteras utifrån sländtrissornas och vävtyngdernas vikt, form och storlek (trots att fragmentariska artifakter förekommer). Studien omfattar spår av textilproduktion inom vikingatida lokaler i Birkas omland, samt en undersökning gällande om det har förekommit inhemska importer av textilier från fastlandet till Birka under vikingatiden. Resultatet påvisar om att gårdsbaserad textilproduktion har förekommit i Birkas omland och ett fåtalet gårdar i omlandet tolkas ha haft möjlighet att exportera textilier till Birka. / This bachelor thesis is regarding spindle whorls and loom weights from late Iron Age-sites and Viking Age-sites in adjoining relation to the Viking Age town Birka. The basis of this thesis concerns in which amount spindle whorls and loom weights occur at Viking Age-sites in Birka's hinterland; it refers to geographical areas in Södermanland County and Uppland County. Spindle whorls influences the textile raw materials and the spun threads, furthermore loom weights influences the warp and the woven cloths. Which threads and which cloth that were produced at the Viking Age-sites in adjoining relation to Birka will be discussed by regarding the weight, form and size of the spindle whorls and loom weights (though fragmental artifacts occur). The thesis will concern trails of textile production from Birka's hinterland and furthermore an investigation about domestic imports of textiles from the mainland to Birka could have oocurred during the Viking Age. The Results indicates that farmbased textileproduction has occured in Birka's hinterland and furthermore numerous of the farms in the hinterland can be discussed as farms with the possibility to export textiles to Birka.

The aim of this thesis is to study 31 individuals from an early christian cemetery in Varnhem, Sweden and through the use of XRF, study the strontium concentrations and the strontium to calcium ratios in bone and use that as an indicator for diet. The material consists of femurs and teeth and through analyzing this I will compare previous dietary studies using stable carbon, nitrogene and sulphur isotope analyses to see wether quantitative strontium analysis can be used as a way to study diet in prehistoric societies. The conclusion is that XRF is not as thorough as an isotope study but it provides a general knowledge of what the population has been eating where we can determine which individuals has had diet consisting of more meat or terrestrial plants.

Animal art is one of the more mystical aspects of Scandinavian Iron Age culture. It has foremost been regarded in the light of art and style history. Interpretation has also – mainly from the 1990s and onwards – been made through iconographic analysis. But the problem here is that iconography requires textual analogy, something that the Scandinavian Iron Age lacks. The purpose of this paper is to lift some of the ”mystical fog” that engulfs the scandinavian animal art, by developing a method for interpretation of pre-historic images that evades the flaws in the iconographic method. This by doing an interpretation of the gripping beast motif on Gotlandic Viking Age animal-head brooches. The study is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on reception within research history and how the use of language and methodological approaches shapes the perception of animal art within it's own time, it also discusses animal art in the light of style, motif and communication. Part two aims to outline a method for pre-historic image interpretation, a structuralistic iconology with addition of contextualization and anthropological theories of agency. The chapter also discusses the cosmological order through means of ”structuralistic iconology”. Finally part three contextualizes the gripping beast to the object – the animal head-brooch – through notions of use, combination and age. Concluding that the gripping beast should be understood as a hybrid creature closely linked to ancestry, odal and the fatalistic worldview of Iron Age Scandinavia.

Detta är en jämförande undersökning mellan hinsidesföreställningar i de skriftliga källorna till fornskandinavisk religion och bildscener på de sena (700 – 1100-talet) gotländska bildstenarna. Den tidigare forskningen kring hinsidesföreställningarna har ofta fokuserat på Valhall vilket enligt mig kan ha lett till att andra centrala föreställningar kan ha kommit i skymundan. Jag visar med min genomgång av föreställningarna i de skriftliga källorna att de olika platserna som den döde kunde komma till bär på gemensamma aspekter i form av kvinnan som möter den döde, kvinnan som härskar över den döde samt hallen där man åt och drack. Samma tema återkommer på de sena gotländska bildstenarna . De visar dessutom en liknande variation av föreställningarna som de skriftliga källorna. Valhall är alltså inte nödvändigtvist den enda tolkningen av dessa bildscener. / This is a comparative study between afterlife beliefs in written sources to the Norse religion and visual scenes in the late Gotland picture stones. The previous research on afterlife beliefs has often focused on the Valhallamotif, which in my opinion, could have led to the problem that other essential ideas of afterlife may have been overlooked. I show in my review that the afterlife beliefs in the written sources share common aspects: the woman who meets the deceased, the women who rule over the dead and the hall where the dead eat and drinks. The same aspects return on the late Gotland picture stones. They also show a similar variation in the notions of afterlife as the written sources. Valhalla is not necessarily the only interpretation of the image scenes.

