This essay will treat the Gotlandic textile production during the Viking period (790 AD­–1150 AD) by studying the three grave fields, Barshalder in Grötlingbo parish, Broe in Halla parish and Ire in Hellvi parish. The focus of the study are the textile related objects, spindle whorls, weaving tablets, needles and needle cases found at the grave fields. The study will mainly examine the spindle whorls since differences in the weight and diameter can tell us about what type of yarn or thread that was produced and in extent the textiles that were produced. The results will be catalogued, and a correspondence analysis will be done in hope it will show patterns in the material. The study will also look at if there are differences between the three grave fields and in extent on the island.

Horses have played a large part in many cultures across the world, the Scandinavian Viking Age included. They are frequently found in graves and sacrificial sites, meant to denote, or represent the status and social caste of the humans they served. More and more studies and research projects are now taking place where the horses are allowed to take center stage, but these rarely touch on the subject of the horse’s agency. Were the abilities of the horses themselves what determined whether they be brutally sacrificed, or whether they keep serving the living? This is an area of study which hopes to introduce new perspectives into a complicated, lengthy debate over horses in sacrificial contexts, and shift focus away from the anthropocentric perspective that has dominated the subject. This study will discuss the archaeological and osteological finds in Scandinavia through a social zooarchaeological perspective, in an effort to offer a different perspective and to give agency to one animal that helped to shape our world.

This thesis discusses what associations Viking Age women and weapons had according to extant sources and how they can present in the grave material. In order to achieve this, literary sources, iconographic representations, and grave material are studied and compared in order to reach a deeper understanding of these associations and what they look like in the archaeology. The literary and iconographic source materials in this thesis are limited those from within, or shortly after, the Viking Age. The grave material in this thesis is also dated to the Viking Age and consists of weapon graves with osteologically determined inhumed females located in Gerdrup, Kaupang, Aunvoll, Nordre Kjølen, and Birka.

This thesis examines the relevance of animal symbolism for group cohesion within Vendel- and Viking Age warrior groups. Late Iron Age Scandinavia (c. 550-1050) saw increased political centralization where leading figures would legitimize and maintain their authority by forming and maintaining warrior groups. Animal symbolism is examined with regards to its role in stimulating processes of 'ingroup identification and identity fusion, which are likely to have been of vital importance in facilitating cohesion within ancient Scandinavian warrior groups. Literary, historical and archaeological sources are examined and compared in order to identify independently reoccuring phenomena, which collectively provide indications about the martial ideologies and practices of the Vendel- and Viking periods. Animals were used as identifying symbols for specific individuals, groups and organizations which could hade served to identify group members and hightlight the distinctiveness of ingroups in order to stimulate cooperation. Particular animals such as ravens were used by Scandinavian leaders in order to indicate martial competency and connections to the god Odin. Both of these functions would have increades the warrior bands' confidence in, and presumably loyalty towards their commanders. Animal symbolism was likely used by some warrior groups in the assumption of therianthropic identities. Conceptions of therianthropy could have stimulated identity fusion by cultivating specific personality traits, providing ideological motivations for violent actions, enhancing actual or perceived combat performance and by distinguishing therianthropic warriors from the rest of society. The relevant forms of animal symbolism would have coexisted to various degrees withing the same or similar ideological frameworks with Odin as a reoccuring and significant - but not necessarily essential - central figure.

The background of the study is that humans’ relationship to the nature and animals is not universal and is based on critical archeology and reflexive thinking. Previous researchers have interpreted the animals in graves as food offerings or a communication meal, where the horse is highlighted as a prominent symbol of power, prosperity, alliances, and aristocracy. Researchers have also compared animal style ornaments with Icelandic Sagas, and they connect humans and animals to transformation, metamorphoses, and hybridity. The interpretations in this context are based on the animals´ contemporary function and modern views. By studying the materials more closely, it turned out that the bones of humans and animals have been mixed in the graves. In the animal style ornamentation, there are often mixtures between humans and animals, and so also in the Icelandic Sagas. This indicates that the ancient humans intended to recreate mixtures between humans and animals in the materials. The study also links to the anthropological terms totenism and animism, to show that humans’ relationship to animals differs, and that it is not always the same as the modern view.

Med hjälp av osteologiska och genetiska analyser har flera gravar från vikingatiden som tidigare tolkats tillhöra män nu visat sig tillhöra kvinnor. Det är dock fortsatt kontroversiellt att tolka dessa kvinnor som krigare. Att kvinnorna tillhört den sociala eliten är studenter och forskare i stort överens om men vilken roll de haft i vikingatidens samhälle råder det delade meningar om. Att tolka tidigare samhällen och deras sociala roller utifrån det material som finns tillgängligt idag är komplext vilket blir tydligt i denna uppsats. Vikten av att inte tolka vikingatidens sociala roller utifrån samtidens syn på könsroller, ideal och normer blir också tydligt. / With the help of osteological and genetic analyses, several warriorgraves from the Viking Age that where previously interpreted as belonging to men have been shown belong to women. However, it remains controversial to interpret these women as warriors. That the women belonged to the social elite most students and researchers largely agree on but there are divided opinions about what role they had in the Viking Age society. Interpreting past societies and their social roles based on the material available today is complex, which comes clear in this essay. The importence of not interpreting the social role of the Viking Age based on the contemporary view of gender roles, ideals and norms also becomes clear.

