MARTIN RUNDKVIST BARSHALDER 2 Studies of Late

University of

1 For YuSie, Samuel and Sprout, with all my love

© 2003 Martin Rundkvist ISBN 91-631-3732-1 Cover design: Göran Österlund, using drawings by Stefan Kayat and a photograph by Peter Manneke Graphic design: Martin Rundkvist Printed by: Elanders Gotab, Stockholm, 2003

2 Table of Contents Preface & Acknowledgements ...... 5

1. Introduction ...... 6 1.1 The research tradition ...... 7 1.2 Gender terminology ...... 7 1.3 Chronological basics ...... 8 1.4 Standards of source criticism ...... 8 1.5 Statistical methods ...... 9

2. typochronology ...... 11 2.0 Previous work and methodological critique ...... 11 2.1 Data set and methodology ...... 16 2.2 Pottery ...... 17 2.3 Combs ...... 17 2.4 Strap buckles...... 17 2.5 Sundry strap mounts and staple rings ...... 18 2.6 Strap retaining mounts ...... 18 2.7 Strap end mounts ...... 18 2.8 Fibulae ...... 19 2.9 Dress pins...... 20 2.10 Pendants ...... 20 2.11 Clasps ...... 20 2.12 Weaponry ...... 20 2.13 Other artefacts, unsuitable for chronological study ...... 23 2.14 Graves with heirloom objects ...... 23 2.15 The female sequence...... 23 2.16 The male sequence ...... 25 2.17 Correlating the two sequences ...... 27 2.18 Correlating the female sequences for Gotland and Bornholm ...... 29 2.19 Correlating the female sequences for Gotland and Norway ...... 30 2.20 Correlating the male sequences for Gotland and Norway ...... 31 2.21 Absolute dating...... 31

3. Late Iron Age social roles: gender, age and status ...... 36 3.1 Migration Period gender ...... 36 3.1.1 Gender attributes ...... 37 3.1.2 Gender ratio at Barshalder ...... 40 3.1.3 Sub-gender groups ...... 40 3.1.4 Women in mortuary symbolism ...... 41 3.1.5 Men in mortuary symbolism ...... 41 3.1.6 Gender-neutral attributes ...... 41 3.1.7 Gender and bone data at Barshalder...... 42 3.2 Migration Period social status ...... 43 3.2.1 Human sacrifice at Barshalder ...... 45 3.2.2 Animal bones at Barshalder...... 45 3.3 gender at Barshalder ...... 47 3.3.1 Gender attributes ...... 47 3.3.2 Changing gender roles ...... 49

3 3.3.3 Gender ratio ...... 51 3.3.4 Female sub-gender groups ...... 51 3.3.5 Male sub-gender groups...... 53 3.3.6 Gender-neutral attributes ...... 54 3.3.7 Gender and bone data ...... 54 3.4 Vendel Period social status at Barshalder...... 55 3.4.1 Human sacrifice and slavery...... 57 3.4.2 Animal bones ...... 58 3.5 Late Viking Period gender and age at Barshalder ...... 60 3.6 Late Viking Period social status at Barshalder...... 62

4. Religious identity in the 11th century ...... 64 4.1 Burial ritual at Barshalder ...... 64 4.1.1 Sampling ...... 65 4.1.2 Non-dress artefacts in pagan graves ...... 65 4.1.3 Axes ...... 65 4.1.4 Maces ...... 65 4.1.5 Whetstones ...... 68 4.1.6 Rivet clusters...... 68 4.1.7 Combs ...... 68 4.1.8 Knives ...... 68 4.1.9 Amber amulets ...... 69 4.1.10 Vessels ...... 69 4.1.11 Re-used picture-stones ...... 70 4.1.12 Animal bones...... 70 4.1.13 Rattles ...... 70 4.1.14 Keys...... 70 4.1.15 Spindlewhorls...... 71 4.1.16 Sewing needles ...... 71 4.1.17 Needle cases ...... 71 4.1.18 Fossils ...... 71 4.1.19 Interpreting the pattern of placement ...... 71 4.2 Religious conversion ...... 72 4.2.1 Pagan mortuary symbolism...... 72 4.2.2 Pagan reactionaries ...... 73 4.2.3 Were the churchless cemeteries in fact pagan? ...... 73 4.2.4 Confessional geography of Gotland in the 11th century ...... 75 4.2.5 The Strelowian dates and the 11th century cemetery situation ...... 81 4.2.6 Conversion-period society ...... 82

5. Conclusions and summary...... 84

6. Slutsatser och sammanfattning på svenska ...... 88

7. References...... 92

8. Abbreviations ...... 101

4 Preface Acknowledgements

This book is the analytical companion of Barshal- Funding, in falling order of magnitude: Faculty der 1, my monograph on Gotland’s largest prehis- of the Humanities, University of Stockholm, doc- toric cemetery. Having pondered the outlines of toral student salary 2.5 years; Gunvor och Josef the studies in the present volume during data col- Anérs stiftelse; Berit Wallenbergs stiftelse; Åke lection, I began writing them in mid-1998 when Wibergs stiftelse; Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftel- I was allocated a doctoral student’s salary by the se; State student subsidies; Wilhelmina von Hall- Faculty of the Humanities. The manuscript be- wyhls Gotlandsfond; my grandmother, Nella Le- nefited greatly from constructive criticism by Ing- ander; DBW:s stiftelse; Crafoordska stiftelsen; my mar Jansson, Karen Høilund Nielsen and Bo Pet- mother, Åsa Leander; my father, Pelle Rundkvist; ré who read full versions of it in 2002 and early Magnus Bergvalls stiftelse; Stiftelsen Lars Hier- 2003. At that late date, however, they were given tas Minne; Mårten Stenbergers stipendiefond; no opportunity to influence the general lines of Wallenbergsstiftelsens jubileumsfond; Egon inquiry or the choice of methods. Thuns minnesfond; Department of Archaeolo- Being headstrong and set at an early age in gy, University of Stockholm; Birger Nermans my archaeological ways, I have been a self-suffi- fond; Rosa och Valter Tengborgs fond; Hierta- cient doctoral student. This ensured autonomy Retzius stipendiefond; Greta Arwidssons fond. but also meant that I did not have any close con- Office space, computer and communication tact with my own university department, although resources: 1998-2001, Museum of National Anti- I otherwise enjoy an extensive professional net- quities, Stockholm; early 2002, Library of the KV- work. This alienation was largely due to what I per- HAA; late 2002, Accountancy Department of ceived as a constricting post-modern orthodoxy at the National Heritage Board. the post-graduate seminar. Here, theoretical plural- CAD equipment: Arkeologikonsult AB. ism appeared to mean that you could have your Libraries visited: The Library of the KVHAA, Ford any colour you liked, as long as it was black. Stockholm. The Royal Library, Stockholm. The The Faculty of the Humanities, luckily, had less Library of the University of Stockholm. The Lib- dogmatic views, for which I am very grateful. rary of the Gotland County Museum, Gotlands Years of bickering with theoretically inclined Fornsal, . colleagues had not prepared me for the final hurd- Language revision and constructive criticism: le that the manuscript had to pass on its way to Rebecca Montague. publication. I was dismayed to find that empiri- Helpful and supportive colleagues: Kent An- cist, common-sensical scholars whose work I ad- dersson, Kerstin Assarsson-Rizzi, Roger Blidmo, mire were not terribly enthusiastic about it. If I Ing-Marie Back Danielsson, Toralf Fors, Karen understand them correctly, they found my style Høilund Nielsen, Ingmar Jansson, Kenneth Jons- too terse and my way of thinking too categori- son, Jan Peder Lamm, Mats P. Malmer, Gunnar cal. These traits are still evident in the present Nordanskog, Bo Petré, Zuzana Polaskova, Jörn text, for the simple reason that they are intentio- Staecker, Göran Tegnér, Lena Thunmark-Nylén, nal. I have little patience with scholarly verbiage, Per Widerström. and I think like a taxonomist. This work owes its Family and friends: Mona Alvö, Lena Ander- shape not to an inability to do otherwise, but to son, YuSie Rundkvist Chou, Forodrim, Stefan the conscious pursuit of an ideal. Kayat, David Kjellberg, Åsa Leander, Jonathan Like any writer, I am anxious to have readers. Lindström, Ansa Messner, Samuel Rundkvist I am also keen to communicate with them. Any Messner, Pelle Rundkvist, Tor Sandqvist, SKOM, comments or questions will therefore be most Kristina Svensson, Rye Widell, Jonas Wikborg. welcome.

Martin Rundkvist [email protected] Fisksätra, 4 March 2003

5 1. Introduction

These studies deal with the Late Iron Age on both an analytical and a wordless sensory famili- Gotland, an island in the and a province arity with the material, and to provoke questions of . The point of departure is the largest that I could not have conceived of before I im- cemetery of the time, Barshalder, which is located mersed myself in it. I have spent eight years thus along the main road on the boundary between immersed, all the while reading and writing ex- Grötlingbo and Fide parishes, near the southern tensively on . end of the island. The cemetery was used from The main source material for this book are c. AD 1-1100, in other words during the Roman graves from a period of more than seven centu- Iron Age (AD 1-400), Migration Period (AD 375- ries (the Late Iron Age, c. AD 375-1100) with a 540), Vendel Period (AD 520-790) and Viking gap of two centuries near the end (the Early and Period (AD 790-1150). In the absence of a Roman Middle Viking Period, c. AD 790-1000). It would invasion, Sweden’s Iron Age is considered to have be hard to merge all my studies of this material continued up to the final abandonment of paganism within the framework of a single line of inquiry. c. AD 1100. The Late Iron Age encompasses the Instead, the book is a Late Iron Age miscellany, Migration, Vendel and Viking Periods. where the dead are made to speak of such matt- This book grew out of the compilation of ers as they can. Its contents are organised under the Barshalder cemetery corpus (Barshalder 1). three headings: chronology (chapter 2), social Many archaeologists routinely extract informa- identity (chapter 3) and religious identity (chap- tion from cemetery publications to answer ques- ter 4). tions formulated beforehand. Such is the ideal One over-arching aim of this work is to make method of science: 1) come up with a question, explicit and test the often somewhat intuitively 2) devise an experiment, 3) collect the necessary conceived results of much previous research. In materials, 4) perform the experiment. Blindly a field where research has been actively and con- compiling all available data on a site, to the ex- stantly pursued for more than a century it is of- tent that any data collection can be called blind, ten hard to find the origins and justification of is not an efficient way to do research. But that is established views. Thus, I have tried to keep an how these studies came about. I accepted the task open mind, to unlearn my preconceptions and of publishing a cemetery. The site could of course to approach Barshalder as if it were the first site not answer all the questions I had about its time of its kind to receive scholarly treatment. It of use, so, to a great extent, I had to tailor my would, of course, be useless to take this charade questions to the source material at hand. of ignorance to extremes, particularly since the The main draw-back to this method of re- archaeological record relevant to Barshalder’s search is of course that it is time-consuming. period of use and cultural environment is so very There are, however, advantages too. If one looks rich and well researched. Nevertheless, I have only at selected data to answer certain questions, attempted to avoid justifying my statements by then one is unlikely to learn much beyond these reference to traditional archaeological opinion, questions. Processing reams of documentation seeking instead to anchor my arguments expli- and handling thousands of artefacts has been a citly in the best available empirical sources and great education to me. It has served to give me methodically stringent analyses.

6 1.1 The research tradition (Stenberger & Klindt-Jensen 1955). Burge in parish (Thunmark 1979) and Fjäle I was encouraged to begin writing this book by in Ala parish (Dan Carlsson 1979) have not been Jan Peder Lamm, who specialises in the aristo- published in any detail. John Huttu (1996a, 1996b) cracy of the Migration and Vendel Periods. Jan has published two of Dan Carlsson’s small-scale Peder inherited this specialism from Greta Ar- excavations of settlements. The Bandlundeviken widsson through their work together at the ce- harbour settlement is treated in Brandt 1986, meteries of Lovö (Lamm 1973). Arwidsson, in 2002; Burenhult 1997; and Larsson 2002. turn, inherited the specialism from Sune Lind- qvist through their work together at Valsgärde 1.2 Gender terminology (Arwidsson 1942a, 1942b). inherited it from through his work with the Throughout this book, I have distinguished strict- barrows at Vendel and Old (Lindqvist ly between biological sex and social gender roles. 1936). With Stjerna, finally, we find the roots of This is not due to any suspicion of transvestism the tradition in general archaeology, saga literature among the rigidly gendered and homophobic so- and national romanticism. Stjerna combined cieties of Late Iron Age (cf. Görans- Montelius with and the Icelanders (Stjer- son 1999:149). Here, gender ambiguity and cross- na 1912 with refs.). dressing were seen with fear and loathing (Meul- While claiming this august pedigree for much engracht Sørensen 1983) and tolerated only in of this book’s subject matter, I hope the per- religious symbolism, as with Loki in drag on the spectives, methods and terminology will bear wit- Three Gods bracteates (Axboe 1991:193-194, fig. ness to the outstanding influence of Mats P. Mal- 11) and the generally queer ways of Loki and Odin mer (e.g. 1962, 1963, 1984). Bertil Almgren’s (Solli 1999). school of uncompromising source criticism (re- Rather, it has to do with my conviction that presented by Näsman 1970, 1972) has also pro- whereas gender was to some extent negotiable vided important conceptual tools (cf. section 1.4). and useful for symbolic play, biological sex was Thanks to exceptionally rich finds, the study not. The two dimensions of classification, bio- of Iron Age Gotland has been a thriving field logical sex and gender, depend on different source (Nerman 1945) since the beginnings of Swedish materials. Gender appears as a symbolic dicho- archaeology. There is a strong typochronologi- tomy in the grave furnishings, leaving many poor- cal tradition (ÄEG, VWG, VZG, WKG, Nylén ly furnished or robbed graves gender-neutral. Bio- 1955, Anders Carlsson 1983 & 1988, Thunmark- logical sex is a characteristic of the living body, Nylén 1983, W&G, Høilund Nielsen 1999a & in other words the more decomposed the body, 1999b), and in recent decades much work has the less certain can the sex assessment be. Most been done on landscape history (Dan Carlsson of the preserved and curated human remains 1979, Östergren 1989, Cassel 1998) and political from Barshalder consist of bags of cremated bo- geography (Hyenstrand 1989, Kyhlberg 1991). ne fragments, which can only rarely be sexed. The study of Late Iron Age harbour sites (Lund- Therefore, the dimension of gender takes cent- ström 1981; Dan Carlsson 1998 with refs., 1999a), re stage. All unqualified references to women, hill forts (Engström 1992 with refs.), picture-sto- men, female and male in this book deal only with nes (Lindqvist 1941-1942, Nylén & Lamm 1987, gender: the social roles played out in action and Göransson 1999) and coin hoards (SGW, Lind symbolism by living people. The complicated 1988 with refs., the Corpus Nummorum series, relationship between these roles and the data re- the Commentationes de Nummis series with refs.) covered from graves, including the concept of form specialised fields. The detailed study of ru- gender-transgressive attributes, is treated in de- ral settlement sites has not produced anything tail in chapter 3. Biological sex is referred to by on a grand scale since the excavation and publi- the terms female-sex and male-sex. cation of the settlement at Vallhagar in Fröjel

7 1.3 Chronological basics documented grave find that is not lacking any of the commonly found object categories of For a critical evaluation of previous work in the its period and gender. field of Gotlandic Late Iron Age chronology, see 3. A badly incomplete or uncertain find combi- section 2.0 below and Barshalder 1 sections 7.3 & nation. Typically either a) a visibly robbed well- 8.3. The chronological ordering of graves as documented grave find, or b) a decontextual- strictly gendered as these requires two sets of ised set of single-period and single-gender ar- definitions for artefact types and period assemb- tefacts. It is not uncommon for a find to be lages: one for the female graves and one for the badly incomplete but still certainly closed, as male graves. when half of an inhumation grave has been Most of the female graves can be ordered in robbed and the other half left untouched. a chronological series spanning the entire Late 4. A probably non-closed find combination. Ty- Iron Age on the strength of the well-understood pically a decontextualised set of multi-period main sequence of brooch types, from the taper- and/or multi-gender artefacts. ed-foot to the pitted-surface animal-head brooch (ÄEG, VWG, VZG, WKG, Anders Carls- This scheme works with two parameters, com- son 1983). This exercise reveals a hiatus among pleteness and closedness. A complete find com- the Late Iron Age finds from Barshalder during bination retains all the object categories that usu- the Early and Middle phases of the Viking Peri- ally survive under the preservation conditions at od (Anders Carlsson 1983 period A-C). How- hand. For example, an undisturbed Iron Age gra- ever, the brooch finds that do exist suggest this ve lacking preserved textiles is considered com- gap to be due to the location of the modern gra- plete, whereas one that has been robbed of its vel pits and quarries in relation to the cemetery’s bronze metalwork is not. Completeness is obvi- topochronology. ously important when the wealth of a find com- The chronological order of the male graves is bination is assessed. It is also important when less readily apparent as there is no abundant male dating an individual find combination, because a artefact category with a clear typological develop- missing object may have been the youngest one ment spanning the entire Late Iron Age. For the in the assemblage. However, completeness is not Migration and Vendel Periods the chronology of a central concern when the aim is to establish a a single class of object, for example brooches, chronological sequence of artefact types: here cannot help. Instead a combination analysis with closedness is the important factor. (Neverthe- entire grave inventories as the analytical unit must less, the more incomplete a find combination is, form the chronological backbone until the be- the fewer types does it contain, and the lower is ginning of the penannular brooch sequence in the likelihood that the remaining types form a the Viking Period (Anders Carlsson 1988 period chronologically useful combination.) B, WKG). The concept of the closed find is the foun- dation of chronological combination studies (cf. 1.4 Standards of Bo Gräslund 1987). A closed find combination source criticism is one that has not been added to since its date of deposition (cf. Näsman 1972:90-91). For ex- For standards of source criticism in the follow- ample, an undisturbed Viking Period grave con- ing studies, Näsman’s scheme (1972:90-91) has taining a re-used Vendel Period picture-stone is been taken as a point of departure. Here, the a closed find combination, whereas a set of mix- categories are as follows: ed-period metalwork bought from an antiquities dealer is not. A single-period set of metalwork 1. A complete closed find combination. Typically from an antiquities dealer is also a non-closed or an undisturbed and well-documented grave at best uncertain find combination. find. Our scheme is not stringently formulated but 2. A reasonably complete and probably closed contains elements of subjective judgement: ”rea- find combination. Typically a disturbed, well- sonably complete”, ”probably primary”, ”badly

8 incomplete”. It does, however, work as an aid in artefact types along the two axes of the matrix, steering clear of circular reasoning and wishful so that the marks or figures in the table follow a thinking. The reader is encouraged to check my diagonal line as closely as possible (cf. figs. 2:3, source evaluations, particularly the grave assem- 2:5). In this way the most dissimilar graves of blages used to establish a stringent Migration those under study end up at opposite ends of Period chronology in chapter 2. the grave series, just as the two types that share I have used finds of source quality 1-2 to stu- the least combination links end up at opposite dy gender and social hierarchy, and finds of sour- ends of their series. Between these extremes is ce quality 1 to study chronology, with the addi- found a series of small steps of gradually moun- tion of a few selected and clearly indicated quali- ting dissimilarity. ty 2 finds to allow chronological study of un- Correspondence analysis (CA) works with the common artefact categories. same kind of database as does seriation. The prin- ciple behind a CA diagram (cf. figs. 2:2, 2:4) is 1.5 Statistical methods that the more consistently two types are found together in the studied graves, the closer together Of the three main lines of inquiry pursued in they appear in the diagram. If, instead, graves are this book, two are followed with the abundant plotted, two graves are plotted closer together aid of computer-assisted statistics. Three basic the more similar their type assemblages are. Clus- methods are used, all of them as implemented in tered data points in a CA diagram thus denote the Bonn Archaeological Statistics Package, Win- either types that occur together consistently, or dows version (WinBASP 1994). graves with very similar inventories. From a ma- Gender roles and typochronology are studied thematical point of view, attributes and units are with the aid of seriation and correspondence ana- equivalent: a type may be said to contain graves lysis (CA; cf. Greenacre 1984; Høilund Nielsen equally well as a grave contains types. It is possible 1995a, 1995b; Høilund Nielsen & Jensen 1997:29- either to plot types and graves separately or to 61). Both of these tools are useful to establish plot them in the same diagram. The latter allows series of graves and artefact types on the basis their inter-relationships to be viewed together but of similarity. The latter also allows the identifica- is not very good in terms of legibility. Where tion of groups and degrees of similarity among attributes replace each other smoothly along a graves and artefact types. While seriation always graduation of units, as in a chronological seria- produces output no matter how murky the data tion or a male-neutral-female gender continuum, used, CA also provides a method to evaluate the the CA plot forms a parabola or ”horse-shoe result. plot”. Seriation works with a combination table whe- Høilund Nielsen (1995a, 1995b) has pointed re graves (”units”) are enumerated on one axis out that earlier DOS-based versions of the Bonn and artefact types (”attributes”) on the other. Archaeological Statistics Package did not, in fact, Each type found in a grave is marked at the in- perform seriation with the independent algorithm tersection of the respective column and line in described above. These program versions pro- the table. If the number of specimens of each duced seriations that depended on the result of type is marked, for example with a ”3” on the a CA. The seriations could therefore not be veri- buckle line for a grave with three buckles, the fied through comparison with their respective table is called a frequency matrix. If the number CAs. This fault has been amended in the version is disregarded, and the three buckles are recor- of WinBASP used for the present studies. ded only as an ”X” on the buckle line, then the All CA plots in this book display the first and table is called an incidence matrix (cf. tables 2a & second dimensions of the analyses (as indicated 2b). by the numerals at the ends of the axes), which The two types of matrix are treated each with chart the greater part of the variation in the data its own seriation algorithm: frequency seriation sets being studied. In each case it would also be or incidence seriation. In either case, the aim of possible to plot less significant dimensions of seriation is simply to re-arrange the graves and variation against each other, but any discernible

9 patterns would be correspondingly less signifi- gensen 1990:63). Jørgensen justified this method cant. The co-ordinate axes in a CA plot should with reference to the fact that the rarest types in not be interpreted as dividing lines. However, the his sample occurred exclusively in rich graves (i.e. position of a point in relation to the origin is those with high AF values), which leads us to the informative: the more a type contributes to the method used here. total variation of the data set, the farther it is It was first presented by Hodson (1990:71- plotted from the origin. Outliers tend to be un- 72) and is implemented in WinBASP 1994. Here, common types with only a few instances in the for each artefact type in the sample, the average data set under study. AOT value of the graves in which the artefact The third statistical method used pertains to type occurs is calculated. Thus, each artefact type social status. There are at least four quantitative is assigned a status score based on the degree to methods of measuring burial status. The simp- which it occurs in rich graves. These status sco- lest one is to count the number of artefacts in a res may be summed up for each grave to produ- grave, a parameter called AF (Sw. ”Antal Före- ce a ranking list. Where an artefact type occurs mål”, Kent Andersson 1995:15). Another para- in sets of widely varying sizes, for example beads meter that has been used is the number of arte- or decorative belt mounts, the AF value may be fact types in a grave, a parameter called AOT (Da. used instead of the AOT value. All status score ”Antal Oldsags-Typer, Hedeager 1992). A more calculations in this book are, however, based on sophisticated approach is to calculate the relative AOT, that is, the number of objects of each type frequency of an artefact type in the grave popu- in a grave has been disregarded. I have given the lation under study, where rare types are assumed Vendel Period bead sets special treatment to stu- to be more prestigious than common ones (Jør- dy their size variation (section 3.4.0).

10 2. Migration Period typochronology

The chronology of the Vendel and Viking Peri- od Gotland (Montelius period VI); a subdivision od graves of Gotland has recently been studied of this culture into two phases (VI:1 and VI:2); with modern methods by other scholars (see and suggested absolute dates for these (AD 400- Barshalder 1 sections 7.3 and 8.3 for evaluation 475/500 and AD 475/500-550/600). No com- and improvements). The purpose of this chap- prehensive study of Migration Period typochro- ter is to establish a sound chronology for the nology in Gotland has been published since. Migration Period graves. In 1970, however, Ulf Näsman (1970, 1972) revived Lindqvist’s critique against VWG and 2.0 Previous work and produced many additional arguments against it. methodological critique He made a painstaking source-critical and metho- dological evaluation of the period’s subdivision In 1923 Birger Nerman published a preliminary and absolute chronology, and found them both study of the chronology of the Migration Peri- very badly lacking. Näsman’s most valuable posi- od on Gotland. His analysis was the first to divi- tive contribution to the field was a clear identifi- de the period into two phases. Furthermore he cation of the previously rather nebulous typolo- offered some very far-reaching interpretations gical core of Nerman’s phase VI:2, however slim including a dramatic population decrease, large- its material base turned out to be. Although Näs- scale emigration, and Vendel Period re-coloni- man showed phase VI:2 to be rooted in very few sation from mainland Sweden, amongst others. secure find combinations, he failed to disintegrate (1926 chapter 5) responded with it. It retains a typological identity separate from severe criticism, pointing out among other things that of VI:1, whose source-critical base is firmer that Nerman’s second phase was based on a li- than that of VI:2 given its far larger VWG samp- mited number of find combinations character- le size. ised by imported goods. These graves prominent- Näsman left the Migration Period chronolo- ly featured crossbow fibulae, which show typo- gy of Gotland in a dilapidated state, and it has logical continuity from the Late Roman Iron Age. not since been re-built into a sounder structure, Lindqvist (1926:92) offered an alternative inter- although he did suggest some outline plans. Jo- pretation where Nerman’s two phases actually zef Saers’s (1978) seriation of the VWG dataset, represented two contemporaneous social groups, while pioneering in its use of a computer, added one of which had greater access to imported little of independent analytical value to the study goods. of the Migration Period chronology as he provi- Nerman’s full study of the period, Die Völker- ded no type definitions and made no attempt at wanderungszeit Gotlands (VWG) was published in improved source-critical standards. What remains 1935. His only response to Lindqvist’s criticism unshaken in terms of VWG’s analysis is the over- was a footnote to the introduction, where he ad- all definition of the archaeological culture of Mig- vised the reader to study the finds closely. Ner- ration Period Gotland (Montelius period VI). It man expressed his confidence that this would be should, however, be noted that the VWG data- sufficient to convince anyone of the correctness set includes at least one Viking Period grave: of his views. VWG grave 138 in Visby’s Eastern Cemetery, VWG presented three main analytical contri- which includes lance head VWG text fig. 211 and butions to the chronological field: a definition neck ring VWG 401. This grave was re-evaluated of the archaeological culture of Migration Peri- by Thunmark-Nylén and re-published in WKG

11 12 13 14 15 (II:144:4, IV:2 p. 873). Nerman’s mistake probably Period were also added. As it turned out, how- stems from a desire to flesh out phase VI:2 and ever, the Vendel Period material had to be remo- to tie the Migration Period neck rings more secu- ved from both the female and male seriations. rely to this phase by means of a systematically The discontinuity at the start of the Vendel Peri- excavated find combination. od is so dramatic (cf. VZG p. 8) that it cannot be With current knowledge of the absolute chro- studied on the same scale level as a chronological nology, the Migration Period in southern Scan- subdivision of the Migration Period. The two dinavia should probably be dated to between c. periods are, however, linked by the common AD 375 (Lund Hansen 1994:1-2) and c. AD 540 combedg comb type and S-stamped pottery, as (Jørgensen & Nørgård Jørgensen 1997:38, Ax- well as by the SP2 (cf. W&G) sword pommel boe 1999:141). The Migration Period, then, las- type and curated Migration Period relief broo- ted c. 165 years. On the Continent it was charac- ches. The development from the final phase of terised by continual dramatic political change, and the Late Roman Iron Age to the Migration Peri- in Sweden by an absence of the serialised jewel- od, however, is continuous and poses no obstac- lery copying typical of the Viking Period. It le to study by seriation and CA. should be possible to subdivide the Gotlandic The objects have been classified from good graves of the period into more than two chro- depictions or photographs when available, and nological phases in the same way as has been done all non-illustrated ones (and many illustrated ones, for Norway (Kristoffersen 1999). too) from first-hand examination in the stores of SHM and GF. 2.1 Data set and methodology With the aid of the gender attribute study in section 3.1.1, the data set was divided into fema- A sample of source-critically sound Migration le and male groups. The original incidence matri- Period grave finds from Gotland has been used ces, encompassing 66 female and 48 male graves, to establish the chronology. It includes finds of are presented in tables 2a and 2b. source quality 1 with the addition of a few selec- As to methodology, carefully chosen, experi- ted and clearly indicated quality 2 finds to allow mentally developed, rigorous type definitions chronological study of uncommon artefact ca- (Malmer 1962, 1963; Hill & Evans 1972) were tegories. A number of source quality 3 find com- combined with computer-assisted CA and seria- binations that can be determined as badly incom- tion (Høilund Nielsen & Jensen 1997, Hines et plete but certainly closed are all too decimated al. 1999). Typologically indeterminable objects, or chronologically indeterminate to be useful in very uncommon types and types shown by the combination studies. analyses to have been very long-lived were disre- The sample encompasses all source quality 1 garded. The separate sequences for the two gen- finds published in VWG that are useful for combi- ders were correlated using their gender-neutral nation studies. To them have been added all such types and gender-transgressive furnishings, with finds from subsequent excavations at Barshalder up supplementary looks at stratigraphy and topo- to and including 1971 (Barshalder 1), all such finds chronology (i.e. ”horizontal stratigraphy”, cf. added to the SHM inventory after the end of Ner- Thunmark-Nylén 1995a). man’s data collection for VWG (Tillväxten, on-line Please note that this typology rests upon ver- version, inventory numbers 19000 and higher), and bal type and phase definitions. The illustrations a few such finds added to the GF inventory after referred to for each type (cf. figs. 2:6-7) are a this time (Näsman 1970 with refs.). valuable aid to the understanding of the defini- In order to provide a forward and backward tions, but they are not the definitions, nor part demarcation of the Migration Period, a selection of them. Ideally, any typological classification of graves of the final phase of the Roman Iron system should be comprehensible and unambigu- Age (ÄEG) and the earliest phase of the Vendel ous even in the complete absence of illustrations.

