This thesis explores identity in early mediaeval Scotland (ca 800-1300AD) using biological and burial deposition data. During this period Scotland was developing as a unified kingdom. The Norse, Scots, and Anglo-Saxons battled for political power. The Saxon and Irish Churches were pressuring for superiority over each other and over local beliefs. Many research areas in bioarchaeology have moved away from the more simplistic processual approach after a renewed understanding of the complexities of human existence. However, this newer methodology has not been sufficiently applied to early mediaeval Scottish studies. Common doxa still permeates the discipline despite the lack of critical assessment. Doxa tends to separate the early mediaeval Scottish world into the circumscribed categories of Norse (or ‘Viking’) and native, Christian and pagan. These commonly accepted site designations regarding ethnicity and religion were used to assess three hundred and twenty-one individuals from 21 sites. These individuals were analysed macroscopically for age, sex, stature and limb ratios, craniometrics, joint degeneration and disease, musculo-skeletal stress markers, dental pathologies, and overall health and disease. This data was compared to the available documentation for the sites considering site location, body position, cemetery type, grave enclosures, and grave furnishings. Statistical and qualitative methods were used to compare the data. Results suggest that there are slight differences within the population that may suggest some legitimacy for common site designations; however, the overall conclusion implies caution in the use of oversimplified categorising and a generally egalitarian view of identity for the early mediaeval people in Scotland.

In the small town of Västergarn on Gotland lies a rather impressive rampart, circa one kilometre long. Excavations of the area inside of the rampart, as well as excavations of the rampart itself, have yielded no conclusive answers regarding the dating and main purpose of the rampart and the settlement that supposedly lies within. This paper aims to shed some light on the date and purpose of the Västergarn rampart. This will mainly be done by a comparative study, where the Västergarn Rampart will be compared to other ramparts, one in Waterford and one in Birka. In this analysis the construction, mainly of the core construction of the ramparts, will be taken into consideration but aspects such as terrain and building material will also be considered. The results of earlier research in and around the Västergarn area will also be used to then come to a comprehensive theory regarding the dating and purpose of the Västergarn rampart.

<p>I have statistically worked up a material from 228 graves from the late Iron Age in the area of Mälardalen.</p><p>In my material I have gathered the incidence of combs, knifes, beads, weapons whetstones and torshammarsrings.</p><p>I have found that beads are overrepresented in graves of women and whetstones in graves of men. I only found weapons in graves from male.</p><p>I found no indication from my statistic hypothesis (Z-test) that a grave that contains more than three beads should define the grave of a woman. A grave that contains a lot of beads, more than 20, consider I as a female gender.</p><p>Combs, knifes and torshammarsring are considered as gender neutral.</p>

<p>In the Late Iron Age, the Mälaren region contained a clearly stratified society and many sites in the landscape indicate the presence of an upper stratum, an elite. This concept – elite – may perhaps be seen as problematic, but in this case it is decidedly more neutral, and considerably less limiting and excluding than many other concepts.</p><p>The elite was a group that we know possessed larger farm buildings, more monumental and richly equipped graves as well as control over a large part of the specialised handicraft. The people in this elite group of society clearly advertised that they belonged to a special social unit. There are indications that these people had clear similarities with the nobility of the Middle Ages, but they were active in a society without any towns, Christianity or church administration. This dissertation discusses a number of issues concerning the elite of the Late Iron Age. Two studies are central. The first concerns six sites in the Mälaren region: Old Uppsala, Helgö, Vendel, Valsgärde, Husby in Glanshammar parish, and Ancient Sigtuna. The sites are compared to study the similarities and differences of elite settings. I investigate the evidence of different sources for the presence of great landownership, and of their importance for the rulers compared to other resources such as plunder, trade and taxation. The results indicate that the sites had many structural and economic similarities. At the same time, the resource use varied, and each site had its own unique character. The study is concluded with a discussion on the economic structure of the sites.</p><p>The second study deals with the elite in the vicinity of Uppsala, an area that mainly through Old Uppsala and the presence of boat graves are usually connected with ancient rulers. The investigation is mainly based on a number of excavated as well as non-excavated graves, some of which have never been published. In addition, a number of placenames and three unique ritual deposits are discussed. The study indicates that the people usually included in the concept of elite were quite common. This provides a new perspective for our view of two long renowned sites: Old Uppsala and Valsgärde.</p>

