Västergarn is a medieval settlement situated on the west coast of the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. It has for a long time been the focus of study for researchers due to its cultural heritage in regards of its church, rampart and archaeological remains of a settlement dating to the Early Middle Ages. The University of Uppsala conducted excavations at the site during 2005–2013 which have led to large amounts of archaeological material which enabled several theses being written about the place. This thesis aims to study metal dress accessories from Västergarn and the people behind these artifacts who lived there during the early medieval period. Gender identity, ethnicity and cultural belonging will be addressed. The main part of the thesis focuses on typology and chronology. This will be achieved by a morphological study of the material. In addition to this, an ArcGis study is conducted to study distribution patterns in the settlement. The conclusion is that dress accessories allow different conclusions on the population of Västergarn. In terms of gender, it is argued that both men and women were present, albeit artefacts of male gender dominate the assemblages. The majority of the material in terms of ethnicity and cultural identity can be attributed to a Gotlandic tradition, while some dress accessories seem to come from abroad, to the Slavonic areas and other regions in the Baltic Sea. Also, oriental influences can be seen, mainly in regard to the decorated belt mounts. in conclusion, the result of this thesis indicates that two separate groups, both Gotlanders and non-Gotlanders were active in Västergarn during the early Middle Ages which is visible in the two churches, the Baltic ware pottery and the form of dress accessories people wore at the time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-452267 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Bengtsson, Fanny |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Arkeologi |
| 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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