16 2.2 Pottery combpnt Composite handle-less comb, ends of grip ribs taper to a point (sub- The most common class of artefact from the type of Brynja 1998 type I), cf. ÄEG Migration Period graves is pottery. Much of it is 567, VWG 222-225. very finely made and richly stamp-decorated. Star- combedg Composite handle-less comb, ends ting from Nerman’s hints in VWG, Näsman of grip ribs form a vertical edge (sub- (1970, 1972:101-102) identified the S-shaped type of Brynja 1998 type I, super- stamped motif as apparently relevant to a chrono- type of IIIAB), cf. VWG 543-545; logical subdivision of the Migration Period. I have Barshalder 1 fig. 10:22 G. been unable to find any common stamped mo- combhndl Handle comb (Brynja 1998 type II), tifs other than the S that have chronological sig- cf. VWG 227-229, 546-547; Bhr 1 fig. nificance. 10:11 G. Excluded from the analysis, too long-lived. Type code and definition pots Pottery with a stamped S or rounded Z, 2.4 Strap buckles cf. VWG 617-622; Barshalder 1 figs. 10:24, 10:26. The third most common grave artefact is the strap buckle. A buckle consists of a frame and a 2.3 Combs tongue, and usually also a fastening plate. The main chronological distinction among the strap The second most common grave artefact is the buckles, according to VWG, is that between a comb. A summary of the Migration Period typo- ”low” and a ”high” frame, as seen from the side. logical development, and its continuation through As Näsman (1970:14, 1972:98) points out, this the Vendel Period, is found in Nerman 1947. To distinction is not defined in VWG. I have for- my knowledge, these Gotlandic combs have sin- mulated the following definitions. ce received no further treatment. The first systematic study of Migration Peri- Type codes and definitions od combs from the Lake Mälaren area was pub- smbhigh Plate width smaller than plate length, lished by Petré (1984b:70-80, 128-135). The most and no greater than frame width. recent study of these combs, incorporating the High frame, in other words at least results of Nerman and Petré, is Brynja 1998. one of the following two criteria Brynja’s system of typological classification is, must be met: however, not particularly useful for the chrono- 1. The frame is visibly thicker at logical study of the Gotlandic finds. The majori- the front end than at the rear. Cf. ty of the Gotlandic combs from good find com- VWG 495-496, 498-499, 502. binations are composite handle-less single-sided 2. The fastening plate meets the specimens that are too badly preserved to per- frame above its horizontal mid line, mit differentiation between Brynja I and Brynja in other words most of the frame’s IIIA. In the present study these combs have in- thickness at the point of contact is stead been divided on the grounds of a typologi- below the plane of the fastening pla- cal element indicated by Nerman (VWG pp. 15, te. Cf. VWG 493-494, 497. 84), namely, whether the ends of a comb’s grip smbwide High frame. Plate width greater than ribs taper to a point or form a vertical edge. plate length, and greater than frame width, cf. VWG 486-487. Type codes and definitions smbprof Low profiled frame, cf. VWG 506. combsing Single-piece handle-less comb (Bryn- smbprotr Low frame with frontal protrusion, ja 1998 type IV), cf. ÄEG 566, VWG cast in one piece with fastening pla- 218-221; Barshalder 1 fig. 10:20 C. Ex- te, cf. VWG 161-162. cluded from the analysis, too long-lived. smbcresc Low oval or circular frame, crescent- shaped, with a sheet metal fastening

17 plate folded over the frame’s thin- 2.5 Sundry strap mounts nest part. Cf. ÄEG 540-541, VWG and staple rings 166-167. smbu Low quadrangular or U-shaped fra- Because of their variability these mounts permit me, separately fashioned transverse only a rather simple typology, which excludes axis, no fastening plate. Cf. ÄEG 530. many specimens. This avoids a system compri- smbquad1 Low quadrangular frame, straight sing numerous single-member types. front side and sides, cast in one piece with rectangular fastening plate, cf. Type codes and definitions VWG 144-147; Barshalder 1 fig. 10:11 smh Strap mount shaped like an H or an C, 10:22 C. hourglass (often termed ”X-shaped”), smbquad2 Low quadrangular frame, cast in once cf. ÄEG 552-558, VWG 189-192. piece, straight front side and sides, smjopen Strap joiner, hinged, openwork. cf. no fastening plate, cf. ÄEG 524, ÄEG 545; Barshalder 1 fig. 10:21 B. VWG 139-140. Excluded from the analy- Excluded from the analysis, too uncommon. sis, too uncommon. smjhing Strap joiner, hinged, rectangular, non- smbquad3 Low quadrangular frame, concave openwork, cf. ÄEG 544, VWG 168- front side and/or sides, cast in one 171. Excluded from the analysis, too long- piece with fastening plate, cf. ÄEG lived. 526-528, VWG 141-143. smrcavet Cavetto ring, Sw. hålkälad ring, cf. VWG smbova1a Low oval frame, cast in one piece 171, 173, 175, 177, 186, 195, 197-198, with quadrangular fastening plate. 510-512, 515-519; Barshalder 1 figs. Plate width greater than plate length, 10:11 EF, 10:18 Z, 10:21 D, 10:22 D. cf. VWG 154-156. Excluded from the analysis, too long-lived. smbova1b Low oval frame, cast in one piece with quadrangular fastening plate. 2.6 Strap retaining mounts Plate length greater than plate width. Plate may have openwork but must Type codes and definitions have a simple quadrangular outline. smrecas1 Strap retaining mount, cast, sides Cf. VWG 157-160, 491-492; Barshal- straight or smoothly curved. Cf. ÄEG der 1 figs. 10:11 D, 10:21 A. 549-551, VWG 179-180. smbova2 Low oval frame, cast in one piece smrecas2 Strap retaining mount, cast, sides with with openwork or pronged fastening small protrusions at middle. Cf. VWG plate. Plate must not have a simple 181-182. quadrangular outline. Cf. ÄEG 531- smreshee Strap retaining mount, made from 535, 537; VWG 150-153, 489. Exclu- bronze sheet. Cf. VWG 202-205, 520; ded from the analysis, too long-lived. Barshalder 1 fig. 10:22 E. smbova3 Low oval frame joined to a separately fashioned cast quadrangular fasten- 2.7 Strap end mounts ing plate by a transverse axis. Cf. ÄEG 536, 539; VWG 164-165. On the basis of Näsman’s (1970:30-47) classifica- smbova4 Low oval frame without fastening tion system A, I have formulated a set of typolo- plate, cf. VWG 148-149. Excluded from gical definitions for the openwork strap end the analysis, too long-lived. mounts. These definitions have been formulated in terms of the mount’s fastening plate being Only two of 24 determinable buckles from the orientated upward. The Migration Period mounts female graves had a high frame, an observation consist of no more than the following parts, in that might profitably be used in a gender attribu- order from the top down: fastening plate, ribbed te seriation. cuff, upper intermediate part, central frame, lo- wer intermediate part, end plate, knob.

18 Type codes and definitions 2.8 Fibulae smeophou Openwork, hour-glass-shaped with central ring. Cf. ÄEG 514-516. The fibula types of Migration Period Gotland smeopdis Openwork, not hour-glass-shaped, are fiercely local. They have little affinity with ending in a disc. Cf. ÄEG 518-521, the contemporaneous cruciform fibulae of the VWG 128. area (Reichstein 1975, Bode 1998:23- smeopen2 This definition takes precedence over 72), of which not a single specimen is known those for smeopen1 and smeopen3. from the island. The best overseas parallels to Openwork, Näsman’s group II, the fibulae of Gotland are found on nearby Öland cf. VWG 121, 123, 126, 459; Barshal- (cf. Ölands Järnåldersgravfält). der 1 fig. 10:23 D. At least one of the One characteristic that the Gotlandic fibulae following two criteria must be met. share with their western contemporaries is a very 1. Lower intermediate part rect- wide typological variability. Starting with Näs- angular with two opposed slots. man’s (1970, 1972) suggestions, and adding a sta- 2. End plate has circular outline. tistical study of the proportions of all fibula feet Excluded from the analysis, too long-lived. with non-divergent sides illustrated in VWG, the smeopen1 Openwork, Näsman’s group I, cf. following typological division has been develo- VWG 114-118. Fastening plate must ped. It pertains only to the foot and head of the not have parallel-then-concave sides. fibula as seen from above. The objective has been No cuff. Upper intermediate part to discern chronological variation. It should be rectangular with two opposed roun- noted that the term fibula refers to objects with a ded slots. No knob. visible spiral-rolled spring-loaded pin, extant or smeopen3 Openwork, Näsman’s group III, cf. strongly presumable; whereas the term brooch is VWG 460-465. Cuff present. Upper used for objects with a decorative front that hi- intermediate part must not be rect- des the pin, for instance the great relief brooch- angular with two opposed rounded es of the Migration Period and the proto-ani- slots, but may be rectangular if slots mal-head brooches of the Vendel Period. No are triangular or rectangular. Central phase C3 or Migration Period fibula from Got- frame has two opposed angles on its land possesses a returned (umgeschlagen) foot. outline and is filled with an inverted The shape of a fibula’s foot is classified as T or a horizontal bar. Lower inter- follows. mediate part must not be disc-sha- ped. Triangular end plate. fwmax: Maximum width of the foot. smesword Solid, straight-sided outline similar to fwmin: Minimum width of the foot. a two-edged sword blade, cf. VWG flen: Length of the foot. 473-482; Barshalder 1 fig. 10:22 F. smerect Solid, partly concave sides, ending in Foot index = (fwmax – fwmin) / flen a rectangular crossbar, cf. VWG 134- 136, 471. Excluded from the analysis, too Foot index < 0.08: foot with parallel sides. long-lived. Foot index > 0.07, foot widest at bow: foot smedisc Solid, ending in a disc, cf. VWG 129- with convergent sides. 130, 132-133. Excluded from the analy- Foot index > 0.07, foot widest at end: foot sis, too long-lived. with divergent sides.

Only two openwork strap end mounts have been Type codes and definitions found in Migration Period male graves (VWG gra- fibcb1 Headless. Length <49 mm. Foot ve 103 & Bhr 1934:03). This is another nicety of with parallel sides. Foot may end in the period’s gender symbolism that has not been knob or endplate, whose dimensions made use of in the gender attribute study in chap- are not included when determining ter 3. parallelism. No relief decoration.

19 (”Short crossbow fibula”). Cf. ÄEG 2.10 Pendants 487-489, VWG 376. fibcb2 Headless. Length >48 mm. Foot Type codes and definitions with parallel sides. Foot may end in pendvase Vase pendant, cf. VWG 99-102. knob or endplate, whose dimensions goldbrac Gold bracteate, Montelius 1869 type are not included when determining A-D, not type E. Cf. VWG 327-343; parallelism. No relief decoration. Barshalder 1 fig. 10:23 A. (”Long crossbow fibula”). Cf. ÄEG 491; VWG 65, 366-375, 378. 2.11 Clasps fibpoin1 Foot with convergent sides, ending in a point or knob. No relief deco- Type codes and definitions ration. Head shaped as a knob or a clasp0 Clasp without buttons or with a sing- disc. (”Early tapered-foot fibula”). le ornate button per side. Cf. ÄEG Cf. ÄEG 492-494. 561-565, VWG 211. fibpoin2 Foot with convergent sides, ending clasp1 Clasp with a single disc-shaped fea- in a point or knob. Head shaped as a tureless (possibly bevelled-edge) but- trefoil, a rhomb, a transverse spool, ton per side, cf. VWG 212-215. a supine crescent, a pair of antithe- clasp2- Clasp with 2-4 buttons per side, cf. tical animal heads, two of these five VWG 525-537. combined, or absent. No relief deco- clasph&e Metal wire hook-and-eye (Hines 1993 ration. (”Late tapered-foot fibula”). class A.). Cf. VWG textfig. 196. Cf. VWG 54-56, 58-63. fibrel Cast relief decoration on foot and/ 2.12 Weaponry or head. (”Relief fibula”). Cf. VWG Weaponry has been classified according to Bem- 355-356, 359, 362. mann & Hahne 1994, with the addition of the fibwide1 Foot with divergent sides. Must have Gotlandic local javelin head type Rommunds (see head in the shape of a knob. No re- below). lief decoration. Cf. VWG 1-26. fibwide2 Foot with divergent sides. Must not Type codes and definitions have head in the shape of a knob. sp2 Sword pommel mount, hat-shaped. No relief decoration. Cf. VWG 27- Cf. VWG 586-588; VZG 513, 515; 50, 357-358, 360-361. Barshalder 1 fig. 10:12 A. Excluded from the analysis, too uncommon. 2.9 Dress pins chapsnar Sword chape, type Snartemo/Fair- Type codes and definitions ford. Cf. VWG 586b, 590, 591. dpflat Flat-hammered, vertical, pierced lahavor Lance head, type Havor. Cf. ÄEG head, cf. VWG 76-77, 382. 633. Excluded from the analysis, too un- dphdisc Cast horizontal disc head, cf. VWG common. 80, 383. lakrageh Lance head, type Kragehul. Cf. VWG dpbird Cast bird-figure head, cf. VWG 392. 596. dpknplat Cast mushroom or polyhedral head lamolles Lance head, type Mollestad. Exclu- on top of a pierced vertical plate, cf. ded from the analysis, too uncommon. VWG 388-390. Excluded from the analy- lavoien Lance head, type Vøien. Cf. ÄEG sis, too uncommon. 635. Excluded from the analysis, too un- dpmush Cast mushroom head, no hole, cf. common. VWG 82-84, 384-387; Barshalder 1 fig. javfjell Javelin head, type Fjellberg. Cf. VWG 10:22 B. Excluded from the analysis, too 276. Excluded from the analysis, too un- long-lived. common. dpring Ring head. Cf. VWG 73-74.

20 javrommu Javelin head, type Rommunds (see nation with Kragehul lance heads identify our below). Excluded from the analysis, too pieces as belonging to a far later period than the uncommon. Skiaker javelin type. It characterises Bemmann & javtoftv Javelin head, type Toftvolden-Ein- Hahne’s Skiaker group, roughly contemporane- ang. Cf. ÄEG 637-638. ous with phase C1b2 (second quarter of the 3rd javtveit Javelin head, type Tveito. Cf. VWG century AD) in the female grave chronology 597. Excluded from the analysis, too un- (Lund Hansen 1987). The Kragehul-short lance common. type, however, characterises the Tveito, Vestly and shb5b Shield boss type Vb. Cf. ÄEG 643 Øvsthus groups of the Migration Period (AD (boss). 375–540). shb7 Shield boss type VII. Cf. VWG 277- Of the two find combinations, SHM 18272 is 278, 608 (bosses). Excluded from the an uncertain and apparently mixed one from a analysis, too long-lived. gravel pit, combining the Migration Period wea- shh3a Shield handle type IIIa. Cf. ÄEG pon pair with weaponry of the Early Vendel Pe- 642-643 (handles). Excluded from the riod. SHM 21781, however, is a certain combi- analysis, too uncommon. nation from a well-equipped inhumation grave shh3b Shield handle type IIIb. Cf. ÄEG 645 excavated by Mårten Stenberger in 1937. The (handle). grave’s date can be fixed to the first half of the shh3c Shield handle type IIIc. Cf. VWG Migration Period (phase GoD1, see below) through 277-278 (handles). Excluded from the the inclusion of a single-button clasp. analysis, too long-lived. It is, of course, hazardous to base a type defi- nition on only two specimens. Nevertheless, I I know of two finds where lance heads of Bem- wish to suggest at least provisional criteria to dis- mann & Hahne’s type Kragehul-short with (seen tinguish between javelins of Skiaker and Rom- proportionally) extremely long sockets are combi- munds type. A Rommunds type javelin head: ned with javelin heads of identical length and proportions (fig. 2:1, table 2c). The weapons give a) has a proportionally stouter point than all every impression of having been made in sets. Skiaker javelins (SB/SL in Bemmann & Hah- Existing typological systems cannot, however, ac- ne’s Skiaker sample is 0.13–0.25), commodate the javelin heads. I refer to them as b) lacks facets on the socket, the Rommunds type after the site of the best- c) is shorter than most Skiaker javelins on all mea- documented find. The Rommunds type javelins surements (their total length, for instance, in are similar to Skiaker type javelins (Bemmann & Bemmann & Hahne’s sample is 200–450 mm), Hahne 1994, p. 435; cf. ÄEG 611–612), but lack d) has a proportionally shorter point than most the distinctive faceted socket of this type. This Skiaker javelins (SL/TL in Bemmann & Hah- comes as a relief to the typologist, as the combi- ne’s sample is 0.33–0.66).

Table 2c. Rommunds type javelin heads. Measurements in millimetres. Metric parameters according to Bemmann & Hahne 1994, p. 414. GL = total length, SL = length of point to base of barb notches, TL = length of socket to base of barb notches (GL=SL+TL), SB = width of point at base of barb notches, SD = greatest thickness of point.

SL/ SB/ GLL SLTBSDS Ref TL SL

SHM 18272 1595 50164 2807.3 90.4 Tillväxten 1927 fig. 17. Go, Lau psh SHM 21781 1287 45104 2708.2 90.4 Go, , Rommunds

21 Fig. 2:1 Two sets, each of a Kragehul-short lance head and a Rommunds javelin head. Left-hand set SHM 18272. Right-hand set SHM 21781. Photograph by the author 20 August 2002.

22 2.13 Other artefacts, gram, pulling its grave to an earlier part of the unsuitable for chronological seriation than warranted by most of the inclu- ded types. It follows that only fairly common study artefact types allow the identification of heir- A number of artefact classes were excluded from looms: without a sizeable main cluster of inci- the seriations either because they displayed no dences there can be no outliers. apparent chronological patterning or because the In this manner, VWG grave 169 was disregar- available sample was too small to allow any con- ded. It combines pottery stamped with the S mo- clusions to be drawn. These classes are: bead, tif with a fibwide2 fibula. This fibula appears out glass vessel, gaming piece, sword, arrowhead, neck of the type’s usual chronological context and was ring, finger ring, open metal sheet cylinder, key, probably one of the last of its kind to be buried. casket handle, lock part, sewing needle, knife, whorl, bronze sheet vessel, bronze joint rivet, bear 2.15 The female sequence phalanx, and fossil. Starting with the type incidence data set in table 2a, types were weeded out through repeated runs 2.14 Graves with heirloom of CA, either as uniques, or because they ruined objects the CA parabola. The data set was reduced down to 41 graves (of which 13 are not found in ÄEG When studying the chronology of graves, one or VWG) and 28 types, producing a clean CA sometimes comes across graves that must be ex- parabola and seriation (figs. 2:2 & 2:3). All the cluded from seriation because they include ob- graves are source quality 1 combinations with the jects that can be identified as heirlooms. Such an exception of Bhr 1967:13 & 18b. These source object shows up as a single type incidence far quality 2 combinations were kept to allow treat- from the type’s main cluster in the seriation dia- ment of two clasp types and the smbquad1 strap

Fig. 2:2 Migration Period female grave chronology. CA scattergram.

23 Fig. 2:3. Migration Period female grave chronology. Seriation diagram.

MIGCHFEM Input Correlation: 0.2611 Output Correlation: 0.9853 % Variance: 9.3716

buckles. The chronologically useful classes of ar- the Montelian backbone of the Iron Age chro- tefact turned out to be fibulae, combs, strap buck- nology upon which we are elaborating. At one les, sundry strap mounts, strap end mounts, dress end we find Late Roman Iron Age types, at the pins, S-stamped pottery, vase pendants and clasps. other types that survived into the Vendel Period. Accepting the continuum in figs. 2:2 & 2:3 These observations confirm that we are indeed provisionally as a chronological sequence of de- dealing with a chronological sequence. position, the first task is to determine which end Having established the direction of the se- is early and which is late. This is made easy by quence, we turn to its phasing. The seriation and 24 CA display a number of discontinuities, of which GofD2a includes ten of the 28 types and has the four most marked have been chosen to divi- three diagnostic types: the relief fibula (fibrel), de the sequence into five phases, here termed the disc-headed dress pin (dphdisc) and the mul- GofC3, GofD1a, GofD1b, GofD2a and Gof- ti-button clasp (clasp2-). It shares five types with D2b. Each phase possesses one or two fibula ty- GofD2b: the vase pendant (pendvase), the bird- pes; three of them each possess one or two dress headed dress pin (dpbird), the vertical-edged pin types. These phases may thus be interpreted composite comb (combedg), the openwork strap in terms of successive female jewellery fashions. end mount of Näsman’s group III (smeopen3) Graves assigned in ÄEG to phase V:2 are found and the S-stamped pot. only in GofC3. Graves assigned in VWG to pha- GofD2b ends the Migration Period. It inclu- se VI:2 are found only in GofD2ab. des nine of the 28 types and has four diagnostic GofC3 (=ÄEG per V:2) is the final phase of types: the long crossbow fibula (fibcb2), the smb- the Late Roman Iron Age. It includes seven of quad1 strap buckle, the sword-shaped strap end the 28 types and has five diagnostic types that mount (smesword) and the high strap buckle separate it from the female graves of the Migra- (smbhigh). The Early Migration Period hiatus tion Period: the short crossbow fibula (fibcb1), among crossbow fibulae, pointed out by Lind- the early tapered-foot fibula (fibpoin1), the early qvist (1926 chapter 5), still remains. cast strap retaining mount (smrecas1), the hour- With direction and phasing established, we glass-shaped openwork strap end mount (sme- would under more favourable circumstances have ophou) and the tiny early clasp (clasp0). It shares confronted the question of chronological over- two types with GofD1a: the type smbquad3 strap lap between the phases. However, the data-sets buckle and the pointed-end composite comb used for the present chronological studies are (combpnt). With the present type definitions, unfortunately far too small to permit such deli- only the type clasp0 clasp and the type smbquad3 berations. strap buckle separate GofC3 from a Gotlandic phase C2. As can be seen at a glance in ÄEG, 2.16 The male sequence however, it would be easy to subdivide the arte- fact types of GofC3 and separate it more clearly A chronological sequence for the male graves was from the preceding phase. Any serious re-study established in the same way as for the female gra- of the chronology of the Roman Iron Age gra- ves. The original data set (table 2b) was honed ves of Gotland with modern methods must uti- down to 30 graves and 26 types, producing a clean lise the voluminous un-published material exca- CA parabola and seriation (figs. 2:4 & 2:5). The vated since the completion of ÄEG in 1923. This resulting data set is small and the quality of the task has not been attempted here. data not very good. Only 21 of the graves are GofD1a marks the beginning of the Migra- first-class assemblages, the remaining nine being tion Period. It includes seven of the 28 types and source quality 2. However, this is the best that has only one diagnostic type: the late tapered- can be achieved until a sizeable sample of additio- foot fibula (fibpoin2). It shares three types with nal well-excavated male graves of the Migration GofD1b, all types that separate the Migration Pe- Period on Gotland are published or at least writ- riod from GofC3: the openwork strap end mount ten up. Nine of the 30 seriated graves are post- of Näsman’s group I (smeopen1), the sheet me- VWG assemblages. tal strap retaining mount (smreshee) and the flat- Accepting the continuum provisionally as a headed dress pin (dpflat). chronological sequence of deposition, we begin GofD1b includes eight of the 28 types and analysing the seriation by establishing its direc- has two diagnostic types: the common wide-foo- tion in the same manner as with the female se- ted fibula with its sundry head designs (fibwide2) quence. We do, indeed, seem to be dealing with and the ring-headed dress pin (dpring). It shares yet another chronological sequence. two types with GofD2a: the metal wire hook- As to phasing, this must be done with an eye and-eye (clasph&e) and the common wide-foo- to the phasing of the source-critically more se- ted knob-headed fibula (fibwide1). cure female sequence established in the previous

25 section. It turns out that, due to its small size, The present type definitions appear to separate the male sequence cannot be divided into five GomC3 rather well from a Gotlandic phase C2. phases, but three phases can be established. They GomD1 marks the beginning of the Migra- are termed GomC3, GomD1 and GomD2. Gra- tion Period. It includes ten of the 26 types and ves assigned in ÄEG to phase V:2 are found only has three diagnostic types: the late cast strap re- in GomC3, which also includes VWG grave 103 taining mount (smrecas2), the single-piece strap that was placed in phase VI:1 by Nerman. Gra- buckle with a frontal protrusion on the frame ves assigned in VWG to phase VI:2 are found (smbprotr) and the single-plain-button clasp only in GomD2. (clasp1). It shares four types with GomD2: the GomC3 (=ÄEG per V:2) is the final phase of sheet metal strap retaining mount (smreshee), the the Late Roman Iron Age. It includes ten of the type smbquad3 and smbquad1 strap buckles, and 26 types and has seven diagnostic types that se- the type Kragehul lance head. parate it from the male graves of the Migration GomD2 ends the Migration Period. It inclu- Period: the H-shaped strap mount (smh), the des 13 of the 26 types and has nine diagnostic openwork strap mount ending with a disc (sme- types: the type smbwide, smbhigh and smbprof opdis), the type IIIb shield handle, the early cast strap buckles, the multi-button clasp (clasp2-), strap retaining mount (smrecas1), the type Toft- the S-stamped pottery (pots), the type Snarte- volden-Einang javelin head, the type Vb shield mo-Fairford sword chape (chapsnar), the long boss, and the U-shaped strap buckle (smbu). It crossbow fibula (fibcb2), the type A-D gold brac- shares three types with GomD1: the type smb- teate (goldbrac), and the sword-shaped strap end ova3 strap buckle, the tiny early clasp (clasp0) mount. and the crescent-shaped strap buckle (smbcresc).

Fig. 2:4. Migration Period male grave chronology. CA scattergram.

26 Fig. 2:5. Migration Period male grave chronology. Seriation diagram.

MIGCHMAL Input Correlation: 0.2349 Output Correlation: 0.9799 % Variance: 15.5422

2.17 Correlating the der-transgressive furnishings, that it is possible two sequences to merge the two into a single depositional chro- nology for the graves of the Migration Period The separate sequences for the female and male and the immediately preceding period on Got- graves are independent of each other, and their land (table 2d). It has three main phases, GoC3, phase boundaries need not be contemporaneous. GoD1 and GoD2, and we can split both GoD1 However, enough types are shared throughout and GoD2 when dealing with female graves. A the two sequences, gender-neutral types and gen- corresponding independent fine chronology for

27 Table 2d. Chronology for the graves of the Migration Period and the immediately preceding period on Gotland.

GaoC3 GboD1 GaoD1 GboD2 G1oD2 V.II: D.iag Cf

f1000003ibcb1 D6iag. GoC ÄEG 487-489; VWG 37 f1000003ibpoin1 D4iag. GoC ÄEG 492-49 j1000003avtoftv D8iag. GoC ÄEG 637-63 s1000003hb5b D)iag. GoC ÄEG 643 (boss s1000003hh3b D)iag. GoC ÄEG 645 (handle s1000003mbu D0iag. GoC ÄEG 53 s1000003meopdis D8iag. GoC ÄEG 518-521; VWG 12 s1000003meophou D6iag. GoC ÄEG 514-51 s1000003mrecas1 D0iag. GoC ÄEG 549-551; VWG 179-18 c11?000lasp0 ÄEG 561-565; VWG 21 1 c11?000ombpnt ÄEG 567; VWG 222-22 5 s11?000mbcresc ÄEG 540-541; VWG 166-16 7 s11?000mbova3 ÄEG 536, 539; VWG 164-16 5 s111000mh ÄEG 552-558; VWG 189-19 2 s1111?0mbquad3 ÄEG 526-528; VWG 141-14 3 f010000aibpoin2 D3iag. GoD1 VWG 54-56, 58-6 s01?000?mbprotr D2iag. GoD1a VWG 161-16 s01?000?mrecas2 D2iag. GoD1a VWG 181-18 c0110001lasp1 D5iag. GoD VWG 212-21 d0110001pflat D2iag. GoD VWG 76-77, 38 s0110001meopen1 D8iag. GoD VWG 114-11 s011100mbova1a VWG 154-15 6 s0111?0mreshee VWG 202-205, 520 ;Bhr 1 fig. 10:22 E l0?11?0akrageh VWG 59 6 s0?1110mbova1b VWG 157-160, 491 ;Bhr 1 fig. 10:11 D s0?1110mbquad1 VWG 144-147 ;Bhr 1 fig. 10:11 C, 10:22 C f001000bibwide2 D1iag. GoD1 VWG 27-50, 357-358, 360-36 d001000bpring D4iag. GoD1 VWG 73-7 c001100lasph&e D6iag. GoD1b-2 aVWG textfig. 19 f001100ibwide1 D6iag. GoD1b-2 aVWG 1-2 f000100aibrel D2iag. GoD2 VWG 355-356, 359, 36 d000100aphdisc D3iag. GoD2 VWG 80, 38 c0001102lasp2- D7iag. GoD VWG 525-53 g0001102oldbrac D;iag. GoD VWG 327-343 Bhr 1 fig. 10:23 A p0001102endvase D2iag. GoD VWG 99-10 d0001102pbird D2iag. GoD VWG 39 c0001102ombedg D;iag. GoD VWG 543-545 Bhr 1 fig. 10:22 G s0001102meopen3 D5iag. GoD VWG 460-46 s0001102mbwide D7iag. GoD VWG 486-48 c0001102hapsnar D1iag. GoD VWG 586b, 590, 59 p00011)ots (21 D;iag. GoD VWG 617-622 Bhr 1 figs. 10:24, 10:26 s00011)mbhigh (21 D2iag. GoD VWG 493-499, 50 s000?10?mbprof D6iag. GoD2b VWG 50 s000?10?mesword D;iag. GoD2b VWG 473-482 Bhr 1 fig. 10:22 F f00001)ibcb2 (b1 D8iag. GoD2 VWG 65, 366-375, 37

