The discovery and excavation of Long Barrows has been one of the major developments in the understanding of the Early Neolithic in Southern Scandinavia during the last decade. The Long Barrows are one of the oldest monumental burial forms that we see in northern Europe in the neolithic. They are also the first example of a common idea that is connected to a monumental burial form amongst the people. In this essay I attempt to show that there actually are quite a large number of Long Barrows in Scandinavia that show similarities with Long Barrows in well-known areas such as Kujavia (Poland) and Pommerania (Germany/Poland), in both architecture and location in the landscape. I also scrutinise some theories regarding this phenomenon and discuss, and i some cases, criticise them. I especially focus on the stated similarity between LBK houses and Long Barrows. My aim was to see if these theories were appliciable to the relatively recent discoveries of Long Barrows in Southern Scandinavia.

This paper aims to investigate the connection between clearance cairns and burial cairns. From this point of view I try to answer the questions why they are built in the same area and why these two different types of cairns are so similary constructed. Further I consider different theories about mounds of fire-cracked stones.

This thesis discusses South Scandinavian cup marks in general, and cup marks in Kronobergs County in particular. The question is whether the cup mark phenomena can be viewed as an ordinary family-based cult for a kind of everyday use, or more likely as a community passage ritual. The thesis also suggests that cup marks were made by ritual participants in, or in the process of trying to reach, an altered state of consciousness.

This master essay deals with the changes in the use of and the abandonment of the Avebury monument and the change of the surrounding landscape during the late Neolitihic, about 3000 B.C, and into the Bronze age, about 1500 B.C. The change in the way people supported themselves, the development of agriculture, brought along many other changes as well. I am in this paper dealing with these issues, how and what lead up to these changes, the peoples own part in the development, and I am also looking into the fact that these changes might not have meant an end of old ideologies, but rather a development in the expression of beliefs where the monuments of the neolithic no longer had a place in society.

This paper deals with ancient Greek music, and in particular the relation of people to music during the fifth century BC in Athens. Music is believed to exercise great power over the human character and behavior, and at the same time is a means of emotional communication. For the first time during the fifth century, the power of music leaves the realm of the myths and becomes a subject of philosophical investigation. Two different types of sources are examined in order to study the relation of people to music: on the one hand the literary sources of this period,  and on the other the vase paintings. This method reveals various attitudes towards music by using two different perspectives. Possible explanations are given for the differing information, the purpose of each source being a decisive factor. The paper suggests that although the information from the two types of sources varies and can even be contradictive, the recognition of the power music exercises is obvious in both cases .

This thesis examines the Neolithic settlements in Durankulak, Danube, north of Bulgaria and Sitagroi in Greek Macedonia at the time when human life went from nomadic and hunting to well organized, agriculture and settled. As a background I present facts about the chronology, I will look for similarities and differences in the climate and the environment of the settlements and then I make a comparison based on the material findings. The facts, analyses and artefacts give a base for understanding the daily life in Durankulak and Sitagroi. By comparing the settlements I will investigate if the Neolithization was a homogenous process on Balkan or if there are differences that indicate external inputs from several directions.

This paper analyses the existence and nature of the sacred landscape Olands härad during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Olands härad is located in Northern Uppland, onthe way to Östhammar, about 30 km northeast of Uppsala. The interpretations are done with help of place names studies as well as archaeological finds. The results indicate that different types of cult locations can be found in the area.

The aim of this work is to give an example of how archaeoacoustics can broaden our understanding of archaeological remains and to further contribute to the almost non-existing research of ringing stones. With a theoretical discussion about sound from three different perspectives and by means of using different kinds of analysis, this essay will show that there are unknown relations between the three known ölandic ringing stones and the cultural landscape of Öland. Possible patterns in the placement of the stones and the possibility of the sound in this soundscape will be investigated. The essay will also suggest a resonant stone typology and discuss the necessity of one. Finally, the intention is also to shed new light upon the discussion on what the uses of the ringing stones might have been.

This paper deals with the question of whether the symbolic language of the late Neolithic and middle Bronze Age was transferred from ceremonial monuments and barrows into the domestic sphere in the late Bronze Age. I will consider such elements as doorway orientation, the significance of boundaries and depositional practices to see if Early-Middle Iron Age settlements were indeed a major scene for ritual behaviour.

The main aim of this study is to determine whether the monastery in Ny Varberg has been used as a hospital during its active years. The second aim has been to investigate weather the buried individuals at the monastery at Ny Varberg exclusively are deceased monks. Only individuals from the monastery's active years has been included in this study. A total of 16 inhumated individuals was analysed. Both men, women and children was shown to be present, as well as wide spread of children and adults. Diseases as osteomyelitis, osteoarthritis, sinustitis a possible presence cribra orbitalia as well as other diseases was found. The diseases found at Ny Varberg speaks for a normal distribution of skeletal alterations that we as humans, obtain during life and its endurances. The fact that I, among the buried individuals Ny Varberg, could confirm the presence of women and children implicates that monks hasn't been the only group of individuals buried here. A variation in the muscle patterns among men speaks for a possible occurance of two different groups of men, possible monks and laymen. Regarding the use of the monastery as a hospital, several things points us in a different direction. Signs of disease, mainly leprosy, tuberculosis and other contagious diseases, would be expected if the monastery was used as a hospital during it's active years. These diseases haven't been found. The monastery's orientation in the city and the presence of a S:t Jörgen-chapel located close by, contributes to the interpretation regarding the use of the monastery. The conclusion that the monastery probably hasn't been used as a hospital during it's active years has been drawn. The distributions regarding age, sex and nature of the pathologies, tells us that the monastery probably was used as a monastery. This doesn't exclude the fact that they may have taken mercy upon certain cases, provided care for the monastery's benefactors or have let their laymen and families rest on their burial grounds. It is in my opinion that further studying remains before we in the fullest can pronounce the use and the character of the monastery in Ny Varberg. Further study will be profitably in the study of the individuals buried at the monastery i Ny Varberg. / "Osteoporos och osteoartritis, då och nu", Finansierat av KK- stiftelsen och i samarbete med Sabine Sten