The aim of this thesis is to interpret and discuss the weapon-graves of Viking Age Birka. The weapon-grave phenomenon is deemed differential in relation to the rest of the grave-material of the site, and thus the questions that motivate the thesis is: who was buried with weapons and why? Further questions arise regarding the social aspects of individuals who were buriedalong with weapons. The theoretical approach will be to evaluate any differences in 'social class', 'social age' and 'gender' between the weapon-grave contexts. By conducting qualitativeand quantified analysis of the grave-goods, this thesis adresses both overall and detailed patterns in correlation and constellations between weapons, other grave-goods and terms of burial..

I have statistically worked up a material from 228 graves from the late Iron Age in the area of Mälardalen.In my material I have gathered the incidence of combs, knifes, beads, weapons whetstones and torshammarsrings.I have found that beads are overrepresented in graves of women and whetstones in graves of men. I only found weapons in graves from male.I found no indication from my statistic hypothesis (Z-test) that a grave that contains more than three beads should define the grave of a woman. A grave that contains a lot of beads, more than 20, consider I as a female gender.Combs, knifes and torshammarsring are considered as gender neutral..

This study is a first attempt to try to understand what the variables could be that make the person responsible for the grave sign up for grave gardening services by the church or to maintain the grave by him- or herself. There has been almost no research done within this subject. This study has been made by a qualitative research method and interviews have been performed with both persons responsible for the grave who have gardening services made by the church and with those who maintain the grave by themselves. The characteristics that are affecting consumer behaviour and the buyer decision process are presented in the theoretical part of this study. That is done so it can be seen if a comparison between the results of the study and the basic theoretical concept is possible, resulting in an understanding of how the costumers think and argue about this question.

This essay contents a theme-centred study of Elsa Grave?s poetry. It presents an all-pervading featured doom-theme and illuminates three motifs and attitudes through which the theme is featured. The presentation includes analyses that bear in mind the double perspectives within Grave?s poems ? the subjective and the universal, where also an omnipresent political attitude is represented.

The subject for this essay considers the trade with amber and how it was organized in Scandinavia during the early Nordic Bronze age. There is very little written about this subject. One of the few scholars that have done this is the archeologist Timothy Earle. He has done this generally from a material that comes from the world of the living, mostly settlements. I will compare his view with a Grave material that are based on Aner & Kersten Die Ältere Bronzezeit (2001, band 11).

The aim of this thesis is to make a comparison between solitary graves and graves in grave fields from the Roman Iron Age on Gotland, Sweden. Differences in burial customs, morphology, dating, gender, age, grave-goods and social status are compared between 19 solitary graves and graves in three different grave fields in different parts of Gotland. An attempt is made to explain these differences and to discuss which functions the solitary graves had. Discussions about whether it is possible to distinguish social status and gender with the help of grave-goods are also made in connection to the determination of status and sex..

This paper discusses an osteological- and archeological analysis of a cairn from the Bronze Age on Gotland. The osteological material consists of both burnt and and unburnt bones from both human and animal. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the individuals who were buried in the cairn. It is also to generate information about continuity in its use and patterns of distribution of the bones and grave-goods in the cairn. The osteological analysis show that a minimum of five human individuals is present in the osteological material.

Since the down of archaeology much of the resurges has focused on graves andGrave materials. This essay is an attempt to interpret a Grave material to the society of the living, to investigate what a megalithic Grave material can tell us about the society that made them and the people that were buried in them. The study is focused upon two megalithic graves in Löderup; Ramshög and Carlshög. A study of the bone materiel, building construction and building material at Ramshög and Carlshög is done and then compared with different theories that are made of Ramshög and Carlshög and of other megalithic graves. By studying different theories of megalithic graves and comparing these with Ramshög and Carlshög I have tried to evaluate which ones that are relevant in this case.The megalithic graves primarily shows some kind of change, in society or in their way of looking at the dead or the life after this.