28 the male graves may one day be established when ves of both GoD1 and GoD2. They can there- additional well-preserved and documented finds fore not be seriated as meta-units in the way that become available. Anders Carlsson (1988:58, tab 15) has done with As for stratigraphy, none of the relationships the Viking Period cemeteries. described in VWG or documented later at Bars- halder are useful in relating the sequences to each 2.18 Correlating the female other. During the Migration Period graves were sequences for Gotland and rarely placed in clear stratigraphic relationships with other recent graves. The cases that exist in- Bornholm clude no two graves that are each closely datable The island of Öland and the Lake Mälaren area and of different genders. on the Swedish mainland are the areas whose Mig- The synchronisation of the sequences can be ration Period finds are most similar to those of roughly tested against cemetery topochronology Gotland. Unfortunately, no independent chrono- at a number of cemeteries (see cemetery plans logical sequences have been established for the in VWG p. 120-124, Nylén 1955:62, Thunmark- Migration Period graves of these areas. In the Nylén 1995a:571). This kind of evidence cannot, case of Öland it is doubtful whether it would however, bear much weight as it invites self-ful- even be possible with present materials, as its re- filling prophecies. The method includes an easy cord of furnished Migration Period graves is way to discount unattractive results: it has always scanty. Lars Jørgensen (1989) has, however, pub- been possible to return to an abandoned ceme- lished a seriation-based chronology for the fe- tery plot and dig a new grave there, thus produ- male graves of Bornholm in the southern Baltic, cing uninformative topochronology. spanning the Late Roman Iron Age and the Mig- An analysis of the topochronology of the Mig- ration Period. His material for Eggers’s phase C3 ration Period cemeteries of Gotland would en- and the Migration Period consists of only 19 gra- tail the examination, dating and gender assign- ves and 17 types, but he has divided it into three ment of a large number of unpublished grave phases that may be compared with our system finds with few or single artefact types. In view of for Gotland. its doubtful analytical value, topochronology has Of Jørgensen’s 17 types, only 6 (all of them therefore only been studied at Barshalder where fibulae types) can be identified in grave finds from the material is easily accessible. There is no appar- Gotland. Type F19, found in Bornholmian pha- ent topochronological development among the ses C2b and C3, is a narrow crossbow fibula with Migration Period graves along the two kilometre returned foot, comparable to those of ÄEG pha- length of this cemetery. In cemetery sections 1, se V:1. Type F21, a diagnostic type of Bornholm- 2 and 7, however, sizeable clusters of Migration ian phase C3, is vaguely defined, described as ”he- Period graves have been excavated, allowing stu- terogeneous”, and includes cast fibulae compa- dy of the spatial relationships between female rable to our types fibcb1 and fibpoin2, diagnos- and male graves on a local level. tic types of GoC3 and GoD1a. Type F23, a dia- Three source quality 1-2 male graves here can gnostic type of the Bornholmian Early Migra- be dated within the Migration Period and has a tion Period, is a long crossbow fibula comparab- close female neighbour fulfilling the same requi- le to our type fibcb2, a diagnostic type of GoD2b. rements: Bhr 1882:34 (GomD2) + Bhr 1882:33 Type F24, found in both phases of the Born- (GofD2), Bhr 1957:02 (GomD1) + Bhr 1958:01 holmian Migration Period, is comparable to our (GofD1b), Bhr 1951:01 (GomD2) + Bhr 1967:32 fibwide2, a diagnostic type of GoD1b. Type F25, (GofD2). These topochronological relationships also found in both phases of the Bornholmian all support the synchronisation of GomD1 with Migration Period, is comparable to our type fib- GofD1 and of GomD2 with GofD2, for what poin1, a diagnostic type of GoC3. F26, finally, that is worth. also found in both phases of the Bornholmian On a larger scale, all Migration Period ceme- Migration Period, is a small relief brooch com- teries on Gotland that have been extensively ex- parable to the one found in grave 3/74 at Häg- cavated and well documented have yielded gra-

29 vards in Hall (SHM 31125:3, 1974). Even if the definition is narrowed down to in- This grave dates from GoD2a. clude only silver objects it does not confine it- These comparisons do not reveal any systema- self to objects found in graves of GoD1. Partly tic chronological skew in the relationship between gilded silver objects with Sösdala punch decora- the two phase systems. Similar fibulae flourish at tion are entirely lacking from the material. Thus, different times on each island, with no tendency the Sösdala style must be discarded as an analyti- for one or the other area to be more or less con- cal tool here. servative than the other. This emphasises that An object decorated in the Nydam style (cf. Gotland and Bornholm each had their own local Bemmann & Bemmann 1998:233-240) has sur- jewellery styles during the period under study. All face-covering chip-carved cast relief depicting that can be learned is that we must indeed be spiral or angular patterns but no animal or hu- dealing with roughly the same overall period on man figures; articulated figures may cling to the both islands. Also, we should keep in mind the object’s edges. An object decorated in Salin’s Style possibility that the typological links that we do I has surface-covering cast relief depicting disar- find may be due to exchange of jewellery items ticulated animal or human figures; it may also between the two islands, and that import pieces include edge-clinging figures and chip-carved may not have the same lifespan in their new en- abstract patterns. vironment as their siblings at home. The known source quality 1-2 Migration Peri- od grave assemblages from Gotland include no 2.19 Correlating the female examples of Salin’s Style I. They do, however, sequences for Gotland and provide three examples of the Nydam style: a relief brooch from grave 3/74 at Hägvards in Norway Hall (SHM 31125:3, Pettersson 1974), and frag- With regard to phasing systems for Migration Pe- mentary relief fibulae from VWG grave 162 and riod graves in other parts of Scandinavia, only Bhr 1967:18b. All of these graves belong to pha- the two Norwegian ones are robust enough in se GoD2a, of which the relief fibula is a dia- their own right to merit comparison. The chrono- gnostic type. The result of these style studies, logy of the Norwegian female graves was set out then, is not very useful. They show that GoD2a, by Bakka (1973) and has been elaborated by Hi- the penultimate phase of the Migration Period nes (1984, 1993), Straume (1987) and Kristoffer- on Gotland, post-dated the genesis of the Ny- sen (1999). However, there are no frequently- dam style. Nor does Hines’ clasp chronology occurring artefact types of the period common (1993) help us here, as almost all of the Gotlan- to graves both in Norway and Gotland. Instead, dic clasps are of the chronologically unspecific comparison must be based on the occurrence plain-button B1i type whose definition does not of the Sösdala, Nydam and Salin’s Style I decora- take the number of buttons into account. tive styles. There are precious few examples of In conclusion, there is very little to link our these styles in the Gotlandic material, and they sequence for Gotland with that of Norwegian belong to a status level that makes them likely to female graves (Kristoffersen 1999:109). Judging have been kept as heirlooms for a long time. VZG from the close Danish contacts evinced in the grave 2 and Bhr 1957:01 are cases in point, where materials of the two areas, it appears that we may relief brooches decorated in Salin’s Style I were assume a common start date for GofD1 and the found in graves of the Early Vendel Period. Norwegian phase D1. If, as is commonly accep- Discussion of decorative styles presupposes ted (Axboe 1999:138), the earliest Migration Pe- definitions, and I have formulated such on the riod gold bracteates coincided with the genesis basis of Lennart Karlsson’s (1983) excellent cri- of Salin’s Style I, then the beginning of our first tical survey. An object decorated in the Sösdala phase with gold bracteates, GoD2a, post-dates style has rows of punch decoration along the edg- or coincides with the beginning of the Norwegi- es but no cast relief decoration. With this defini- an phase D2a. The beginning of the Norwegian tion, the Sösdala style is useless for the purpose phase D2b with its late Style I and small equal- of subdividing the Migration Period on Gotland. armed brooches probably coincides with the be-

30 ginning of the Vendel Period in south-eastern land than in Norway. When this type was disre- Scandinavia, Høilund Nielsen’s (1999a, 1999b) garded, however, only two Migration Period wea- phase VIIA, which is defined by similar broo- pon graves could be classified in the Norwegian ches (KHN type F) and early Style II among other scheme, and they indicated that both GoD1 and things. The final western phase of Style I is ab- GoD2 were contemporaneous with the Tveito sent here. Regarding the possibility of regionally group! At this point I gave the exercise up, con- separate but contemporaneous phases of Style I tenting myself with the realisation that the Mig- and Style II in the mid-6th century, see Näsman ration Period weapon sets of Gotland are too 1984a:62 with refs., Magnus 1999, Høilund Niel- few to allow any chronological subdivision on sen 2002. their own. They are, however, reassuringly dis- tinct from the weapon sets of the Late Roman 2.20 Correlating the male Iron Age. sequences for Gotland and There is, however, one more observation to be made regarding the chronology of the Mig- Norway ration Period weapon graves in relation to Nor- Bemmann & Hahne (1994) have divided the way. Only two pieces of weaponry of the Nor- Norwegian weapon graves of the Migration Pe- wegian Snartemo group, contemporaneous with riod and the immediately preceding period into the final western phase of Style I, are known from four chronological phases: 1) Vøien, 2) Molle- southeast Scandinavia (Bemmann & Hahne 1994, stad, 3) Kvamme + Tveito, 4) Vestly + Øvsthus Abb. 81, Abb. 93). This is a further indication + Snartemo. The latter two phases each consist that, as suggested above, the last phase of the of two or three contemporaneous social or regio- Norwegian Migration Period was contemporane- nal groups. The authors warn against attempts ous with the first phase of the Vendel Period in such as Ilkjær’s (1990 and later works) to estab- southeast Scandinavia. Bemmann & Hahne (1994: lish a pan-Scandinavian weaponry typology, but 334-335), however, do not accept this idea. They as these types are actually far more widespread place the earliest Merovingian type weapon gra- than contemporaneous jewellery styles they do ves of Norway, the Nerhus group, after the Snar- provide more hope for interregional synchroni- temo group. Nevertheless, Style I is about as com- sation. mon in the Nerhus group as in the Snartemo The full combination matrix in table 2b includ- group (one and two pieces, respectively), and the es nine weaponry combinations from Gotland type Snartemo lance head is similar in length and that can be classified according to Bemmann & shape both to the ”very long lance head” type Hahne 1994. The combinations indicate that ma- of the Nerhus group and to W&G’s type L1 lan- ny types survived longer on Gotland than in Nor- ce head of the early Vendel Period (cf. VZG 554- way, blurring the lines between Bemmann & 570). It seems that the Snartemo and Nerhus Hahne’s groups. All nine graves were at first assig- groups may have been largely or entirely contem- ned to the group of their latest included type poraneous, one representing a conservative mode according to Bemmann & Hahne’s seriation. This of armament with lance, javelin and spatha sword; indicated unproblematically that GoC3 (5 gra- the other, with lance and seax sword, a fruit of ves) was contemporaneous with the Vøien and the Frankish influences that swept over south- Mollestad groups in Norway. Both GoD1 and east Scandinavia from the second quarter of the GoD2 (4 graves), however, appeared to be con- 6th century onward. temporaneous with the Vestly-Øvsthus group. This was surprising as it left the Early Migration 2.21 Absolute dating Period weapon grave groups of Norway (Kvam- In assigning absolute dates to the GoC3-D1-D2 me and Tveito) without any representation what- sequence, we have no numismatic or dendrochro- soever on Gotland, despite the fact that a num- nological evidence from the graves themselves. ber of their constituent types are known from With current knowledge of interregional abso- the island. The most likely explanation is that the lute chronology, the final phase of the Late Ro- type VII shield boss appeared earlier on Got-

31 man Iron Age (Eggers C3) in southern Scandi- in fact limited to the Early Migration Period. navia dates to c. AD 310-400 (Lund Hansen 1994: Nerman confidently assigned every find combi- 1-2). The Migration Period in the same area da- nation in VWG either to phase VI:1 or VI:2, tes to between c. AD 375 (Lund Hansen 1994:1- whereas many of these graves cannot be dated 2) and c. AD 540 (Jørgensen & Nørgård Jørgen- unambiguously to either GoD1 or GoD2. Ner- sen 1997:38, Axboe 1999:141). man tended to place all chronologically insensiti- This, most importantly, leaves us the task of ve artefact types in phase VI:1 by default. This dating the start of GoD2. Gold bracteates, of realisation undermines his (Nerman 1923) emig- which the start date is c. AD 450 (Axboe 1999: ration hypothesis, criticised already by Lindqvist 138), have been assigned to GoD2 on the strength (1926 chapter 5). While the graves of VI:1 great- of only three graves (VWG grave 159, SHM ly outnumber those of VI:2 in VWG, here we 25386, Bhr 1967:43). None of these bracteates have found an even ratio. Of the 54 Migration belong to Axboe’s earliest group, but at least we Period assemblages seriated above, 28 (52%) date may state that GoD2 began no earlier than AD from GoD2. Lindqvist’s suggestion, however, 450. that the graves of our phase GoD2 might have Under certain circumstances, the relative been a group of high-status graves contempora- length of two chronological phases might be cal- neous with those of our GoD1, appears untenab- culated from the ratio between their grave counts. le in view of the seriations. Links to GoC3 are This assumes that a number of other parame- found in the graves of GoD1, links to the Ven- ters are constant: population size, portion of po- del Period in GoD2. pulation buried with datable objects, and ratio The uncertainties being great, we cannot in- of archaeological recovery. The first and second fer much from the grave counts of our phases. parameters cannot be studied independently of If we simply assume GoD1 and GoD2 to have the graves’ typological characteristics with pre- been of equal length, we arrive at a shift during sent source materials. Independent knowledge of the AD 450s, coinciding with the accepted date the population size seems irretrievably lost. The for the genesis of Salin’s Style I and the first gold buried subset of the population is probably also bracteates (Axboe 1999:138). The phases of the beyond our reach as most skeletons are crema- Migration Period female grave sequence have a ted. It is, however, possible to evaluate the ratio length of c. 40 years each, disregarding overlap of archaeological recovery. A test of the VWG (table 2e). database’s representativeness may be had from the percentage of systematically excavated gra- Table 2e. Suggested absolute chronology ves in the VI:1-2 phase subsets. They are very similar (70% and 72%). This probably means that G0oC3 AD 310-40 archaeologists and grave robbers around 1900 on G0oD1a AD 375-41 Gotland were not chronologically biased when selecting Migration Period graves for excavation. G0oD1b AD 410-45 The representativeness of the sample in this re- spect would thus seem good. G0oD2a AD 450-50 However, as shown above, many of the arte- G0oD2b AD 500-54 fact types that Nerman placed exclusively in his early phase, VI:1, were actually long-lived and not

32 fibcb1 ÄEG 488 fibpoin1 ÄEG 492

javtoftv ÄEG 637

smbu smrecas1 ÄEG 530 ÄEG 551

shb5b ÄEG 643

smeopdis smeophou ÄEG 520 ÄEG 515

shh3b ÄEG 645

Fig. 2:6. Phase GoC3. Diagnostic types. Drawings from ÄEG, most by Sörling. Various scales.

33 smbprotr smrecas2 VWG 162 VWG 181 GoD1a (-b?) GoD1a (-b?)

fibpoin2 VWG 059 GoD1a

clasp1 VWG 214 GoD1

dpflat smeopen1 VWG 077 VWG 116 GoD1 GoD1 dpring VWG 074 fibwide2 GoD1b Fig. 2:7. Phase GoD1 & GoD2. VWG 043 Diagnostic types. Drawings from GoD1b VWG, most by Harald Faith-Ell and Olof Sörling. Various scales.

fibrel dphdisc goldbrac VWG 359 VWG 080 Bhr 1 fig. 10:23 A GoD2a GoD2a GoD2

34 pendvase dpbird VWG 100 VWG 392 GoD2 smbhigh GoD2 VWG 495 GoD2

clasp2- VWG 533 GoD2 combedg VWG 545 GoD2

chapsnar VWG 586b GoD2

smbwide VWG 487 GoD2

smeopen3 VWG 463 GoD2

smesword VWG 478 GoD2 (a?-) b fibcb2 VWG 373 GoD2b

smbprof VWG 506 GoD2 (a?-) b

35 3. Late Iron Age social roles: gender, age and status

Recalling Magritte’s pipe, a grave is not a person, variability, most importantly gender, which pla- but a depiction of a person. The relationship be- ces us in Catch 22. The way out of this catch is tween this picture and its once-living subject is a to work with one dimension at a time, alterna- perennial theme of theoretical debate (Härke ting between them and moving to successively 2000 and Parker Pearson 2000, both with referen- finer distinctions. First we divide the graves, re- ces). At a funeral, a group of mourners will por- gardless of gender, into Montelius’s Iron Age pe- tray the deceased in a favourable light, or at the riods, each of them one to three centuries long; very least one that is socially acceptable. The grave then we clarify gender within each period; then furnishings will thus symbolise a social role, pin- we return to chronology and establish separate pointing it in a number of dimensions of which series of c. 50-year phases for the female and gender and social status seem to have been the male graves of each period; then we look at each most important in 1st millennium AD Scandinavia. gender and phase and search for indicators of Only an affluent group of mourners can af- social status. This procedure produces tools (in ford an expensive funeral. Thus, an expensively the form of tables) allowing us to classify a set built and richly furnished grave represents afflu- of artefacts as the trappings of, say, an Early ent mourners, if not an affluent deceased. The Migration Period high status male. This informa- converse is, of course, not true. However, ideals tion can then be correlated with other parame- of humility and ostentation in death respectively ters, such as topochronology, burial structure or are unlikely to co-exist at a cemetery at the same location within a war booty sacrifice. time. Thus, at most cemeteries we find one of To my mind, the most useful information in two types of behaviour that do not mix: equally this chapter is found in its many tables. The text and poorly furnished graves as at a Medieval describes how this information has been produ- Christian cemetery, or unequally and in some ca- ced and offers interpretations thereof. ses very wealthily furnished graves as at Barshal- der. For reviews of the Anglophone and Ger- 3.1 Migration Period gender man debates on the theory of social status in archaeology, see Wason 1994, Härke 2000 and At first glance, mortuary gender attributes seem Parker Pearson 2000, all with references. fairly straightforward throughout Barshalder’s In this chapter, the Late Iron Age graves of period of use, with a strict dichotomy between Barshalder are studied with regard to social roles weapon-bearing men and jewellery-wearing wo- in four dimensions: gender, social status, osteo- men. However, the Migration Period graves are logical sex assessment, and osteological age ass- in fact much less clear-cut, as both weapons and essment. Beyond an exploration of the present full jewellery sets are rare. In this section, I in- material, the aim is to establish a code scheme tend to identify gender attributes among the allowing a well-grounded classification of future Migration Period grave furnishings; to test and finds. Unravelling the various components of clarify the prevalent views of gender during the each grave’s social message from each other is period; and to develop a definition of transgres- complicated, and it cannot be done without a sed gender attributes. Preliminary results were clear picture of chronology. This, however, can- presented at the EAA Annual Meeting in Lis- not in turn be had without a good idea of social bon, 16 September 2000 (Rundkvist in press).

36 3.1.1 Gender attributes and thus gender-neutral types in the middle. The- In order to identify Migration Period gender att- se were removed through successive runs of the ributes I have applied a version of the seriation- seriation and entered on a list of gender-neutral based method described both by Gebühr (1975, attributes (table 3c). 1976, 1994:73-81) and Hodson (1977, 1990). For To this end, it was necessary to define the other applications of the method see Jankavs boundary between gender-neutral attributes and 1981 sections 5.1-5.2 and Evans et al. 1996. I en- transgressed gendered ones. Gender-neutral att- tered all source quality 1-2 Migration Period gra- ributes have varying degrees of neutrality, or, put ve inventories from Barshalder into a presence/ another way, are more or less tied to one gender absence database using WinBASP 1994. Through or the other. The gender ratio for a gender-neut- several runs of the analysis I then added a syste- ral attribute is rarely the ideal 50%. At some low matic selection of source quality 1-2 graves from percentage for one gender an attribute should VWG to enable combination studies of attribu- not be regarded as neutral, but rather as gender- tes that would otherwise have been unique or specific though negotiable or transgressed. Pre- ambiguous. Six graves discussed by Näsman (Näs- vious studies (Gebühr 1976:120, 1994; Hodson man 1970 chapter 7, data from Stenberger 1936, 1977; Jankavs 1981) have disregarded these trans- Silvén 1956 and the SHM inventory) that have gressions as irrelevant noise in the data: ”Natur- been excavated since the publication of VWG ally, it would be desirable to have exact bounda- were also included. After removal of single-in- ries, but these are impossible to obtain and have stance types and single-type graves, the data set probably never existed either. In this case one (MIGBASE) amounted to 77 graves and 36 ty- has to be content with the tendencies…” (Jan- pes. 32 graves were from Barshalder; the remain- kavs 1981 section 5.2.1). This was unsatisfactory ing 45 derived from 14 other cemeteries scatter- procedure, separating true gender-neutral attri- ed across all of Gotland within a maximum range butes (like pots) from gendered attributes with of 80 km from Barshalder. 22 of the graves were exceptions (like a sword found with a large je- post-VWG finds. wellery set) without providing any formal defini- The type definitions used were functional tion of which was which. Also, these interesting ones, for example ”sword” and ”casket handle”. patterns in the data, where gender attributes were Definitions based on stylistic (that is, non-func- clearly transgressed, were disregarded and sub- tional) traits were avoided in order to suppress sumed within the persistent basic gender dicho- chronological patterning. Beyond the functional tomy seen in the grave inventories. classification of artefacts, I subdivided some ty- I have chosen to draw the line for gender pes according to their specimen counts in a gi- transgression at <20% representation of one gen- ven assemblage. This was done due to the well- der for an attribute, out of the total population known occurrence of a single bead in weapon of gendered graves with that attribute (table 3a). graves (Petré 1993:151) and an impression that It should be noted that the <20% limit means sets of strap fittings including more than one that only attributes known from at least six gra- buckle do not occur with n>1 bead sets. ves can be defined as transgressed. Consequent- When MIGBASE was seriated (cf. section 1.5), ly, with a larger sample the bronze sheet vessel the gender dichotomy immediately asserted it- (n=4), for instance, deemed gender-neutral here, self, with weapons and the majority of belt might actually turn out to be a transgressed gen- mounts at one end; and keys, casket fittings, and der attribute. Also, with the method used, only most jewellery at the other. However, the seria- attributes known from at least two graves can be tion was noisy, with a number of non-polarised gendered at all, leaving a number of unique att- ributes unaccounted for. The seria- Table 3a. Gender assignment of burial attributes. tion algorithm disregards unique objects and single-object graves. Both of these limitations to the method appear sensible from the point of view of representativeness.

37 Fig 3:1. The Migration Period gender dichotomy. Seriation diagram. The horizontal line marks the division between female and male graves and types. The bold-faced ”X”s mark gender transgressive occurrences of four artefact types, i.e. the uncommon cases where a few attributes of one gender are found in combination with a greater number of attributes of the other.

MIGGEND Input Correlation: 0.0925 Output Correlation: 0.9462 % Variance: 18.8448

The test for neutrality was performed recur- se graves do not combine full attribute sets for sively through repeated runs of the seriation until both genders, as might be expected in double no attribute with less than 81% representation graves with furnishings for both of the decea- for its majority gender (that is, any gender-neut- sed. More on this issue in section 3.1.7. ral one) remained. Finally, a subset of MIGBA- To this analysis should be added the stylistic SE termed MIGGEND remained, with 49 gra- observation that only 2 of 24 determinable strap ves and 22 types. MIGGEND produced a fairly buckles from a selection of female graves had a clean seriation (fig. 3:1). Two central graves must high frame (cf. section 2.4), which marks this buck- be classified as ambiguous as they each possess le type as a transgressed male gender attribute. one attribute of either gender. Six graves combi- Using the same basic method as the above, ning attributes of both genders but with a ma- Jankavs (1981 section 7) was unable to discern a jority for one or the other are classified as gen- gender dichotomy in his sample of Migration Pe- der-transgressive. It should be stressed that the- riod graves (n=29) from the cemetery of Havor 38 Table 3b. Migration Period female gender attributes. Table 3c. Migration Period gender-neutral attributes.

n of n of Attribute graves in Abbrev. Attribute graves in Abbrev. MIGBASE MIGBASE

C5dasket handle caskhan G8lass vessel 1sglas

K5yey ke P2ot 5tpo

L8kock part loc C4omb 3bcom

F2lossil fossi K5enife knif

N6non-gold finger ring fingno S0ingle strap buckle 2esmbuckl

S3eewing needle needl S9trap ring mount 1gsmrin

V4ease pendant (VWG 99-102) pendvas Strap joiner, including paired sheet rectangles with rivets in all four corners D6ress pin 1ndpi 1n2 smjoi (VWG 523; Barshalder 1 fig. 10:21 C), Non-crossbow VWG fibula, transgressed 2n1 fibno excluding joint rivets (see below)

Beads n>1, transgressed 1-9 bead2 S3ingle strap end mount 21smend

S4-trap end mount n>1 smend2 Table 3d. Migration Period male gender attributes. G4dold finger ring finggol n of Abbrev. G3cold bracteate goldbra Attribute graves in MIGBASE S1ingle bead 11bead

L3vance or javelin head lanja B6hronze sheet vessel vesbrs

S4aword spath B0ear phalanx 1xphalan Whorl, for sword strap or spindle S4dhield shiel 5lwhor (VWG 217) Staple ring (VWG 197-200, 518-519; 1g0 staprin Barshalder 1 fig. 10:18 Z) C8brossbow fibula (VWG 366-378) fibc

H8andle comb 1lcombhnd

C82lasp with <2 buttons clasp< S1trap buckle n>1 1-smbuck2 here to be gender-neutral on Gotland, with a fe- G3aming piece 1ggamin male ratio of 20-25% in the MIGGEND samp-

Bronze joint rivet (VWG 207-210, 522), le. Petré does not explain his method of gender including paired sheet rectangles with 7brivjoin determination in any detail, but he has in fact single rivets at ends, excluding strap joiners (see above) overlooked certain atypical find combinations as

A4wrrowhead arro he believes them to be osteologically undetected double graves (Bo Petré, personal communica- Clasp with >1 buttons, transgressed 1-5 clasp2 tion). Also, an ”occasional male grave including Strap retaining mount (VWG 202-205, 1n5 smretai 520), transgressed brooches appears” (Petré 1993:153). There are for the Migration Period, however, no attributes identified here as male and by Petré as female, or in parish, not far from Grötlingbo. He vice versa. interpreted this as a real difference in relation to [Digressing for a moment from the issue at the subsequent Vendel Period, with ramifications hand, at first glance Petré’s female attribute list for the interpretation of social change (1981 sec- appears to be full of chronological errors. Most tions 8.0-8.3). Jankavs’s result was actually due to an of the female brooch types of the Vendel Peri- over-coarse typology (1981 section 6.1) and to the od are marked already in his Migration Period absence of weapon graves from his sample. column. This has in fact been done on purpose, Some of our gender attributes correspond to as Petré’s definition of the Vendel Period’s start those identified by Petré (1993) for Migration Pe- differs from that used by most other scholars riod cemeteries in the eastern part of the Lake (Bo Petré, personal communication). See, for ex- Mälaren area on the Swedish mainland. The dis- ample, Petré 1984a:41, where Lunda grave 30 is crepancies are, however, considerable. Many of placed in the Late Migration Period. This grave the male attributes in Petré’s list have been shown contained two small equal-armed brooches (KHN

39 type F1a), a figure-8 snake brooch (KHN type dent also in poorly furnished graves from the L2a) and a small annular brooch (KHN type A2e). clothes, hairstyles and beard trims of the decea- Høilund Nielsen (1999b:190) places the grave and sed. It should also be added that grave robbing is all of its artefact types in her first phase of the more likely to render a male grave of this period Vendel Period.] gender-neutral than a female one, as the robber must sieve the grave fill to obliterate a bead set 3.1.2 Gender ratio at Barshalder entirely. Among the Barshalder finds recovered up to the end of 1971, 56 alleged grave assemblages clear- 3.1.3 Sub-gender groups ly date to the Migration Period, in other words It is common to find inhomogeneities within the Montelius period VI as defined in VWG. Four main gender categories of mortuary symbolism, of these are mixed-gender, source quality 3-4 find forming sub-gender roles expressing social sta- combinations, but the remaining 52 are either tus and age (Jankavs 1981 section 5.2, Huggett unambiguously gendered, gender-neutral or well- 1997, Ravn 1999). To study this in the case of Mig- documented gender-transgressive combinations. ration Period Gotland, I returned to the MIGBASE The gender ratios of this sample of 52, accor- sample and from it extracted a female (MIGFEM, ding to the combination studies above, are fe- n=35) and a male (MIGMALE, n=36) subset ac- male 46% (n=24), male 40% (n=21) and gender- cording to the gender attributes identified in sec- neutral (including one gender-ambiguous grave) tion 3.1.1. Following Ravn 1999 and using Win- 13% (n=7). The percentages indicate that most BASP 1994, I then performed correspondence of the gender-neutral burials, being poor in arte- analysis (CA, cf. section 1.5) on the two samples. facts, actually represent low-status men. Unfortunately, due to the dominant rite of cre- It should be pointed out that this gender-neut- mation, the available osteological age and sex ass- rality pertains only to the preserved artefact ty- essments (section 3.1.7) were too few to use for pes. One may expect gender to have been evi- CA as Ravn did for Spong Hill.

Fig. 3:2. Migration Period female graves. CA scattergram.

