The Iron Age cemetery at Tuna in Badelunda parish, Västmanland, is a complex and unique burial ground used for only 69 graves during a period of roughly 700 years, between 300 - 1050 AC. The individuals buried at Tuna show an impressive variety of gravegods as well as stonesettings formed above the grave. Who where these people that were cremated at Tuna, among the mysterious women in the boats and the rich women in grave X? As we study the graves of the cremated individuals we reach a new understanding of the cemetery; from its social structure down to every individual. Through the analysis of the stonesettings, gravegods and bones we see a how these subjects, when analysed, show a picture of the individuals and social structure of the cemetery. It was a cemetery for the higher society and unique individuals rather then the average people.

This essay include the osteological analysis of ten cremation burials from the burial ground of Vindförberg in Ore parish, Dalarna. The burial ground on Vindförberg was used between the years 100 and 550 AD. during the Iron age. Vindförberg is a hunting burial ground which is one of two burial practices that existed during this age in Dalarna. The hunting ground graves are located far from settlements and their origin is under debate. Theories about these graves say that they are either settlers from the south or hunting-gatherer groups from the north and west. The questions this essay is if it is possible to see the structure of the community the people behind the burial ground at Vindförberg had. This will be achieved with the help of age and sex determinations to study the relationship between the different graves at Vindförberg. In excess of previous question, it was also of interest to compare the result from Vindförberg with four other contemporary burial grounds to inquire similarities and differences. Of the 43 graves on the burial ground, ten were analyzed in this essay. A total weight and volume of nine kilograms and twelve liters was analyzed. Human, dog, bear, elk, beaver, and fish were the identified species from Vindförberg. Because of the very fragmented material, the determinations of age and sex proved difficult to estimate. This led to the discussion being more about the ancient people’s conception of the world and rituals as well to social structure.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the deformed Viking swords as seen in the historical Swedish province of Uplands during the Late Iron Age.Three sites have been selected for their concentration of deformed and fragmented swords,as well as other phenomena that are part of the phenomenon. Birka,Kiplingeberg and Söderby are the three choose parts of Upland chosen for the similarities and difference of the swords appearing in cremation graves. To get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon beyond “killing of an object”, the theoretical perspective of charismatic objects, personhood and ritual theories have been used to approachthe swords.This will allow the essay to address the question of why different forms of swords appear and discuss who the form was for.

Buttle Änge and Nygårds has been excavated by Uppsala University, Campus Gotland and also by Högskolan on Gotland since year 2009 and by Gothenburg University year 2009 and 2013. During the 20 excavations that has taken place there has been 112 glass beads found. They were found by the picture stones, in graves, in and around the stone foundation houses. The beads from the picture stones can be interpreted as grave deposits and the ones found in a cremation grave could have been part of a bead necklace combined with a pendant which belonged to a girl aged 0-14. The beads by the stone foundation houses had a larger concentration of beads in its three houses compared to Vallhagar which had the same number of beads found over 20 house foundations. In close connection to the stone foundation houses were glass mosaic fragments found that could have been used to make beads or could have been residuals from the beadmaking process from another place with productions of glass beads. / Buttle Änge och Nygårds har sedan 2009 undersökts genom utgrävningar från Uppsala universitet, Campus Gotland men även med en utgrävning år 2009 av Högskolan på Gotland och av Göteborgsuniversitet år 2009 och 2013. Under de 10 utgrävningar som skett på platsen har det påträffats 112 pärlor av glas. Dessa påträffades vid bildstenar, i gravar, i och runtomkring stengrundshus. Pärlorna vid bildstenarna kan tolkas som gravdepositioner och de i en brandgrav kan ha varit en del av ett pärlgarnityr tillsammans med ett hängsmycke som kan ha tillhört en flicka i åldern 0–14. Pärlorna vid stengrundshusen hade en större koncentration av pärlor i sina tre hus jämfört med Vallhagar som hade lika många påträffade från över 20 hus. I anslutning till stengrundshusen påträffades även fragment av glasmosaik som kan ha använts för att skapa pärlor eller varit tillverkningsspill från en annan hantverksplats för glaspärlor.

During the Viking Age, the burials on Gotland consisted of both cremations and inhumations. However, inhumation became increasingly common at the end of that period. Furthermore, several children have been identified around the island, but almost all of them are in inhumation graves. Only a few analyses of cremations from the Viking Age have been conducted. At the moment, there are only two burial grounds, dating to the Viking Age on Gotland, where the remains of cremated children have been noted. This study aims to try to locate children's graves, or possible children's graves, by studying cremations from the burial ground in Stora Ihre, Hellvi parish. Hopefully, this will contribute to future studies of cremations from Gotland in the early Iron Age and bring more knowledge on how children were treated. A total of 60 cremations have been analyzed, where only two graves contain the remains of non-adult individuals, but only one of these dates to the Viking age. At Stora Ihre, children of several ages have been buried in inhumation graves, like many other places in the rest of Gotland. In several cases, they have been buried together or secondarily next to an older individual, both in or around an inhumation or cremation grave, but in some cases, children have been given their own grave. This may indicate that a shift in burial traditions of children took place from the Vendel period to the Viking age, but it may also reflect social differences between the ages.

This essay concerns the osteological cremated skeletal remains from Broe, Halla parish, Gotland of  The Late Iron Age. The focus of this essay is to determine the position of the corpse on the pyre, whether the cremated bones were crushed after or prior to the cremation and if the individual was buried in the pyre. In addition the species, age, sex and skeletal abnormalities of the bones in question will be studied. The result of the research has yielded that the cremated bones did not need to be crushed to result in the small fragment sizes. Crushing of the bones may have happened during the cremation, this conclusion has been drawn through the comparison of a pyre experiment were bone fragmentation is evident with cremated foxes, and dogs in the cremation graves from Broe. The construction of the pyre and the position of the corpse could not be determined through colouring and fragmentation of the bones. The human's were commonly buried in the pyre, and in some cases it is possible that the "grave" in fact is the remainder of a pyre. The species found are dog, horse, cow, sheep/goat and bear. The unburnt human bones in the cremation graves come from children. Of the cremated human’s, ages range from 18-44 to 50-79 occur. Three probable men and two probable women have been estimated, but there is no clear segregation between the sexes on the grave field, which is evident on some medieval church graveyards. Skeletal abnormalities in humans are found on the cranium, more specific senile osteoporosis, and on the dog’s osteophytosis.