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.

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 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.

This essay deals with a picture-stone that was found in a pre Christian grave during the archaeological excavations of the Viking Age harbour and trading place at Fröjel parish, Gotland, in 1999. The stone is at least 100 years older then the male grave in which it was found. The picture-stone can be dated to  late 8th century or early 9th century, and the grave is probably from the late 10th century. One of the main questions in this essay is why the people of that time re-used an older picture-stone in a younger burial. I believe that the stone was reused as a grave-gift. To re-use the older picture stone was to seek legitimacy for the status of the family through the forefathers. The picture-stones were originally monuments erected in the honour of dead men. The elite could display their social position and power through these monuments. The depicted figures on them can be interpreted as symbols of the transition between life and death. The Gotlandic picture-stones of this type have connections to beliefs of Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, war and death. My theoretical perspective is that through studies of picture-stones, knowledge can be gained about ideologies and social structures within the Gotlandic society during the Viking Age.

The aim of this essay is to question and analyze problems surrounding the current research within the field of spikes.The latest breakout was in the early 50's,since then there haven't been any major research projects and no interpretation have been made.Not only does this  essay bring a contribution to the research of spikes but also question what has earlier been established through interpretations.The focus of this essay is on the spikes found on the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea,these are currently stored at the Museum of Gotland.What was the main area of use that these spikes had and in which context are they found? Although only 27 finds will be analyzed during this essay ,the goal is to get a greater understanding of the usage of these finds and how this will contribute to the archaelogical sites.

This essay aims to introduce perspectives from transgender studies into archaeology´s gender analysis, by re-examining two graves. The essay examines two graves, grave 9 from Vivallen, and grave Bj 581 from Birka, Sweden. These two graves are examples of graves with a difference in archaeological gender assessment, and sex as determined by osteology and DNA-analysis. The essay discusses the grave material, and the written sources, to examine how people in the Viking Age with non-normative gender-expressions can be understood using tools from queer-and transgender studies, with the aim to not make cis-normativity the default interpretation

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka interpunktionens form och funktion i tidigvikingatida runinskrifter samt att därigenom också föra den teoretiska och metodiska diskussionen kring fenomenet runinterpunktion framåt. Undersökningens material består av runstensinskrifter från danskt område och från Götaland. Till viss del beskrivs interpunktionens form med hjälp av termer och metod lånade från grafonomin. Studiet av interpunktionens funktion begränsar sig främst till en syntaktisk analys med syfte att identifiera i vilken mån de syntaktiska gränsernas nivåer bestämmer hur interpunktionen används. Till viss del berörs även andra funktioner, till exempel textavgränsning, med utgångspunkt i innehållet. Undersökningens resultat visar framförallt på en mycket varierad användning av interpunktion. Till stor del kan bruket förstås som betingat av nivån på de syntaktiska gränserna. Avvikelser finns, dels som resultat av att interpunktionen haft andra funktioner, dels på grund av att en viss interpunktionstyp inte tycks ha använts med någon särskild funktion alls. Samband mellan interpunktionens form och funktion kan i vissa fall fastställas inom den enskilda inskriften. Dessa funktioner kan bestå i att en bestämd form av interpunktion endast markerar en viss typ av syntaktisk gräns, eller att interpunktionen förutom en syntaktisk gräns också markerar en tematisk. I Götaland visar det tidigaste materialet upp en relativt enhetlig princip utifrån vilken inskrifterna interpunkteras; i första hand markeras satsgränser med interpunktion. Det tidiga danska materialet uppvisar däremot en större variation. Utvecklingen i både det danska materialet och det från Götaland går mot att så gott som varje syntaktisk gräns interpunkteras.

This thesis analyses inhumations in Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages in Sweden and brings recognition to a material previously not delt with in a comprehensive study. The graves of the first Christians have long interested scholars. Some general characteristics are generally agreed upon, such as inhumations withan east-west orientation of the dead and fewer grave goods in relation to earlier periods. Some deviant materials are also found in the graves but have not been thoroughly analyzed. This thesis deals with this recurrent deviant material, arguing that it is an essential part of Conversion Era graves in southern Scandinavia. Furthermore, this recurrent deviant material is key for our understanding of the burial tradition during the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. Parallels in both France and Britain put the material in perspective. / <p>Examinatorerna bestod av en grupp anställda vid institutionen.</p>

The raising of the runestones occurred during a complex period related to Christianity´s establishment in Scandinavia. The breaking point between the old Nordic and Christian religion has often been treated as clear-cut. Defining a period or material culture into one or the other religion is too simple and becomes problematic when a previously established (worldview) religion has been alive and permeated throughout society. This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of this period by studying runestones in Södermanland with pagan symbols. The runestones will be examined together with their context.

Previous research on the funerary practices of the Viking Age has found evidence to suggest that people were sometimes executed for the purpose of following others into death. There are several well-known examples of this practice from around Scandinavia, including graves from Birka, Bollstanäs, and Gerdrup, where men appear to have been executed using brutal methods. Written sources such as Ibn Fadlān's travelogue and Sigurdskvädet, however, often place an emphasis on the killing of women during funerary rites – a practice that is inconsistent with the archaeological evidence. Where women have been suggested to have been executed as part of a funerary ritual, their skeletons often show no evidence for violence. This study was therefore conceived in order to critically compare the archaeological and textual evidence with a view to establishing the potential reasons for this discrepancy. By applying a theoretical framework that focused on the funeral as a ‘mortuary drama,’ the study has identified different potential causes for the absence of skeletal injuries on female individuals. It is possible, for example, that while women were killed they were often subjected to other types of fatal violence that do not leave injuries on the bone. It is also possible that women who were executed were more often cremated, rather than buried. Finally, it is possible that both men and women could be killed as part of these rites, and that the identity and the gender of the victim was of less symbolic importance than the act itself. The study shows that although the graves are scattered over vast geographical areas, they appear to have some certain commonalities, nevertheless the graves are interpreted differently. Variations, when comparing graves and the historical sources, appear natural, as Viking culture as well as their graves carry great variations. This study has shown that the types of fatal violence described in historical sources differ from the archaeological evidence presented in modern excavations.