The aim of this study has been to see what the Ajvide location and its surroundings mighthave been used as. The author is going to compare a couple of sites, Stora Förvar, Snausarve, Bjerges and Ajvide, and see if these sites might have some connection to each other. Thesesites are going to be studied and see what they might have been used as, maybe a burialground or a settlement..

This paper deals with the food economy in the Mesolithic ? Neolithic settlement Sjöholmenfrom excavation in 1961 lead by Ingeborg Tillander. This material has been compared withthe material from Ringsjöholm and Ageröd V since these places are situated near each other.The paper has three different parts there we go deeper in to birds, beaver and small vertebrae,fishes and carnivores. Another large part in the paper are taphonomic processes, faunal historyand previous research about Sjöholmen..

This paper deals with the question of neolithisation of Southern Scandinavia. The main goal is to give an overview of three theories regarding how agriculture and livestock breeding was introduced to the Southern Scandinavia. These are as follows: the immigration theory, the socio-economic theory and the historical explanation theory. Furthermore it is investigated which theory has the most probably support in material culture. There are obvious difficulties in interpreting the archaeological material.

The Pitted ware dwelling site Ajvide on the west coast of Gotland in the Baltic Sea is, because of its long continuity from the late Mesolithic to the middle of the Scandinavian Bronze Age, an interesting research object concerning Stone Age in the Baltic area. In this essay, a comparison between two activity areas on Ajvide have been carried out in the purpose of finding out what these areas may have been used for during the middle Neolithic.  It has been showed, through zooarchaeological analyses of animal bones, that the areas most likely are depositing sites for slaughters refuse and food debris. If it is a result of everyday or more ceremonial activities is left undetermined..

In this essay, Neolithic potsherds from Alby, Öland has been examined. The purpose was to investigate the connection between the lipid residues and the vessel shapes and ornament. To solve the attempt lipid and morphological analyses were executed. The lipid analysis revealed traces of different food residues and the morphological method showed various shapes and decors. The result indicates that the Alby ceramics has been used for cooking/storage of different fish and meat dishes, as well as vegetables and that the vegetables doesn?t derive of cereals..

This essay studies the funnel-beaker ceramic in connection with the megalith graves in South Scandinavia. In my work I have described the nature of ceramics and looked on the crockery types and ornamentation and then discussed the use of the material in a ritual perspective. In the first part I have focused on the critical aspects you have to think about when you do a study like this one. In the second part of this essay I have done a case study, with the ceramic material, in three passages graves in the area of Falbygden, Western Sweden and studied the ceramic material and the nature of it in South Scandinavia as well. Then in the third I discussed the potential use, there is two, of the ceramic material in general of South Scandinavia and looked at it in a ritual perspective..

Since 1865 when Lubbock introduced the Palaeolithic and Neolithic to the surrounding archaeological world there has been an apparent problematic in how we define the different periods. When the Mesolithic age was introduced to fill the hiatus between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic, the problematic became even more noticeable. By examine different subjects which distinguish the different periods I wish to highlight the problematic in viewing them as characteristics. The problem lies in seeing the characteristics as defining only one period when they actually can be seen in two or all three of the periods. I then tried to give the different period's new better suited definitions.

This thesis examines a sample of Pitted Ware pottery from the Gotlandic site of Ajvide in regard to the spatial and temporal relationship of the shards. Ajvide Stone Age site have been extensively excavated over the past 25 years and the most recent analysis of pottery was carried out by Inger Österholm in 1987 and new analyses of the material are therefore greatly needed. Pottery from three sample areas was analysed in regard to their distribution, decoration, fragmentation, part of pot and quality of the goods. To analyse the material in a contextual way a multivariate statistical analysis called correspondence analysis was used. Two areas denominated ?dark areas?, which Österholm defined previously, as possible ritual sites, and one reference area with mixed material were chosen for the analysis.

