Runestones are stones with rune carvings on them and were in Uppland mainly raised during the eleventh and early twelfth century. Much of the earlier research done on runestones has focused on their inscriptions and not as much on their placement in the landscape. The placement of runestones has of course also been studied, but not very thoroughly using modern methods, such as GIS. We know that runestones were in many cases multifunctional and could serve as grave stones, memorial monuments or boundary markers etc., and quite a few were raised by burial grounds, roads and other places where they would be seen by many. This essay aims to further explore the placement of runestones by doing a large-scale analysis of Uppland’s runestones’ relation to burial grounds, water and the adjacent lands growing conditions. The stones are in the study categorized after their ornamental style groups, which form a relative chronology, and those that have inscriptions mentioning bridges. The runestones are then compared to one another, based on the three variables earlier mentioned, to see if there are any patterns or differences between them.

Accompanying the rich and highly individualized Swedish Late Iron age graves are often charred remains of plants and food together with the other grave-goods. These remains have long been known but often overlooked, mainly due to low preservation. Some relatively well preserved finds are cultivated cereal grains, which have become a common archeobotanical find in Iron Age cremation graves and are a massive source of information regarding agriculture and food culture. But what do they say of the buried individual? This thesis aims to investigate the cereal grains, plants and food remains by treating the archaeobotanical remains as grave-goods in a statistical study made on macrofossil remains from Bådstorpsgravfältet, a vendel and viking age burial ground in Östergötland, Sweden. With the results from 79 graves it is researched if plant remains can be linked to certain demographics and the changings of its role in the burial practices over time.

The aim of this thesis is to make a comparison between solitary graves and graves in grave fields from the Roman Iron Age on Gotland, Sweden. Differences in burial customs, morphology, dating, gender, age, grave-goods and social status are compared between 19 solitary graves and graves in three different grave fields in different parts of Gotland. An attempt is made to explain these differences and to discuss which functions the solitary graves had. Discussions about whether it is possible to distinguish social status and gender with the help of grave-goods are also made in connection to the determination of status and sex.

Abstract Gravfält och byar - En komparativ undersökning av sex gravfält från Värend. Gravefields and villages - A comparative analysis of sex gravefields from Värend. Abstract   The basis that this study stands on, is that iron age-gravfields represents nearby village communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate if six gravefields within the old folkland Värend represent different villages, or does the six representative gravefield-villages only show dissimilarity in social differences that occurred within the villages?   A comparative method analysis was used in this study, to help examine comparisons of the different grave types within the gravefields and the social phenomena that they reflect. To help the method further, old maps of the gravefields were used and field observations were made, to get a better picture in how the different grave types were placed and arranged within the gravefields and landscape.   The results show that these six gravefields probably represents their own nearby villages, and many of the graves that occur within the different gravefields, are alike to each other, which show that these supposed representative gravefield-villages had similar grave traditions. / Sammanfattning Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka sex gravfält från det gamla folklandet Värend, varav de sex gravfälten ligger idag inom Växjö kommun. Gravfälten som undersöktes var Lilla Fjäll-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 111:1), Ingelstad-gravfältet (Östra Torsås RAÄ 1:1), Telestad-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 12:1), Skir-gravfältet (Växjö RAÄ 19–20:1), Orraryd-gravfältet (Nöbbele RAÄ 3:1) och Västenhaga-gravfältet (Bergunda RAÄ 25:1). Denna studie fokuserade sig på att undersöka de olika gravtyper som förekommer inom de sex gravfälten. Detta gjordes för att kunna hitta spår av hur de olika gravfältens representativa by-samhällena kan ha återspeglats. Detta gjordes genom att identifiera skillnader mellan respektive gravfält och därefter diskutera vad skillnaderna kan representera. Jag ville veta om det handlar om olikheter mellan sex skilda byar som begravt sina döda eller beror olikheten på sociala skillnader inom byarna? Resultatet visade på att det förekommer ett varierande och komplext gravstruktur där vissa av gravarna kan ha representerat olika gårdar inom byarna, medan vissa av gravarna representerades som högstatusgravar och religiösa/rituella gravar. De olika gravfälten visade även på att de representerade egna närbelägna byar.

The thesis aim is to discuss the Gotlandic jewelry constellations and the difference in the jewelry assemblies between five Viking Age burial grounds on the island from an intersectional perspective. Differences or alikeness between the burial grounds are meant to highlight or decline a possible group dynamic on the island where different subgroups could be detected in an overall Gotlandic group. The subgroups could be a result of trad or local expression that show up in the jewelry constellations and by that means highlight an expression beyond the Gotlandic grouping. Following questions is discussed in relation to the different jewelry constellations in the graves, is there any differences between the jewelry constellations on the analyzed burial grounds that could indicate more than one group in the Gotlandic population during the Viking Age? How can different genders be visible in the jewelry constellations of feminine and masculine graves on the five burial grounds? If more than one group can be detected, is it possible to interpret a difference in possibility to express gender in the jewelry constellations between the burial grounds? The Gotlandic feminine jewelry has been interpreted as specific for Gotland during the Viking Age and has been discussed to show an overall group on the island. In relation to this, the five analyzed burial grounds show about a third of the graves having no jewelry in the graves and a varying jewelry constellation in the feminine graves. The thesis discussion shows a possible difference even between the jewelry in masculine graves on the burial grounds that has been analyzed which earlier studies have not highlighted. The result shows a variation both between the five burial grounds but also between the individuals. What earlier has been understood as the traditional Gotlandic feminine jewelry constellation has in the analyzes been shown to relate quite little to the actual material. Few feminine individuals have been buried with the traditional jewelry constellation, more often are they buried with a few Gotlandic jewelry items and with varying placements in the graves. In summary, the five burial grounds show a variation in local tradition and manifestations related to the Gotlandic grouping.

