Cremated remains have long been regarded as a highly complex material that often provides unsatisfactory results. This essay discusses the problems that arise when methods commonly used on unburned bone material are used in a cremated skeletal material. The present essay discusses the results from osteological analysis of seven Cremations from Pre-Roman Iron Age from a large cemetery in Alvastra, Smörkullen. Several methods were ultimately not applied in the present study as they were insufficient for application on the relevant material. Since the methods were inapplicable and fragments available for gender assessments too low, no sex assessments were made.

This thesis concerns five Gotland Bronze Age cairns. They have been analyzed in order to compare their inner and outer burial - and building context. The analysis then forms the basis for the discussion of the similarities and differences observed. These five cairns along with the cairn Uggarderojr are presented in detail and compared. Major similarities were found between four of the five cairns.

I denna uppsats har en osteologisk analys genomförts på ett material från åtta gravhögar med en vikt på 12 kg. Benmaterialet kommer från Finström 12.1, ett åländskt gravfält från yngre järnåldern. Syftet var att se om det fanns ett mönster i gravinnehållet och om det fanns en korrelation mellan kön, ålder, djurarter och fynd. Det osteologiska resultatet samt fyndmaterialet jämfördes sedan med tre åländska och tre svenska gravfält från samma tidsperiod för att se om det finns likheter eller skillnader mellan dessa lokaler i förhållande till gravsammansättning. Speciellt fokus har satts på relationen mellan människa och djur för att undersöka om kön eller ålder av den begravda individen har haft betydelse för vilka djur man gravlagts med.

This paper concerns a comparative analysis between two pre-Roman burial ground and the cremated individuals buried there, Skogome cemetery in Bohuslän and Smörkullen cemetery in Östergötland. The comparative analysis consists of several parts that concern both cemeteries inner and outer burial customs, and the osteological analysis of a total of 18 cremated invidvidulas. By studying the different parts separately, it has been possible to identify similarities and differences between the two contemporary cemeteries. There are great similarities between the cemeteries, differences were mainly observed in the osteological material relating to the amount of bone in each burial. The smaller amounts of bone in the graves of Skogome also holds a higher degree of fragmentation, but can not be explained by a higher combustion rate than the skeletal material from Smörkullen.