40 Prior to CA of MIGFEM, the female data set, 3.1.4 Women in mortuary the crossbow fibula was grouped together with symbolism the non-crossbow fibula to suppress chronolo- The female attributes in table 3b and their divi- gical patterning; and strap end mounts and beads sion into high-status and status-neutral ones in were grouped as single respective types regard- the previous section allow us to ponder female less of the number of specimens. CA of the re- identity as it is depicted in Migration Period gra- maining data set (MIGFEM2, n=35) produced a ves. Femininity is strongly connected with jewel- type scatter showing two main groups, interpre- lery. Aristocratic women are associated with small table in the dimension of social status (fig. 3:2). portable caskets whose contents unfortunately This interpretation is strongly supported by the elude us, and with keys that unlock these caskets status score calculations in section 3.2.0. The high- or possibly in some cases the lids of larger chests status attribute group in the diagram includes or the doors of houses. Women are also associa- casket handle, lock, key, bear phalanx, fossil, glass ted with textile crafts through sewing needles. vessel and knife. The status-neutral attribute Finally, the fossil organisms that are common on group includes bronze jewellery, belt mounts, Gotland are connected to femininity, possibly as sewing needle, beads, pot and comb. This distri- amulets. bution is vaguely similar to Jankavs’s (1981 sec- tion 7 & fig. 9) status division of the Migration 3.1.5 Men in mortuary symbolism Period finds from Havor, but is not comparable Men monopolise armed conflict in Migration Pe- in detail due to his mixed-gender data set and riod mortuary symbolism, but this is not a very coarse typology, and his exclusion of, for example, common theme in the graves. Instead, the most glassware and bear phalanges from the analysis. common male attributes are handle combs, clasps Turning to MIGMALE, the male data set, the and the mounts of paired belts (cf. Högom crossbow fibula was grouped together with the mound 2, Ramqvist 1992). The ideal Migration non-crossbow fibula, and the two clasp types with Period man thus seems to be a well-groomed and each other, in order to suppress chronological rather foppishly dressed person. However, gam- patterning. The handle comb was subsumed with- ing pieces also mark him as a strategist (Ravn in the general comb type, which may already have 1999:48-51), which may mean that we should in included a number of badly preserved handle fact see him as a warrior who has laid down his combs. Strap buckles and end mounts were grou- weapons for the festive occasion of his own fu- ped as single respective types regardless of the neral. The handle comb harks back to the Chern- number of specimens. CA of the remaining data yakhov culture of previous centuries and may set (MIGMALE2, n=34) produced a hopelessly have been a badge of the far-reaching contact jumbled type scatter showing no discernible grou- network that brought e.g. Pontic glassware to pings save for the fact that the strap mounts clus- Scandinavia during the Migration Period (Näsman tered together. The different weapon types were 1984a, 1984b). widely scattered, as were the attributes interpre- ted as high status markers in the CA of the fe- male graves. No amount of tinkering with the 3.1.6 Gender-neutral attributes data and removal of outlying types led to any Not only those attributes specific to a particular improvement. My conclusion is that this is prob- gender merit our attention. It is also of interest ably a matter of scale: the MIGMALE2 data set to look at attributes placed in graves despite their has no systematic internal patterning because its lack of any apparent gender connotation. It turns most important boundary is an external one, se- out that the 16 attributes that can be determined parating it from the poorly furnished gender- as gender-neutral (table 3c) form functional neutral graves. These were identified above mainly groups. Vessels, single belts, bearskins (indicated as male by observing the Barshalder sample’s gen- by phalanx bones, cf. Petré 1980), whorl, knife der ratio. The corollary of this is that all identifiab- and comb are gender-neutral attributes in the ly male Migration Period graves are of relatively Migration Period graves of Gotland. The four high status. remaining gender-neutral attributes (gold finger

41 ring, gold bracteate, single bead, and crossbow The remaining grave, inhumation Bhr 1967: fibula) form a systematic deviation from the basic 18b, presents more of an interpretational chal- weaponry-jewellery dichotomy: these jewellery lenge. The grave goods include three gendered types are found in wealthy and late graves of both attributes: a clasp set belonging to the male gen- genders. der; a set of three beads and two finely wrought Over much of the gold bracteates’ extensive fibulae belonging to the female gender. Simply area of distribution they do not occur in burial in terms of a majority vote, this marks the grave contexts, but where they do they derive exclusi- as female with a transgressed male attribute. The vely from female graves (Andrén 1991). The male osteologist has, however, assessed the bones un- graves Bhr 1930:07 and SHM 25386 Salands, each equivocally as male-sex. From the detailed docu- of which includes a gold bracteate, are thus ano- mentation of the grave, it appears that we may malous. This explains Nerman’s hesitation in att- exclude the possibility of intrusive artefacts from ributing gender to Bhr 1930:07 (cf. Barshalder 1 the female burial that was inserted into the cist section 6.1.0). The third well-documented gold shortly after the first interment. Part of a fibula, bracteate grave from Gotland, Bhr 1967:43, is a and possibly other objects, were, however, taken female grave. It should be pointed out, however, from Bhr 1967:18b at this time. The original as- that all three bracteates are type C specimens that semblage may have contained more male attri- have had their loops and borders removed, with butes. Be that as it may – here a mature male-sex only the central motif remaining. They have thus individual has been buried with jewellery. been made useless as jewellery. Instead they re- How flagrant was this case of gender-bend- semble Roman coins, and may have been inten- ing considered to be? There are only three beads ded as payment for the journey to the under- from the grave. These were found at the top of world (Silvén 1956). Therefore, gold bracteates the head and may originally have adorned e.g. a were probably actually worn only by women on cap. We have determined a single bead to be a Gotland as elsewhere, but could be modified and gender-neutral attribute. Most of the graves in used as a gender-neutral burial attribute. the sample used to determine gender attributes were cremations, where the number of beads had 3.1.7 Gender and bone data probably been decimated by the heat of the pyre. at Barshalder Three beads found in an inhumation grave should To date, Barshalder has produced ten osteological thus not be seen as much of a statement gender- sex assessments made on bones from graves con- wise. We do however find a much larger bead set taining Migration Period artefact assemblages (tab- as a transgressed attribute in male grave VWG le 3e). Considering that only 18 securely dated 147a (source quality 2). As for the fibulae, these Migration Period graves from the cemetery have too are known as transgressed attributes in male received osteological treatment and that most of graves VWG055 and VWG104 (source quality 1 them are cremations, the ratio of sex assessments and 2). It appears that we are in fact dealing with is impressive. None of the sexed individuals is a small group of richly furnished male graves with certainly sub-adult. a few pieces of female jewellery each. None ap- All ten graves have yielded gendered artefact pears particularly late in the Migration Period se- assemblages. Comparing gender and osteologi- quence. cal sex assessment, we find them to correspond Summing up, with one gender-ambiguous gra- unproblematically in eight cases. In one of the ve to nine with unproblematic sex-gender corres- others, the bones from the male grave Bhr 1967: pondence, it appears that gender did in fact cor- 12 have been assessed as ”female-sex?”, and we respond rather closely with biological sex in the may conclude that this sex assessment is indeed Migration Period at Barshalder. questionable. For a discussion of the principles of using osteological data, see section 7.3.7.

42 Table 3e. Migration Period graves with osteological sex Table 3f. Social ranking of Migration Period artefact assessments. ”f+” denotes female graves with types. ”+” denotes transgressed gender attributes. transgressed male attributes.

Gen- Ost Ost Gerave Dat MmIND Inhu der sex age Average number of artefact Gen- types in Migration Period Bbhr 1930:07 Gm?oD2 mda11 der graves where a certain type B2hr 1947:02 GmmdoD a10 occurs.

BDhr 1947:03 Gm?o mda10 mdL0ance or javelin hea 12. Bbhr 1951:01 Gm?oD2 md& a20d & a mdS0hiel 12. BDhr 1967:12 Gm?o fda10

Bbhr 1967:18a GfftoD2 m11a mdS0patha swor 12.

Bahr 1967:18b G+oD2 fmm11a t -eK5nif 10. BDhr 1967:25c Gm?o mdj10uv-a -tG7old objec 9. B2hr 1967:32 G+oD ffa10 d

BDhr 1967:42 Gffdo a10 -lB3ronze sheet vesse 9.

mdA3rrowhea 9. 3.2 Migration Period feC2asket handl 9. social status mtB9ronze joint rive 8. Peter Jankavs (1981 section 7.1, fig. 9) studied fyK6e 8. the variation in affluence among a sample of Mig- ration Period graves from Havor in Hablingbo -xB6ear phalan 8. parish, Gotland, taken from VWG. No attempt -rS5trap joine 8. was made to grade the source-critical value of mt+ S0trap retaining moun 8. the find combinations and avoid doubtful or in- complete ones. He found that certain wide ar- meG9aming piec 7. tefact categories, including imported glass and -lG7lass vesse 7. bronze sheet vessels, were mostly found in graves with numerous furnishings. He offered three -tH5-shaped strap moun 7. alternative interpretations of this fact, rejecting -tS4trap ring moun 7. the gender-based one and leaving the choice open fgN0on-gold finger rin 7. as to the status-based one or that based upon age at death. Jankavs’s (1981) method constitutes flF0ossi 7. a simpler version of the algorithm presented by mbH9andle com 6. Hodson (1990:71-72) and implemented in Win- feS7ewing needl 6. BASP 1994 (cf. section 1.5). Most of the gender-neutral attributes remo- -tS6trap end moun 6. ved from our gender seriation (section 3.1.1) were -eS4trap buckl 6. heavily weighted to the male side of the diagram, but not heavily enough to mark them as trans- mp+ C4las 6. gressed male gender attributes. At first glance, -dB3ea 6. this might be taken to mean that expenditure was ftL9ock par 5. greater at the funerals of men than at those of women. In fact, however, it probably reflects fnD8ress pi 5. greater inequality in expenditure among the fu- fa+ F6ibul 5. nerals of men than among those of women. The ftV5ase pendan 5. male graves in the gender seriation do have grea- ter numbers of gender-neutral attributes than the -tP5o 5. female graves, but there are also a considerable -bH4andle-less com 5. number of poorly furnished gender-neutral gra- ves that could not be seriated at all. Judging from -lW0hor 5.

43 Table 3g. Social ranking of Migration Period graves. the gender ratio at Barshalder, many of ”+” denotes graves with transgressed gender attributes. these were probably male graves (cf. sec- tion 3.1.2), which means that the avera- ge expense at male funerals was probably comparable to that of the female ones. The status score function of Win- BASP 1994 was applied to a data set (MIGSTAT, n=99) combining all the graves studied in section 3.1. The grave furnishings were classified in functional artefact categories in order to suppress chronological patterning and allow the inclusion of badly damaged objects. Uni- que types and single-type graves were omitted. Gold finger rings, gold bracte- ates and melted gold lumps were collec- ted in one type. The results of the status score calcu- lations are given in tables 3f and 3g. The ranking list for the artefact types (table 3f) supports the interpretation of the two female sub-genders, identified through CA in section 3.1.3, as a high- status and a status-neutral group respec- tively. The attributes of the two CA clus- ters are found at opposite ends of the type ranking list. Simply put, this means that not only do high status Migration Period graves contain a greater number of artefacts overall than others, they are also qualitatively characterised by a cer- tain set of attributes. As for the male attributes, we find, unsurprisingly, wea- ponry at the top of the status hierarchy. Among the gender-neutral attributes, knives, gold objects and bronze sheet vessels take the lead, while glass vessels are found surprisingly far down the list. This result supports Näsman’s (1984b: 21-22) suggestion that glassware was not confined to the upper-most social elite in the Migration Period. Nor was it by this token, as we shall see, in the Vendel Period.

44 3.2.1 Human sacrifice furnished undated cremation burial, and then Bhr at Barshalder 1939:01c was placed on top of the cremation lay- In my opinion, the most eloquent testimony to er. It was an unfurnished inhumation, and despi- social inequality in the archaeological record is te good bone preservation there was no trace of the evidence of human sacrifice. In the context the body’s feet. The bones have not been analy- of burials, the term ”mortuary murder” may be sed by an osteologist, but they do not appear to more to the point (Nordenstorm 1994 with refs.). have had sub-adult dimensions. I suggest that Strictly speaking, the traumatised and bound bo- these bones represent a person murdered and dies that are sometimes found in First Millen- mutilated at the funeral of the cremated indivi- nium graves in Scandinavia are probably better dual. interpreted as part of the grave goods than as Among the Migration Period cremation buri- sacrifices to the gods. From a materialist point als of Barshalder, there is one that combines the of view, this is of course a redundant distinction. bones of more than one human: Bhr 1951:01. In both cases, apparently low-status members of The furnishings are unambiguously male, respec- the community (with labour-induced skeletal pa- table but not exceptional in wealth. The number thologies, without grave goods) have been mur- of animals identified among the bones is likewi- dered / sacrificed for the purposes of high-sta- se unexceptional. The human bones belong to tus groups. two adults of which one was male-sex and the Judging from Scandinavian finds of this kind other sexually indeterminate. As there is no sym- (Hemmendorf 1984), a burial should display cer- bolic trace at all of a second person in the fur- tain characteristics to be interpreted as a sacrifi- nishings, I suggest that one of the buried people cial victim. It should be found inside or closely was actually a sacrificial victim and intended as associated with another contemporary burial; the- part of the furnishings. re should be evidence of trauma, mutilation and/ or binding; and there should be a significant dif- 3.2.2 Animal bones at Barshalder ference in wealth between the two burials. In ma- The bones from a total of 17 securely dated Mig- ny cases, sacrificial victims can be expected to be ration Period graves from Barshalder have un- entirely stripped of symbols of their social iden- dergone full osteological analysis. In addition, tity, like most bog bodies. It appears that unfur- excavators have identified bear phalanges in one nished inhumation burials placed in furnished cre- case (table 3h). mation graves may especially indicate human sa- Most if not all of the 17 graves contained ani- crifice (cf. the Bollstanäs grave, Hemmendorf mal bones. The animals are not, however, very 1984). many, either in number of species or of indi- An example from the Late Roman Iron Age viduals. Only five animal groups occur repeated- was found in cemetery section 4 at Barshalder in ly: ovicaprid (sheep and/or goat, only goat posi- the 1980s (Manneke 1988b, Sigvallius 1988). Grave tively identified), bear, horse, seal (indeterminate 1813 was a small cist placed on the periphery of species) and dog. a superstructure centred on a large, originally rich- The evaluation of these species determina- ly equipped inhumation cist. It contained the ar- tions is complicated by the fact that many of the ticulated bones of a badly worn woman around graves at the Rojrhage 1:1 property in cemetery the age of 50, who had apparently been strang- section 2 have proved to contain residual materi- led with a belt, possibly stabbed with a knife, and al from the Neolithic substratum at the site. This finally buried in a cramped position in the cist. problem can be approached by means of the No conventional grave goods were found. radiocarbon dates for different animal species (cf. In the Barshalder corpus of the Migration Pe- Barshalder 1 table 4a), the number of fragments riod, there is only one inhumation that fits the per species and the burn state of the bones. Many above definition of a sacrificial victim: Bhr 1939: of the cremation graves have yielded both burnt 01c. Its date is actually uncertain, but it post-da- and unburnt bones. Not disregarding the possi- tes a primary inhumation of GoD2. Some time bility that some of the unburnt bones may be after this burial, the cist was re-used for a poorly due to uneven heat on funeral pyres, we may

45 Table 3h. Osteologically analysed Migration Period graves with animal bones. U = bear skins. No other gra- unburnt individual. ”f+” denotes female graves with transgressed male attributes. ve appears to have had Gen- In- Sheep Hor- Gerave Dat Bear Sgeal Dro Othe more than one. der hum / goat se No horses are known B2hr 1882:34 Gm0oD 1 from the Neolithic of Bbhr 1930:07 Gm10UoD2 10000 Sweden (Liljegren & La- B2hr 1947:02 Gm0020000oD gerås 1993:40). The hor- BDhr 1947:03 Gm0Uo 11000dBir se bones in the graves Bbhr 1951:01 Gm0UoD2 110010 should thus all be con- BDhr 1965:06 Gm0010010o temporaneous with the B2hr 1967:07 G0oD m2U& 1U1000Hedgehog U burials. BDhr 1967:12 Gm0Uo ?10000 The seal bones are all B2hr 1967:13 G00UoD 100100 most probably Neolithic B2hr 1967:18a & b G+oD f2U& f 100000 in date, as the main com- Bahr 1967:20 Gf0100UoD2 10Frog, modern U ponent of the Neolithic BDhr 1967:24b Gm000Uo 1100 substratum at Rojrhage B1hr 1967:25abd G2010110hoD Fis 1:1 is a Middle Neolithic BDhr 1967:25c Gm0001110o Pitted Ware shore site B2hr 1967:32 G+oD f0101000U + 1 used for fishing and seal BDhr 1967:37 Gf0211000o hunting (Rundkvist et al. in press). Seal bones BDhr 1967:42 Gf0Uo 11000,Hare Lep. tim. from the substratum ha- B2hr 1967:43 Gf001000goD Pi ve yielded four radiocar- bon dates, three in the nonetheless assume that most of them entered Middle Neolithic and one in the Late Neolithic. the cremation deposits after cremation, either in Dogs were kept in the Neolithic (Liljegren & the form of foodstuffs or as residual Neolithic Lagerås 1993), but the substratum at Rojrhage bones from the substratum. 1:1 has yielded very few dog bones. A complete Ovicaprid bones from ostensibly Neolithic dog skeleton from Bhr 1927:07 demonstrates that contexts at Barshalder have given two radiocar- dogs were placed in graves of GoC3, which sug- bon dates, both in the Late Iron Age, but there gests that the three dogs from Migration Period are numerous Neolithic dates for ovicaprids from cremation graves were contemporary with the other sites on Gotland (Rundkvist et al. in prep.). burials. All graves with dogs have male furnish- The large number of ovicaprid bones identified ings. in the graves under study and the uniquely high The six animal groups that occur singly in the percentage (50%) of unburnt ovicaprid individu- graves will be disregarded for the following rea- als in cremation graves indicate a Migration Peri- sons. Hedgehog and frog probably represent the od custom where mutton was commonly placed intrusive bones of burrowing animals. Bird, fish in the graves, either placed on the pyre or buried and pig are common in the Neolithic substra- fresh along with the cremated remains. This does tum and are thus likely to be residual. The hare is not, however, rule out the possibility that a few unknown from the substratum and should thus of the ovicaprid bones may be Neolithic in date. be treated as contemporary with the burial until The bear bones are all third or second pha- proven otherwise, but Bhr 1967:42 is a source- langes with the same burn state as their respecti- critically questionable find combination. ve human burials. All are most probably the re- It appears that the number and perceived value mains of imported Migration Period bear skins of the animals placed in graves should display (cf. Petré 1980). Gotland has never had a wild the same dynamics as the number and perceived bear population (Nationalencyklopedin, entry ”Got- value of the artefacts. We may begin to test this land”). Bhr 1947:02, the second-most wealthy argument by examining the correlation between Migration Period grave known from Gotland, is uni- a grave’s status score and the number of animals que at Barshalder in having been equipped with two

46 identified in it. This calculation will only exami- 3.3 Vendel Period gender ne ovicaprids, horses and dogs. The bear pha- at Barshalder langes were included already in the calculation of the status scores. Only source quality 1-2 gra- 3.3.1 Gender attributes ves will be examined to avoid compromised or The same CA and seriation method as that app- badly robbed ones. lied to the Migration Period finds in section 3.1.1 Table 3i is sorted according to the status sco- was used to study the Vendel Period gender att- res of the graves, and we find a good correlation ributes. Here, however, the Barshalder sample of in the lower and middle reaches of the status source quality 1-2 Vendel Period graves was large continuum. The graves with the very highest sta- enough to use on its own, without support from tus scores, however, break the pattern. They con- other cemeteries in Nerman’s VZG sample. The- tained no animal bones at all beyond the pha- re is no apparent local variation in the gender langes of bear skins, suggesting that their weal- symbolism of burials across Gotland. The re- thy artefact furnishings belonged to quite another sults of the present analysis should thus be valid level of status or realm of significance than the for the entire island. An original database (VEN- animals. One might even speculate that the ab- BASE) of 52 graves and 62 types produced a sence of animal bones in the wealthiest graves seriation (data set VENGEND) with 35 graves indicate rules of ritual purity among the social and 28 types (fig. 3:3). elite. To this analysis should be added the observa- tion that lynx phalanges are strongly tied to female Table 3i. Status score and number of animals at graves (cf. section 3.4.2): eight of nine cases are fe- Barshalder. male graves and one male, which marks the lynx Gsrave Sstatu Animal skin as a transgressed female gender attribute. Our female gender attributes correspond to B3hr 1930:07 105 the ones identified by Jankavs (1981 section 5.2.1) for three other Vendel Period cemeteries on Got- B8hr 1947:02 90land. Pottery forms the only discrepancy, as pots B4hr 1967:43 80were evenly distributed among the male and fe- male graves in Jankavs’s sample. Our identifica- B3hr 1967:37 63tion of pottery (occurring in seven gendered gra- ves in VENBASE) as a transgressed female attri- B8hr 1967:12 50 bute is thus apparently due to a statistical acci- B7hr 1967:32 53dent. Regarding the male attributes, however, there are a number of discrepancies that indica- B0hr 1951:01 52te a male bias in Jankavs’s study. He classified the B5hr 1965:06 41iron rivet as a male attribute, despite the fact that ten out of 33 gendered graves (30%) with rivets B6hr 1967:20 31in his sample were female ones. Strap buckles, gaming pieces and arrowheads were for some rea- B3hr 1967:18a & b 250. son very uncommon in the female graves of B7hr 1967:24b 11Jankavs’s sample, and he duly classified them as male attributes. As Jankavs used VZG indiscri- B2hr 1967:13 11minately as the source for his data, the three lat- ter under-representations may hark back to Ner- man’s data collection practices. Nerman construc- ted many of his find combinations out of sets of decontextualised objects, using his great ex- perience, but very likely also his pre-conceived ideas about gender, to select objects for inclusi- on in a combination.

47 Fig. 3.3. The Vendel Period gender dichotomy. Seriation diagram. The horizontal line marks the division between female and male graves and types. The bold-faced ”X”s mark gender transgressive occurrences of five artefact types, i.e. the uncommon cases where a few attributes of one gender are found in combination with a greater number of attributes of the other.

The situation is the same with Petré’s (1993) The Vendel Period graves from Barshalder dis- gender attributes for the Vendel Period in the play a ratio of gender-transgressive graves, ac- eastern part of the Lake Mälaren area, and with cording to the definition offered in section 6.3.1, his attributes for the Migration Period as discus- comparable to that of the pan-Gotlandic Migra- sed in section 3.1.1. Jewellery is assigned to the tion Period sample. In the Migration Period seri- female gender, and many artefact types that are ation, we find six gender-transgressive graves out gender-neutral on Gotland are assigned along of 49, that is, a 12% ratio. In the Vendel Period with the weaponry to the male gender. A main Barshalder sample (discounting the probably ac- point of the present gender studies is to show tually gender-neutral pottery), we find three trans- that, like most archaeological issues, gender att- gressive graves out of 35, a 9% ratio. ributes cannot be studied impressionistically if we are to reach valid conclusions.

48 Table 3j. Vendel Period female gender attributes. Table 3k. Vendel Period gender-neutral attributes.

n of n of graves in graves in Attribute Abbrev. Attribute Abbrev. VEN- VEN- BASE BASE

B5rronze bracteate, Montelius 1869 type E bracb G8slass vessel glas

T3sweezers tweezer B71ead n=1 bead

Openwork disc B22eads n=2 bead 2copendis (VZG 977-982, 1451-1462, 1880-1882) S7eingle strap buckle smbuckl F1ish-head pendant 1hpendf S2ptrap loop mount smloo B9rronze chain chainb S5dtrap end mount smen B3dronze chain holder chainhl K8nife 2eknif A4grm ring armrin G41aming piece n=1 gaming B2dird mount (VZG 191-206) bir G9-aming pieces n>1 gaming2 D9bisc-on-bow brooch bdo C3omb 3bcom U5ltensil brooch butensi H2landle comb combhnd D2cisc brooch bdis A7wrrowhead arro Round openwork brooch 2nbope (VZG 100, 903-913) C5pomposite bronze & iron rivet rivcom Pair brooch (proto-animal-head, duckbill, I4iron joint rivet rivjoin 1r2 bpai small equal-armed) I9ron rivet 2nriviro K0ey 1yke N8lail nai D3ress pin 1ndpi B2ronze or silver sheet spangle 1espangl S2rpiral bead beadspi B8hronze sheet vessel vesbrs Beads n>2, transgressed 1-8 bead3 B5ear phalanx 1xphalan Pot, transgressed, probably actually gender- 9tpo neutral F6lossil fossi W3lhorl whor

Table 3l. Vendel Period male gender attributes. 3.3.2 Changing gender roles n of graves in When the gender attribute lists produced for the Attribute Abbrev. VEN- Migration and Vendel Periods are compared, it BASE turns out that interesting changes occurred at the W2nhetstone whetsto period shift (tables 3n, 3o & 3p). Preliminary find- S2lwivel mount (Sw. lekane) swive ings were presented at the EAA Annual Meeting S1hield 1dshiel in Lisbon, 16 September 2000 (Rundkvist in L7eance head lanc press). Many attributes were innovated, a few

T2wo-edged sword 1aspath were discontinued, and the gender symbolism of

B4eridle bridl some changed. It should be noted that the inno- vations and discontinuations listed below pertain Seax (single-edged sword) , transgressed 1x3 sea only to artefact types that can be studied in a Strap buckle n>1, transgressed 7-smbuck2 combination diagram, that is, that have more than I2kron hook hoo one representative in the sample. For instance, Strap mount, rectangular, non-functional, 1t2 smrec there is a single Vendel Period grave with a ling- transgressed ering staple ring (Bhr 1961:33a), but it has not been considered sufficient grounds for a gender assignment. The following general tendencies in the changes can be noted. The Vendel Period mortuary assemblage is close to a superset of the Migration Period one, with few discontinued types. The most interes-

49 Table 3m. Constant attributes. female graves. The innovations in * denotes transgressed gender the male graves are mainly parts of attributes. Table 3n. Innovated attributes. horse gear and one weaponry type, Agttribute Mni Ve Agttribute Mni Ve the seax. DFFress pin A-Frm ring The situation regarding gender-

KFFey C-Fhain holders & chains transgression in graves does not seem to have changed with the pe- T-Fweezers NFFon-bracteate pendant riod shift, neither as to frequency D*ress brooch FF U-Ftensil brooch nor to symbolic blatancy. However, B*ead set F*F O-Fpenwork disc a number of attributes changed gen-

LMMance or javelin B-Fird mount ders. There is no case of diametri- cal gender switch among the attri- I-Mron hook SMMword or chape butes, but eight moved from gen- SMMhield S-Mwivel mount dered to neutral or vice versa. Sum- TM*wo belts M W-Mhetstone ming up the gains and losses of the

GNNlass vessel B-Mridle male and female genders respecti- S-*eax M vely, we find that the male gender BNNronze sheet vessel lost four attributes to neutrality, whi- Strap mount, rectangu- BNNear skin -*M lar, non--functional le the female gender retained the SNNingle belt status quo. Differently put, the fe- S-Nheet metal spangle KNNnife male gender expanded into symbo- S-Ntrap loop mount lic territory previously reserved for HNNandle-less comb C-Nomposite rivet the male gender. INNron rivet N-Nail Qualitatively speaking, among WNNhorl other things women gained at least Table 3p. Switched attributes symbolic access to the board game SNNtrap ring mount Agttribute Mni Ve sets that may be associated with the BNNead n=1 BFNeads n=2 battle strategy of war leaders (Ravn PN*ot N 1999:48-51), to archery equipment FFNossil and to that erstwhile emblem of Table 3o. Discontinued attributes. GMNaming piece masculinity and international con- Agttribute Mni Ve JMNoint rivet tacts, the handle comb. Women also

CF-asket & lock part AMNrrowhead began to monopolise the bractea- tes that had been an important me- HMNandle comb NF-on-gold finger ring dium for religio-political propagan- SF-ewing needle BNFracteate da in the Migration Period (Andrén SM-taple ring CNFloak brooch 1991), although due to the post-Mig- S*trap retaining mount M- ration Period gold shortage most Vendel Period specimens are made of embossed C*lasp M- bronze sheet. GN-old finger ring In the light of these findings, I believe that the social changes connected with the Migration- ting discontinuations are the casket, the finger Vendel Period shift entailed a change in the way ring and the clasp, which seem to have been high- that gender worked among the aristocracy. More status attributes in the Migration Period. How- specifically, it seems that aristocratic women gai- ever, the key, previously closely associated with ned in political power. Conversely, the warrior the casket, remained in the female attribute set with a bead necklace (Bhr 1961:33a) may be ta- after the period shift. ken to indicate respect among male leaders for Among the numerous innovations of the pe- the role, that is, the rights and authority, of the riod shift, the most eye-catching ones form an Late Iron Age Lady, known from so many picto- explosive proliferation of jewellery types in the

50 rial and literary sources (Göransson 1999). This period VII, as defined in VZG per VII:1-4). Five grave also brings to mind the 11th century cross- of these are mixed-gender, source quality 3-4 find dressed Saami shaman of Vivallen (Price 2002: combinations, but the remaining 93 are either 271-272 with refs.). unambiguously gendered, gender-neutral or well- Independent support for this posited impro- documented gender-transgressive combinations. vement in female status is found in the picture The gender ratios of this sample of 93, according stones of the time, where only men were depic- to the combination studies above, are female 49% ted in the Migration Period, whereas in the Ven- (n=46), male 38% (n=35) and gender-neutral 13% del and Early Viking Periods women were also (n=12). commonly depicted (Göransson 1999:71-72). As with the Migration Period graves, the per- The picture-stones, however, depict no armed centages indicate that most of the gender-neut- women like those on a contemporary tapestry ral burials belonged to low-status men. Again, it fragment from the Oseberg ship-burial (Görans- should be pointed out that this gender-neutrality son 1999:145). Göransson’s attractive hypothe- pertains only to the preserved artefact types. Gen- sis (1999:129) that the stone-carvers may have der may be expected to have been evident also in been men while the tapestry-makers were almost poorly furnished graves from the clothes, hair- certainly women offers an explanation for this styles and beard trims of the deceased. It should fact. also be added that grave robbing is more likely The stones with female representations con- to render a male grave gender-neutral than a fe- centrate to the southern half of Gotland, a dist- male one, since the robber must sieve the grave ribution pattern that has been interpreted as an fill carefully to obliterate a bead set entirely. indication of patriarchal power-bases in the nor- thern half of the island (Göransson 1999:72-79, 3.3.4 Female sub-gender groups cf. Thunmark-Nylén 1984 regarding the Viking Having established the main gender dichotomy, Period). This difference in gender-politics may we turn once more to subdivisions, starting with be expected to be visible also in the mortuary female sub-genders. A female subset of VENBA- symbolism of northern and southern Gotland. SE (VENFEM, n=25) produced the CA scatter- If the Migration Period and Vendel Period gra- gram in fig. 3:4. Note the centrally placed cluster ves of, for example, the well-excavated cemetery with pair brooches (bpair), disc-on-bow brooch of Ire in parish in northern Gotland (Sten- (bdob), dress pin (dpin), glass vessel, comb, key, berger 1962, VZG, Thunmark-Nylén 1995a) were beads and knife. This is the full traditional je- analysed with the methods used here, then we wellery set, found in its entirety only in rich graves might expect to find the Vendel Period move of with glass vessels. Around this core, mainly to the female graves into male symbolic territory the right, is found a corona of less common je- less pronounced than at Barshalder. wellery items. This demonstrates the existence A third symbolic medium of the Vendel Peri- of two alternative sub-gender sets of pectoral od, heroic poetry headed by Beowulf, allows no jewellery: a traditional brooches-and-beads set (cf. comparison with the Migration Period because Barshalder 1 figs. 10:12-14), and a new Vendel of the lack of preserved texts. But the aristocra- Period set with bronze chain-holders and chains, tic lady, head of the household and filler of mead- fish-head pendants, bracteates and arm rings (cf. cups, is of course ubiquitous there. Barshalder 1 figs. 10:17, 10:19). To summarise, with the Vendel Period, we find The relationship between these two jewellery new symbolic openings in the dividing line of sets is complicated. They are neither mutually the gender dichotomy. Mainly, women were mo- exclusive within the chronological context of the ving into male territory. Vendel Period nor on the level of a single grave. Yet the graves seriate acceptably from rich Early 3.3.3 Gender ratio brooch set graves to poor Late chain set graves. Among the Barshalder finds recovered by the end The chain sets are associated with round open- of 1971, there are 98 alleged grave assemblages work brooches, an inter-regional type indicative clearly datable to the Vendel Period (Montelius of the emergence of the Vendel Period in the

51 Fig. 3:4. Vendel Period female graves. CA scattergram.

Fig. 3:5. Late Vendel Period female graves. CA scattergram.

