No description available.

This paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the supposed connection between Parish Sami and the little researched stone remnants of grouse trapping, i.e. bird mazes, that show a spatial concentration to Västernorrland and Gävleborg counties - by using spatial analysis, historical-ethnographical analogies, folklore studies and two case studies. The results are contradicting; the spatial analysis shows no or little signs of a connection between remains of Sami type and place names indicating Sami presence. The analogies show a likeness between methods where sticks and branches were used instead of stones to create the fences which lead the birds to the snare-traps. However, these methods were used by both Swedish farmers and Sami. There are several folklore records that connect Sami and the bird mazes, and one tells of how the Sami taught the parish inhabitants the method. The case studies show an apparent spatial connection between bird mazes and a Parish Sami home and a nomadic Forest Sami complex. Nomadic Forest Sami in the region have been shown to be the ancestors of Parish Sami. Based on these results, the author proposes that the bird maze method was first used by Forest Sami and later used by their descendants Parish Sami, but somewhere along the way the method was taught to or picked up by Swedish farmers. In any case, this study might be used as a jumping off point for the further work and research into the physical remains of Sami in the region that are well needed, in particular the Parish Sami, but also bird mazes.

This essay will discuss where the people who built the passage graves and the first farmers at the Falbygden area in Sweden came from. That the first farmers built the passage graves is today a given fact, but how did the Neolithic transition take form in Scandinavia? Two theories have been put forward over the past century, that they learned through cultural diffusion, or that the first farmers were immigrants. Recent DNA- and Strontiumanalyses have been made on skeletons from passage graves from Falbygden and on skeletons from different regions across Europe, both from Mesolithic and Neolithic people. These results show that the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers shares no or little continuity with the Neolithic farmers, even in cases where the two groups lived in close neighbouring for a long time.

There is a boat burial in Scar, on Sanday, Orkney that was excavated in 1991. This undergraduate thesis compares Scar with 5 other boat burials from Norway, to determine if the burial custom is uniform or if there are regional differences.  The 6 burials are presented individually and then the type and typology of the finds is compared. The conclusion is that the boat itself and the rivets in the boat burial in Scar are very similar to the burials in Norway, and there are strong similarities between the finds in Scar and the corresponding type of finds in the Norwegian burials. However, they are not uniform in their collections of finds, and this could be due to regional differences. Other potential causes, such as dating of the burials, are discussed as well.

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With its exotic appearance and depictions in ancient Egyptian art and literature, the curved sword referred to as ’khopesh’ has been the source of much speculation. While its actual use as a weapon of war is debated, as is its level of effectiveness, there can be no doubt that it was a highly prestigious symbol of power. This essay aims to shed light on not only the practical aspects of such a weapon but also to delve into the cultural and in particular royal ideological roles. This is achieved through studying textual sources, representations in art and preserved examples of the weapon. Comparisons will also be made with other contemporary bladed weapons in Egypt and its vicinity. Aspects of metallurgy which allows for the making of swords will also be touched upon.

This thesis focuses on the often-overlooked stone axes in northern Sweden, a subject which in scientific texts has been touched upon but never been in focus. To fill this knowledge gap the stone axes of Västerbotten county have been summarised and analysed in combination with other stone tools such as clubs and chisels with the aim to expand the basic knowledge of stone tools found in Västerbotten.

No description available.

The Viking Age town Birka has since long been a central part of archaeological studies and excavations in Sweden. It has brought much light and information about the people living there from the late 8th century to the late 10th century. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the decorated spears found in a selected number of Birka's chamber graves to see if any visual traces of religious expressions are present. The spears and their context will then be put into contrast with the clear patterns of the worship of Odin in Birka's Garrison area and religious studies from pre-Christian Scandinavia. This is done in the hopes of shedding some light on the spear’s relevance in the Viking Age's culture and religious contexts.

Viking-age boat grave burials are a less common but still repeatedly used way to bury the dead during the late Iron Age. Boat burials are exceptional in many aspects, not only due to placing the individual in a boat with numerous burial gifts including animals, but also by burying the individual without prior cremation, a common practice during the Iron Age. The aim of this thesis is to genetically analyse inhumation boat graves and compare the genetic composition of the ancient individuals with modern populations through population genetic analyses. This will highlight these particular human remains in a mobility context. A total of 11 individuals was analysed, but only one yielded enough DNA for further statistical analyses. This one individual proved genetically exceptionally well preserved. The results clearly show that the individual (a female) has a genetic affinity to populations in northern Europe. However, the results do not discriminate between modern Baltic/Scandinavian populations, depending on the statistical test.