This study deals with the contribution of the genetic variant lactase persistence among Neolithic people from the Baltic Island Öland. Skeletal remains from twelve individuals went through DNA sequencing in order to find the mutation that allows adult individuals to digest milk sugar. The twelve individuals were chosen from two different Neolithic sites, where the archaeological and isotopic data suggest that the individuals from Köpingsvik were hunters and gatherers and the individuals from Resmo were early farmers. The individuals with the genetic variant lactase persistence can be described with selection and genetic flow.  Only five individuals produced results and the mutation was found in two of the subjects. All the individuals who were successfully sequenced came from Resmo, whereasno individuals from Köpingsvik yielded any results.

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.

This essay is about the burial rites in the passage graves of Falbygden, Västergötland. My questions were: Can the burial ritual be understood by comparing the material culture inside and outside the tombs? What kind of grave offerings did the dead have? Most peculiar are all these beads of amber, what kind of meaning did they have? Was the position of the body a part of the ritual? The time period is the middle Neolithic.I selected four passage graves to investigate: Hjälmars rör (Falköping 3), Rössberga (Valtorp 2), Näs sn 7:2 Kvättak 5:1 and Frälsegården (Gökhem 94).My conclusion was that there are differences between the material culture inside and outside the tombs. Outside the ritual includes fire, inside the material culture are not burned. The material culture outside is more dominant than the finds inside, although the beads of amber are only represented inside and dominates the findings inside.

Research on Stone Age hunters and gatherers in Norrland has been lively since the 1960s. Central to this research are questions about the organization of society, sedentariness, continuity and resource management. One central part of life in the taiga is the need for fire and fuel. This aspect has been little discussed in conjunction with the mentioned research questions. My goal is to show that the matter of fire and fuel is an important one that needs to be taken in to consideration when discussing Stone Age Norrland and hunter/gatherers.

This essay includes an osteological analysis on the 1122 scattered human remains from The Pitted Ware culture site at Ajvide, Gotland. The scattered human remains have been found in the cultural layers, during archeological excavations at Ajvide between the years 1983-1987 and 1992-2009, where a burial ground was discovered. During the excavations, 85 skeletons graves were found, with complete and incomplete skeletons of 87 individuals. But aside from the graves, scattered human bones were discovered at The Pitted Ware culture site. One of the aims of the essay was to examine the bone material of the scattered human remains, and to determine whether this could possibly be a different type of burial custom than the skeletons graves.

This one-year master's thesis investigates the late part of the Middle Neolithic on the island of Gotland. This thesis has been written without the influence of a singular theoretical pespective, and has therefore seen input from the processual, and postprocessual theories. By using several perspectives, an attempt is made to view the material remains used in the most objective manner possible. The specific aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the Mid-Neolithic inhabitants of Gotland were a part of the Corded Ware culture (or as it is called in Sweden, the Battleaxe culture or the Boataxe culture). Most recent literature has concluded that Gotland was never a part of the Battlexe culture, though this thesis has discovered many parallels with the mainland culture, including the production of similar objects and ritual practices.

The bark from prehistory ? an osteological analysis on dog bones from the Stone Age settlements of Hemmor and Gullrum at Gotland and a theoretic study of the secular and sacred roles of the dog during the Neolithic.Dog bones from two Pitted Ware Culture (around 2500 BC) settlements, Hemmor in När parish and Gullrum in Näs parish/Havdhem parish, at southern Gotland, Sweden are analyzed. The analysis contains a study of age, withers height and size estimation as well as skeletal changes and pathologies. The attempt of the analysis is to highlight the secular and sacred role of the dog during the Neolithic at Gotland. The dog bones were collected during excavations in the years 1890 and 1903 and were found across the entire surfaces of the settlements.Although there were no specific dog breeds during the Stone Age, the dogs at Hemmor and Gullrum show a wide range of size (withers height spans from 39,74 cm to 56,47 cm) and may therefore have been used for different purposes depending on their size.