The Materiality of the Ancient Dead – Post-burial Practices and Ontologies of Death in Southern Sweden AD 800–1200

Abstract

This text discusses reuse and modifications of older graves in southern Sweden during the Late Iron Age and early medieval period (c. 9th to 12th centu- ries AD). Post-burial practices in the Late Iron Age have in general been interpreted as means to nego- tiate status, identity and rights to land, while in the later part of the period they are comprehended as expressions of religious insecurity and syncretism. In this text, the continuity of post-burial practices during the whole period is stressed and instead of general top-down interpretative models, the onto- logical status and material aspects of death, dead bodies and their graves is emphasized. It is argued that the post-burial actions generally constituted ways of relating to a specific type of materiality, the bones of the ancient dead, which transgress binary categorizations such as living–dead, past–present, heathen–Christian, and human–nonhuman. The argument builds on five recently excavated sites in southern Sweden: Bogla, Broby Bro, Lilla Ullevi, Valsta and Vittene.

Kerbing Relations through Time: Reuse, Connectivity and Folded Time in the Viking Age

“…The find of flint in the mound soil further indicates that the mound was at least partly constructed with soil from an older activity layer, presumably from a Neolithic or Bronze Age settlement. This type of reuse of older cultural layers has also been identified in other Scandinavian sites (Artelius 2005; Artelius & Lindqvist 2005; Fahlander 2016; Hållans Stenholm 2006; Thäte 2007). Along with Stubhøj in Hunn, the imitated mound 6 from Store-Dal is the earliest known inhumation grave in Norway since the Bronze Age (Solberg 2003, 94).…”

Older Burial Disturbance: Postfunerary Manipulation of Graves and Corpses in Precontact Northeastern Brazil

“…Considering that all these types of postdepositional disturbances were socially and culturally meaningful, how should we understand these “alternative” attitudes toward previously buried individuals? Fahlander (2016) and Fahlander and Oestigaard (2008) have stated that one of the fundamental aspects of death is its materiality. To begin to answer this question, we must focus on the materiality of death, bodies, burials, and the beliefs of each society.…”