Mainly focusing on the big picture regarding the research concerning the religious sphere in Bronze Age Scandinavia, the research field has been missing out on the smaller picture. The results have a tendency to produce a picture where the big landscape monuments, social structures and cosmology appear in the foreground. This essay is a comment to this phenomena and a methodological and terminological discussion regarding the way in which we as archaeologist?s works with questions about religion and rites. The main task though is to make an attempt in trying to identify the ritual performers and to answer the question whether it's possible or not to do that.

Decapitated Vs. Stomach buried ? A study of decapitated people and stomach placed people in Iron Age in Sweden and Denmark. This essay is about decapitated persons in graves and those buried on their stomach in the Iron Age in Sweden and Denmark. The analysis is to compare these graves by six perspectives; location of the grave, construction of the grave, grave goods, sex, age and interpretations of the grave.

This essay is focused on the re-use during the Bronze Age of the Stone Age passage grave RAÄ 85 in Mysinge, Öland. To increase the knowledge of the phenomena of re-use in general and that which occurred in Mysinge passage grave in particular I?ve looked at other forms of re-use on Öland and the re-use of passage graves in Falbygden. The research has been limited to the Bronze Age. My goal has been to see what this might tell us about the relationship people during the Bronze Age had towards the abstract subject of ?non-existence?, in other words death.

This essay is focused on the re-use during the Bronze Age of the Stone Age passage grave RAÄ 85 in Mysinge, Öland. To increase the knowledge of the phenomena of re-use in general and that which occurred in Mysinge passage grave in particular I?ve looked at other forms of re-use on Öland and the re-use of passage graves in Falbygden. The research has been limited to the Bronze Age. My goal has been to see what this might tell us about the relationship people during the Bronze Age had towards the abstract subject of ?non-existence?, in other words death.

The aim for this bachelor thesis is to find an answer for the placement of Migration and Vendel period graves on preexisting house constructions in Sweden. The reason behind these graves being built on their respective places will be analyzed, discussed and compared with similar finds in Scandinavia, where a wide contact net had been established during this time. Different kinds of social and religious meanings and functions with the grave mounds will also be taken into consideration during the discussion and analysis. The actual findings in the graves will be not be a part of this thesis, as the aim is to focus more on the grave itself as a cultural and social symbol for the people, and the values it had, during the time period it was built..

This paper deals with rights of women and their social role during the Viking Age. The method is to compare things and written material.In the written material, three cases of rape have been identified. How each of these cases where looked upon differs; legally the punishment for rape was exile. Violence against wives implied their right to divorce, whereby they were entitled to take with them a great part of the family´s capital, namely their dowry and morning gift.A husband and wife did not inherit each other but a widow could inherit from her children if they died without offspring.Women buried in boat graves indicate that they had a function or were closely involved in the cult. From two graves, the Aska Grave and the Oseberg Grave, the findings can be interpreted as indicating a change in the social behaviour.

For this essay, 12 liters of cremated bones from the Viking age grave mound RAÄ Berga 134:1 in Trotteslöv, Berga parish, Småland have been osteologically analysed.  The aim with this paper concerned questions as sex, age, number of individuals and animal species in the grave. Further questions that have been investigated are the relationship between the osteological sexdetermination and artifacts as well as which role animals played in burial rituals and as grave goods.The grave contained a middle-aged woman and a number of sacrificed animals: two horses, two dogs, three birds, a boar and a cat. The bones were fragile and very fragmented. One of the birds was determined as a bird of prey, and that together with findings of horses and dogs indicates hunting with bird of prey, an activity performed only by powerful and wealthy individuals.  The woman was buried in a mound of notable size, and with common grave goods for the time period: combs, beads, bronze and iron items. An unusual finding was textile which indicates high status. The number of sacrificed animal species also suggests that the grave belonged to a powerful individual. During the Viking age animals generally played an important role in grave rituals and as items to be used by their master in the next life.