This essay aims to introduce perspectives from transgender studies into archaeology´s gender analysis, by re-examining two graves. The essay examines two graves, grave 9 from Vivallen, and grave Bj 581 from Birka, Sweden. These two graves are examples of graves with a difference in archaeological gender assessment, and sex as determined by osteology and DNA-analysis. The essay discusses the grave material, and the written sources, to examine how people in the Viking Age with non-normative gender-expressions can be understood using tools from queer-and transgender studies, with the aim to not make cis-normativity the default interpretation

Since the 19th century archaeologists have found different types om amulet rings on various dig sites around Scandinavia with the biggest concentration in the Mälardal area. It is an object connect to old Viking age and Vendel period societies found from time to time during archaeological excavations. The problem with the amulet rings is, that the scientists don’t know how to fully interpret these artefacts. The common belief is that amulet rings are object connected to religious practice and the pagan cult. The purpose of this essay is to give the amulet rings a larger meaning and try to put new light on them, to widen the understanding of the object and to point out that more than religion can be interpreted around the artefacts and the context they are preserved in. This will put the rings in a more social sphere and widen the meaning and use of the object and the understanding of the Viking people. This essay is written with an intention to give a broader image surrounding the social role of the amulet rings in Viking age societies. This will be done through a descriptive and investigative mapping of the micro contexts of the amulet rings. The archaeological sites that will be used to do so are Lilla Ullevi and Kalvshälla in Uppland with a contextual approach as a theoretical perspective. In this essay, it has been shown that the sites have used the amulet rings to find religious connections in the Viking age and Vendel period complexes by schematically interpreting the rings as religious objects instead of seeing the possibilities in the material. Even if religion seems to be present the distribution of the rings indicates a larger scale of social use and not only religious actions. The result is that the ring is more flexible and complex then previously thought and more in-depth research into amulet rings is needed to fully understand the object and to use them in bigger archaeological interpretations.

Both the government and the museums agree on the fact that museums should be available to everyone and that the fact that it might not be is an enormous problem that need solving and that some of the ways to solve it is with digitalization and by cooperation with schools. This paper analyses the Sandby borg exhibition at Kalmar county museum in Kalmar, Sweden. The analysis is constructed from three main categories; inclusion, digitalization and cooperation. These categories are used to discuss how a museum exhibition should work and be used and then how it works in reality at Kalmar county museum.

In this essay I analyze the stone circles known as domarringar in northern Småland. In order to understand the stone circles, one must understand the society that built them, I argue. Therefore I first date them so I can put them in a context. After dating them to late Roman Iron Age and Migration period, I discuss hill forts, gold bracteates and rotary querns as a starting point for understanding the society and ideology that built the stone circles. I argue that the stone circles are a product of the midgård-ideology and that they have to be understood in that light. The stone circles are always found close to a road and often relatively high in the landscape. They manifest boundaries in the landscape.

This essay deals with a harbor near Swedish castles called sea courtyards in the 17th century. It also deals with an old work made by Erik Dahlbergh called Suecia antiqua et hodierna as a source material in order to find these sea courtyards that does not exist in present day.

Birka is Sweden’s first urban settlement during the Viking period and its growth is mainly because of the settlement’s extensive trade. The area has many graves and the female graves in Birka are a good source for interpretation of the Viking woman and the variety of roles and work she had. Archaeologists are assessing graves and interpreters them from the material remains found, such as jewelry, weapons, and gifts. Researchers often have a predetermined interpretation on certain items that are considered feminine or masculine and the gender is determined from this. After the gender is decided it is commonly that the individuals are categorized into groups, and women tend be grouped together into one, regardless that the archaeological data and material shows that they have different attributes, and should be categorized as such. Men on the other hand have a variety of activities and jobs from which they can be determined by, whilst women’s work tends to be highlighted as chores, rather than work, as their doings usually are in the private sphere. To put women together as one simply because they are women is not only problematic regarding what the material shows, but it is also preventing the development in research of women. There will be a gap in the narrative due to the lack of female activities which occurred but are either ignored or reduced. During the last few decades, there has been an increase in research regarding women in all fields of research and a development of several theories on how to interpret various factors. One of them is intersectional theory, which will be used in this paper. A selection of female Viking graves from Birka are used with this theory to develop a greater picture of what women were doing, rather than just being women, and what needs to be considered to do so.

The aim of this essay is to evaluate the hypothesis that Öland and Gotland shared a superregional weapon burial custom during the older part of the Scandinavian iron age by comparing the weapon graves and a selection of graves on two cemeteries one from each isle. The essay concludes that the weapon graves on Öland and Gotland (or at least the examined cemeteries) was not connected by a super-regional weapon burial custom.

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.

Log-boats within the Ertebölle culture have had a broad use in the society. From social usesas transport and communication devises to economical uses within hunting and fishing. Thelog-boats have been quite large, larger than log-boats in later periods. With a length of up to 10 meters and a width of 0,5-1 meter the log-boat have been big enough to carry a family andthere gear along the cost. Even though the long and narrow shape of the log-boat have made them mostly suitable for calm and shallow water they have still aloud the people of theErtebölle culture to cross major waters such as the sound between Denmark and Sweden.

The paper presents how the concept of fictional culture environment can be defined on the basis of a Swedish real and fictional cultural heritage. Three studies consisting of "mapping”, “categorization", "detailed study" and "comparison" defines and delimits the concept and presents a graphical comparison model. The study focuses on places taken from the stories of Astrid Lindgren. Their authenticity and historical use is analyzed and discussed. The line between reality and fiction has become more difficult to discern. The paper presents a new concept and a benchmark that can contribute to a clearer definition of our fictional cultural heritage. / Uppsatsen presenterar hur begreppet fiktiv kulturmiljö kan definieras med utgångspunkt från ett svenskt verkligt och fiktivt kulturarv. Tre delstudier bestående av ” kartläggning, kategorisering”, ”närstudie” och ”komparation” definierar och avgränsar begreppet samt presenterar en grafisk jämförelsemodell. Studien fokuserar på platser hämtade från sagor av Astrid Lindgren.  Platsernas autenticitet och historiebruk analyseras och diskuteras. Gränsen mellan verklighet och fiktion har blivit svårare att urskilja. Uppsatsen presenterar ett nytt begrepp och en jämförelsemodell som kan bidra till en tydligare definition av vårt fiktiva kulturarv.