52 Lake Mälaren area (Arrhenius 1960) but probab- ciated much more strongly with the brooch set. ly introduced to Gotland considerably later (Høi- The key, that was part of the high-status attribu- lund Nielsen 1999b:187, 189, 192). It is not, how- te set in the Migration Period, clusters with the ever, a question of the difference between local traditional brooch set, for what that is worth in and inter-regional fashion: both sub-genders in- this context. It was a less prestigious attribute in corporate specifically Gotlandic components. It the Vendel Period according to the status score appears that in order to try to make sense of the analysis in section 3.4. Vendel Period’s female sub-genders, the Vendel The meaning of the two alternative pectoral Period sample must be divided into an early and jewellery sets remains elusive, but it seems to have a late group. For an evaluation, improvement and something to do with political power in the form correlation of the KHN and W&G chronologi- of military strategy (gaming piece) and overseas es for the Vendel Period, see Barshalder 1 section trade (bear skin). As stated above, the graves with 7.3. traditional jewellery are not richer than the other A late subset of VENFEM (VENFLATE, ones, but their wealth is invested differently. Per- n=16) was produced through the removal of the haps the answer is obscured by the ”adult” age four graves datable to Høilund Nielsen’s (1999b) assessment of the bones. One might hypothe- phases GOKV1 & 2a and all graves that cannot sise that when a woman in a three-generation be dated closely within the Vendel Period. As the household became a grandmother she began to bead set types P3 and P4 (Petré 1984b:60-69) do wear the traditional pectoral jewellery. Old age not appear to have chronological significance on may also have been the time of her life when a Gotland, the bead sets in VENFLATE were clas- woman wielded the most political power. This sified according to this typology in order to stu- issue can only be resolved by more osteological dy the placement of P3 and P4 in contemporary analyses, preferably of inhumated bones. Late Vendel Period attribute sets. CA of this data set (fig. 3:5) reinforces our view of two separate 7.3.5 Male sub-gender groups sub-genders, each distinguished by different je- A male and neutral subset of VENBASE (VEN- wellery and bead set types. Their contemporanei- MAL, n=20) produced the CA scattergram in ty is attested by the fact that both the brooch fig. 3:6. The most striking feature of this plot is sets and the chain sets survived into the Early the polarisation of functionally equivalent types Viking Period. of piercing weapons and horse equipment. To Neither bead set type is richer than the other: the left, we find the seax, the swivel mount and the P3 sets display the same bead-count range as the rectangular iron strap mount; to the right, the P4 ones associated with the chain sets. Both the lance, the bridle and the rectangular bronze jewellery sets have about the same mean status or composite strap mount, together with luxury score (cf. section 3.4). As to osteological age: items like glassware, gaming pieces and bronze might one of the jewellery sets signify girls and sheet vessels. Between these groups are found very young women? Apparently not. Very few the staples of the weapon set, the spatha sword sub-adults have been identified among the Ven- and shield. This distribution appears to indicate del Period bones, and none of them is the single a higher and a lower status male sub-gender. The human individual in a grave with female attribu- attributes of the high status role hark back to tes. The resolution of the age assessments is too the weapon graves of the Migration Period, low to permit differentiation between women of whereas all three identifiable attributes of the child-bearing age and older women. lower status role are Vendel Period innovations. Not chronology, not regionality, not social sta- The dichotomy is not, however, chronologically tus as measured in the level of burial investment, determined. In the context of these weapon not childhood. The luxury items (gaming piece, graves, the status difference may be interpreted bear skin, glass vessel) may provide the begin- as a difference in military rank. We thus find tra- nings of an explanation. Whereas the glass ves- ditional weaponry among the higher ranks and sel is equally strongly linked to both jewellery sets, new Vendel Period arms among the lower. The both the gaming piece and the bear skin is asso- osteological age assessments are not informative.

53 Fig. 3:6. Vendel Period male graves. CA scattergram. 7.3.6 Gender-neutral attributes SE sample from Barshalder, it might reveal itself The gender-neutral attributes of the Migration as a transgressed male attribute if more Vendel Period largely remained gender-neutral in the Period graves were excavated at the cemetery. Vendel Period, as detailed in section 3.3.2. There are, however, two changes that are noteworthy 7.3.7 Gender and bone data as they contradict the weaponry/jewellery dicho- There are, to date, 13 osteological sex assessments tomy: paired beads and arrowheads lost their gen- for graves with Vendel Period artefact assemb- der-association. lages from Barshalder (table 3q), all of them from The single or paired beads found in male gra- cremations. Thirteen sex assessments out of 36 ves may be sword beads or hat adornments. How- full analyses is about half the ratio achieved for ever, there is no reason a priori to interpret ar- the Migration Period, indicating that cremation rowheads found in male graves differently from practice became more destructive, energy-consu- those found in female graves. Either all ar- ming and expensive with the Vendel Period. rowheads were symbolic gifts, in which case we Comparing gender and osteological sex ass- cannot tell if archery was a gendered activity, or essments, we find them to correspond unprob- they were all possessions of the deceased, in lematically in ten cases. There is one uncertain which case it was clearly not. sex assessment that conflicts with the gender of On the other hand, as noted in section 3.3.1, the grave furnishings and may thus be disregar- Jankavs (1981) using data from VZG has docu- ded. We cannot, however, disregard the two ca- mented a strongly asymmetric gender distribu- ses where unequivocal sex assessments conflict tion (14% female of gendered graves) for the with the gender of the grave furnishings. Bhr arrowheads from three other Gotlandic Vendel 1961:19 and 1967:41 have both yielded cranial Period cemeteries. There is thus reason to sus- fragments with clear sexual characteristics, in the pect that although the arrowhead can only be first case four fragments and in the second a single determined as gender-neutral (40%, two female one, and they do not agree with the genders of out of five gendered graves) with the VENBA- the artefact assemblages. These people were ei-

54 Table 3q. Vendel Period graves with osteological sex assessments. I ranked the graves and ar- ”+” denotes graves with transgressed gender attributes. tefact categories in the VEN- Gen- BASE sample from Barshalder Gerave Dat Oest sex ODst ag MIN der (cf. section 3.3.1) with the sta- tus score function of Win- B4hr 1960:13 WmG123 mv+ f? + ?a3d + ad + ju BASP 1994 (see the discussion B4hr 1961:19 WmfdG3 a1in section 1.5), producing tab- les 3r and 3s. The grave fur- B2hr 1961:33a W+G1 m?mda1 nishings were classified in BPhr 1961:35 Vffdendel a1functional artefact categories Bbhr 1961:36a Gf?OKV2a mda1in order to suppress chrono- logical patterning and allow Bchr 1961:37 Gf?OKV2b fda1the inclusion of badly dama- Bbhr 1961:39a Gf?OKV2a ff? + a2d + in ged objects. Unique types and single-type graves were omit- BPhr 1961:40 V0mdendel a1ted, leaving a 46-member data Bbhr 1967:06 GffdOKV2a a1set. In order to study the ap- parently social significance of Bbhr 1967:08 G+OKV2a ffa1 d the contemporaneous bead set Bbhr 1967:41 GfmdOKV2a a1types, the bead sets were divi- ded into four groups: n<10, B4hr 1967:44 WmmdG3 a1 n>9 type P3, n>9 type P4, BPhr 1967:45 Vmmdendel a1n>9 other. It turned out that there was no great difference ther cross-dressed for their funerals or had non- in status score between the three n>9 groups, standard crania. A less plausible explanation but that the <10 group is the lowest-ranked att- would be that the graves actually harboured the ribute of all. bones of two people each, only one of which We may now compare the status symbolism (the one invisible in artefact symbolism) has in of the Migration Period (section 3.2.0) and the each case been identified by the osteologist. Vendel Period on Gotland. The most obvious As the two problematic skeletons are male- difference is that the maximum figures for the and female-sex respectively, it does not appear Vendel Period are nearly twice as large as those to be a question of biased assessments. Discre- for the Migration Period. The number and typo- pancies of this kind are common in Late Iron logical diversity of grave furnishings skyrocke- Age contexts (e.g. Petré 1984b:199-200), and it is ted with the beginning of the Vendel Period. This uncertain how they should be interpreted. In my is, of course, the reason that the relative chrono- opinion, unambiguous statements about bones logy of the Vendel Period has been so much bet- by a qualified osteologist must be accepted at face ter known than that of the Migration Period. value unless challenged by another qualified os- For comparison, the status scores must be teologist. converted from absolute values to percentages of the maximum for each period. In this way, 3.4 Vendel Period social status both the bird mount of the Vendel Period (ab- at Barshalder solute score 20.5) and the shield of the Migra- As with the Migration Period, Peter Jankavs (1981 tion Period (absolute score 12.0) receive a 100% section 5.2) identified broad artefact categories status score. The relative status scores of arte- in Vendel Period graves that were more often fact categories present in both periods are com- than others part of rich find combinations, and pared in table 3t. As can be seen in the differen- interpreted the difference in social terms. He did ce column, there is a quite astonishing degree of not commit himself to either of his alternative continuity in the status system, particularly re- interpretations: status groups or age groups. garding imports like glass and bronze sheet ves- sels and bear skins – note the unchanged and 55 Table 3r. Social ranking of Vendel Table 3s. Social ranking of Vendel Period graves. rather mundane status Period artefact types. Score of Sum of status Gen- of the glassware. How- highest-status scores for all Average number of artefact Gen- der types in graves where a type in grave types in grave ever, there are some der certain type occurs Bf5hr 1961:39a 220. 28 systematic differences. ftB5ird moun 20. B+hr 1961:33a m3187. 25 There is a general de- fcO5penwork dis 17. Bf5hr 1961:17a 270. 25 cline in the status of -lF3ossi 17. Bm3hr 1961:19 167. 23 weaponry as, with the -tS3trap end moun 17. B+hr 1960:11 f0156. 20 Vendel Period, weapon meB5ridl 16. B+hr 1967:08 f3147. 19 sets become common -tI0ron joint rive 16. Bm5hr 1967:44 106. 19 and sometimes rather -tS0trap loop moun 16. small. The formerly Bf3hr 1967:41 177. 17 -tC4omposite bronze & iron rive 15. prestigious knives be- Bm3hr 1899:32 177. 17 fdM0etal wire spiral bea 15. come ubiquitous. The Bm0hr 1961:24 156. 16 -lN8ai 14. raised status of strap Bf5hr 1967:06 137. 16 fsT7weezer 14. end mounts has to do Bm4hr 1967:29 155. 14 fhU4tensil brooc 14. with the introduction Bm4hr 1960:13 155. 13 -lB1ronze sheet vesse 14. of display bridles in the Bf3hr 1961:36a 127. 13 -eS0heet metal spangl 14. wealthiest weapon gra- mdL9ance hea 13. Bm0hr 1967:05 156. 12 ves of the Early Ven- -eG8aming piec 13. Bf4hr 1899:14 194. 11 del Period. In the Mig- -lG6lass vesse 13. Bf7hr 1967:02 144. 11 ration Period, strap end f3+ B1ead set type P 13. Bm0hr 1899:30 184. 10 mounts apparently en- fhR0ound openwork brooc 13. Bf6hr 1899:48 153. 10 tered the graves only as meW0hetston 13. Bm0hr 1967:14 194. 9 part of belts. The fos- -xB8ear phalan 12. Bm8hr 1967:03 124. 9 sils are too few, and fhD6isc-on-bow brooc 12. Bf1hr 1899:26 103. 9 probably too inconsis- -eS4trap buckl 12. Bf4hr 1961:15 134. 8 tently collected, to bear mt+ R3ect.non-functional strap moun 12. Bf1hr 1899:13 183. 7 the weight of much in- mdS2hiel 12. Bm4hr 1899:42b 132. 7 terpretation. fyK1e 12. Bm6hr 1961:26b 121. 7 frB0ead set othe 12. Bf1hr 1961:27 174. 6 f4B8ead set type P 11. Bf1hr 1961:26a 172. 5 fhP7air brooc 11. Bf6hr 1899:35 152. 5 mdS6patha swor 11. Bf1hr 1961:25 132. 5 frC3hain holde 11. B01hr 1899:31 184. 4 -tP3o 11. Bf4hr 1881:14 160. 4 -dA1rrowhea 11. Bf4hr 1967:01 152. 4 -tI9ron rive 10. Bf8hr 1960:10a 103. 4 fhD7isc brooc 10. Bf3hr 1899:22 101. 4 -eK4nif 10. Bf9hr 1961:35 170. 3 fnD4ress pi 10. Bm3hr 1931:03 132. 3 fnB3ronze chai 10. Bm6hr 1967:45 131. 3 fgA3rm rin 10. B01hr 1881:09 121. 3 -bC1om 10. Bm2hr 1930:02 112. 3 mtS0wivel moun 10.

mx+ S8ea 9. Bf4hr 1967:04 170. 2

ftF5ish-head pendan 9. Bf4hr 1931:09 170. 2

-eW7horl, for sword strap or spindl 8. Bf9hr 1930:03 160. 2

feB0ronze bracteat 8. B01hr 1899:16 121. 2

mkI0ron hoo 7. Bm1hr 1899:33 100. 2

-0B8ead set n<1 5. B03hr 1961:22a 171. 1

56 Table 3t. Changes in the status of artefact types. With this burial in mind we turn to the period’s Migration Vendel cremation graves. Out of 36 analysed cremations, Period Period Diff seven proved to contain bones of more than one status status person (table 3u), which is roughly a fourfold in- S%trap end 5%5 8%4 29 crease from the Migration Period ratio. All seven multi-person Vendel Period graves contained the F%ossil 5%8 8%4 26 bones of a sub-adult and at least one adult. None P%air brooch 4%7 5%7 10 of the securely datable Vendel Period graves has produced only sub-adult bones. The children in P%ot 4%6 5%5 9 Bhr 1961:24 & 25 were placed in the graves after S%trap buckle 5%3 6%0 7 the remains of the adults had been cremated. D%ress pin 4%8 5%1 3 Were all these children sacrificial victims? Hard- ly. G%aming piece 6%6 6%7 1 To begin with, four of the seven graves con- W%horl 4%2 4%2 0 tain more than the common number of certain artefact types, indicating that the children may C%omb 4%5-58 4%9 0 have been provided with furnishings of their own B%ead 5%3 2%8-73 0 (table 3u, extra artefacts column). We may look G%lass vessel 6%6 6%6 0 to the Early Vendel Period double inhumation excavated in Lau parish in 1997 (Nydolf & Wick- B%ronze sheet vessel 7%8 6%9 -9 man-Nydolf 1997), where a woman and an in- B%ear phalanx 7%2 6%2 -10 fant had been buried together, each with their K%ey 7%2 5%9 -13 own associated furnishings. Furthermore, there is the undated Bhr 1961:31, where a one-year- A%rrowhead 7%8 5%4 -24 old had been treated to a painstakingly construc- L%ance 1%00 6%8 -32 ted but unfurnished inhumation burial on its own, right beside Bhr 1961:33 with its likewise unfur- K%nife 8%8 5%1 -37 nished child inhumation. The bones are in im- S%hield 1%00 6%0 -40 maculate condition. S%patha sword 1%00 5%7 -43 Seen together, these child graves give the im- pression that children were probably not sacrifi- 7.6.1 Human sacrifice and slavery ced at funerals, but that deceased children were generally not buried alone. In at least half of the For an introduction to this subject, see section cases they have been given furnishings of their 3.2.1. own. Judging from Bhr 1961:31 and 33, unfur- Among the very few Vendel Period inhuma- nished inhumation may have been preferred for tions from Barshalder, there is one that stands the deceased children of the elite. Nydolf & out as a possible sacrificial victim: Bhr 1961:33c. Wickman-Nydolf’s (1997) assumption that a child This was the unfurnished burial of a 4-5 year old buried along with a woman must be that woman’s child with vague male-sex characteristics, placed child, however, seems unwarranted in view of under the same uncommonly large and monu- the fact that single sub-adult graves are so un- mental superstructure as one of the wealthiest common. More likely, deceased children were Vendel Period weapon graves of the entire ce- buried along with the first adult relative who hap- metery, the Early Vendel Period cremation grave pened to die conveniently. According to osteo- Bhr 1961:33a. The two burials were demonstrably logy, the Lau woman was probably beyond ferti- contemporary as they shared an internal oval le age at the time of her death. This suggests a boulder frame with the cremation layer placed in procedure of primary and secondary burial for the SE half and the inhumation in the NW. The children, where their remains were considered child had been placed in extended position on unfinished business until they could be put to its right-hand side. There was no sign of trauma rest in the grave of an adult. or binding.

57 Table 3u. Osteologically analysed Vendel Period burials with more than one human individual (all cremations).

Gen- Peo- Gerave Dat Oxst age Osst se Extra artefact der ple

Bbhr 1960:10a Gf2rOKV2a a?-d + <12 y

B4hr 1960:13 Wm3vG123 a?d + ad + ju ms+ f? + 2 knive

Bbhr 1961:17a Gf2rOKV2a a?d + 1 y Brooch, tweezer s

B6hr 1961:24 Wm2rG5 a?d + 1-2 y 2 swords, 2 seaxes, knif e

Bbhr 1961:25 Gf21OKV2a a?-d + inf

Bbhr 1961:39a Gf2fOKV2a a?d + in fb? + Brooch, com

BPhr 1971:06 V02vendel a?-d + ju Let us not, however, forget the second adult graves, both the number and diversity of the ani- in the male cremation grave Bhr 1960:13. Ha- mals are higher. As with the Migration Period ving vague female-sex characteristics, this person graves from the Rojrhage 1:1 property, we may was accompanied only by a knife, if anything, expect residual Neolithic bones from these gra- into the grave. This appears to be the strongest, ves. The same arguments regarding the dates of though by no means certain, candidate for the the different animal groups hold for the Vendel doubtful honour of Vendel Period sacrificial vic- Period graves as for those of the preceding peri- tim among the Barshalder bones analysed to date. od. Ovicaprids, bears, horses and dogs are prob- At the suggestion of Gustaf Trotzig (perso- ably Vendel Period grave furnishings, seals are nal communication), I have hinted that the com- probably residual. To these groups the Vendel posite kerb of igneous stones covered by a sand- Period adds the lynx, unknown among the Mig- stone flake brim may be a chronologically dia- ration Period graves. In this context it is compa- gnostic attribute of Early Vendel Period graves rable to the bear. The lynx, too, is represented (Barshalder 1 section 7.5). If this is true, then the only by phalanges and has never been part of unfurnished male-sex disarticulated inhumation the fauna of Gotland. The lynx bones should Bhr 1961:28 dates from the Early Vendel Period. thus represent imported Vendel Period lynx skins. It does not necessarily represent a sacrificial vic- As for the animal groups that are represented tim, but very likely a slave. The person buried in with less than four individuals (table 3v, ”other” this unusual way had developed skeletal altera- column) they might all equally well be Neolithic tions and pathologies associated with heavy ma- and Vendel Period in date. They do tend to oc- nual labour (report IV Molnar 1999). We do not, cur in graves with large and diverse sets of ani- of course, know how common these traits were mal bones, and might thus be interpreted as part relatively among the free and unfree of the time, of the grave furnishings. They will, however, be but the uncommonly low level of burial invest- disregarded in the following calculations. ment (neither furnishings nor pyre fuel) indica- The number and perceived value of the ani- tes an unprivileged status. mals placed in a grave should display the same dynamics as the number and perceived value of 7.6.2 Animal bones the artefacts. We may test this argument by exa- The bones from a total of 34 securely dated Ven- mining the correlation between a grave’s status del Period graves from Barshalder, all containing score and the number of animals identified in it. cremation burials, have undergone full osteo- This calculation will only treat ovicaprids, horses logical analysis (table 3q). In addition, excavators and dogs. Phalanges were included already in the and osteologists have identified bear and/or lynx calculation of the status scores. Only source qua- phalanges in seven cases (table 3v). lity 1-2 graves will be examined to avoid com- All but three of the 34 graves contained ani- promised or badly robbed ones. mal bones. Compared to the Migration Period

58 It transpires that the corre- Table 3v. Osteologically analysed Vendel Period graves with animal bones. lation is very weak (correlation ”+” denotes graves with transgressed gender attributes. Sheep / coefficient 0.21). Nor is it much Gerave Drat Gende Beear Hlors Sgea Dxo Lryn Othe goat improved by the removal of BPhr 1881:10 V0endel 1 the wealthiest graves that were BPhr 1899:31 V0endel 1 poor in animal bones in the B2hr 1899:32 WmG1 1 Migration Period sample. It Bbhr 1899:48 GfOKV2a 1 appears that the interpretation BPhr 1928:01 Vfendel 1 suggested in section 3.2.2 for Bbhr 1957:01a GfOKV2a 1 1 the wealthiest Migration Peri- Bbhr 1960:10a Gf0000100OKV2a od graves, that animals and ar- B1hr 1960:11 G+OKV f1121210 B4hr 1960:13 Wm211110gG123 Cattle + pi tefacts were not symbolically Bbhr 1961:17a Gf0100010OKV2a commensurable, applies to all B4hr 1961:19 Wm111110dG3 Bir graves of the Vendel Period. A BPhr 1961:21 V00000000endel recent interpretation (Räf 2001; BPhr 1961:22a V03000000endel Jennbert 2002) of animal bo- B6hr 1961:24 Wm1110100G5 nes in Late Iron Age burials Bbhr 1961:25 Gf1000000OKV2a suggests that the animals were Bchr 1961:26a Gf0000000OKV2b intended as soul guides, psy- B2hr 1961:26b Wm2010100G1 BPhr 1961:27 Vf0100010endel chopomps, for the deceased B2hr 1961:33a W+G1 m111020Pig + bird + fis h on their way to the other BPhr 1961:35 Vf100000xendel Fo world. Bbhr 1961:36a Gf2100000OKV2a The figures do, however, cor- Bchr 1961:37 Gf0000000OKV2b relate with the graves’ gender. Bbhr 1961:39a Gf0100010OKV2a The average number of ani- BPhr 1961:40 V01011100endel mals in the male graves is twi- Bbhr 1967:01 Gf1011100OKV2a ce as high as that in the female Bbhr 1967:02 Gf0000100OKV2a B2hr 1967:03 Wm2010100G1 graves, regardless of status BPhr 1967:04 Vf0100000endel score. Also, lynx phalanges are B2hr 1967:05 Wm411011gG1 Pi strongly tied to female graves: Bbhr 1967:06 Gf101011dOKV2a Bir eight of nine cases are female Bbhr 1967:08 G+OKV2a f1110010 graves and one male, which B4hr 1967:14 WmG3 1 1 marks the lynx skin as a trans- Bbhr 1967:24a Gf3011000OKV2a gressed female gender attribu- B2hr 1967:29 Wm111010eG1 Cattl te. Two of the nine graves with BPhr 1967:40 Vf2010100endel Bbhr 1967:41 Gf0100010OKV2a lynx phalanges (22%) have also B4hr 1967:44 Wm2010200G3 produced identifiable infantile BPhr 1967:45 Vm1000100endel human bones, a ratio more than B4hr 1971:03 Wm1010100G123 twice that among Barshalder’s BPhr 1971:04 Vm0000100endel osteologically analysed Vendel BPhr 1971:06 V00000100endel Period graves without lynx phalanges. It is still, however, a low ratio. In the sible, as the scanty data in table 3u hints but can- Early Vendel Period double inhumation excava- not confirm with statistical significance, that in- ted in Lau parish in 1997 (Nydolf & Wickman- fants were more often buried with women than Nydolf 1997), the woman was associated with with men. Suffice to say that for analytical pur- bear phalanges and the infant with lynx phalang- poses lynx skins are clearly a female attribute, es. One might speculate that infants may actually regardless of whether this is because they were have been cremated along with all the lynx skins intended as furnishings for the women themsel- known from Barshalder, without leaving any iden- ves or for infants that were preferentially buried tifiable bones in most cases, but this hypothesis along with women. is impossible to test conclusively. It is also pos- 59 3.5 Late Viking Period gender important in death, possibly in connection with and age at Barshalder beliefs about the afterlife. The main associations of the two genders are, again, men with armed The same CA and seriation method as that app- conflict on one hand, and women with textile lied to the Migration Period finds in section 3.1.1 crafts on the other (cf. Arwill-Nordbladh and the Vendel Period finds in section 3.3.1 was 1998:204-213 with refs.). Women are also, again, used to study the gender attributes of Late Middle associated through keys with responsibility for and Late Viking Period graves. The Barshalder the house or precious possessions. sample of source quality 1-2 Viking Period graves was large enough to use on its Fig 3:7. The Late Middle and Late Viking Period gender dichotomy. Seriation own, without support from oth- diagram. The horizontal line marks the division between female and male er cemeteries in Thunmark-Ny- graves and types. lén’s WKG sample. There is no apparent local variation in the VIKGEND gender symbolism of burials Input Correlation: 0.0730 Output Correlation: 0.9933 % Variance: 24.9998 across Gotland. Only those ar- tefact classes that survive re- gardless of chemical preserva- tion conditions were registered, thus excluding the organic con- tents of brass bowls and those wooden bowls whose existence is indicated by wood fragments and surviving sheet metal repair mounts. An original database (VIKBASE) of 43 graves and 49 types produced a seriation (data set VIKGEND) with 37 graves and 32 types (fig. 3:7). The Late Middle and Late Vi- king Period artefact assembla- ges display a clear-cut gender di- chotomy and there are no clear- ly transgressed gender attribu- tes. The female grave Bhr 1935: 07 did contain only two beads (attribute bead-3), a number otherwise only known from male graves, but beads are easy to overlook during fieldwork and there may have been a few more of them in the grave. The tasks depicted in mor- tuary symbolism were obviously not the only ones performed in daily life, but they may well have been the most strongly gender- ed and gender-defining ones. At the very least it can be said that these tasks were considered

60 Table 3w. Late Viking Period female gender attributes. Table 3x. Late Viking Period gender-neutral attributes. n of n of Attribute graves in Abbrev. Attribute graves in Abbrev. VIKBASE VIKBASE

E2nar-spoon earspoo P3ot 2tpo

U6ltensil brooch butensi K1nife 3eknif

B2cead spacer beadspa K0nife butt ring mount 1gknbutrin

B7xox-shaped brooch bbo K3tnife butt staple knbus

F2ginger ring fingrin Knife sheath cover or 1h5 kns edge mount K9yey ke K1nife sheath ring mount 1gknshrin B7eads n>3 1-bead4 R2eattle rattl T6gongue pendant pendton C7offin 1ncoffi S5vieve pendant pendsie C4omb 1bcom S4lpindlewhorl whor C8hopper alloy vessel vesbrs S6opoon pendant pendspo R3uivet cluster rivetcl N4eeedle case needcas S4lingle iron rivet or nail rivnai D2bisc-on-bow brooch bd-o-

C2srystal pendant pendcry Table 3y. Late Viking Period male gender attributes. J2newellery chain chai n of Attribute graves in Abbrev. D7ress pin 1ndpi VIKBASE A7nimal head brooch 1hba- B83eads n<4 bead- A0rm ring 1garmrin A4ember amulet, axe head ambax A5hmber amulet, fish head ambfis O8nrnamental strap mount smor F3lossil fossi S8dtrap end mount smen

Few osteological sex and age assessments will A6xe head 1eax be possible for these graves, as very little bone B2lelt lamella smlame has survived. Most of cemetery section 1 is on a T2lassel belt smtasse gravel ridge, which of course invited the gravel extraction that led to the graves’ excavation. I W2nhetstone whetsto have attempted a coarse age classification (table S3trap buckle 1esmbuckl 4a, Barshalder 1 table 8a) based on the length of the skeletons, or, lacking these, the grave tren- P0enannular brooch 2nbpena ches. Here, children are identified by lengths of S2trap joiner 1nsmjoi 150 cm or less (cf. Donié 1999:60-62). This me- thod gives a minimum count of the children in O3nrnamental bronze rivet rivor the graves, as all full-length trenches without pre- served bones are classified as the graves of adults ceptions. Weapons have only been found in the by default. graves of adults. As suggested by Trotzig (1985), Most of the common artefact types do not the small long-hafted axe may have been an attri- appear to be age-specific, but there are a few ex- bute of adult male status. The tassel belts (Geijer

61 & Arbman 1940) and whetstones found in two Late Middle Viking Table 3z. Social ranking of Period graves (Bhr 1935:01 & 1961:01c) indicate another adult male Late Viking Period artefact types. Average number of artefact attribute set. As discussed in section 4.1.10, the placement (but not Gen- types in graves where a der the presence per se) of vessels in the graves seems to correlate certain type occurs. with the age of the deceased. fnJ0ewellery chai 16.

A few uncommon artefact types are known only from children’s feN8eedle cas 15. graves, probably for functional, symbolic and chronological rea- flS3pindlewhor 15. sons (cf. Barshalder 1 section 8.3.5). Some may have been toys, an- fhD0isc-on-bow brooc 15. other a baby bottle: a stick twined with bronze wire and a horn in ftC0rystal pendan 15. Bhr 1961:01a; a pair of boar tusk pendants and a domed bronze ftS0poon pendan 14. sheet mount in Bhr 1966:27a. The rattles in Bhr 1961:01d2 and ftS8ieve pendan 13. 1966:17 may both have been intended to be used by children al- though one of them was found attached to the dress of an adult ftT7ongue pendan 13. woman (cf. Gräslund 1973). -rR7ivet cluste 13. The attributes of neither the male nor the female subsets of fyK2e 13. VIKBASE produced any intelligible sub-gender clustering or con- fdA8mber amulet, fish hea 12. tinuum when analysed with CA (cf. sections 3.1.3 and 3.3.4-5). -tK6nife sheath ring moun 12. frB5ead space 12. 3.6 Late Viking Period social status -tK5nife butt ring moun 12. at Barshalder fgA2rm rin 12. maB0elt lamell 12. I ranked the graves and artefact categories in the VIKBASE sample fhU8tensil brooc 11. (cf. section 3.5.0) with the status score function of WinBASP 1994 flF7ossi 11. (see the discussion in section 1.5), producing tables 3z and 3aa. -tK4nife sheath cover or edge moun 11.

