In 1953 a human skeleton and a set of tools made from antler, bone, bronze, stone and wood was found embedded in marine clay under a former inlet of Lake Mälaren at Granhammar in Västra Ryd parish, Uppland province, Sweden. Andreas Oldeberg and Nils-Gustaf Gejvall published the find in 1959, and for half a century it did not see continued study.

This paper reports on a comprehensive series of re-studies and laboratory analyses of the skeleton and the artefact finds. Among the results are an unambiguous date by multiple methods in the late 800s cal BC, i.  e. late Period V in Montelius’ chronology. Inferences are made about the individual’s geographical origin, diet and main occupation. Comparisons are made with the victims of mass violence from Tollense Valley in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

In a time and place where almost every dead person was cremated and no human remains were buried under anything but the strictest ritualised circumstances, Granhammar Man offers something unique and valuable. He was killed in combat far from home and sank to the sea floor with his leather-working equipment.

1953 wurden in Granhammar in der Gemeinde Västra Ryd in der schwedischen Provinz Uppland ein menschliches Skelett und eine Reihe von Werkzeugen aus Geweih, Knochen, Bronze, Stein und Holz in marinem Lehm eingebettet unter einem ehemaligen Inlet des Mälarsees gefunden. Andreas Oldeberg und Nils-Gustaf Gejvall veröffentlichten den Fund 1959, ein halbes Jahrhundert lang wurde der Befund jedoch nicht weiter untersucht.

Die vorliegende Arbeit berichtet über eine umfassende Reihe von erneuten Untersuchungen und Laboranalysen des Skeletts und der Artefaktfunde. Zu den Ergebnissen gehört eine eindeutige Datierung mit mehreren Methoden in die späten 800er Jahre des vorchristlichen Zeitalters, d.  h. in die späte Periode V der Chronologie nach Oscar Montelius. Es werden Rückschlüsse auf die geografische Herkunft, die Ernährung und die Haupttätigkeit der Person gezogen, außerdem Vergleiche mit den Opfern der Massengewalt aus dem Tollensetal in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern gezogen.

In einer Zeit und an einem Ort, zu der nahezu jeder Tote eingeäschert wurde und menschliche Überreste nur unter strengsten rituellen Bedingungen bestattet wurden, bietet der Granhammar-Mann etwas Einzigartiges und Wertvolles. Er wurde fern der Heimat im Kampf getötet und sank mitsamt seiner Ausrüstung zur Lederverarbeitung auf den Meeresgrund.

Prehistoric chewed pitch has proven to be a useful source of ancient DNA, both from humans and their microbiomes. Here we present the metagenomic analysis of three pieces of chewed pitch from Huseby Klev, Sweden, that were dated to 9,890–9,540 before present. The metagenomic profile exposes a Mesolithic oral microbiome that includes opportunistic oral pathogens. We compared the data with healthy and dysbiotic microbiome datasets and we identified increased abundance of periodontitis-associated microbes. In addition, trained machine learning models predicted dysbiosis with 70–80% probability. Moreover, we identified DNA sequences from eukaryotic species such as red fox, hazelnut, red deer and apple. Our results indicate a case of poor oral health during the Scandinavian Mesolithic, and show that pitch pieces have the potential to provide information on material use, diet and oral health.

To date, traditional narratives of the Late Iron Age have focused almost exclusively on discussions of the elite. These were the martial rulers and major landholders who occupied the upper strata of Scandinavian society. The lives of lower-status population groups, including enslaved and other ‘unfree’ or dependent peoples such as landless farmers, have long been marginalized in archaeological discourse. We have little knowledge of the ways in which the lifeways of subaltern peoples were shaped by the construction and maintenance of socio-political hierarchies and networks, or of how social inequality permeated and impacted the daily lives of communities. In this article, the authors propose that the concept of structural violence, developed by sociologist Johan Galtung, has the potential to offer an interdisciplinary framework for multi-proxy studies of (bio)archaeological and textual data.

This article discusses late Viking Age mortuary practices in the town of Sigtuna during the early urban phase (c. 980–1100 AD) with focus on the so-called graveyards (Sw. gravgårdar): cemeteries where the dead were inhumed mainly in accordance with Christian customs, but that lacked churches. It aims to trace cultural, social, or religious communities among the early town dwellers based on an analysis of their burial rituals, in combination with results of osteological and bioarcheological studies of their physical remains. The paper shows that burial customs varied within the early townscape: the dead were laid to rest under visible grave constructions in exposed topographical locations, as well as on flat-ground cemeteries in lower terrain close to the settlement area or at early churchyards. Moreover, diversity in mortuary customs, sex and age distribution, gender division, and diet can be detected between individual cemeteries, indicating that they were used by different urban groups that to some extent parted from their dead in different ways. The results of bioarcheological analyses indicate a heterogenous early urban population, comprising people from the Mälaren area, and also from distant regions. The burial customs reflect this specific urban situation, bearing witness to both long-distance contacts and roots in local mortuary traditions.