<p>This paper deals with archaeological prospecting for the purpose of finding a prehistoric settlement in Alsike hage, Alsike parish, Uppland. The methods being used are soil phosphate analysis, electromagnetic survey and settlement analysis. Two 20x20 meters areas have been prospected. As Alsike hage contains several late Iron Age burial fields, large splendid zones for settlement location, closeness to water as well as farmland there was a hope of locating remains of prehistoric settlement in the area. None of the prospected areas showed any distinct evidence of settlement remains. Still, the results showed anomalies in both areas, both in the electromagnetic survey as in the phosphate analysis. Therefore, the possibility of finding such remains in the two prospected areas cannot be ruled out.</p>

The exclusive bronze and gold objects found in the Iron Age ship and rider burials of Vendel, Valsgärde and Sutton Hoo are well known. Less known, however, is the grave field of Vallstenarum on Gotland, where some similar finds have been made. Vallstenarum is located in a highly interesting landscape with former bays and lagoons, Bronze Age monuments, hill forts and a long continuity of human activity. While many of the impressive Bronze Age graves and monuments are widely visible in the landscape, Iron Age burials are more descrete. Therefore, this paper aims to shed light on the people in the Iron Age Vallstena community, their social organisation and their communication with the rest of the world. This will be achieved by analysing grave objects in relation to status and hierarchy, but also in relation to the surrounding landscape and in chronology with nearby archaeological sites. By comparing where similar finds have been made, the paper also discusses the location of Vendel Period central areas and Iron Age trade and communication. The results show a highly symbolic landscape, where the domestic area was separated from the grave fields. The find material also implies that the Vallstena area was involved in a vast communication network during the Vendel Period and possibly functioned as a trade hub through its strategic location next to the Gothem river. The grave activity in the central area of the parish seems to peak during the Vendel period, and the peripheral areas of the parish starts to get more intensively populated in the Viking Age. / I ”Tjelvars” fotspår- Rekonstruktion av det forntida landskapet vid Lina myr på Gotland under 9000 år

This paper deals with archaeological prospecting for the purpose of finding a prehistoric settlement in Alsike hage, Alsike parish, Uppland. The methods being used are soil phosphate analysis, electromagnetic survey and settlement analysis. Two 20x20 meters areas have been prospected. As Alsike hage contains several late Iron Age burial fields, large splendid zones for settlement location, closeness to water as well as farmland there was a hope of locating remains of prehistoric settlement in the area. None of the prospected areas showed any distinct evidence of settlement remains. Still, the results showed anomalies in both areas, both in the electromagnetic survey as in the phosphate analysis. Therefore, the possibility of finding such remains in the two prospected areas cannot be ruled out.

This paper reviews the osteological material from birds which are found in the boat graves from Valsgärde in Sweden. Based on my own work with boat grave number 13, I have studied the avian bone material to find out what kind of bird species there are in the grave. Birds have a significant meaning in many religions from all around the world and are symbolic for different kinds of beliefs. Although many written sources from the past indicate the cultural importance of birds, there is still little zooarchaeological research done in the subject of bird findings in graves. The boat graves from Valsgärde is from the Vendel period about 550–800 AD. My interest with the species analysis is that it furthermore will lead to discussions about interpretation of the graves. I want to examine questions like what birds of certain species can tell about the individual that the grave belongs to. For example, findings of predatory birds often refer to wealth, due to fact that it’s difficult to raise them in captivity. This is an interesting fact that should be consider when a grave is examined, because it reveals many more questions. Also, I want to examine how birds at that time were used in everyday life, and if there were any other practices concerning birds like for example hunting.

The diet of the Stone Age cultures is a strong indicator to the social group, thus farmers and hunters can be distinguished through their diet. There is well-preserved and well excavated Polish skeletal material available for such a study but the material has not previously been subject to stable isotopes analyses and therefore the questions of diets has not been answered. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the cultures in the Kichary Nowe 2 area in the Lesser Poland district in southern Poland. Through analysis of the stable isotopes of Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulphur in the collagen of teeth and skeletal bones from the humans in the Kichary Nowe 2 grave-field and from bones from the fauna, coeval and from the same area, the study will establish whether there were any sharp changes of diets. The material from the grave-field comes from cultures with an established agricultural economy, where their cultural belonging has been anticipated from the burial context. The results from my study of stable isotopes from the bone material will be grouped by various parameters, culture, attribution to sex and age. The groups will then be compared to each other to investigate patterns within and between the groups.