Unique types and single-type graves were omitted, leaving a 42- -bC4om 11. member data set. Trotzig (1991a:162) has pointed out the excep- fnD1ress pi 11. tional qualitative wealth of Bhr 1961:09 and 1962:13:1, and they fhA0nimal-head brooc 11. also occur at numbers three and four on the quantitative ranking f3B8eads n> 10. list in table 3aa. The general pattern to note in table 3z is the great -eK7nife butt stapl 10. dominance in quantitative status of female gender attributes over -lC5opper alloy vesse 10. male ones. Female graves were simply much more richly equipped fhB1ox-shaped brooc 10. than male ones. This may indicate that women had special rights mdA0mber amulet, axe hea 10. of ownership to their jewellery, preventing its continued circulation after the owner’s death. Female graves were, on the other hand, mtT0assel bel 10. generally less intricately built than male graves. meW0hetston 10. As shown in Barshalder 1 section 8.5.2, the graves of children -eK0nif 10. were generally very simply arranged as to their architecture. They -tP9o 9. were not, however, generally less richly equipped than the graves -nC8offi 9. of adults. A number of children were afforded rich grave furnish- -4B5eads n< 9. ings, which indicates that social status was hereditary, as known mtO4rnamental strap moun 9. from contemporaneous written sources from north-western Euro- mtS1trap end moun 9. pe. -lS0ingle iron rivet or nai 9. As discussed in Barshalder 1 section 8.4, the highest level of meS9trap buckl 8. burial investment is found in the smallest spatial clusters of ceme- mrS8trap joine 8. tery section 1. None of the five clusters was untouched by looters, -eR5attl 8. so this is not simply due to the greater difficulty of locating a meA1x 8. smaller group of graves. In any case the looters could probably mtO7rnamental rive 7. still easily see the superstructures of the graves. fnE5ar spoo 7. Bhr 1960:02b was an inhumation grave in a trench that, although fgF5inger rin 7. rather short, was structurally similar to its datable Late Middle and mhP5enannular brooc 7. Late Viking Period neighbours. It held one of the few well-preser- 62 Table 3aa. Social ranking of Late Viking Period ved skeletons from cemetery section 1 but had apparently graves. originally been unfurnished. Under the model of status- dependent burial expenditure used here, this should be in- Score of Sum of Gen- Grave highest-sta- status scores der terpreted as the grave of a socially insignificant member of tus type in for all types grave in grave a none-too-wealthy group. Alternatively, the grave might

Bf8hr 1966:27e 105. 22 be interpreted as an isolated Christian statement: no furnish- ings and no foot-space (cf. section 4.1.19). As the trench Bf0hr 1935:08 196. 19 had the typical orientation of the furnished graves (190°) Bf0hr 1961:09 176. 19 and not the westward orientation that could be expected Bf3hr 1962:13:1 155. 17 of a Christian burial, the former interpretation should be Bf8hr 1927:11 123. 16 preferred. The inhumation might even be interpreted as Bf3hr 1961:01d2 135. 15 the remains of a sacrificial victim for the Late Middle Vi- Bf8hr 1962:08 125. 15 king Period cremation burial (Bhr 1960:02a) that had been Bf7hr 1961:01b 183. 14 slightly cut by the trench. Bf0hr 1961:02 134. 14

Bf2hr 1961:01 123. 13

Bf0hr 1966:19 114. 13

Bm7hr 1936:26 133. 12

Bm6hr 1960:08 192. 11

Bm6hr 1962:11 182. 11

Bf2hr 1935:11 163. 10

Bm4hr 1966:09S 151. 10

Bm6hr 1935:03 112. 10

Bm4hr 1935:01 171. 9

Bm7hr 1961:01c 140. 9

Bm6hr 1966:27b 112. 9

Bf8hr 1935:07 182. 8

Bm4hr 1966:28 131. 8

Bm4hr 1936:21 161. 7

Bm0hr 1961:07 110. 7

Bm6hr 1936:19 192. 6

Bm4hr 1966:22 181. 6

Bf4hr 1961:05a 141. 6

Bm4hr 1966:14 141. 6

Bm0hr 1966:12 130. 5

Bf8hr 1881:02 121. 5

Bm0hr 1966:27d 110. 5

Bm5hr 1963:04 182. 4

Bm5hr 1935:09 150. 4

Bm0hr 1935:05 140. 4

Bf1hr 1961:01a 121. 4

Bf8hr 1961:04 100. 4

Bm5hr 1966:09N 180. 3

Bm9hr 1966:17 96. 3

Bf2hr 1935:02 142. 3

Bf1hr 1936:17 101. 3

Bm0hr 1934:01 170. 1

Bm9hr 1962:10 97. 1

63 4. Religious identity in the 11th century

Christianity was in all likelihood known on Got- 271, Wase 1995) for the foundation of the church land at least from the time of its official adoption of Grötlingbo, AD 1090. If correct, this date by the Roman empire. There are indications of pertains to a wooden church, no traces of which Arian influence in the iconography of the Migra- have been found at the excavations undertaken tion Period picture-stones (Swanström 1993). to date beneath the present structure (Gustafs- Only in the early 11th century, however, did an son 1958). The Romanesque stone church of organised Christian conversion process begin on Grötlingbo, materials from which were re-used the island, ending in the early 12th century with in the present Gothic structure, dates from about the final abandonment of Scandinavian pagan- AD 1200 (Stolt 2001). It seems unlikely that the ism. For recent overviews of previous research prosperous inhabitants of Grötlingbo would have on the conversion process on Gotland, see Font- waited a century after terminating their pagan ell 1994; Nordanskog 1996 and Staecker 1997a, cemetery before they built a church of their own. 1997b, 1998. Strelow’s date for the church of Fide, AD 1166, This century-long process can be studied in is also too early to fit the present stone structure the cemeteries of Anders Carlsson’s phases Csn there. D (c. AD 1000-1100) and Csn E (c. AD 1100- 1150, furnished burial ceased c. 1125). Csn D saw 4.1 Burial ritual at Barshalder the first establishment of Christian churchyards on Gotland. The cemeteries of Csn D-E display A major change of burial ritual took place during a strict division into Christian and pagan ones Csn A-C, a time from which Barshalder has so with distinctive rites (cf. section 4.2.3). The fur- far not produced many finds. During this time nished Christian churchyards have recently beco- inhumation replaced cremation as the dominant me the subject of renewed research (Thunmark- rite. Burial weaponry was scaled down from the Nylén 1989, 1995b; Nordanskog 1996; Staecker full cavalry equipment of the Vendel Period to a 1997a, 1997b, 2000b, 2001). The contempora- symbolic axe. These changes were already fully neous pagan cemeteries, however, have not been established when Csn C-D burial began in ceme- studied in much detail. The aim of this chapter tery section 1. Eleven graves of Csn C have been is to study and interpret the relationship between documented here. It is tempting to see this estab- pagan and Christian cemeteries during the con- lishment of new burial plots with a radically new version process. set of burial customs in the late 10th century as As argued extensively in section 4.2.3, Bars- an indication in itself of the societal changes of halder is a pagan cemetery, in fact the site of the time. At Barshalder, burial was removed from most pagan graves of Csn D that have been pro- both physical and symbolic association with the fessionally excavated to date on Gotland. Its pe- past at about the same time as Harold Bluetooth riod of use was probably terminated by conver- boasted at Jelling that he had Christianised the sion and the establishment of a Christian church- Danes. yard with unfurnished burials near the site of A preliminary version of this section and part Grötlingbo parish church. The end date of Bars- of section 4.2 were presented at the EAA Annu- halder around AD 1100 coincides neatly with that al Meeting in Bournemouth, 16 September 1999 given by Strelow (1633/1978, cf. Kyhlberg 1991: (Rundkvist 2001).

64 4.1.1 Sampling 4.1.3 Axes The sample under study in section 4.1 has been Men were symbolically linked to armed conflict selected as follows. by the placement of axes and maces in their gra- ves, though the actual function of these weapons Graves may have been more ceremonial than martial. datable to Csn C-D by artefacts, or, lacking such, Most of the axe heads are small and ornate, and grave structure and topochronology; in the single case where the length of the haft in cemetery section 1; can be determined (Bhr 1962:11) it seems to have adequately preserved and documented. been too long for practical use (Trotzig 1985). 28 Csn D male graves yielded axes, in no case The sample consists of 109 graves (see Barshalder more than a single one. Three distinct types are 1 table 8a) and omits only 17 of the securely da- found: 20 small ornate beard axes (WKG II Ta- table Viking Period graves known from Bars- fel 255) including eleven with trefoil protrusions, halder. The reason for this procedure is the fact three large broad axes (WKG II Tafel 258) and that so few graves of Csn A-C have been ex- two simple narrow axes (WKG II Tafel 256), plus cavated at the cemetery. The topochronology of fragments of three axes of indeterminable type. cemetery section 1 indicates that Viking Period The position of the axe head in relationship burial began in the area near the end of Csn C to the body can be closely determined in 20 ca- and continued according to similar customs until ses. In only three of these (15%) was the axe the end of Csn D. The two Csn C graves from placed to the left of the body’s centre-line. In cemetery section 2 probably date from an earlier modern human populations, 10-15% are left-han- part of the phase and are thus not immediately ded (Nationalencyklopedin, entry ”hänthet”), which commensurable with those in section 1. corresponds neatly with the Barshalder axes’ pla- cement. No axe head was placed farther from 4.1.2 Non-dress artefacts the head of the deceased than the knees. The As detailed in Barshalder 1 section 8.5.2, the hafts were all aligned with the body, toward the inhumations were placed in over-long trenches head as often as toward the feet. The edge of with the head at one of the ends. This formulated the axe was more often oriented toward the a basic division of the grave-space into one area body’s left than toward the right (eleven of 15 occupied by the body, and one, between the feet determinable cases). These observations indica- and the other end of the trench, where artefacts te that the axes were simply placed where they could be placed. The artefact types from the would be handy to the deceased. One was at- graves (table 4a) follow this division and thus form tached to the belt and one had its haft stuck un- two sets: one related to the body through the der the belt. To summarise, the axe was an exclu- placement of the artefacts and one found in the sively body-related artefact. foot-space and thus indifferently related to the body (table 4b). Among the types not belonging 4.1.4 Maces to the dress, many signify a strictly gendered task Two Csn D male graves contained bronze mace specialisation as demonstrated in section 3.5. heads. There is also a decontextualised Late Vi- In view of recent studies (Anders Carlsson king Period mace head from Grötlingbo parish 1988, Eriksson 1990, Rundqvist Nilsson 1990) and (SHM 10928:10). The function of these objects pending the completion of WKG, I have not stu- has been a matter of some debate – were they died the placement of dress accessories on the finials of ceremonial staffs (Trotzig 1978), end- bodies at Barshalder. It appears to offer few sur- knobs of ship’s tillers (Nylén 1983:143) or weap- prises. Instead I have concentrated on the place- ons (Sandstedt 1992)? I am inclined to agree with ment of other burial attributes. In order to dis- Sandstedt and Lena Thunmark-Nylén (WKG II, cern a pattern with validity beyond the anecdo- table of contents & Tafel 264; personal communi- tal I will unless explicitly stated discuss only attri- cation, Lena Thunmark-Nylén) that in view of butes occurring in more than one grave. This lea- comparative material from post-Viking Period ves us with 16 artefact categories (cf. table 4a). Gotland and Eastern Europe, and considering

65 sectionTable 4a. Non-dress1. artefacts in the Late Middle and Late Viking Period graves of cemetery section 1 at Barshalder.

66 section 1.

the fact that the mace heads appear to be weight- body-related group but outside the area of the ed with lead, they must indeed have been weap- axes. In the third mace grave documented on ons. Gotland, at Annexhemman, the mace The two mace heads from the Barshalder gra- head was also found at the right foot (Nylén 1983: ves were found at the feet of the deceased, one 143; WKG I:227, IV:459). The fact that the mace at the right foot and one at the left, with the heads are found farther from the head of the hafts originally orientated headward. The exten- deceased than the axes may indicate that their sion of these hafts places the mace heads in the hafts were longer.

67 4.1.5 Whetstones on the absolute end-date of the Viking Period Two Csn C male graves yielded a single whetstone on Gotland (see Barshalder 1 section 8.3.2). Nor each, one placed above the head of the deceased are there any comb cases. About 75% of the on the right-hand side and one at the belt. With composite combs have bronze rivets, with iron such a small sample the lack of correspondence rivets making up the remainder. Here, too, diffe- is hardly surprising, although it can be noted that rential preservation should be taken into account. the whetstones were found in the same area as The position of the comb in relation to the the axes. The whetstone was thus a body-related body is closely determinable in 14 cases. Ten of artefact. these combs were placed on the torso or in one case beneath it. One was placed beside the right 4.1.6 Rivet clusters hip or thigh. The remaining three were found in Eight graves of Csn C-D, with deceased of vary- the foot-space, one of them beneath a pot. In ing gender and age, contained a dense cluster of addition to the 14 well-documented comb posi- iron, bronze or composite rivets. The number tions there are three further graves where no of rivets varies within a narrow interval (two more can be stated than that the comb was pla- graves with at least five rivets, two with six, one ced in the body-half of the trench. Thus the with at least six, one with seven, one with ten, comb, while occurring sparingly in the foot-spa- one with eleven) as does the rivet span (4-11 mm), ce, was mainly associated with the body. and in some cases the rivets hold wood remains. All this indicates a common purpose, probably 4.1.8 Knives to hold together small wooden boxes or caskets. 57 graves of Csn C-D, with deceased of varying The only grave containing indisputable casket gender and age, contained knives. Three of these mounts (Bhr 1936:20) did not, however, contain contained a pair of knives each, the rest each a any rivets. single one. Many of the knives are associated with The position of the rivet cluster in relation to elaborate bronze mounts for the handle and the body is known in five cases, where four were sheath. in the foot-space and one at the top of the head The position of the knife in relation to the of the deceased (Bhr 1961:01b). Details of this body is closely determinable in 37 cases from 35 particular grave are sketchy due to the inconsis- graves. 33 of the knives were placed on or beside tent placement of the jewellery and the bad state the torso, mainly in the abdominal and pelvic of preservation of the bones. It seems to be an areas. Of the remaining four knives, two from exceptional case where the jewellery was not worn the same grave were placed at the head, one was by the deceased but placed in a box at the head. placed at the right foot and one was placed in All in all, the rivet clusters mainly belong to the the covering stone layer at the head-end of the foot-space artefacts. trench. Where a clear placement on either side of the body’s centre-line could be observed, 18 knives 4.1.7 Combs were on the right-hand side and eight (31%) on the 28 graves contained combs, in no case more than left-hand side. This indicates that the knife was not a single example. It should be noted that this is a always considered most practical worn on the side minimal number: preservation of unburnt bone of the preferred hand (cf. the standard placement and antler in cemetery section 1 is bad, the rivets of sword scabbards through the ages). of the composite combs are easily overlooked The knives were as strongly linked to the tor- during excavation, and there are examples of sing- so as the dress jewellery, reminding us that they le-piece combs without any rivets. Date, gender were in effect part of the dress. Men seem to and age varied among the comb graves. have worn them at the belt, often tied to a strap Three of the combs are single-piece double- joiner at the side, while the women’s knives were sided ones and the rest are composite single-si- commonly attached either to one of the paired ded ones. There is no sign of the composite chest brooches or to a utensil brooch. The knife, double-sided comb type discussed in the debate thus, was a body-related artefact.

68 4.1.9 Amber amulets 4.1.10 Vessels 25 amber amulets have been found in Csn C-D 77 Csn C-D graves of both genders contained graves at Barshalder, all of them singly. Many of vessels. These graves yielded evidence for a total them are crudely fashioned from large beads and of 119 vessels, which is a minimal number as only they were apparently made exclusively for funerals pottery (cf. Roslund 2001) and metal vessels (cf. (Trotzig 1983:375-376, 1991a:168-169). Two strict- Trotzig 1991a & 1991b) were consistently pre- ly gendered types are found and an uncommon served. Wooden and bark vessels had only sur- third variety is represented by a single specimen. vived when in contact with copper alloys, that is, Axe-shaped amulets (thirteen determinable speci- either metal vessels or repair mounts. There may mens) are male attributes and fish-head amulets originally have been any number of flawless (eight specimens) female ones. A chair amulet, wooden vessels that did not survive, for instance probably representing the throne of a deity (Arr- in the many cases where a pot had been placed henius 1961, Trotzig 1983:365-366), was found in the corner of the trench as if to leave room in a female grave. beside it. Counting only vessels made entirely of The position of the amulet in relation to the imperishable materials, there is evidence for 90 body is closely determinable in 15 cases. Of the- vessels from 75 graves. No grave contained more se amulets, ten were in the foot-space, often as- than two imperishable vessels. sociated with a vessel. Three amulets of both gen- Due to the badly preserved bones there is a dered types were placed in the area of the feet risk of circular argument as to where the vessels and lower legs. One was at the left shoulder and were placed in relation to the bodies if body ori- one (the chair amulet) at the head. Amber amu- entations are determined on the grounds of the lets of the two gendered types are thus almost vessels’ placement. In the present study, this rea- exclusively associated with the foot-space. soning is actually consistently applied in the in- Trotzig’s (1991a:136) suggestion that the amu- terpretation of orientation when other artefact lets might have been affixed to cords tying the types are studied. Therefore it is important to feet of the deceased together, in order to keep investigate how secure the association of the ves- them from haunting the living, is not supported sels with the foot-space really is. by the positions of the amulets in the graves. For 92 vessels from 58 graves body orienta- Most of the amulets have been found not at the tion and vessel placement can both be indepen- feet but at the extreme footward end of the dently determined. Body orientation is here de- trench along with vessels. termined either through preserved bones or the Amber amulets of both types are found in placement of jewellery and dress accessories. 65 contemporaneous graves in Latvia (Mugurevics of these vessels were placed in the foot-space, in 1965 plate VII figs. 15-24). Axe-shaped bronze other words between the feet and the foot-end amulets are found in contemporaneous male gra- of the trench. Adding vessels placed between the ves in Old Russia (Makarov 1992) and at sites knees and the feet brings the total to 86, that is within its sphere of contact including Sigtuna on 93% of these vessels. Vessels are thus a foot-space Lake Mälaren (Edberg 1999). Most of these amu- artefact. lets depict beard axes with a lower edge protrusi- A look at the 14 cases where vessel placement on, similar to the small axes of Gotland. In the is known but body orientation cannot be inde- two graves illustrated by Makarov (1992:50, figs. pendently determined shows that all but three 7-8), the amulets seem to have been placed in of these vessels were placed in the expected north the lower leg region of the dead. These burial or east ends of the trenches, that is, the probab- trenches do not, however, display an interior di- le foot-ends. vision like the one at Barshalder. The exceptions to this rule of placement in Axe-shaped amber amulets were produced c. AD the foot-space are six vessels from six different 750-850 at the trade and craft centre of Åhus II in graves. Three of them were placed at the head, north-east Scania (Callmer 2002:133). One has also two at the hip or thigh, and one apparently origi- been found in the Black Earth of (SHM 5208), nally on top of the coffin over the chest of the dating from the Early and Middle Viking Period. deceased. Children are strongly over-represen-

69 ted among these graves with exceptional vessel 4.1.12 Animal bones placements (50% compared to 9% in the total Animal bones were found in only nine graves, population of graves with vessels), indicating age- probably partly due to the bad preservation con- specific burial rites. ditions for bone. One of the few Viking Period Where the vessels were clearly placed to the cremations analysed by an osteologist has been side of the trenches’ centre-lines the left-hand included in this number, but not the food remains side of the deceased was preferred to the right- preserved in metal vessels. Identified species are hand side, with 25 cases to 8. This forms an op- cattle, pig, dog and wildfowl (goldeneye, Sw. position to the artefact types placed handily at knipa). There is little to say about the positions the right-hand side of the body. of the bones: two of the graves were cremations and four cases lack documentation of the bones’ 4.1.11 Re-used picture-stones positions. In the three remaining cases the bones Three Csn D graves in the sample, all of them were placed in various ways: in the foot-space (partly male, featured picture-stones of the Late Vendel beneath a pot), in a large post hole outside the foot- or Early Viking Periods re-used in the internal end of the trench, and at the head of the deceased. burial trench structure. One of them incorpora- ted two stones (Nylén & Lamm 1987 #82 & 83) 4.1.13 Rattles and the others one each (Nylén & Lamm 1987 Small bronze rattles or bells with cross-shaped #80 & 81), one of them oxymoronically blank openings (cf. Gräslund 1973) were found in two but recognisable thanks to its characteristic shape. graves, one being the resting-place of a woman The two single stones had been trimmed and of Csn C and one that of a little boy of Csn D. placed as end-slabs at the foot-ends of the burial The woman’s rattle, along with two keys and a trenches. The pair had been used as lid slabs for knife, was fastened by a chain to a utensil brooch an inhumation trench. on the right-hand side of her abdomen. The boy’s In this context Bhr 1952:01b, an exceptional rattle was also placed on the right-hand side of Csn D female grave not included in the sample, the abdomen. The rattle, thus, was a body-related should be mentioned to complete the list of re- artefact whose position was probably determined used picture-stones from Barshalder’s Viking Pe- by where it would be handy for the deceased. A riod. The burial was secondarily placed in Bhr child buried in the 11th century Christian ceme- 1952:01a, a grave structure from the earlier part tery at Grødby on Bornholm wore a similar rattle of the Migration Period, located in cemetery sec- on a string around its neck (Wagnkilde & Pind tion 2 (Rojrhagen). The picture-stone (Nylén & 1996:181, fig. 16). Lamm 1987 #89), a blank specimen, was set as a secondary end-slab in the cist at the head of the 4.1.14 Keys Viking Period individual. 14 female graves of Csn C-D yielded 20 keys. One The sample is too small to allow any signifi- grave had four, three graves two each, and the rest cant conclusions, but it should be noted that two a single key each. Bronze, iron and composite keys of three end-slabs made of re-used picture-sto- were found. Their size gives no hint as to their nes at Barshalder were at the foot-end, delimit- function: they may have unlocked doors, chests, ing the foot-space. In the only case where the caskets or padlocks that were used interchangeably stone was both decorated and still in its original for all three of these purposes. Their placement position (Bhr 1963:06), the picture faced into the can be closely established in 15 cases from ten burial trench. graves: all were placed on the pelvis or abdomen [The Migration Period picture-stone SHM except two which were placed on the chest and at 16124 (Bhr 1918:02, Nylén & Lamm 1987 #85) the head respectively. Five were fastened with chains was not actually found with the Viking Period to utensil brooches. In only one case was the key objects (Bhr 1918:01) that share the same inven- on the left-hand side of the deceased. tory number.] The keys, thus, are part of the female gender assemblage, were often physically linked to the dress, and are exclusively a body-related artefact.

70 Table 4b. The body/foot-space dichotomy. on the abdomen, in two cases fastened to brooch- Fyoot-space Bod es. The needle cases are thus similar to the keys Vessel (77 graves) Axe (28 graves) in their placement and linkage to the dress. Riveted box (8 graves) Mace (2 graves) Amber amulet (25 graves) Whetstone (2 graves) 4.1.18 Fossils Spindlewhorl (12 graves) Comb (28 graves) Knife (57 graves) Not counting beads and spindlewhorls fashioned Rattle (2 graves) from fossiliferous limestone, four unaltered fossils Key (14 graves) were recovered from three female graves. The Needle without case (4 graves) Needle case (4 graves) placement of three specimens is known: one was on the chest, one at the abdomen, one in the Table 4c. The left/right dichotomy. foot-space, all on the left-hand side. This does Ldeft hand Right han not permit any generalisations as to the body/ foot-space dichotomy. Vessel Axe Fossil Knife Rattle 4.1.19 Interpreting the Key pattern of placement As has been shown, there exists a clear dichotomy 4.1.15 Spindlewhorls between body-related artefact types and types Textile equipment is restricted to the female gen- placed in the foot-space or at least below the der, possibly with the exception of a single pair knees of the deceased (table 4b). There is also a of shears found in a male grave (Bhr 1963:04). less distinct dichotomy between left-hand and Twelve female Csn C-D graves yielded 14 spind- right-hand objects (table 4c). lewhorls, with one grave containing three speci- The body/foot-space dichotomy coincides mens. Most of them are made of limestone; but with the one between artefact types found in igneous rock, sandstone and bronze also occur. contemporaneous Christian graves at the church- Their placement can be closely established in yards and absent from them respectively (cf. Trot- eleven cases from nine graves: all were placed in zig 1969, Thunmark-Nylén 1995b), except for the the foot-space, often beside or in one case be- weapons. None of the foot-space types occur at neath a vessel; except two which were placed at the churchyards. All of the body types do, ex- the foot and knee respectively. Right-hand and cept for the axe and mace. However, due to the left-hand placements were equally common. gender segregation of the churchyards and subse- quent early destruction of the male graves, very 4.1.16 Sewing needles few male graves at all have been identified in the Four female graves of Csn C-D yielded single churchyards. Thunmark-Nylén’s five-page cata- bronze sewing needles without needle cases. logue of the Gotlandic churchyard finds (1995b: Three of them were placed at the head of the 189-193) lists only five sets of belt mounts, the deceased and one in the foot-space. Neither posi- central artefact category of the male dress, along- tion seems to permit an interpretation of the side abundant female dress accessories. This needles as shroud pins. Although the sample is means that we cannot actually tell whether or not small, it seems the needle was a body-related any appreciable number of furnished graves in artefact. the Christian churchyards contained weapons. What can be stated confidently is that in 11th 4.1.17 Needle cases century Gotland, the ideal of a pagan female gra- ve was the same as its Christian counterpart, but Four female graves of Csn D yielded single cy- with the addition of a foot-space containing pa- lindrical sheet metal needle cases. They are filled gan ritual objects. The same may have been true with corrosion products and it would take x-ray for the male graves, or the Christian male graves photography to investigate whether there are may actually have lacked weapons – the archaeo- needles inside. In the three cases where their logical record known to us today is insufficient placement can be ascertained they were found to settle this matter.

71 A look at the functional types in either group 4.2 Religious conversion shows that the pagan identity was not demonstra- ted in the dress or in objects useful outside the 4.2.1 Pagan mortuary symbolism house. This means that in the public sphere, pa- In attempting to read the Late Viking Period mor- gans and Christians were visually indistinguish- tuary symbolism at Barshalder, we have identi- able. I am also inclined to believe that the spind- fied familiar gender roles where men are warriors les and various vessels used in pagan and Christi- and women craftspeople, keepers of valuables an households were indistinguishable too. This and cooks. We have also identified the inhumation would mean that only their use in the burial con- trenches’ foot-spaces as the domain of a private text was a signal of paganism. The amber amulets pagan identity within the burial ritual. Now, what were manufactured exclusively for pagan funerals do the contents of this space say specifically about and were probably not seen at any other occasions. paganism? My impression, then, is that the pagans of The specific meaning of the amber amulets is 11th century Gotland kept their religious identi- obscure because they are entirely non-functional ty a private matter. In the burial ritual it was kept artefacts. They are pierced for a string, which ties physically apart from their public selves at least them in with the spindlewhorls’ symbolism, dis- in the female graves, and I believe that this re- cussed below. All I feel qualified to say is that due flects the way it was managed in their social lives. to their long typological ancestry (see section The right-hand objects are all hand-held im- 4.2.3) they must have carried connotations of a plements and their placement on the right-hand religious and perhaps general social conservatism, side of the body thus does not seem to demand as discussed below. explanation. The left-hand artefacts, however, are Norse and Classical literature provides an in- not quite as easily interpreted. The fossils are too stant interpretation for the spindles as symboli- few to warrant any elaborate hypotheses, but the cally connected to the Fates, or perhaps more vessels are one of the most common artefact likely, connected to the concept of fate in gene- classes in the graves. ral. I find this interpretation attractive, as much The only social dimension that 11th century of the Norse sources on Viking Period mentali- Gotlandic society is known to have conceptuali- ty concern humanity’s struggle with fate. sed in terms of left and right is gender. This is The foot-space is characterised by a plethora shown in the Christian churchyards and church- of vessels. All cases where contents were preser- es of the time, where women were buried and ved point to them originally having been filled probably stood during Mass to the left, and men with food and drink. The blót, the sacrificial feast, to the right, when facing the altar (Staecker was a central concept in late Scandinavian pagan- 1997a,1997b, 2000b, 2001). It is also apparent ism (Ström 1985:79 ff, Näsström 2001:248-249). among the paired parallel separate inhumations It is, for instance, referred to in the Guta Saga, a at Barshalder (see Barshalder 1 section 8.5.3.3). One 13th century compilation of older sources, where may imagine that the mourners at an 11th cen- Gotlandic pagan cult partners are called suþnautar, tury pagan funeral stood in a like manner along cooking partners (Nerman 1941, Holmbäck & the edges of the burial trench, women by the Wessén 1943:292, 304 note 16). On the other deceased’s left-hand side, men by his or her right- hand, in a more abstract form the sacrificial meal hand side, each offering their last respects and is of course Christianity’s central sacrament. A depositing objects in the trench. The grave ves- near-contemporaneous example of this conflict sels contained food and drink, and it is thus not over sacrificial feasting is found in Hakon the surprising to find them placed on the female side Good’s Saga (Sturluson, Heimskringla chapter 18), of the burial trench. Cooking and the distribu- where the Christian king refuses his royal duty to tion of drink are strongly female-gendered tasks partake of the sacrificial meal at Hlaðir (cf. Meu- in the literary sources of the time. This linkage lengracht Sørensen 1991 with refs.). Another early of the gender dichotomy with the left/right Christian who refused food in this manner was dichotomy and presumably other dichotomies of St. Sabas the Goth, who lived in the Pontic area a more metaphysical character amounts to a cul- in the 4th century and was murdered by pagan tural universal (Needham 1973). 72 compatriots for his reticence (Heather & Mat- parent to all who saw the pyre before it was lit, thews 1991:109-117). It is hard to say whether was then more or less annulled by the way the the burial food at Barshalder should be seen as a cremation deposit was buried: in a typical rec- miniature blót, as symbolic provisions for the af- tangular two-metre trench of the kind used for terlife, or both. The fish, fowl, eggs, hazel nuts inhumations, with an axe and a pot placed in the and vegetables preserved in the copper alloy positions typical for the contemporary inhuma- bowls of Barshalder do, however, appear to be tion burials. rather far from the steaming meat cauldrons of Trotzig (1991a:149, 168) has pointed out that the sacrifices described in the written sources the custom of placing vessels in graves, so com- (Ström 1985:79 ff, Näsström 2001:248-249). Trot- mon in the Roman Iron Age and Migration Peri- zig (1991a:135) has interpreted the contents of od, is almost unknown from the Early and Middle the vessels as ”food for the last journey”. Viking Period. The reappearance of vessels in the pagan graves of Csn D was thus in itself a 4.2.2 Pagan reactionaries revival of pagan symbolism. The custom did not, Among the graves of Csn C-D from Barshalder, however, reappear to any great extent in the north- there are a few that stand out by their overtly ern half of the island (Trotzig 1991a:149, 151). reactionary pagan symbolism. As detailed in sec- tion 4.1.11, four Csn D graves at Barshalder fea- 4.2.3 Were the churchless tured picture-stones of the Late Vendel or Early cemeteries in fact pagan? Viking Periods re-used in the internal trench In the 11th and 12th centuries, Christianity on structure. Late Viking Period graves are in fact a Gotland was significantly influenced by the Eas- common find context for the picture-stones. A tern Christianity of Russia (Lagerlöf 1999). Jörn functional interpretation of the re-used picture- Staecker has suggested (1997b:77-81, 1998: 222- stones simply as useful building material appears 226, 2000b, 2001) that the early Christian graves untenable as the graves in question also display with jewellery and dress fittings found in church- other uncommon and archaic traits. yards on Gotland and at Leksand in Dalecarlia, Bhr 1966:01b was an inhumation grave cut and even with pottery at Grødby on Bornholm, into the elaborate stone setting Bhr 1966:01a, also might be seen as indicators of historically undo- of Csn D, housing one of the phase’s very few cumented missionary work on the part of the cremations. Here a reactionary monument, with Eastern church. He bases this interpretation on the well-nigh obsolete custom of cremation bu- a wide range of similar cemeteries from the Sla- rial, has been referenced by yet another pagan vonic parts of eastern and central Europe, with romantic group of mourners reinforcing their the exception of Russia: early Christian cemete- statement with a pair of re-used picture-stones ries are not easily identified in Russia as they are and northward body orientation, an almost un- generally not located at the churches. There is heard-of custom at the time. only one known example from Old Russia of The mourners behind Bhr 1952:01b made even furnished Viking Period graves in a churchyard, more forceful reference to the pagan past. Not only at the Desjatinnaja church in Kiev (Petrukhin & did they re-use a three centuries-old picture-stone Pushkina 1998:251), and it is not entirely certain and orientate the head of the deceased toward the whether any of these graves post-date the adop- north – they also re-used a seven centuries-old gra- tion of Christianity in the area. ve cist in the abandoned aristocratic cemetery plot An interesting aspect of Staecker’s argument at the eastern end of cemetery section 2. is that not only can it be used to interpret the All cremation burials of Csn D and later date furnished churchyard graves of Gotland as indi- should in my opinion be seen as symbolically cators of Eastern Christianity. It can equally well reactionary or at least anti-Christian. In Bhr be used to interpret Barshalder and other church- 1966:28 (Trotzig 1967), this stance is further re- less Late Viking Period inhumation cemeteries flected by unique outmoded furnishings: lance as Christian. They would form a good parallel to head, scythe blade, strike-a-light and a dog. Intri- the Russian churchless Christian cemeteries. Con- guingly, this symbolic statement, forcefully ap- tact between Gotland and Russia was lively at the

