Debattartikel om den ekonomiska och sociala bakgrunden till Gotlands medeltida kyrkor.

The Historical Museum in Stockholm holds two interesting Medieval braids, one from Riddarholmen Church and one from Alvastra Abbey. Both are made of red silk and metal thread, probably with a loop-manipulation braiding technique that can produce openwork braids resembling lace. The braid from Riddarholmen can be linked to funerary textiles, as it was found during the opening in 1915-16 of the purported tomb of King Magnus Birgersson Ladulås (Barnlock). The other braid was excavated in 1949 at Alvastra Abbey and is probably a fastening loop. In this study, we present the results of a technical and material comparison of the two braids.

In Britain, warships did not officially exclude women until the early 19th c. (Hacker 1981, p.657). The non-adult skeletons reported here indicate similar traditions in Sweden, as family members appear to have accompanied Swedish navy sailors and/or soldiers even aboard the large military ships of the 17th century.

679 bone skates from two important sites in the Stockholm area were examined. Cattle bones dominate in Birka (8th to loth centuries AD), while horse bones are more numerous in Sigtuna (10th to 13th centuries AD). The average length of the skates is c. 20 cm in Birka and c. 22 cm in Sigtuna. It seems that in Birka, bone skating was practiced mostly by children. In Sigtuna it also became popular among adolescents and perhaps young adults. Ethnological analogies strongly support the interpretation of bone skates as toys and sporting equipment.

More than fifty years ago it was suggested that the stronghold of Lojsta slott in southern Gotland might be identical to a stronghold mentioned in a written source as Goltborch. The name has been translated as Gullborg and is probably one of the wooden castles erected by the troops of Queen Margaret of DenmarkNorway beginning in the winter of 1394/95. These were torn down in 1398, rebuilt in 1403, and finally conquered and destroyed by the Teutonic Order in 1404. As Lojsta slott has never been subject to archaeological excavation, the identification has remained an open question. This paper reports a recent underwater archaeological survey carried out in the waters around Lojsta slott, consisting of fieldwork that has included sampling for dendrochronological analysis. The dendrochronological results match the written sources very well and thus confirm the assumption that Lojsta slott is the stronghold of Gullborg mentioned in written sources. Moreover, the survey reveals that the underwater environment in the area has great archaeological potential.

Vivallen is a Late Iron Age/Early Middle Ages South Saami site with a burial ground as well as a large dwelling site in Härjedalen, Sweden, located in the borderland between Saami and Norse groups. As food can be used as an indicator of cultural affiliation, we investigated the relative importance of various foodstuffs at this site, performing δ13C and δ15N analysis of human and faunal skeletal remains. The site was located along the St Olaf pilgrimage route, implying that some of the buried individuals may not have been local to the site, and therefore we performed δ34S analysis to study mobility. We set out to investigate if there were any changes in diet and mobility over the lifespan of the people buried at Vivallen. The results showed that freshwater fish were an important part of the diet, whereas reindeer and big game do not seem to have been major protein sources. We could not identify any substantial changes in diet in the individuals over time. Our results further demonstrated low mobility among the individuals, with one exception, a female who evidently grew up somewhere else.

This paper presents evidence for deposition of human and animal remains in watery locations in Uppland province. Likewise, deposition of artefacts in watery locations also seems to continue into the historical period. This changes the previous understanding of such depositions with regards to their geographical distribution, their contents and how long the practices continued.

It is argued that the changing water landscape and the deposition of bodily remains of certain human and animal others co-worked agentically to change a variety of relations over time, which had political effects. These assemblages operated to draw attention to and from settlement clusters and central places, and were important in negotiations of boundaries. Furthermore, some depositional sites used in earlier periods seem to have attracted renewed attention at the end of the Viking Period. Hence, these depositions may have been important in the transition from Paganism to Christianity, and also helped merge communities and faiths.

Artikeln är en inledande presentation av en nyfunnen, men utplöjd, depå av vikingatida bronsföremål vilken sedan 2006 har återfunnits med metalldetektor i Mästerby socken på Gotland. Totalt har 5 svärdsknappar och 16 fiskhuvudformiga hängen återfunnits och dessa ger en tydlig datering till sent 900-tal e.Kr. Fyndet är av särskillt intresse för förståelsen av gotländskt metallhantverk under denna tid då inga av föremålen har färdigställts utan deponerats i halvfärdigt skick.

Throughout and beyond the Norse cultural sphere many Viking Period iron shackles have been recovered. Despite a common notion that the slave trade was important during the era, these shackles are usually interpreted as hobbles for horses and other animals, rather than restraints for humans. Here is argued that there are good reasons to see the shackles as indicators of restrained humans - captives, slaves or both. It is also argued that the distinction between animal hobbles and human restraints is perhaps moot since the shackles could well have served both purposes.

