Archaeology and art history are two disciplines that have a lot in common, especially in the pre-historic field where both disciplines rely on the same material – artifacts. Interdisciplinary methods have become increasingly more common the last few years and are very beneficial as it allows for more insight and variables into the study of the human pasts. This thesis aims to develop two methods from art history into methods fitting for archaeological material to investigate what type of information this can produce. The methods used are material analysis and spatial analysis. Spatial analysis studies human movement within an urban space, but this work considerer the placement of the individual within the grave instead as well as the grave goods. The method investigates how the placement of the grave goods relates and interacts with each other and the individual. The analysis can give clues and insight on who the buried individual was, their identity, and social role as well as giving indicators about the contemporary society the person lived in. When a spatial analysis is made it is favorable to carry out a material analysis as well. This is done to understand what type of materials the grave contains and what the material can tell. This will give depth and possibilities to understand the objects in the grave, their use, and the relationships they had to the individual. The material analysis in this paper is conducted with the help of an analysis scheme which is a tool that helps collect the same type of information from all the studied objects. The material that will be used are two ship burials from Valsgärde, 12 and 15, also known as the twin-graves as they are the only contemporary ship burials out of the grave field’s total of 15 ship burials. During the Viking age, it was common practice amongst the elite families to bury their dead in ship burials that included lavish gifts. Valsgärde in Uppland, Sweden, is an example of such a grave field with a long history. Graves from the Viking age, however, show the change that was present in the region, and traces of trade to the east can be found. Graves 12 and 15 are from the mid-10th century and some of the grave goods show influences from the east, both clothes, and items. The graves are the only of their kind at Valsgärde and even though they show the foreign impact they still follow the established grave traditions that Valsgärde have carried since the 6th century. The result from ship burials 12 and 15 are compared to Birka’s graves Bj 581 and Bj 944 who is similar in content, time and richness. The hope for this paper is to show how useful interdisciplinary methods can be, in this case, spatial analysis and material analysis with analysis scheme, to bring new aspects to graves and grave goods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-457671 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Sénby Posse, Lovisa |
| 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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