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.

L'acte d'achat de produits monastiques est un moment de rencontre entre deux mondes que tout semble opposer : le monde monastique, silencieux et détaché des biens matériels, et le monde sécularisé de la consommation, bruyant et matérialiste. Notre recherche très contextualisée se place dans la perspective culturelle de la consommation. La problématique est centrée sur la compréhension de l'influence des contextes sur le contenu de l'expérience vécue par l'acheteur de produits monastiques alimentaires et cosmétiques. Notre recherche empirique, fondée sur une approche qualitative de nature ethnographique, est pratiquée en immersion dans le monde de l'économie monastique française. Nous interrogeons les acheteurs sur le sens qu'ils donnent à leur expérience d'achat de produits monastiques dans des magasins physiques d'abbayes, sur une galerie marchande virtuelle d'abbayes, et dans une enseigne physique laïque. Un premier palier de résultats apporte une compréhension contextualisée de l'écosystème monastique, et du contenu de l'expérience d'achat dans trois types de points de vente. Ils mettent notamment en lumière les liens étroits entre achat, don, plaisir et partage, ainsi que la dimension patrimoniale des produits. Un second palier de résultats moins contextualisés défend la thèse que le point de vente physique est un instrument de transfert de sens des contextes extérieurs vers le cœur de l'expérience. Nous mettons ainsi en lumière les limites du e-commerce pour les produits ancrés dans l'histoire et le territoire, et proposons aux décideurs des pistes d'adaptation pour les sites marchands. / The act of purchasing a monastic product is a situation when two apparently contradictory worlds come together: the monastic world, silent and detached from material goods, and the secular world of consumption, noisy and materialistic. Our research is highly contextualised and looks at consumption from a cultural perspective. The aim of this research is to understand in which way contexts influence the content of the experience when buying monastic food products and cosmetics. Our empirical research is qualitative, ethnographic in nature, and is carried out inside the world of the French monastic economy. We ask purchasers about the meaning they give to their experience of buying monastic products from abbey shops, from an abbeys' virtual marketplace, and from a secular branded outlet. The first-level results bring a contextualised understanding of the monastic ecosystem, and of the dimensions of the buying experience at the three types of shops. They particularly highlight the close links between purchasing, giving, enjoyment and sharing, and also the patrimonial aspect of these products. The second-level results are less contextualised and support the theory according to which the physical point of sale is the instrument through which the meaning of the external contexts is transferred into the heart of the experience. We are thus able to highlight the limitations of e-commerce for products that are deeply anchored in history and territory, and we advise decision-makers on how best to adapt their strategies for online channels.