This paper discusses non-ferrous metalworking on Gotland, Sweden, c. AD 5 0 1150 as it is reflected through products and production debris recovered during metal detector surveys over a period of more than 30 years. Since most of the surveys were focused on the recovery of silver hoards the production-related finds have mostly been overlooked by previous research. This is unfortunate since they often offer important clues, both for establishing where non-ferrous metalworking occurred and to how it was organised. An additional number of sites, identified through more traditional archaeological methods are also discussed. Altogether these finds help to increase the understanding of the Gotlandic society in the late Iron Age and Early Medieval Period.

This paper discusses non-ferrous metalworking on Gotland, Sweden, c. AD 500–1150 as it is reflected through products and production debris recovered during metal detector surveys over a period of more than 30 years. Since most of the surveys were focused on the recovery of silver hoards the production-related finds have mostly been overlooked by previous research. This is unfortunate since they often offer important clues, both for establishing where non-ferrous metalworking occurred and to how it was organised. An additional number of sites, identified through more traditional archaeological methods are also discussed. Altogether these finds help to increase the understanding of the Gotlandic society in the late Iron Age and Early Medieval Period.

This paper presents nine bellows shields made of stone from the Lake Mälaren area in Sweden. Previously such objects have predominately been reported from western and southern Scandinavia, but evidently they were also used at East Scandinavian localities. Additionally a tenth possible bellows shield, made of a shard from a broken steatite vessel is presented. Along with the bellows shields of stone a number of ceramic bellow shields are also brought to light and some doubts are expressed as to the common notion that most so-called round clay tuyères or bellows nozzles are all-but impossible to separate from ditto loom weights. This, it is argued, partly builds on old misconceptions which might be dealt with through comparative studies and thorough experiments with traditionally equipped forges.

The use of the Borre style in the dress and equipment of the Viking Period warriorsat Birka is presented and discussed. The absence of Borre style metalwork onblade weapons evokes thoughts on the symbolic meaning of the style within amartial society. An apotropaic symbolic role for the style is suggested.

This text explores the influence of Ovid’s account of Orpheus’ death in Metamorphoses on Snorri Sturluson’s account of Baldr’s death in Gylfaginning. In examining the similarities and differences between the two narratives, particular emphasis is placed on elements such as the invulnerability of a mythic protagonist, his tragic death resulting from the breaking of an enchantment, and his lamentation by the animate and inanimate forces of nature. While acknowledging the differences in the narratives, the author suggests that Snorri drew on a specific motif from Ovid’s work to enhance his own account of Balder’s death. The text briefly touches on the complex relationship between classical and Norse mythology, highlighting the creative reinterpretation and adaptation of mythic themes in medieval literature. In conclusion, the author proposes that Snorri’s skillful synthesis of various sources reflects his role as a creative innovator within the living tradition of mythic storytelling. 

Material evidence of prehistoric crime is rare. A compilation of finds from Hedeby harbour however offers three case studies, where three different offences - thievery, counterfeiting and homicide - are likely. Evidence for smuggling of arms is discussed on the basis of a fourth example from Hedeby’s flat-ground cemetery. Against this background the author argues for a review of finds and features from comparable emporiuma such as Birka.

The Viking Period proto-town site of Birka on the island of Björkö in Lake Mälaren is one of the prime sites in Swedish archaeology and much research has been done on it. However, with time the amount of available information, the fact that the Birka research has no common research strategy and a bewildering output of publications have all made it difficult to define the current state and future perspectives in research. With the development of a proto-town GIS for Birka on the template of similar projects elsewhere, the state of research can now be consolidated, offering a point of departure for urgently needed syntheses.

In the current exhibition on Swedish prehistory at the Swedish History Museum, visitors can observe an extraordinarily emotive Stone Age grave containing the skeletons of a man and a small child. However, the grave was interpreted by the excavators as containing three skeletons. The third skeleton has for some reason been omitted from the exhibition altogether. At the time of the excavation the omitted skeleton was found without the cranium and was placed slightly below the bent legs of the other two skeletons. I argue that the three skeletons, although perhaps representing two burial episodes, should be regarded as relating to one another in a grave assemblage. Instead of presenting the cropped grave assemblage in order to discuss family norms in the past, as is the case in the current exhibition at the museum, we might instead exhibit the assemblage in its entirety as a means to discuss temporal and cultural variations in the attitudes towards "proper" graves, the body and the sacred.