73 time, as shown for example by the Oriental style the churchyards, form the end of a continuous belts (Jansson 1978) favoured by men on Got- pagan tradition of weapon burial on Gotland land and common in the graves of Barshalder. starting in the late 1st millennium BC. Weapon I, however, am nonetheless convinced that the burial is extremely uncommon in Christian 11th century churchless cemeteries on Gotland cemeteries west of the Baltic and to my know- were not Christian in any meaningful sense, but ledge entirely unknown in the second half of rather that they represent a Scandinavian pagan the 11th century. Note that this argument is ideology and system of religious beliefs. This is weakened by the fact that, due to the gender actually the generally accepted interpretation segregation of the Late Viking Period church- (Trotzig 1969, 1991a:151; Anders Carlsson 1989: yards and subsequent continuous use only of 102, Thunmark-Nylén 1989, 1991, 1995b; Staeck- the male side, very few early Christian male er 1997b:64, 1999:302-303), but in view of the graves have survived to be documented in the slight doubt introduced by Staecker’s and Valk’s churchyards of Gotland. (see below) papers I will nonetheless set out some 4 Amber amulets are found in graves in the arguments for the pagan interpretation in the churchless cemeteries, but not in the church- following. yards. The axe-shaped amulets found in male graves form the end of a tradition starting in 1 The distinctive rites of the contemporaneous the Early Vendel Period in the 6th century churchyards and churchless cemeteries must (VZG 213-214, Bhr 1967:03). The correspon- be explained in ideological terms. If they were ding amber amulets in the female graves have indeed all Christian then we would have to an enigmatic shape and are generally more assume two different types of historically undocu- coarsely wrought than the axe-shaped amulets, mented Eastern Christianity in 11th century but the closest parallels to their shape are the Gotland. Given that we must also account bronze sheet fish-head pendants also introdu- somehow for the end of Scandinavian pagan ced in the Early Vendel Period and used until burial, this double-Russian hypothesis falls vic- the end of the Viking Period. Their meaning tim to Ockham’s razor. is obscure but, judging from the wealth of 2 Grødby on Bornholm (Wagnkilde & Pind the graves, seems closely tied to a high-status 1996; Wagnkilde 1999, 2000) teaches us that female role. Christian graves can contain pottery vessels. 5 The elaborate internal structures of the burial However, many of the copper alloy vessels trenches in the churchless cemeteries (cf. buried in churchless cemeteries in southern Barshalder 1 section 8.5.2) have no counterpart Gotland originate from the Rhine-Maas area in the churchyards, but hark back to a conti- (Trotzig 1991a:148) that was firmly in the grip nuous tradition at least from the Early Bronze of Western Christianity at the time. Most of Age onward. The sandstone slab cists are a the vessels are actually hand-washing basins. particularly archaic trait, although in the 11th On Gotland, however, they were used to serve century they were often combined with the food (Trotzig 1991a:135). new-fangled wooden coffins. Interpreting the churchless cemeteries as 6 The picture-stones of the 8th and 9th centu- Christian thus leads to a paradox: among ries re-used in graves in the churchless ceme- Christian graves at the time, only Eastern teries of Gotland were originally pagan monu- Christian ones may contain vessels, but the ments (Andrén 1993, Göransson 1999). Their actual vessels found point to close contact with secondary placement in the graves should pro- Western Christianity. Also, it appears that the bably be seen as an act of identification with workshops in the Rhineland produced these a more securely pagan past (cf. section 4.2.2). vessels without the customary Christian ima- They are never found in graves in the church- gery especially for the southern Baltic market yards, and only later in the 12th and 13th cen- (Trotzig 1991a:148). turies were they incorporated into stone chur- 3 The axes commonly found in male graves in ches, then without any association to graves the churchless cemeteries, but as yet never in (Johansen 1997:215). The picture stones of

74 the 11th century display a few lingering ele- unfurnished grave and the foundations of a woo- ments of pagan imagery (comparable to the den church apparently respecting each other stra- carvings of Medieval Norwegian wooden tigraphically. The erection of the church has been churches) and appear to have been erected radiocarbon dated (St 3885-3888) to c. 1200 cal near Christian graves, but their runic inscrip- AD (Kyhlberg 1991:161). The earliest coins found tions and crosses mark them as unequivocally inside the church are dated at tpq c. AD 1200. Christian monuments. This coincides with Strelow’s date for Silte, AD 7 A great majority (68%) of the graves at Bars- 1204. The three coins from graves, however, are halder are orientated with the head southward, dated at tpq AD 976, AD 978 and AD 1017. and only a small number (17%) with the head According to Kenneth Jonsson (email 6 Februa- westward. In the churchyards, westward orien- ry 2000) none of these coin types circulated on tation is the rule. Gotland after c. AD 1050, which would form a terminus ante quem for the burials: ”It is impos- Heiki Valk (1998) has argued convincingly for a sible that all the graves are as late as 1200 (out of dissolution of the Christian/pagan dichotomy in the question!!!)”. To accommodate the conflic- the study of burial customs in most of the Baltic ting dates, Liljeholm assumes that the coins were Sea area. Instead he demonstrates the existence in fact antiques when buried. However, the coins of a transitional period characterised by mixed found inside the church show that there was no or even syncretic burial customs, with different lack of contemporaneous coinage around AD dates and durations in different areas (Valk 1998, 1200 in Silte. In my opinion, the coins are clear fig. 1). However, this model is not directly applic- evidence of burial at the site in the 11th century. able to the situation in 11th century Gotland. Whatever boundary grave 3 at Silte was original- Here we find no uniform system of transitional ly respecting, it cannot have been the western burial customs, but rather two distinct transitional wall of the wooden church of AD 1200. As Lil- systems which may be attributed to Christianity jeholm points out, this issue could be resolved and Scandinavian paganism respectively. This by radiocarbon dates for the human bones. clear-cut dichotomy is to my knowledge unique. The religious attribution of furnished graves and 4.2.4 Confessional geography of cemeteries from transitional periods is a perennial Gotland in the 11th century problem in post-Roman archaeology (e.g. Schülke The cemeteries of 11th century Gotland form 1999 with refs.). three clearly demarcated types: Nora Liljeholm (1999) has interpreted the churchless Late Viking Period cemeteries of Got- 1. Furnished mixed-gender inhumation cemete- land as Eastern Christian cemeteries (cf. Anders ries with a few cremation graves, located away Carlsson 2003). Her argument is based on scat- from any known church site. Many burial tren- tered instances of Christian cult objects found ches are over-long and walled with stone. Fe- at the pagan cemeteries. In my view, these can- male graves contain food vessels, riveted box- not be taken to indicate a formal religious con- es, amber amulets and spindle whorls. These version accepted by the local community. Lilje- cemeteries were, in my opinion, consciously holm fails to answer the double-Russian objec- and overtly pagan. Barshalder, Hemse Annex- tion presented in the first argument listed above: hemman and Stora Hallvards in Silte parish why would there be two distinct cemetery types are prime examples. if both represented Eastern Christianity? In the 2. Furnished gender-segregated inhumation ceme- pagan context, the Christian-flavoured objects are teries at churches. Female graves contain only more likely to have been seen as amulets of an dress accessories. These cemeteries were in my eclectic spiritual power, typical for non-codified opinion Christian in a ritually tolerant Eastern religions. mode. These are the so-called ”churchyard In this context, a digression seems justified finds”. on the dates of the churchyard and the wooden 3. Unfurnished inhumation cemeteries at chur- church of Silte (Trotzig 1972, 1981; Liljeholm ches. These cemeteries were in my opinion 1999). Here, we find a coin-dated but otherwise 75 76 Table 4d. Gotland’s parishes and their Late Viking Period cemeteries. In the ”Ch-yrd” column, a ”0” means that no Viking Period finds at all have been found at the churchyard, a ”1” means that certainly furnished Viking Period graves have been documented there, ”Stray” means that Viking Period stray finds have been made there, and ”(Stray)” means that Viking Period stray finds have been made there but that no graves of the period have been documented despite grave digging north of the church c. AD 1900 and later.

77 Christian in a ritually strict Western mode. As Furnished Csn D-E cemeteries (pagan and/ unfurnished graves are difficult to date, the or Christian) are not evenly distributed across the only positively identified member of this type island. Instead, they form three clusters separa- so far is Silte churchyard, with a coin-dated ted by cemetery-less areas, dividing the island into but otherwise unfurnished grave. six parts. I would suggest that the cemetery-less areas include such that were Christianised very Table 4d lists the known pagan cemeteries and early in Csn D and were mainly influenced by Christian churchyards of Csn D-E. The pagan the Western Church with its strong views on pro- grave finds have been extracted from WKG I & per burial rites. In such areas we may presume IV, Thunmark-Nylén 1991, Anders Carlsson 1983 that churches were built very early in the 11th & 1988, Dan Carlsson 1999a, Liljeholm 1999:152- century and that burial at the churchyards was 156. The churchyard finds (certain and debatable) unfurnished already from the start. However, the have been taken from Thunmark-Nylén 1995b cemetery-less areas should also include ones that and Dan Carlsson 1999b with the addition of were thinly populated at the time due to poor the Csn D churchyard identified beneath Bro soils or the higher shore line. These may be iden- church in 2001 (Widerström 2001). Their number tified from the distribution of Viking Period has been reduced with regard to Staecker’s (1997a: hoards (SGW) and the Medieval Episcopal tax 205) examination of churchyards with late mod- rates for each parish, copied by Bilefeld in 1585 ern graves north of the church but no known (Bilefeld’s inventory list, Thunmark-Nylén 1980:30- Viking Period finds. He suggests that if there are 31, Kyhlberg 1991:271-272). Finally, solitary la- any furnished Viking Period graves at a church cunae may be expected due to varying excava- then one should have made finds there when tion and collection histories: in some churchyards graves were dug north of the church in recent burial may have resumed north of the church decades. This argument has, however, been weak- uncommonly early or not at all to the present ened by the recent finds inside Bro church, a church day, which would have kept any Viking Period that should not have had any furnished Viking female graves beyond the ken of scholarship. The Period graves according to Staecker’s observations. boundaries in fig. 4:1 were drawn with these con- Note that the parish division of Gotland post- siderations in mind, underlining the distinction dates the Viking Period. It is used here only as a between parishes with Csn D cemeteries of either convenient way to sub-divide the island. type and parishes without any cemeteries at all. When these data are combined, we get the These boundaries do not coincide with those of following results (fig. 4:1). Eleven (85%) of the the thing/setting/treding territorial division thirteen parishes with definite churchyards also known from historic times. have pagan cemeteries, and Källunge Staecker (2001:236-247) offers a similar clas- being the exceptions. Out of nine parishes with sification of Gotland’s parishes according to the debatable churchyard indicators (remaining de- types of their Csn D-E cemeteries. His defini- spite Staecker’s clarifications), five (56%) also have tion of a pagan grave find has in my opinion pagan cemeteries. Thus, as noted by Staecker been somewhat too liberal: the Csn D-E finds (2001:241), the two types of cemeteries do not from Ekeby and Tingstäde parishes cannot, as in fact exclude each other on the parish level as Staecker indicates, safely be taken to originate has been claimed in earlier research (Anders Carls- from graves. son 1989:102; Trotzig 1991a:151; Nordanskog More importantly, and very unfortunately, 1996:24-25, 41; Staecker 1997b:64; Liljeholm Staecker fails to distinguish between the Csn D 1999:156; Rundkvist 2001:87). The churchyard and Csn E subtypes (Anders Carlsson 1988:77- finds from parishes with both types of cemete- 80) of the FAC:S rom:a penannular brooch. The ries are of Csn D or even earlier date, so these error is evident already from the fact that of the are not simply cases where the change of burial 22 pagan cemeteries with graves dated by Staec- site coincided with the shift between Csn D and ker (2001:239-241) to Csn E, only two have any Csn E. female graves dated to this phase. It has led him

78 Fig. 4:1. Cemetery types in Late Viking Period Gotland. The map symbols may be combined in parishes where there are no known cemeteries of the period but uncertain finds from the churchyard, e.g. . Note that there is no symbol for parishes with exclusively pagan cemeteries. This is the normal case, advertised only by the absence of a symbol.

79 (2001:238) to the incorrect conclusion that pa- stones referred to by Staecker on this issue, many gan cemeteries and Christian churchyards co-exis- featuring the Urnes decoration style, post-date ted for 50-100 years in many parishes. Actually, the abandonment of most pagan cemeteries on only two rural pagan cemeteries in and Hem- Gotland and are therefore irrelevant here. se parishes (cf. table 4d) did certainly remain in It should be emphasised that the parishes with use into Csn E, and neither of them post-dates furnished pagan graves of Csn D but no furnish- its Strelowian church date. ed graves in the churchyard should represent ca- Looking at those penannular brooch types that ses where religious conversion and the change Anders Carlsson (1988:75) could date no closer of burial site coincided with the end of furnish- than Csn D/E, and adding chronologically am- ed burial. Given the century-long duration of Csn biguous specimens of FAC:S rom:a, we find them D, our inability to subdivide the period (cf. Bars- in pagan graves from eleven rural parishes (ex- halder 1 section 8.3.3.1) and our incomplete know- cepting Hemse). Carlsson suggested that most ledge of the cemeteries’ periods of use, this of the Csn D/E brooches should actually date means that many of these apparently solidly pa- from Csn E. In five of the eleven parishes such a gan communities may have converted during the late date would post-date the Strelowian church period as is indicated by Strelow’s dates. The pari- date. This issue cannot be resolved with current shes with both types of furnished cemeteries should knowledge of the brooch chronology. likewise represent conversion during Csn D. On the grounds of the incorrect Csn E dates, As mentioned above, I believe that the diffe- Staecker (2001:241-247) interprets Gotland’s ter- rence between furnished and unfurnished Chris- ritorial Middle Third (Sw. treding), where FAC:S tian churchyards during Csn D should be inter- rom:a brooches are under-represented at the pa- preted as reflecting the difference between ritu- gan cemeteries, as the part of the island where ally strict Western Christianity and ritually tole- the pagan cemeteries were abandoned first. Dis- rant Eastern Christianity. Whereas the Western regarding finds from churchyards and pagan ce- missionaries to Scandinavia in the 11th century meteries, the brooch type is distributed quite came from areas under the full control of the evenly across the island: 1.7 brooches per parish church of Rome, Gotland was also in close con- in the Northern Third, 1.3 in the Middle Third, tact with the Russian Christian area where neither 1.3 in the Southern Third, as per Anders Carls- the church of Rome nor that of Constantinople son’s (1988) catalogue. This indicates that the exercised any firm control (Anne-Sofie Gräslund brooch type was no less popular among the liv- 2001:131). ing in the Middle Third than elsewhere. Its scar- This interpretation is supported by the distri- city at the pagan cemeteries there is thus surpri- bution of rune stones at the rural churches of sing indeed. Carlsson’s (1988:75) other vaguely Gotland (cf. table 4d & Hyenstrand 1989:93-97). dated Csn D/E brooch types are uncommon at Out of 21 church sites with rune stones, only pagan cemeteries but appear to be roughly even- one, Stånga, has yielded furnished Viking Period ly distributed across the island (N: 4 pagan ce- burials. If, as is commonly accepted, the rune sto- meteries, M: 2, S: 1, cf. table 4a). This indicates nes were originally erected in the 11th and early that what Staecker has discovered may actually 12th centuries at the sites of wooden churches, be a local quirk in the pagan mortuary dress code then the burial rite at these churchyards must have in the Middle Third. The figures are too small to been unfurnished already at this early date. The support any far-reaching hypotheses. negative correlation between rune stones and The brooches of Csn D and Csn E, thus, do furnished churchyard burial also tallies well with not indicate any single innovation centre for the the fact that the Gotlandic rune stone tradition abandonment of the pagan cemeteries on Got- is closely connected to that of the Lake Mälaren land. While neither of the two certain Csn E rural area, which was Christianised in the Western tra- pagan cemeteries is located in the Middle Third, dition. Furnished churchyard burial should on the their number is of course too insignificant to other hand, as argued in section 4.2.3, be seen as support any conclusions in the matter. The rune an Eastern trait.

80 In fig. 4:1, 4.2.5 The Strelowian dates and Area 1 has only pagan furnished cemeteries and the 11th century cemetery was thus probably Christianised in the Western situation mode late in Csn D. Despite Wase’s (1995) criticism, I agree with Area 2 has no furnished cemeteries at all except Thunmark-Nylén (1980, 1986, 1991:181), Kyhl- for the central pagan ones in parish: berg (1991), Nordanskog (1996:16-19, tab. 1-2) if my interpretation is correct, then this was and Staecker (2001) in accepting Strelow’s dates the main foothold on Gotland of Western for the rural churches of Gotland as authentic. Christianity from early Csn D onward. These studies have shown that, as a data set, the Area 3 has both pagan and Christian furnished Strelowian dates are far too structured in relation cemeteries, one churchyard-only parish, two to other types of source material to be mere fabri- certain parishes with both cemetery types and cations. However, as Wase very rightly pointed two debatable ones, indicating a non-Western out, we cannot selectively amend uncomfortable level of ritual tolerance among the Christians Strelowian dates as misprints, as Thunmark-Nylén throughout Csn D. and Kyhlberg have suggested. Strelow’s dates for Area 4 is comparable to areas 1-2 in having only the urban churches of Visby are not discussed pagan furnished cemeteries: its coastal parts here. were probably early Western Christian areas One must bear in mind that since Strelow did and most of its interior thinly populated and not specify the type of building – wood or stone poor. – to which each date refers, at least those from Area 5 is a mix of all conceivable combinations the period of stone church construction (c. AD among the cemeteries and was thus probably 1125 onward) must be seen as the latest possible the centre both of lingering paganism and of date for the first church in each parish (Nordan- ritually tolerant Eastern Christianity through skog 1996:16-19). The furnished graves in the Csn D. churchyards show independently that there were Area 6, finally, is devoid of furnished cemeteries at least twelve rural churches in 11th century and should thus be seen as another early Csn Gotland. D Western Christian area. It seems that if Strelow’s dates for the rural churches are authentic then they should correla- [The relationship of parish names ending in bo te with the cemetery situation in Csn D-E in the and hem to cemeteries of different types has been following ways. discussed in connection with the Late Viking Pe- riod political geography of Gotland (Hyenstrand 1. Most parishes without any known pagan gra- 1989:63-64, Kyhlberg 1991:75). In fact, the only ves of Csn D are areas where the local com- area where the bo vs. hem dichotomy among the munities converted before any great number parish names coincides with the pagan/Christian of pagan Csn D graves had been produced. cemetery dichotomy is a few parishes from Levide Consequently, a larger fraction of the early to Grötlingbo in the south-western part of the 11th century Strelowian dates than of the late island. Elsewhere on Gotland, although the de- 11th century ones should pertain to parishes finite furnished churchyards are indeed strongly without any known pagan graves of Csn D. linked to the –hem parish names, there is no link This expectation is fulfilled at a low level between pagan cemeteries and –bo parish names. of statistical significance. Five out of twelve It should be noted that although both Kyhlberg (42%) dates AD 1032-1050 pertain to parishes (1991:75) and Liljeholm (1999:157) ascribe the with no known Csn D pagan graves. Nine out idea of this correlation to Anders Carlsson (1988: of 27 (33%) dates AD 1052-1096 pertain to 101), he does not actually mention it at the cited parishes with no known Csn D pagan graves, locus, nor anywhere else to my knowledge.] cf. table 4a. 2. Parishes with Strelowian dates in the 11th cen- tury and Csn D-E pagan graves should have a later median date than parishes with Strelowian

81 dates in the 11th century but no Csn D-E seem to have been the size of the Medieval pari- pagan graves, since in the first case conversion shes or smaller, hinting at aristocratic estates or clearly occurred well into or after Csn D. groups of farms with related owners. The distri- This expectation is fulfilled. The median bution of the two furnished cemetery types indi- date for the parishes with pagan cemeteries is cates a century of religious Balkanisation and an AD 1086, the median for those without is AD absence of centralised control. The following dis- 1055. cussion is based on the assumption that religious 3. Parishes with Csn D pagan cemeteries appa- faith and cult was not a private matter in 11th rently used until the end of the period or even century Gotland. Rather, I am convinced that past it (i.e. Fole, Grötlingbo and Hemse, cf. the owner of a farmstead spoke for his or her Barshalder 1 section 8.3.5), should have church people in the matter of conversion, and that these dates around AD 1100 or later. deliberations were more a matter of politics than This expectation is fulfilled. Fole AD 1096, of piety. Grötlingbo AD 1090, Hemse AD 1210. Two facts indicate that paganism lingered the longest in the southern part of Gotland, area 5 In conclusion, Strelow’s dates for the rural chur- (fig. 4:1). The distribution of rune stones (c. AD ches appear reliable seen as the latest possible 1050-1150) with crosses and with traditional hu- ones. His sources seem to have included Medieval man representations respectively is complemen- records of church consecrations during Episco- tary, with the first group found in the north and pal visitations, but these records clearly pertained the second one in the south (Hyenstrand 1989:92, to actual newly built churches or parts thereof, 99). Of the four silver hoards with Thor’s ham- mostly not to the original consecration of each mer pendants, all with tpq in the 11th century, church site. In some cases, Strelow’s sources pre- three are from the Southern Third of the island served the date of the first building at the site, in (Staecker 1999:242-244; 2000a:98, table VI). This others that of the second, and in some late cases distribution may, however, be influenced by the perhaps the date of re-consecration due to recon- fact that about half of all silver hoards with tpq struction or ritual pollution. 1075-1099 have been found in the Southern Third Note that, according to my interpretation, the (Östergren 1989:27, fig. 13 K). relationship between Strelowian dates and fur- The distribution of late pagan graves, on the nished Christian churchyards cannot be expec- other hand, cannot contribute to this question. ted to be very interesting (contra Thunmark- The fact that most known pagan graves of the Nylén 1991:181). Furnished graves in the church- period have been found at Barshalder and Hem- yards are not uncommonly early Christian gra- se Annexhemman in area 5 has more to do with ves for 11th century Gotland, they are only un- recent gravel extraction than with Viking Period commonly easy to identify and date thanks to confessional geography. After all, most Christi- their furnishings. Excavations at unfurnished an graves datable to the same period have also churchyards and radiocarbon dating of the earli- been found in area 5. est stratigraphic phase of burials there would The difference between southern and north- most likely in many cases give dates in the 11th ern Gotland in the Late Viking Period was thus century cal AD. not mainly one of paganism versus Christianity, nor of conservatism versus progressivism. The 4.2.6 Conversion-period society main differences lay in the geographical scale of The dichotomy between pagan and Christian confessional, and thus probably social, organisa- cemeteries indicates that the decision of conver- tion (viz. the homogeneity of areas 1-2 in fig. 4:1 sion to Christianity was made at many different and the heterogeneity of area 5); and in the level times during Csn D-E and on a local level of of conformity to Western Christian ritual rules. organisation. No blanket conversion decision The uniquely heterogeneous confessional map comparable to that of AD 1000 in Iceland (Huga- of 11th century Gotland is illuminated by Staec- son 1997:151ff) was accepted in any large part ker’s tables of coin-dated religious-symbol pen- of Gotland. Most of the territorial units involved dants in different areas (1999:235-243, tables 27-

82 32; 2000a:96-98, tables IV-VI). Denmark displays 09N)? Why were the flamboyant pagan reactio- a decisive shift from Thor’s hammers to crosses naries so few (see section 4.2.2)? In short, why at tpq AD 1018, central Sweden except Uppland were these pagans not burying their dead in an also a decisive shift in the interval tpq AD 997- unequivocally pagan style? 1044. Gotland, however, exhibits both symbols I believe that the answer to these questions between tpq AD 991 and tpq AD 1099. The ho- must be that there was no great tension between ards of Uppland and Gästrikland contain no Thor’s the two faiths on Gotland at the time (cf. Gräs- hammers, but there is a pagan strike-a-light pen- lund 2001:127-128). Indeed, with half of the pre- dant from a hoard dated at tpq AD 1017 (Zachris- parochial territories pagan and half of them son 1998 #50, p. 331) and cross-pendants from Christian, any tendencies to evangelisation by hoards dated at tpq AD 1079 and AD 1083 force on a higher organisational level would have (Zachrisson 1998 #36, p. 305; #61, p. 351). I led to large-scale armed conflict of which there believe that these differing patterns reflect the is no hint. This indicates an absence of centrali- ideology of the silver-hoarding social groups, in- sed power, or at least that any centralised power dicating final collective conversion decisions in had little interest in religion. This of course rules Denmark and mainland Sweden, and local religi- out the kingship institution of the time. The re- ous autonomy throughout the 11th century on ligious tolerance displayed by the Christians also Gotland. It should, however, be pointed out that rules out any formally established presence of the number of hoards from Gotland is much the Western Church. As has often been pointed greater than that from the other areas, which out, it is hardly a coincidence that in the 1070s means that our chances of identifying a period Adam Bremensis made no mention of Gotland with mixed religious symbols is commensurately in his history of the see of Hamburg-Bremen. greater there. The religious and organisational situation on Got- As bulwarks of pagan propaganda in an era land was probably not a topic of polite discour- of encroaching Christianity, the final phase pa- se in Adam’s circles. gan cemeteries of Gotland are surprisingly soft- Although the relationship between the two spoken and unobtrusive. Why were the overtly faiths seems to have been peaceful, I do not be- pagan features of the burial rite confined to a lieve that they existed on entirely equal terms. separate part of the burial trench away from the The island’s most powerful groups seem mainly body? Where is Thor’s hammer? Why did mortu- to have been based in the early Christianised nor- ary ritual emphasise axes and vessels, an ambigu- thern part (Thunmark-Nylén 1984). The Late Vi- ous set of attributes that would at least from the king Period Christians were advertising their faith mid-12th century onward signify St. Olav (Hal- rather ostentatiously with churches, rune stones lencreutz 1981:90-91)? What happened to the and cross-pendants; whereas, judging from the heavily armed horseman featured in burials up Barshalder burial ritual, the pagans were margi- to the 9th century? Why was the burial dress of nalising theirs and keeping it a private matter. Ex- these pagans identical to that of the Christians cepting cemeteries and perhaps the silver hoards, in the churchyards? Where are the sacrificed sla- there are no contemporary sources, historical or ves? Why are there so very few cremations? Why archaeological, that give any insight into pagan are coffins so common? Why is an appreciable cult in 11th century Gotland. Late Viking Period fraction of the graves orientated westward and paganism on Gotland shows the marks of a dy- so very few toward the pagan north? Why was a ing faith, lingering discreetly as quaint provincial cross-pendant placed on the coffin of a grave customs until it was finally abandoned in the ear- containing an axe and four vessels (Bhr 1966: ly 12th century.

