The main focus of this thesis is the study of the burned bones from Uppgarde, Vallstena, on the island of Gotland. Vallstena is a place where artifacts, graves and other activities are dated from the Stone Age to the Late Iron Age. This indicates that Vallstena was a place humans frequently used for a long period of time and a prominent remain is a Stone Ship Setting that once was placed here but when excavations were carried out in the 1970s only the depressions of the stones became visible. The purpose of this study is toco-analyse osteological and archaeological material found, to obtain a clearer image of the place and contribute to the existing research of this area. The goal study is to determine the nature of the activities seen in relationship to the analysis of the cremated bones found here and how they were connected to the surrounding landscape. The basis for this analysis is a combination of thorough examinations of the osteological material, archaeological features as well as relevant literature.

In this study bone material from six stone ship settings and a total of seven deposits of bones from two sites on the island of Gotland have been analyzed. Four ship settings from the burial site at Gålrum in Alskog parish and two from Tängelgårda in Lärbro parish. The ships contained both cremated remains and inhumations.  Human remains were identified in five of the analyzed ship settings and a minimum of six individuals was identified in total.  Animals were found in three of the ship settings, where one of them contained only the burned remains of a dog. Two of the ships contained inhumations, one in Gålrum and one in Tängelgårda. The one from Gålrum was determined to 17-19 years of age but of undetermined sex. The inhumation from Tängelgårda was determined to a male of 35-64 years of age.  Of the cremated remains none could be determined to sex but all were determined as adult individuals. The temperature that the cremated bones had been exposed to during the cremation was similar between the different ship settings, with one exception which had been exposed to a slightly higher temperature. The results of the material have also been compared with those of other osteological analysis from ship settings on Gotland. The interpretation of this has been that the amount of bone and the number of individuals that has been buried in stone ship settings vary from different sites. Some ship settings have contained several burials and have been interpreted as family graves (Pettersson 1982) which do not fit with the results from this analysis where all the ship settings contained a maximum of one or two human individuals, so the results from the ship settings on Gålrum and Tängelgårda differ from earlier interpretations of ship settings on Gotland.

This thesis is an attempt to gather and discuss the archaeological and osteological results that has been found in stone ship settings on Gotland. The bone material from five ship settings, one stone setting and a cairn from the bronze age complex at Rannarve in Klinte parish on Gotland has been osteologically analysed during this study to further expand the osteological results that are available from ship settings on Gotland and try to interpret this site. The aim is to try to find what artefacts and bone patterns that can be distinguished from the material found within ship settings. What patterns can be seen in artefacts, age, sex and burial contexts that has been found in ship settings? What are the most common patterns? / Den här uppsatsen är ett försök till att samla och diskutera vilka arkeologiska och osteologiska resultat som påträffats i skeppssättningar på Gotland. Benmaterialet från fem skeppssättningar, en stensättning och ett röse i Rannarve i Klinte socken på Gotland har analyserats osteologiskt för att utöka de osteologiska resultaten som finns tillgängliga för skeppssättningar på Gotland samt för att försöka tolka platsen. Målet är att försöka se vilka föremål och benmönster som går att urskilja från materialet och se vilka mönster som finns mellan fynd, ålder, kön och gravkontext i de olika skeppssättningarna, samt vilka mönster som är de mest vanliga.

Ship formed monuments from the Late Bronze Age on the island of Öland, southeast Sweden, have never been thoroughly dealt with in previous research, despite the fact that the region is suggested to have had a key-role in maritime trade networks. This thesis aims to address the ship formed monuments on Öland in relationship to the monuments in northern Småland and the island of Gotland. My goal is to discuss how the ship symbolism was practised during the Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia from a new perspective. I also aim to shed new light on the Bronze Age culture on Öland. I show that the ship formed monuments on Öland mark important maritime routes in the landscape leading to the core areas in the Late Bronze Age. These routes are not only linked to the trade which took place, but also to the landscape it self. I argue that the maritime movement in the landscape has helped to create and re-create the cosmology. Thus, the symbolic and practical function of the ship is tied together. Furthermore, I show that the memory connected to a mythological past has played a crucial role in the rituals leading up to the building of the monument. By integrating a circular view of time while interpreting the rituals instead of a linear one, I argue that this can be understood as a way of transforming the soul for rebirth.

Many archaeologists have been intrigued by how often symbolic houses of varying forms are used on the burialgrounds of the Scandinavian Bronze Age. Some scholars even claim that to deal with the dead did not mean to set them apart from the world of the living during this period. Since several examples show that there seem to be an active connection between the ship-setting and different types of symbolic houses, this study seek to demonstrate and interpret how the ideology behind these symbols vary between three regionally different Swedish areas: Halland, Småland and Gotland. The purpose is to show that the way chosen to shape the symbols materially not only had fundamental impact on the organization of the burialground itself, but also on how the surrounding world came to comprenhend and use them. This study suggests that even though the special shapes of the graves and the gravefield itself can carry meaning, the materialization of the monuments can be interpreted as incorporated in a practice of remembrance in where the individual shaping of the grave most probably formed part of a greater story.

<p>Many archaeologists have been intrigued by how often symbolic houses of varying forms are used on the burialgrounds of the Scandinavian Bronze Age. Some scholars even claim that to deal with the dead did not mean to set them apart from the world of the living during this period. Since several examples show that there seem to be an active connection between the ship-setting and different types of symbolic houses, this study seek to demonstrate and interpret how the ideology behind these symbols vary between three regionally different Swedish areas: Halland, Småland and Gotland. The purpose is to show that the way chosen to shape the symbols materially not only had fundamental impact on the organization of the burialground itself, but also on how the surrounding world came to comprenhend and use them. This study suggests that even though the special shapes of the graves and the gravefield itself can carry meaning, the materialization of the monuments can be interpreted as incorporated in a practice of remembrance in where the individual shaping of the grave most probably formed part of a greater story.</p>

The aim of this bachelor essay is to study the relation between stone ship settings in Sweden and the symbols occurring on rock carvings, picture stones and metalworks. Are the stone ship settings meant to make the final journey for the dead over to the other side? And serve as a link between our world and the land of the dead? By comparing the theories and interpretations of different scientists and archaeologists I will analyze the different findings and forms of the stone ship settings. The mythology tells tales of the importance of the ship, that it drags the sun from left to right during the day and during the night it goes down under water at the horizon, usually accompanied by animals like horses, fish and snakes. This could be why the direction of the stone ship settings are generally southwest towards northeast, because the sun seems to be at its highest point towards south. A general discussion will be performed during this essay, and to view other archaeologist’s interpretations and research to find answers to what stone-ship settings stands for.