During the 2018 excavation of a large Pitted Ware Culture site in Norvik, Nynäshamn, a large number of round-oval ground stone tools with one or more faceted sides were recovered. These probably served as hand stones and were likely used for crushing, pounding and grinding different types of materials. The abundance of these implements at Norvik stands in stark contrast to the apparent lack of them elsewhere, which raises the question of whether this reflects a prehistoric reality or sampling strategies during archaeological excavations. Through our investigation we have identified a comparatively small number of similar stone tools from Pitted Ware Culture sites on the Swedish mainland, Gotland and Åland. It would seem that these tools are somewhat hard to identify in the archaeological record, possibly due to the inconspicuous nature of ground stone tools in general. This might contribute to sampling bias during excavation as well as a tepid interest in doing research on them. We suggest that the inconsistent terminology used for these implements might present an obstacle for future research.

Docent Jan Peder Lamm avled den 15 juni 2020. Vid sidan om sin långa yrkeskarriär var han mycket aktiv i Svenska Fornminnesföreningen dit han rekryterades redan som student, och han var under många år medlem i styrelsen samt sekreterare i Stipendiekommittén. Till minne av Jan Peder Lamms livslånga engagemang och stora arbetsinsats för arkeologin och för föreningen har Svenska Fornminnesföreningen därför startat en ny fond i hans namn, ”Svenska Fornminnesföreningens fond till Jan Peder Lamms minne” med inriktning mot den nordiska järnålderns arkeologi och bildvärld.

Den 29 april 2023 såldes en medeltida brakteat präglad för kung Erik Eriksson (1222–1229,1234–1250) på auktion i Stockholm, ett mynt som tidigare stulits från Varnhems kloster. Om stulna föremål säljs utan att man kräver tillbaka dem, betyder det att de helt lagligt kan säljas på nytt i all oändlighet. Detta kommer att påverka allmänhetens synsätt på kulturarvet. Försäljningen av mynten från Varnhem visar att kulturarvet fortfarande inte har tillräckligt skydd.

The excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement at Rambodal, just outside the city of Norrköping, has provided interesting evidence for Bronze Age metalworking, including the third Bronze Age stone casting mould found to date in the county of Östergötland. The settlement consisted of a single farm with dates from Per. V of the Bronze Age to the earliest Iron Age. In addition to high-quality ceramics, the settlement yielded several traces of bronze casting, such as a copper melt and part of a soapstone mould for a small socketed axe, probably dating to Per. VI. Soapstone moulds are rarely found at settlement sites. The find provides interesting data for discussions of the molds’ use contexts. The evidence for small-scale household metalworking at a minor farmstead like Rambodal holds significant potential for future research on the spread and organisation of this craft.

This paper discusses processes that drove the ability of pre-Christian religion in Scandinavia to vary and adapt to shifting conditions and contexts in society. They also helped to keep religion cohesive over both social and geographical boundaries and hierarchies. Based on a substantially reduced and contextually modified variant of McKim Marriott's description of the changeability of religious traditions as a constantly on-going circular flow, I tentatively exemplify the dynamism of religion in the Late Iron Age through three case studies. The first of these concerns the relationship between local, regional and supra-regional deities; the second addresses the axis mundi complex and the relationship between private and public worship; and the third examines the exchange of mortuary practices and eschatological religious traditions across social boundaries. All these cases also illustrate the ability of religious elements to spread geographically, and in doing so adapt to varying sociocultural contexts. Such processes took place in all contexts where people interacted. The sociocultural foundations of religion can in this sense be compared to a multitude of overlapping, interacting, changeable networks of social and cultural relationships. The characteristics that kept religion dynamic and alive were flexibility and an ability to adapt to this sociocultural patchwork. Religion was part of culture, and just like culture, it was shaped by the constant circular flow of tradition.

This paper discusses a 9th century Arabic source, Ibn Khordadhbeh's Kitab al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, The Book of Itineraries and Kingdoms, in which it is claimed that the Rus travelled to China. I look into previous interpretations of the text and present new studies of the two oldest extant copies of the original source. Several translators from the late 19th century on have claimed that this passage is misplaced. I argue that they have adapted their interpretations to fit their preconceptions rather than follow what is actually written in the original source. The text does state that the Rus traded with China. Whether Ibn Khordadhbeh's belief in the extent of Rus' eastern trade journeys was correct or not is another matter. But I point out that Ibn Khordadhbeh in his time may have had logical reasons for his statement. I also explain that China probably refers to Eastern Central Asian regions populated by Turkic-speaking peoples, who in their turn had direct trading contacts with Tang and later Liao Dynasty China.