We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europe. British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia from the Viking period, whereas eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden. In some regions, a drop in current levels of external ancestry suggests that ancient immigrants contributed proportionately less to the modern Scandinavian gene pool than indicated by the ancestry of genomes from the Viking and Medieval periods. Finally, we show that a north-south genetic cline that characterizes modern Scandinavians is mainly due to the differential levels of Uralic ancestry and that this cline existed in the Viking Age and possibly earlier.

Erik Jedvardsson, king of Sweden, was slain in c. AD 1160 and has been venerated as a saint since the end of the twelfth century. It is clear from historical records and osteological studies that the bones, kept in a reliquary in Uppsala Cathedral, have received much attention over the centuries. Initially they served as intercessors with God and were reverently touched and divided for distribution to other institutions. After the Reformation the remains were kept in a reliquary and exclusively functioned as heirlooms embodying a legendary fallen king. In the Age of Enlightenment, the authenticity of the bones came under scrutiny. Eventually, they turned into subjects of scientific research and no less than three thorough anthropological investigations have been conducted since 1915. The transformation of Saint Erik’s body from a Christian relic to an anthropological specimen not only testifies to the strong agency of the remains but can be traced to several shifts in the ‘cultural paradigm’. Although the historical understanding of the medieval king has not changed significantly over time, these paradigm shifts have inevitably affected the narrative and how the bones have been handled.

Objective: This paper will review how different methods employed to study bone loss in the past were used to explore different questions and aspects of bone loss, how methodology has changed over time, and how these different approaches have informed our understanding of bone loss in the past.

Materials and methods: A review and discussion is conducted on research protocols and results of 84 paleopathology publications on bone loss in archaeological skeletal collections published between 1969 and 2021.

Conclusions: The variety in research protocols confounds accurate meta-analysis of previously published research; however, more recent publications incorporate a combination of bone mass and bone quality based methods. Biased sample selection has resulted in a predominance of European and Medieval publications, limiting more general observations on bone loss in the past. Collection of dietary or paleopathological covariables is underemployed in the effort to interpret bone loss patterns.

Significance: Paleopathology publications have demonstrated differences in bone loss between distinct archaeological populations, between sex and age groups, and have suggested factors underlying observed differences. However, a lack of a gold standard has encouraged the use of a wide range of methods. Understanding how this array of methods effects results is crucial in contextualizing our knowledge of bone loss in the past.

Limitations: The development of a research protocol is also influenced by available expertise, available equipment, restrictions imposed by the curator, and site-specific taphonomic aspects. These factors will likely continue to cause (minor) biases even if a best practice can be established.

Suggestions for future research: Greater effort to develop uniform terminology and operational definitions of osteoporosis in skeletal remains, as well as the expansion of time scale and geographical areas studied. The Next Generation Sequencing revolution has also opened up the possibility of ancient DNA analyses to study genetic predisposition to bone loss in the past.

This study aims to promote consistent observations of sacralization, a relatively common form of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV). Sacralization can inform on genetic affiliation. There are four types, ranging from enlarged transverse processes to bony ankylosis. Complete sacralization reportedly occurs in 1.5%-14% of archeological and modern populations, yet clinical studies can conflate types, resulting in rates as high as 46%. Archeologically obtained sacra and lower lumbar vertebrae from two historical shipwrecks (16th century English warship Mary Rose and 17th century Swedish warship Kronan) are compared via gross observation. These semi-documented individuals, fit enough to be on a warship during battle, have a documented cause, manner, and date of death. The assemblages yield 120 sacra; complete sacralization is compared between the crews. Both crude and true prevalence of bony ankyloses are recorded with chi(2) analyses testing significance. Both samples have 16.7% true prevalence of complete sacralization, with 38.3% of Mary Rose sacra and 26.7% of Kronan sacra showing some variant of LSTV. It is possible the high rates of sacralization shown in both crews are related to the samples being drawn from similar populations: a Swedish clinical study finds a similar rate of 13.9% for complete sacralization. However, reported rates of less than 1.0% in other archeological samples suggest that true sacralization is inconsistently recognized. Finally, clinical and archeological studies either conflate all types or fail to state their diagnostic criteria, reducing the ability to accurately compare findings.

In the late tenth century, the late Viking Age–early Middle Ages town, Sigtuna, was founded. The town contrasted with preceding hubs in the region, demonstrating a structured town plan with royal and religious administrations. The urbanization process, as read through the inhabitants, has been investigated in several studies during recent years. In this overview, a holistic approach is taken, combining results from previous studies based on different types of data from individuals buried in Sigtuna. The homogeneous character of most graves is contrasted with the complexity demonstrated by aDNA and isotope analyses. While the dietary patterns overall suggest cultural similarities involving only a small level of social stratification, there are also indications of long-distance mobility, disparate ancestry, and, probably, second-generation immigrants. Additionally, gender-related activities are evident in the bioarchaeological data. The cosmopolitan character of the town may well have had an impact on the citizens, as there is a dietary difference (δ13C- and δ15N-values) between people buried in Sigtuna and those buried at the preceding Viking center, Birka, and at contemporary farmstead cemeteries. Collectively, the data demonstrate the social networks and influx of ideas in the forming of the urban Sigtuna society.