Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

This thesis presents a micro-archaeological analysis of the osteological material from theunmarked communal grave L1977:6727, in Sigsarve, Gotland. The grave was found during the ploughing of a field and excavated in 1911. Documentation of the grave was poor; hencethe aim of this thesis was to investigate who the individuals in this grave were through their skeletal remains. The number of individuals, their age, and sex was determined, andpathological or activity-related changes were examined. A discussion on who these individuals were, whether their health could imply anything about their life, and how the grave might have been used, was based on these osteological results. The grave was likely a family grave used by a farming group. The elements displayed a fair amount of physical strain, particularly in a few individuals. The osteological material from the same grave waspreviously examined in 1912 by Carl M. Fürst. To examine the relevance of re-analysing osteological material analysed during the earlier 20th century a comparative analysis of Fürst’s and the new results was made. Although there were similarities, the older analysis provided very limited information in comparison to this analysis. / Denna avhandling är en mikroarkeologisk analys av det osteologiska materialet från flatmarksgraven L1977:6727, i Sigsarve, Gotland. Graven plogades upp och grävdes ut 1911. Då dokumentation om graven var minimal blev uppsatsens syfte att undersöka vilka individerna i graven kan ha varit genom det osteologiska materialet. Antalet individer, deras ålder och kön bedömdes, och eventuella patologiska eller aktivitetsrelaterade förändringar undersöktes. Utifrån resultaten diskuterades individernas liv, hälsa samt gravens bruk. Det kunde konstateras att graven troligen var en familjegrav som brukats av bönder snarare än jägare/samlare. Benen påvisade fysisk påfrestning, i synnerhet hos ett fåtal individer. Det osteologiska materialet undersöktes tidigare år 1912 av Carl M. Fürst. För att utreda relevansen av att åter-analysera osteologiskt material som analyserats under det tidigare 1900-talet gjordes en jämförande analys av Fürsts och de nya resultaten. Medan det fanns likheter i resultaten gav den äldre analysen mycket begränsad information i jämförelse med denna analys. / Gotland in the 3rd ML BCE