This thesis examines the relevancy of south-west portals with regards to their potential usage in post-burial ritual activity with particular focus on the deposition of sacrificial offerings. South-west portals are a type of stone constructions found on the edges of mounds and stone settings in eastern central Sweden usually dating to the Viking Age (c. 750-1100 CE). As many as possible of all excavated south-west portals are accounted for. The find materials in south-west portals as well as their accessibility are assessed in accordance with the reasoning that long-term grave cult would result in repeated sacrificial depositions and that the portals would have had to have been accessible for such sacrifices to have been conducted. There is no clear evidence of south-west portals having been used for deliberate sacrificial depositions. Some portals would have been inaccessible and most non-funerary find assemblages were likely non-deliberate or at least nonindicative of repeated sacrifices. South-west portals were likely more relevant in funerary rites of passage or potentially odd instances of necromancy rather than in sacrifices connected to ancestor worship. / Denna avhandling undersöker relevansen av sydvästportar med avseende på deras potentiella användning i rituella aktiviteter efter begravningen med särskilt fokus på deponering av offergåvor. Sydvästportar är en typ av stenkonstruktioner som förekommer på kanterna av högar och stensättningar i östra Mellansverige, vanligtvis daterade till vikingatiden (ca 750-1100 e.v.t.). Så många som möjligt av alla utgrävda sydvästportar redovisas. Fyndmaterialet i sydvästportar samt deras tillgänglighet bedöms utifrån resonemanget att långvarig gravkult skulle resultera i upprepade offerdepositioner och att portarna skulle ha behövt vara tillgängliga för sådana offer att genomföras. Det finns inga tydliga bevis för att sydvästportar har använts för avsiktliga offerdepositioner. Vissa portar skulle ha varit otillgängliga och de fyndmaterialansamlingar som inte var gravar var sannolikt oavsiktliga eller åtminstone icke indikativa på upprepade offerriter. Sydvästportar var sannolikt mer relevanta i begravningsriter eller potentiellt udda fall av nekromanti snarare än i offer kopplade till förfädersdyrkan.

Malea Planum is a volcanic plain on the southern rim of Hellas Planitia, the largest impact basin on Mars. Four large circular structures on Malea Planum have traditionally been identified as paterae, or low relief, central vent volcanoes (Plescia and Saunders, 1979). A geologic map was constructed and new crater counts made to explore the ages and origins of the paterae. Amphitrites and Peneus Paterae have radial patterns of wrinkle ridges on their flanks and distinct summit calderas (95 km and 130 km across) with arcuate bounding scarps. In contrast, Malea and Pityusa Paterae are broad depressions with diameters greater than 400 km. In some ways Pityusa and Malea Paterae resemble old, filled impact craters (Plescia, 2003) but they also have characteristics of volcanic subsidence features (Roche et al., 2000). A very strong positive gravity anomaly is centered over Amphitrites and smaller positive anomalies are associated with Peneus and Malea Paterae. A slight annular positive anomaly is associated with Pityusa. The geology of the Malea Planum Region has been influenced by impact cratering, volcanic, tectonic, fluvial, and most recently, eolian processes. The Noachian was dominated by impact cratering, the formation of Hellas Basin, and the eruption of flood lavas. Malea Planum formed during the mid- to late-Noachian, likely the result of sills liquefying the volatile-rich crust. Malea and Pityusa Paterae formed during the late Noachian. The Hesperian was marked by the formation of Peneus and Amphitrites and complex valley networks. During the mid-Hesperian, southern Malea Planum may have been covered by a very thick polar mantle deposit that melted and sublimated during the late Hesperian. Smaller episodes of polar mantle deposition continued through the Amazonian to the present. The Amazonian is also characterized by eolian activity creating dune fields, etched surfaces, and dust devil tracks. Based on the topographic and geophysical evidence, Amphitrites and Peneus are typical highland paterae. We conclude that a mid-crustal sill complex similar to that thought to exist beneath the eastern Snake River Plain in Idaho may be the best explanation for the formation of Malea and Pityusa Paterae. A lack of associated flow features on the surface suggests that the loads are the result of an accumulation of dense intrusions. A surficial load (e.g., lava flows) is insufficient to cause the amount of subsidence observed. A mid-crustal mafic or ultra-mafic sill or a dense network of sills and dikes may have contributed to the subsidence.

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.

A methodology for ageing foetal and neonatal cattle is developed, involving radiographic examination of infant mandibles for early developmental stages in molariform teeth; tooth-wear methodologies are imprecise at this stage before wear commences. Known-age modern bovine foetal and neonate material are collected as a control assemblage for method development (n=73); six Neolithic to Norse era assemblages from Orkney are examined using the modified technique together with standard tooth-wear analysis and other methodologies. Foetal and died-at-birth material is diagnosed at most sites using the new technique, together with a range of other peri-natal age-groups. Ageing at this early stage is highly relevant in the diagnosis of milking as a palaeoeconomy: the accepted view is that unwanted (male) calves were slaughtered to maximise milk for human consumption, hence a surfeit of neonate calf remains, as at the study sites. The diagnosis of foetal and died-at-birth material challenges this view, suggesting that attritional causes may have contributed to deaths at this stage. Although milking was probably carried out at most of the study sites, this may have been combined with slaughter of cattle for meat in a pragmatic exploitation strategy. Literary research shows possible attritional causes of abortion and early death in calves, in particular dietary insufficiency in pregnant cows, microbial infections, and also inadequate colostrum uptake. Additionally, research is used to consider the challenges to health that early milking might have posed, to the calf as mentioned, but also to the cow, where three main health issues are highlighted: infertility, mastitis and lameness. / The attached files include the Landscape pages and appendices V and VI. Not included are the jpeg Mandible files. A cover sheet was not available.