In the Late Iron Age, the Mälaren region contained a clearly stratified society and many sites in the landscape indicate the presence of an upper stratum, an elite. This concept – elite – may perhaps be seen as problematic, but in this case it is decidedly more neutral, and considerably less limiting and excluding than many other concepts. The elite was a group that we know possessed larger farm buildings, more monumental and richly equipped graves as well as control over a large part of the specialised handicraft. The people in this elite group of society clearly advertised that they belonged to a special social unit. There are indications that these people had clear similarities with the nobility of the Middle Ages, but they were active in a society without any towns, Christianity or church administration. This dissertation discusses a number of issues concerning the elite of the Late Iron Age. Two studies are central. The first concerns six sites in the Mälaren region: Old Uppsala, Helgö, Vendel, Valsgärde, Husby in Glanshammar parish, and Ancient Sigtuna. The sites are compared to study the similarities and differences of elite settings. I investigate the evidence of different sources for the presence of great landownership, and of their importance for the rulers compared to other resources such as plunder, trade and taxation. The results indicate that the sites had many structural and economic similarities. At the same time, the resource use varied, and each site had its own unique character. The study is concluded with a discussion on the economic structure of the sites. The second study deals with the elite in the vicinity of Uppsala, an area that mainly through Old Uppsala and the presence of boat graves are usually connected with ancient rulers. The investigation is mainly based on a number of excavated as well as non-excavated graves, some of which have never been published. In addition, a number of placenames and three unique ritual deposits are discussed. The study indicates that the people usually included in the concept of elite were quite common. This provides a new perspective for our view of two long renowned sites: Old Uppsala and Valsgärde.

This thesis has compared the distribution of certain types of Viking Age Eastern Baltic bronze artefacts discovered on Gotland. This was done in order to observe different parts of Gotland´s interaction with different groups in the Baltic Sea region and how this might have influenced the identities and ideas of the individuals involved in the interaction. The objects and their finding contexts were subjected to a geographical analysis and applied to a map of Viking Age Gotland. Different distribution patterns can be observed for different types of artefacts, as well as a shift in pattern of interaction in the Baltic Sea region over time.

This essay have its main focus on understanding how the usual naval battle under the viking agelooked like. The timeline in question is the year 793 to the middle of 11th century. The main sourceof information are taken from the sources that have the runes and scaldic verses as their referecepoint. The study will take a brief look at the viking ships used in those battles and the weapons andarmor the soldiers would use. And then try to understand their part on the battlefield.

The University of Gotland has between the years 2006-2011 conducted seminar excavations in Västergarn parish, Gotland. During this time 167 comb fragments have been registered. Out of these are 51 of importance for this study, since they are defined as either a single-sided composite comb or a comb case. The purpose of this thesis is to enlighten the earliest period in the history of Västergarn by focusing on the earliest forms of combs and their cases. And as the title expresses do the combs date to the Viking Age or the Middle Ages? The combs from the excavations will be compared to different type schemes, both Viking Age and Middle Age and different places in Scandinavia such as Lund, Oslo, Lödöse and Gotland. The conclusion of the analysis is that the combs from Västergarn are from the late 11th century to the early 13th century, during the Early Middle Age.

The aim of this paper is to examine a group of runic artefacts dated to the Viking Age (800-1050 AD) from a gender perspective. The analysed material consists of 59 runic artefacts from Scandinavia, which differ in regards to base material, context and content. In the analysis, the material is separated, described and classified into different manageable groups of texts and artefacts. Several case studies are presented in the paper, based on information gathered from the inscriptions as well as the archaeological material. The main issue is whether it is possible to attribute runic artefacts to a specific gender by means of a combination of archaeological and philological methods. / Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera en grupp runristade föremål, daterade till vikingatid (800-1050) ur ett genusperspektiv. Den empiriska studien baseras på en studie av 59 runristade föremål av skiftande karaktär gällande material, kontext samt innehåll. Föremålen separeras och klassificeras enligt ett system uppbyggt av författaren för att belysa de olika förhållanden som existerar mellan inskription och artefakt. En kvantifiering av inskriptionerna samt de arkeologiska föremålen genomförs för att utröna huruvida det är möjligt att attribuera föremålen till ett specifikt vikingatida genus.

The aim of this thesis has been to investigate and interpret late Iron Ageand Early Medieval traces of non-ferrous metalworking on the islandGotland, Sweden. Gotland was not, based on the archaeological record, anintegrated part of the common Scandinavian culture. Instead a local,endemic cultural expression had developed; a seclusion which lasted forcenturies despite the islands central position in the Baltic Sea. In thepast, key elements for the understanding of local settlement- and burialpractices as well as the local material culture were mainly recovered andreported by local farmers. A specific category of such finds – so-called‘bronze slag’ is discussed and partly reinterpreted in the first study ofthis thesis. Two further studies treat different aspects of metalworkingand metalworkers – one discusses common archaeological notions ofScandinavian workshops, production sites and metalworkers from a criticalperspective while the other mainly focuses on the Gotlandic finds frommetal-detector surveys carried out over the last 35 years. Based on whereand to which extent, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point ofview, these finds occur a hierarchical classification into four sub groupsis presented – ordinary farm sites with traces of non-ferrous metalworking,workshop sites, potential workshop sites and last, extrovert harboursettlements. A fourth study presents an attempt to evaluate the usefulnessof magnetometry in delimiting extant traces of high-temperature crafts,such as metalworking. The last study of the thesis presents an attempt touse trace elements analysis of skeletal lead in human bone to identifypotential non-ferrous metalworkers. As the wearing of endemic Gotlandic jewellery appears to have been centralin the manifestation of the local identity it is argued that themetalworking artisans played a crucial role in defining how this identitywas signalled and displayed via the jewellery and dress-related metalobjects. It is further suggested that these artisans might have played animportant role in upholding the local economy before the advent of localminting. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>