The main aim was to investigate the provenance of Viking age antler material findings of moose and red deer from Sigtuna and from three sites on the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea. This was done by analysis of the stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. Thre were never any living population of these mammals on Gotland during the Viking age. δ34S-values of sulphur from this study was compared with earlier research and by studying maps of the Swedish bedrock. The δ34S-values were more like the δ34S-value for bedrock other than European granite. These bedrocks are found in the south-east of Sweden along the coast towards Gotland. The provenance of the Sigtuna antlers could be three different areas and the material from Gotnald could come from two differente regions. A student-t test between Fröjel and Sigtuna showed no significant correlation between the two populations. A comparison within the Sigtuna material showed a possible difference between two different dated phases. This could mean that an import of antlers from other areas was made when antlers in the Sigtuna region was less available.

Fish-head pendants are one of the characteristic Gotlandic Late Iron Age artefacts. This object has been rather neglected and mainly considered as an insignificant embellishment, normally worn as a neck-collar and seen as an artefact include in the typical Gotlandic set of female jewellery. The fact that the fish-head pendant has a very long life span, which stretches from grave-finds in the Early Vendel Age to hoards in Viking Age as well as secondary usage as brooches in the Early Middle Ages, makes the artefact an excellent starting point for discussions on social practices and change through material culture. It's shown in this study that, contrary to previous beliefs, the normal usages for fish-head pendants is as solitary pendants and not as neck-collars. Neck-collars is shown to have an intricate relation to inhumations for young individuals, whereas solitary pendants are found in cremation deposits for adult individuals, something that relates to a fixed social practice mainly in the period 700-900 AD and that develops from the cremation funeral practice. This particular social practice relates to aspects of attraction and protection and continues in to the 10th century outside of funeral structures, which is shown by the composition of hoard-finds from the 10th century, but is totally absent when the pendants is given a secondary usage as brooches in the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century. Hence the material also gives the possibility to discuss the division among pre-historic periods. This paper is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 gives the prerequisites. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework; concerning aspects such as agency, structuralism, social structures, change and material culture. Chapter 3 discusses questions of chronology and typology. In chapter 4 fish- head pendants and their practices of usage and social practices are discussed in the grave-material from the period 600-1000 AD. Chapter 5 concerns hoards and amber-pendants during the 10th to 12th century, and finally chapter 6 discusses the effects and reasons seen in the social practices defined in chapters 4 and 5, as well as the implication of social practices on pre-historic periods. The material is further presented in four catalogues, chapters 10-13.

In the mid-10th century there was an increase of Byzantine coins to the Baltic area alongside the shift from the eastern Islamic dirhems to a western focus on German coins. This thesis sets out to study networks around the Baltic area from a perspective of Byzantine miliaresion minted by Constantine VII and Romanus II, Nicephorus II, John I Tzimisces and Basil II. The material consists of coin finds in foremostly hoards but also some grave finds from Gotland, mainland Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Belarus, Estonia and Finland. This essay will combine the use of two different methods, first a network analysis in Pajek and then a spatial analysis in GIS. With these two methods I want to investigate what the Byzantine coins can tell us about the transition period between the import of Islamic coins and German coins. Together with the Byzantine coins I will use other materials from Gotland such as shorttwig and longbranch runes, a type of metal vessel found in graves and a type of clay vessel with a special mark on the bottom. They will highlight different aspects of the Viking age networks, with a focus on Gotland. The result showes that the import of Byzantine silver coins into the Baltic in the 10th century consists of two phases. The first phase consists of miliaresia minted by Constantine VII and Romanus II, Nicephorus II and John I Tzimisces which were probably imported through Poland. On their way through Poland they mixed with early southern German coins from Bayern and Schwaben on their way to Denmark and Gotland. With the second phase the eastern coin import temporarily gets an upswing. The coins minted by Basil II are more commonly found on Gotland and in Estonia which lead me to conclude that these could have been imported by Gotlandic individuals on their travels east.

Västergarn is a medieval settlement situated on the west coast of the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. It has for a long time been the focus of study for researchers due to its cultural heritage in regards of its church, rampart and archaeological remains of a settlement dating to the Early Middle Ages. The University of Uppsala conducted excavations at the site during 2005–2013 which have led to large amounts of archaeological material which enabled several theses being written about the place. This thesis aims to study metal dress accessories from Västergarn and the people behind these artifacts who lived there during the early medieval period. Gender identity, ethnicity and cultural belonging will be addressed. The main part of the thesis focuses on typology and chronology. This will be achieved by a morphological study of the material. In addition to this, an ArcGis study is conducted to study distribution patterns in the settlement. The conclusion is that dress accessories allow different conclusions on the population of Västergarn. In terms of gender, it is argued that both men and women were present, albeit artefacts of male gender dominate the assemblages. The majority of the material in terms of ethnicity and cultural identity can be attributed to a Gotlandic tradition, while some dress accessories seem to come from abroad, to the Slavonic areas and other regions in the Baltic Sea. Also, oriental influences can be seen, mainly in regard to the decorated belt mounts. in conclusion, the result of this thesis indicates that two separate groups, both Gotlanders and non-Gotlanders were active in Västergarn during the early Middle Ages which is visible in the two churches, the Baltic ware pottery and the form of dress accessories people wore at the time.