A number of papers have provided insight into frequencies of violence‐related trauma, especially skull trauma, in Northern European skeletal assemblages dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Although the cases are often well described, they lack further discussion about the consequences of skull trauma for the injured individual and the implications for the surrounding society, especially considering severe skull trauma leading to traumatic brain injuries. In this paper, we address questions of trauma and care for one individual associated with the Swedish–Norwegian Battle Axe Culture who suffered from 2 severe ante mortem skull traumas probably leading to brain injuries. These questions are addressed using the Web‐based application and analytic tool Index of Care. We found that daily care, both short term with basic needs such as nutrition and grooming and long term with cognitive impairments, was available in the Neolithic society. Considering the frequent number of ante mortem skull trauma in the Neolithic and Bronze Age skeletal assemblages, traumatic brain injury was probably a common phenomenon. We argue that the care provided was a necessity for survival and maintenance of a socially sustainable society.

This article presents the results of an interdisciplinary study combining archaeology, osteology, and stable isotope analyses. The geological conditions and richness of megalithic graves in Falbygden is suitable for studies of Neolithic human remains. Nevertheless, the Late Neolithic period (2350-1700 BC) is poorly investigated. This paper explores new knowledge of the Late Neolithic megalithic population in Falbygden. In-depth osteological and archaeological studies focusing on a single gallery grave (Falkoping stad 5) were conducted. Radiocarbon dating and carbon, nitrogen, and strontium isotope analyses of teeth from twenty-one individuals revealed the time of the grave’s use, as well as the subsistence and mobility practices of the buried individuals. The grave was already in use during the first part of the Late Neolithic and used into the second part of the period by individuals of different origin. Furthermore, the results indicated changing population dynamics in the Late Neolithic Falbygden, with increased human mobility, variability in subsistence strategies, and growing population density.

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In this paper, we investigate the Scandinavian Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Kinnekulle in southwestern Sweden. The above-mentioned periods in the study area are poorly understood and the archaeological record consists of a few stray finds and a concentration of 20 gallery graves. This study focuses on three of the gallery graves where commingled skeletons from successive burials were recovered. The human remains and the artefacts from the graves were used for discussing individual life stories as well as living societies with the aim of gaining new knowledge of the last part of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in southwestern Sweden. We focused on questions concerning health and trauma, mobility and exchange networks, and diet and subsistence of the people using the graves. Chronological, bioarchaeological, and biomolecular aspects of the burials were approached through the application of archaeological and osteological studies, as well as stable isotope, strontium isotope, radiocarbon, and mtDNA analyses. The study provides evidence for high mobility and diverse diets, as well as inhumations primarily dated to the transition between the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. We suggest that the mountain plateau of Kinnekulle was mainly reserved for the dead, while the people lived in agriculture-based groups in the surrounding lower lying regions.