Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006.

This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in. As a ground when I look at this, I'll use interpretations from four archaeologists who have been through and dug out the places that I have chosen.

Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2006.

This essay provides an overview of the findings from the Pitted Ware settlement Kärja (RAÄ-nr Västerhaninge 28:1, L-nr L2014:4173) on southeast of Södertörn, East Middle Sweden. The archaeological materials from the settlements are analyzed with anthropological theories regarding kinship and exchanges, combined with a social-constructive perspective of conventional categorizations and chronology. This perspective is also used to analyze cup marks on sites with Pitted Ware Culture, which are discussed as a Neolithic phenomenon.

Is Hedningahällan a settlement or is it not? With help of spatial analysis and comparing Hedningahällan with other settlements in the form of comparing scattering maps of finds, bone, ceramic sherds from Hedningahällan and the other investigated neolithic sites in southern Norrland. The site is mysterious and there is a missing link based on its location and its position in the landscape. Firstly, a settlement without any traces of house remains, and with finds indicating that we might have up to 4 cultures at least having some sort of contacts with each other. bone artifacts such as beads and amulets together with clay figurines and battleaxes and miniature axes shows evidence of something more ceremonial in nature. The whole settlement that we know of are located on a giant boulder and only hearth pits and ceramics are providing more solid evidence of continuous habitation. All other settlements from the neolithic are located at ground level usually on an ancient beach. I’ve therefore compared Hedningahällan with other sites from Gävleborg. The comparisons made between Hedningahällan and the other settlements clearly proofs its unique nature and therefore has it never been a regular settlement like the others ones presented in this study.

The purpose of my investigation is to shed light on why people chose to settle in a specific location during the Bronze Age, in this instance Lund municipality. I have restricted my investigation to eight settlements as these are the ones that have written sources. Many Bronze Age settlements are situated by the sea, although not the 8 I have highlighted in my investigation. The settlements in Lund municipality were therefore not dependent on the sea for their livelihood or transport routes. The selected source material includes written sources in the form of archaeological reports, course books and dissertations.        My investigation reveals significant similarities in the factors determining the choice of settlement. The theories to be tested were the key factors I have set out as probable reasons for settling here. The settlers came to be dependent on having access to water and fertile soil as well as shelter from the wind. Almost without exception, the settlements were close to one another, at most 1.5 kilometres from the nearest neighbour. These clusters suggest cooperation in providing daily food supplies and also indicate a peaceful coexistence. It also seems that areas for socialising have been important. Another common factor is that people chose a settlement that had been previously occupied. The reasons for this may have been twofold: the very favourable conditions and the presence of ancestral graves that people felt the need to visit.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether western Orust was continuously inhabited during the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Using reports from the archaeological excavations carried out in Nösund in western Orust as a basis, I discuss what conclusions can be drawn, relating, when possible, the findings to what we, thanks to analyzes of fossil DNA made in recent years, now know about ancient peoples’ descent. The results show that there is no basis for claiming that Nösund has been continuously inhabited under the Mesolithic, despite archaeologists having located and dated half a dozen settlements from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age in the village. The findings from the various archaeological surveys do not allow us to determine the descent of the people living in Nösund during different time-periods, nor whether they were mainly fishermen or hunters. The main reason for this is the absence of organic materials, especially bones, in the findings from Nösund. The conclusion therefore is that much more research has to be done, if we are to provide a comprehensive picture of the earliest settlements in western Orust. / Denna uppsats har syftet att visa huruvida västra Orust varit kontinuerligt bebodd under stenålder och bronsålder. Utgångspunkten har varit rapporterna från de arkeologiska grävningar som utförts i Nösund, och resultaten därifrån diskuteras med utgångspunkt från de nya kunskaper om människors härstamning som de senaste årens analyser av fossilt DNA har gett oss. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att vi inte har underlag för att påstå att Nösund har varit kontinuerligt bebodd under mesolitikum, trots att man lokaliserat och daterat ett halvt dussin boplatser i Nösund från stenålder och bronsålder, och att kunskapen om vad som skedde under neolitikum och bronsålder är ännu mer bristfällig. Fynden från de olika arkeologiska undersökningarna är inte heller av en kvalitet som gör att vi kan uttala oss vilken härstamning människor som bott i Nösund under olika perioder har haft, eller om de huvudsakligen varit fiskare eller jägare. Den största bristen är frånvaron av fynd av organiska material, särskilt ben, i Nösund.

For a long time, the human bones that were found outside the classical graves/grave context during the late Bronze Age were severely overlooked in research. It was first during the 1990’s that research took place and archaeologist like Anders Kaliff och Joanna Brück started studying this severely overlooked phenomena. This paper aims at analyzing and discussing why human bones were used outside the classical graves/grave context. As well as what the human bones were used for and how the human bones were treated. In this study the grave concept will be discussed to understand the late Bronze Age human’s definition of grave and burial rites more fully. The distinction between what is sacred and what is profane in the handling and using of the human bones in non-classical graves/grave contexts will also be overseen. The study in this paper is focused on the East part of central Sweden and will be analyzed and supplemented by both national and international archaeological sites of similar character. The primal sites for the study are Broby in Börje parish, Apalle in Övergran parish, Ryssgärdet in Tensta parish and Ringeby in Kvillinge parish. The study is set in the late Bronze Age in Sweden (1100–500 BC). This paper is meant as an analytical research where former research and archaeologist interpretations will be compared and work as a discussion with the writer’s own interpretations of the late Bronze Age human’s use of human bones. With the writer’s own interpretation and with the help of former research, the human bones found in non-classical graves/grave contexts have been assessed with both sacred and profane contexts. The result shows that the distinction between the sacred and the profane are better left outside the context of handling and using human bones.