The purpose of this paper is to see what new information can be added to the growing knowledge of the site Buttle Änge by analysing the osteological materials that have been found in proximity to picture stones (trench 4) and the inlying cairn (trench 12) in 2013. This area has been used in varying ways for a very long time, on the site graves from the late Vendel Period and early Viking Age have been dated in addition to this large amounts of ceramic shards and slag indicate that at some point melting and pottery had been performed on the site. The focus of this analysis has mainly been on identifying the activities that can be seen in the osteological materials and to arrange them in a chronological order. The methods implemented have been used to see MNI, what species are represented, age at time of death, degree of fragmentation, how hard the cremated bones are burned and in the case of non-cremated bones from cow, sheep, goat and pig what part of the body is represented. The results of this analysis showed that on the north-eastern side of trench 4 was a concentration of bone that indicate animal slaughter. On the south-western end of the trench a cremated human could be identified, this individual was lying next to a previously identified grave with an identical level of cremation. The graves and the slaughter site were clearly separated. In trench 12 the analysis of the cremated bones indicated the presence of two more individuals than what was previously recorded, this was based on the difference in age and level of cremation on the fragments used in the ageing of the dead. In the cairn non-cremated bones were found, in one of the bigger deposits the remains of a human foetus were found. This foetus had likely died soon before or after birth, why it was placed in the cairn is unknown but it is not the only case. The results show that this place has been used in varying ways and that the previous use of the site as a burial ground was likely taken into consideration as long as the memory of it lasted in the local community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-298100 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Duphorn, Walter |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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