83 5. Conclusions and Summary

The studies in this book chronicle five centuries of This tallies well with the development of sett- change in mortuary symbolism on Gotland, with lement and agriculture on Gotland (Dan Carls- special reference to the cemetery of Barshalder in son 1979; cf. Barshalder 1 section 2.2.6). The most Grötlingbo and Fide parishes. Most of the work dramatic changes during the 1st millennium AD concerns the Late Iron Age, that is, the Migration, were a) the establishment of Stone Wall settle- Vendel and Viking Periods, c. AD 375-1100. I have ment at the beginning of the Late Roman Iron not treated the Early and Middle phases (c. AD Age in the mid-2nd century, and b) the aban- 790-1000) of the Viking Period. This is because the donment of the selfsame settlement system four graves of this period at Barshalder have not yet centuries later at the beginning of the Vendel been excavated to any great extent. Period. The settlements and cemeteries of the Late Roman Iron Age and Migration Period thus 5.1 Migration Period give an impression of societal stability, while a typochronology (Ch. 2) number of wealthy male graves from c. AD 500 may be seen as stress symptoms heralding the Chapter 2 establishes fine chronological phasing imminent change. On a larger political scale, the for the previously neglected Migration Period and shift from the Migration Period to the Vendel the final phase of the Late Roman Iron Age (Egg- Period in Scandinavia appears to have entailed a ers phase C3). A comprehensive sample of sour- re-orientation among the elite, from south-eas- ce-critically sound grave finds from Gotland is terly contacts with the Germanic speakers of the classified with experimentally developed, rigorous Pontic area (Fabech 1991; Germanen, Hunnen und type definitions, and treated with computer-as- Awaren) to south-westerly contacts with Mero- sisted correspondence analysis and seriation. The vingian Francia (Steuer 1987). separate male and female sequences are correla- ted using gender-neutral types and gender-trans- 5.2 Gender (Ch. 3) gressive furnishings, with supplementary looks at stratigraphy and topochronology (i.e. ”hori- Mortuary gender roles were largely the same du- zontal stratigraphy”). ring the entire time under study, with armed men The five phases for the female graves and three and bejewelled, textile-working, key-bearing phases for the male graves represent two parallel women. In Scandinavia similar roles can be fol- series of successive dress and jewellery fashions. lowed far back into prehistory, and forward to In the current state of chronological research, the present day. To determine more exactly the the female graves of the Late Iron Age can thus gender connotations – female, male or gender- be divided into eleven such phases of 40-100 years neutral – of an artefact category in graves of a cer- each. Regarding Vendel and Viking Period chro- tain period, refer to tables 3bcd (Migration Period), nology, see Barshalder 1 sections 7.3 & 8.3. There 3jkl (Vendel Period) and 3wxy (Late Viking Period). was constant change, but also deep constancy. The Chapter 3 presents and implements compu- greatest upheaval in the successive replacement of ter-assisted methodology to investigate and strin- artefact types in the graves marks the beginning of gently define such gender attributes without re- the Vendel Period in the second quarter of the 6th sorting to preconceived ideas. The particulars of century. The beginning of the Migration Period in this symbolic dichotomy were subject to constant the final quarter of the 4th century, on the other re-negotiation during the Migration and Vendel hand, was not a shift of any greater magnitude than Periods. C. 10% of the adequately furnished gra- the phase boundaries within the Late Roman Iron ves include gender-transgressive furnishings, that Age and Migration Period. is, a few attributes of one gender combined with

84 a full set of attributes of the other. The graves The relative status scores of artefact catego- of the Late Viking Period, on the other hand, ries present in both the Migration and Vendel include no cases of gender transgression. The Periods are compared in table 3t. There is a quite majority gender of each grave assemblage has, astonishing degree of continuity in the status where determinable, been found to correspond system, particularly regarding imports like glass to osteological sex with few exceptions. and bronze sheet vessels and bear skins. How- The dramatic shift from the Migration Peri- ever, there are some systematic differences. The- od to the Vendel Period entailed subtle changes re is a general decline in the status of weaponry in the mortuary gender symbolism. There is a as, with the Vendel Period, weapon sets become tendency among the female graves to adopt, as common and sometimes rather small. The for- gender-neutral, attributes that had been exclusi- merly prestigious knives become ubiquitous. vely male in the Migration Period. This change The general pattern to note regarding Late coincides with the appearance of women on pic- Viking Period status symbols in table 3z is the ture stones, a medium previously reserved for great dominance in quantitative status of female the depiction of male warriors. With the Vendel gender attributes over male ones. In the 11th Period, we find new symbolic openings in the century, female graves were simply much more dividing line of the gender dichotomy. Mainly, richly equipped than male ones. This may indica- women were moving into male territory. te that women had special rights of ownership to their jewellery, preventing its continued circu- 5.3 Social status (Ch. 3) lation after the owner’s death. Female graves were, on the other hand, generally less intricately built Social hierarchy has an even longer history (or, than male graves. rather, archaeology) in Scandinavia than the gender dichotomy. The Late Iron Age graves of 5.4 Human sacrifice and Gotland provide rich material for the student of inequality. Quantitative status score calculations slavery (Ch. 3) allow the ranking of individual graves, and, more In my opinion, the most eloquent testimony to importantly, of artefact categories. Such status social inequality in the archaeological record is scores are presented in tables 3fg (Migration the evidence of human sacrifice. Judging from Period), 3rs (Vendel Period) and 3z & aa (Late Scandinavian finds of this kind, a burial should Viking Period). display certain characteristics to be interpreted The ranking list for Migration Period artefact as a sacrificial victim. It should be found inside types supports the interpretation of two female or closely associated with another contemporary sub-genders, identified through correspondence burial; there should be evidence of trauma, muti- analysis in section 3.1.3, as a high-status and a lation and/or binding; and there should be a signi- status-neutral group respectively. Not only do ficant difference in wealth between the two bu- high status Migration Period graves contain a rials. In many cases, sacrificial victims can be ex- greater number of artefacts overall than others, pected to be entirely stripped of symbols of their they are also qualitatively characterised by a cer- social identity, like most bog bodies. It appears tain set of attributes. Caskets with handles, locks that unfurnished inhumation burials placed in fur- and keys, as well as fossils, were high status fema- nished cremation graves may especially indicate le attributes in this period. As for the male attri- human sacrifice. Throughout the studied period, butes, we find weaponry at the top of the status there are a number of graves from Barshalder hierarchy. Among the gender-neutral attributes, with bones that can be interpreted according to knives, gold objects and bronze sheet vessels take the abovementioned parameters as those of sac- the lead, while glass vessels are found surprising- rificial victims. Wear-induced skeletal pathologies ly far down the list. This result supports Näsman’s among these suspected victims also hint at slave (1984b:21-22) suggestion that glassware was not labour. confined to the upper-most social elite in the Mig- ration Period. Nor was it by this token in the Vendel Period. 85 5.5 Animal bones (Ch. 3) average number of animals in the male graves is twice as high as that in the female graves, regard- The bones from 17 Migration Period graves and less of status score. Also, lynx phalanges are 34 Vendel Period graves from Barshalder have strongly tied to female graves. undergone full osteological analysis. With few In the Late Viking Period graves, animal bo- exceptions, they all included animal bones. The nes have mainly been preserved along with oth- evaluation of the species determinations is comp- er foodstuffs in copper alloy vessels. It is hard to licated by the fact that many of the graves have say whether the burial food at Barshalder should proved to contain residual material from a Neo- be seen as a miniature sacrifice to the gods, as lithic substratum. symbolic provisions for the afterlife, or both. The Five animal groups occur repeatedly in the fish, fowl, eggs, hazel nuts and vegetables preser- Migration Period graves: ovicaprid (sheep and/ ved at Barshalder do, however, appear to be ra- or goat, only goat positively identified), bear, ther far from the steaming meat cauldrons of horse, seal (indeterminate species) and dog. The the sacrifices described in the written sources. seal bones appear to be Neolithic in date. In the Vendel Period graves, both the number and di- 5.6 Religious identity in the versity of the animals are higher. To the animal 11th century (Ch. 4) groups of the Migration Period graves, the Ven- del Period adds the lynx. Both the lynx and the Conversion to Christianity took a century (c. bear are represented only by phalanges and have AD 1030-1125) on Gotland, from the first church never been part of the fauna of Gotland. The to the last pagan burial (cf. Barshalder 1 section phalanges of these species should thus represent 8.3.2). It seems to have happened peacefully and imported skins. gradually. The decision of conversion to Christi- It appears that the number and perceived va- anity was apparently made at many different ti- lue of the animals placed in graves should dis- mes and on a local level of organisation. No blan- play the same dynamics as the number and per- ket conversion decision comparable to that of ceived value of the artefacts. We may test this AD 1000 in Iceland was accepted in any large argument by examining the correlation between part of Gotland. Most of the territorial units a grave’s status score and the number of animals involved seem to have been the size of the Medi- identified in it. Regarding the Migration Period eval parishes or smaller, hinting at aristocratic graves, the hypothesis holds true for the lower estates or groups of farms with related owners. and middle reaches of the status continuum (cf. The distribution of the two furnished cemetery table 3i). The graves with the very highest status types indicates a century of religious Balkanisa- scores, however, break the pattern. They contai- tion and an absence of centralised control. ned no animal bones at all beyond the phalanges Gotland displays a uniquely clear spatial and of bear skins, suggesting that their wealthy arte- symbolic distinction between pagan and Christi- fact furnishings belonged to quite another level an cemeteries through the conversion period, of status or realm of significance than the ani- with few indications of cultic syncretism. In most mals. One might even speculate that the absence cases, but not in all, furnished burial ceased with of animal bones in the wealthiest graves indicate conversion. The cemeteries of 11th century rules of ritual purity among the social elite. A Gotland form three clearly demarcated types: recent interpretation (Räf 2001; Jennbert 2002) of animal bones in Late Iron Age burials sug- 1. Furnished mixed-gender inhumation cemete- gests that the animals were intended as soul gui- ries with a few cremation graves, located away des, psychopomps, for the deceased on their way from any known church site. Many burial tren- to the other world. ches are over-long and walled with stone. Fe- The Vendel Period graves display no correla- male graves contain food vessels, riveted boxes, tion whatsoever between artefactual and animal amber amulets and spindle whorls at the foot investment. The Vendel Period animal counts do, end of the trench. These cemeteries were, in however, correlate with the graves’ gender. The my opinion, consciously and overtly pagan.

86 Barshalder, Hemse Annexhemman and Stora In the map fig. 4:1, Hallvards in Silte parish are prime examples. Area 1 has only pagan furnished cemeteries and 2. Furnished gender-segregated inhumation ceme- was thus probably Christianised in the Wes- teries at churches. Female graves contain only tern mode late in the 11th century. dress accessories. These cemeteries were in my Area 2 has no furnished cemeteries at all except opinion Christian in a ritually tolerant Eastern for the central pagan ones in Stenkyrka pa- mode. These are the so-called ”churchyard rish: if my interpretation is correct, then this finds”. was the main foothold on Gotland of Western 3. Unfurnished inhumation cemeteries at chur- Christianity from the early 11th century onward. ches. These cemeteries were in my opinion Area 3 has both pagan and Christian furnished Christian in a ritually strict Western mode. As cemeteries, one churchyard-only parish, two unfurnished graves are difficult to date, the certain parishes with both cemetery types and only positively identified member of this type two debatable ones, indicating a non-Western so far is Silte churchyard, with a coin-dated level of ritual tolerance among the Christians but otherwise unfurnished grave. throughout the 11th century. Area 4 is comparable to areas 1-2 in having only Furnished 11th century cemeteries (pagan and/ pagan furnished cemeteries: its coastal parts were or Christian) are not evenly distributed across probably early Western Christian areas and most Gotland. Instead, they form three clusters separa- of its interior thinly populated and poor. ted by cemetery-less areas, dividing the island into Area 5 is a mix of all conceivable combinations six parts. I would suggest that the cemetery-less among the cemeteries and was thus probably areas include such that were Christianised very the centre both of lingering paganism and of early and were mainly influenced by the Western ritually tolerant Eastern Christianity through Church with its strong views on proper burial the 11th century. rites. In such areas we may presume that churches Area 6, finally, is devoid of furnished cemeteries were built early in the 11th century and that burial and should thus be seen as another early 11th at the churchyards was unfurnished already from century Western Christian area. the start. However, the cemetery-less areas should also include ones that were thinly populated at A study of pagan mortuary symbolism at Barshal- the time due to poor soils or the higher shore der indicates that most pagan families kept a low line. These may be identified from the distribution symbolic profile through the conversion period. of Viking Period hoards and the Medieval Epis- Pagan symbols were kept physically apart from copal tax rates for each parish. Finally, solitary the body of the deceased at least in the female lacunae may be expected due to varying excava- graves, and I believe that this reflects the way in tion and collection histories. The boundaries in which the pagan identity was managed in social the map fig. 4:1 were drawn with these conside- life. Excepting cemeteries and perhaps the silver rations in mind, underlining the distinction be- hoards, there are no contemporary sources, histo- tween parishes with furnished 11th century ce- rical or archaeological, that give any insight into meteries of either type and parishes without any pagan cult in 11th century Gotland. Late Viking known cemeteries at all. These boundaries do not Period paganism on Gotland shows the marks coincide with those of the thing/setting/treding of a dying faith, lingering discreetly as quaint pro- territorial division known from historic times. vincial customs until it was finally abandoned in the early 12th century.

87 6. Slutsatser och sammanfattning på svenska

Studierna i denna bok följer fem hundra år av Detta stämmer väl överens med utvecklingen förändring i gravsymboliken på Gotland, med inom bosättning och jordbruk på Gotland (Dan särskilt avseende på gravfältet på Barshalder i Carlsson 1979; jfr. Barshalder 1 avsnitt 2.2.6). De Grötlingbo och Fide socknar. Arbetet berör främst mest dramatiska förändringarna under första år- yngre järnåldern, d.v.s. folkvandringstiden, vendel- tusendet e.Kr. var a) stengrundsbygdens etable- tiden och vikingatiden, ca 375-1100 e.Kr. Jag har ring vid den yngre romartidens inträde i mitten inte behandlat vikingatidens äldre och mellersta av andra århundradet, och b) samma bebyggelse- fas (ca 790-1000 e.Kr.). Barshalder-gravfältets systems övergivande fyra hundra år senare vid gravar från denna tid har nämligen ännu inte vendeltidens inträde. Yngre romartidens och folk- grävts ut i någon större omfattning. vandringstidens boplatser och gravfält ger där- med ett intryck av samhällelig stabilitet, medan 6.1 Folkvandringstidens ett antal rika mansgravar från omkring år 500 kan typokronologi (kap. 2) ses som stressymptom förebådande den kom- mande omvälvningen. I ett större politiskt per- Kapitel 2 etablerar en finkronologisk fasindelning spektiv verkar övergången från folkvandringsti- för den tidigare eftersatta folkvandringstiden och den till vendeltiden i Skandinavien ha inneburit den romerska järnålderns sista fas (Eggers C3). Ett en omorientering hos eliten, från sydöstliga kon- uttömmande urval av källkritiskt hållbara gravfynd takter med germanskspråkiga grupper vid Svarta från Gotland har klassificerats med experimentellt Havet (Fabech 1991; Germanen, Hunnen und Awa- framtagna, stringenta typdefinitioner, samt behand- ren) till sydvästliga kontakter med det merovingi- lats med datorstödd korrespondensanalys och seri- ska frankerriket (Steuer 1987). ation. De skilda sekvenserna för mans- och kvin- nogravarna korreleras med hjälp av genusneutrala 6.2 Genus (kap. 3) typer och genusöverskridande gravgåvor, plus kom- pletterande studier av stratigrafi och topokronologi Könsrollerna i gravarna var i stort sett desamma (d.v.s. ”horisontell stratigrafi”). under hela den studerade tiden, med beväpnade Kvinnogravarnas fem faser och mansgravar- män och smyckade, handarbetande, nyckelbäran- nas tre representerar två parallella serier av suc- de kvinnor. Liknande roller kan i Skandinavien cessiva moden inom dräkt och smycken. I da- följas långt bakåt i förhistorien och fram till nuti- gens kronologiska forskningsläge kan yngre järn- den. För att mera exakt ta reda på genuskonnota- ålderns kvinnogravar därmed delas in i elva såda- tionerna – kvinnligt, manligt eller genusneutralt na faser om 40-100 år vardera. Rörande vendel- – hos en artefaktkategori i gravar från en viss tidens och vikingatidens kronologi, se Barshalder period, se tabellerna 3bcd (folkvandringstiden), 1 avsnitt 7.3 & 8.3. Ständig förändring ägde rum, 3jkl (vendeltiden) och 3wxy (sena vikingatiden). men det fanns också djupt beständiga drag. Den Kapitel 3 presenterar och begagnar datorstöd- största omvälvningen i det gradvisa utbytet av da metoder för att undersöka och stringent defi- föremålstyper i gravarna markerar vendeltidens niera sådana genusattribut utan att grunda sig på början under 500-talets andra fjärdedel. Folkvand- förutfattade meningar. Finesserna i denna sym- ringstidens början under 300-talets sista fjärde- boliska dikotomi var föremål för ständig omför- del var, å andra sidan, inte en mera markant över- handling under folkvandringstiden och vendelti- gång än någon av fasgränserna inom yngre ro- den. Omkring 10% av de någorlunda välutrusta- martiden eller folkvandringstiden. de gravarna innehåller genusöverskridande grav-

88 gåvor, d.v.s. enstaka attribut för det ena genuset De relativa statuspoängen hos föremålskate- kombinerade med en full uppsättning attribut för gorier som återfinns både i folkvandringstida och det andra. De senvikingatida gravarna, å andra si- vendeltida gravar jämförs i tabell 3t. Statussyste- dan, uppvisar inga fall av genusöverskridande. Ma- met uppvisar en ganska förbluffande kontinui- joritetsgenuset för varje gravfynd har, där det kan tet, särskilt vad gäller importvaror som glas, bedömas, med få undantag visat sig överensstäm- bronsplåtkärl och björnfällar. Det finns dock ma med den osteologiska könsbedömningen. några systematiska skillnader. Vapnen tappar sta- Det dramatiska skiftet från folkvandringstiden tus vid periodskiftet i och med att vapenuppsätt- till vendeltiden innebar subtila förändringar i gra- ningarna blir vanliga och ibland ganska små i ven- varnas genussymbolik. Det finns en tendens hos deltidens gravar. De tidigare så prestigeladdade kvinnogravarna att anamma, som genusneutrala knivarna blir alldagliga gravgåvor. attribut, sådana som varit uteslutande manliga Det allmänna mönstret att notera angående under folkvandringstiden. Denna förändring sam- den sena vikingatidens statussymboler i tabell 3z manfaller i tid med uppdykandet av kvinnofigu- är de kvinnliga genusattributens (mestadels smyc- rer på bildstenarna, ett medium som tidigare va- ken, nycklar och textilredskap) stora kvantitativa rit reserverat för avbildningen av manliga kriga- statusdominans över mansattributen (huvudsak- re. Med vendeltidens inträde finner vi nya sym- ligen bältebeslag, ringspännen och yxor). 1000- boliska öppningar i genusskillnadens gränslinje. talets kvinnogravar är helt enkelt mycket mera Huvudsakligen rörde sig kvinnor in på manligt välutrustade än tidens mansgravar. Detta kan tyda symbolterritorium. på att kvinnor hade särskild äganderätt till sina smycken, vilket förhindrade att de lämnades i arv 6.3 Social status (kap. 3) till de efterkommande och smältes ner när de blivit omoderna. Å andra sidan är kvinnogravar- Den sociala hierarkin har en ännu längre historia na i gemen långt mindre påkostade till sin kon- (eller snarare arkeologi) i Skandinavien än genus- struktion än mansgravarna. dikotomin. Yngre järnålderns gravar på Gotland erbjuder ett rikt material för den som vill studera 6.4 Människooffer och ojämlikhet. Kvantitativa beräkningar av statuspo- träldom (kap. 3) äng gör det möjligt att rangordna gravar, och, viktigare, föremålskategorier. Sådana statuspoäng Enligt min mening är spåren av människooffer presenteras i tabellerna 3fg (folkvandringstiden), de mest vältaliga vittnesbörden om social ojäm- 3rs (vendeltiden) och 3z & aa (sena vikingatiden). likhet i det arkeologiska källmaterialet. Att döma Rangordningen för folkvandringstidens före- av skandinaviska fynd av detta slag bör en gravlagd målskategorier stödjer tolkningen av två kvinnli- individ uppvisa särskilda kännetecken för att ga subgenus, identifierade med korrespondens- tolkas som ett människooffer. Benen påträffas i analys i avsnitt 3.1.3, som en högstatusgrupp res- eller strax intill en annan samtida grav; de uppvisar pektive en statusneutral grupp. Folkvandringsti- spår av våld, stympning och / eller bindning; och dens högstatusgravar innehåller inte bara ett stör- det är en markant skillnad i hur rikt utrustade de re antal föremål än andra gravar, de utmärker sig två gravsättningarna är. I många fall är den offrade dessutom kvalitativt genom särskilda attribut. individen helt utan symboler för sin sociala iden- Skrin med handtag, lås och nycklar, liksom fossi- titet, i likhet med de flesta mosslik. Det verkar ler, var kvinnliga högstatusattribut under denna som om obrända lik utan gravgåvor som placerats tid. Bland mansattributen finner vi vapen högst i brandgravar med gravgåvor särskilt ofta kan tol- upp i rangordningen. Genusneutrala högstatus- kas som människooffer. Genom hela den stude- attribut är knivar, guldföremål och bronsplåtkärl, rade tiden finns det ett antal gravar från Bars- medan glaskärl påträffas förvånansvärt långt ner halder med ben som kan tolkas utifrån det ovan på listan. Detta stödjer Näsmans (1984b:21-22) sagda som rester av människooffer. Förslitnings- åsikt att glas inte var förbehållet eliten under folk- skador på benen antyder också att dessa miss- vandringstiden. På samma grund kan man kon- tänkta offer varit trälar. statera att det var likadant under vendeltiden.

89 6.5 Djurben (kap. 3) I de senvikingatida gravarna har djurben främst bevarats ihop med andra matvaror i kärl av kop- Benen ur 17 folkvandringstida och 34 vendeltida parlegeringar. Det är svårt att säga om gravma- gravar från Barshalder har genomgått heltäckande ten från Barshalder skall ses som gudablot i mi- osteologisk analys. Med få undantag innehöll de niatyr, som symbolisk färdkost åt den döde, eller alla djurben. Bedömningen av artbestämningarna både och. Fisken, fåglarna, äggen, hasselnötter- kompliceras av att många av gravarna har visat na och bladgrönsakerna som bevarats på Bars- sig innehålla omdeponerat material från ett un- halder verkar dock vara ganska långt från de skrift- derliggande stenålderslager. liga källornas skildringar av blotens ångande kött- Fem djurgrupper uppträder i mer än en folk- grytor. vandringstida grav: får/get, björn, häst, säl (oviss art) och hund. Sälbenen förefaller vara av neoli- 6.6 Religiös identitet under tiskt datum. I de vendeltida gravarna är djuren mera talrika både vad gäller individer och arter. 1000-talet (kap. 4) Till de från folkvandringstiden kända djurgrup- Övergången till kristendomen tog ett århundrade perna lägger vendeltiden lodjuret. Både lodjuret (ca 1030-1125 e.Kr.) på Gotland, från den första och björnen är representerade blott av tåben och kyrkan till den sista hednabegravningen (jfr. Bars- har aldrig ingått i den gotländska faunan. Benen halder 1 avsnitt 8.3.2). Den verkar ha skett fredligt av dessa två arter representerar alltså förmodli- och gradvis. Beslutet om trosskifte fattades av gen importerade hudar. allt att döma många gånger och på en lokal or- Man kan vänta sig att antalet och det upplev- ganisationsnivå. Inget övergripande beslut om da värdet hos djuren som lades i gravar skall upp- trosskifte i stil med det på Island år 1000 antogs visa samma dynamik som antalet och det upplev- i någon större del av Gotland. De flesta av de da värdet hos artefakterna. Detta kan undersö- inblandade territoriella enheterna verkar ha varit kas genom att man studerar korrelationen mel- av en medeltida sockens storlek eller mindre, lan en gravs statuspoäng och antalet djur som vilket antyder att det rörde sig om lantgods eller identifierats bland dess ben. Beträffande folk- grupper av gårdar med besläktade innehavare. vandringstiden stämmer hypotesen för den ned- Fördelningen över ön av de två typerna av begrav- re och mittersta delen av rangordningen (jfr. tab. ningsplatser med gravgåvor tyder på ett år- 3i). Gravarna med allra flest statuspoäng bryter hundrade av religiös balkanisering och en frånvaro däremot mönstret. De innehöll inga djurben alls av central kontroll. utöver tåben från björnskinn, vilket antyder att Gotland uppvisar en unikt klar rumslig och deras rika artefaktinnehåll hörde till en helt an- symbolisk uppdelning mellan hedniska och krist- nan statusnivå eller symbolrepertoar än djuren. na begravningsplatser under tiden för religions- Man kan till och med spekulera i om frånvaron skiftet, med få tecken på kultisk synkretism. I de av djurben i de rikaste gravarna kan ha något att flesta fall, men inte i alla, upphörde man med göra med regler för rituell renhet hos eliten. Ny- gravgåvor i samband med trosskiftet. 1000-talets ligen har det annars föreslagits (Räf 2001; Jenn- begravningsplatser fördelar sig på tre klart avgrän- bert 2002) att djur i yngre järnålderns gravar var sade typer: avsedda som beledsagare och vägvisare, psyko- pomper, för de dödas själar på deras väg till döds- 1. Begravningsplatser med gravgåvor, gravar av riket. båda genus blandade, mest skelettgravar men De vendeltida gravarna uppvisar ingen korre- även en och annan brandgrav, belägna långt lation alls mellan investeringarna i artefakter res- från någon känd kyrka. Många gravschakt är pektive djur. Däremot korrelerar djurantalet med längre än nödvändigt och klädda med sten. gravarnas genus. Det genomsnittliga antalet djur Kvinnogravarna innehåller matkärl, nitar från i vendeltidens mansgravar är dubbelt så stort som små askar, bärnstensamuletter och sländtrissor i kvinnogravarna, oavsett deras statuspoäng. Dess- i fotänden. Dessa begravningsplatser var, enligt utom är tåben av lodjur starkt knutna till kvinno- min mening, medvetet och öppet hedniska. gravar.

90 Barshalder, Hemse Annexhemman och Stora På kartan i fig. 4:1 har Hallvards i Silte är goda exempel. Område 1 bara hednagravfält och kristnades där- 2. Begravningsplatser med gravgåvor, genus-seg- med troligen enligt västlig modell under det regerade, idel skelettgravar, belägna vid kyrkor. sena 1000-talet. Kvinnogravarna innehåller bara dräktdetaljer. Område 2 har inga kända begravningsplatser alls Dessa begravningsplatser var, enligt min men- utöver de centralt belägna hednagravfälten i ing, kristna efter en rituellt tolerant östlig mo- Stenkyrka socken: om min tolkning stämmer dell. Denna grupp är de så kallade kyrkogårds- var detta den västliga kristendomens främsta fynden. brofäste på Gotland från början av 1000-talet 3. Begravningsplatser utan gravgåvor belägna vid och framåt. kyrkor. Dessa begravningsplatser var, enligt Område 3 har både hednagravfält och kyrkogård- min mening, kristna efter en rituellt strikt väst- ar, en socken med endast kyrkogård, två säkra lig modell. Då artefaktlösa gravar är svåra att socknar med båda typerna av begravningsplat- datera har bara en medlem av denna grupp ser och två oklara fall, vilket tillsammans tyder ännu kunnat konstateras, nämligen kyrkogård- på en icke-västlig grad av rituell tolerans bland en i Silte, med en myntdaterad men annars de kristna genom hela 1000-talet. artefaktlös grav. Område 4 är jämförbart med område 1-2 då det bara har hednagravfält: dess kustområden blev 1000-talets begravningsplatser med gravgåvor förmodligen tidigt västkristna medan dess (hedniska och / eller kristna) är inte jämnt fördela- inland till större delen var glest befolkad och de över ön. I stället bildar de tre klungor skilda åt fattig. av tomma områden som delar in ön i sex delar. Område 5 blandar alla tänkbara kombinationer Jag vill föreslå att de tomma områdena bl.a. är av de olika typerna av begravningsplatser och sådana som kristnades tidigt och främst stod var därmed troligen centrum både för kvar- under påverkan av den västliga kyrkan med dess levande hedendom och för en rituellt tolerant bestämda idéer om gravskicket. I sådana områden östlig kristendom under hela 1000-talet. kan man anta att kyrkor byggdes tidigt under Område 6, slutligen, saknar kända begravnings- 1000-talet och att redan de första gravarna på platser bör därför ses som ännu ett tidigt väst- kyrkogårdarna var artefaktlösa. De tomma områ- kristet område. dena bör dock även omfatta sådana som var glest befolkade under denna tid på grund av magra En studie av det hedniska gravskicket på Bars- jordar eller den högre strandlinjen. Dessa kan halder tyder på att de flesta hedniska familjer höll identifieras med hjälp av de vikingatida skatt- en låg symbolisk profil under trosskiftestiden. De fyndens spridningsbild och den medeltida bis- hedniska symbolerna hölls fysiskt skilda från den kopsskatten för varje socken. Slutligen kan man avlidnas kropp åtminstone i kvinnogravarna, och vänta sig enstaka lakuner till följd av olika för- jag tror att detta speglar det sätt på vilket man hållanden rörande utgrävningar och insamling av hanterade sin hedniska identitet i livet. Bortsett fornsaker. Gränslinjerna på kartan i fig. 4:1 är från gravfälten och kanske skattfynden finns det dragna med dessa överväganden i åtanke och inga samtida källor, historiska eller arkeologiska, understryker åtskillnaden mellan å ena sidan sock- som sprider det minsta ljus över den hedniska nar med begravningsplatser av ettdera slaget med kulten på 1000-talets Gotland. Den senvikingatida gravgåvor från 1000-talet, å andra sidan socknar hedendomen på Gotland uppvisar särdragen hos utan några kända begravningsplatser alls från en döende tro – den levde diskret kvar som ett denna tid. Gränslinjerna sammanfaller inte med system av pittoreskt lantliga sedvänjor tills den den från senare tider kända tings-, settings- och slutligen övergavs i början av 1100-talet. tredingsindelningen.

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97 dish Archaeology 1. Swedish Archaeological So- tallgegenstände aus dem IV. bis IX. Jahrhundert, nebst ciety. Stockholm. [6 pp] einer Studie über irische Ornamentik. Neue Auflage. Price, Neil. 2002. The Viking way. Religion and war Stockholm. [388 pp] in late . Aun 31. Department Sandstedt, Fred. 1992. ”Hafdi kylfu stóra i hendi”. of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala Ett bidrag till kunskapen om den tidigmedel- University. tida stridsklubban. Meddelanden från Armémuse- Räf, Erika. 2001. Vad spelar djuren för roll? Om djur um 52. Föreningen Armémusei vänner. Stock- i öländska gravar från äldre järnålder. Report series holm. [31 pp] 80. Department of Archaeology, University of Schülke, Almut. 1999. On Christianization and Lund. grave finds. European Journal of Archaeology 2:1, Ravn, Mads. 1999. Theoretical and methodologi- April 1999. London. [30 pp] cal approaches to Migration Period burials. Sigvallius, Berit. 1988. Ledbesvär, tandvärk och Rundkvist, Martin (ed.). Grave matters. Eight stu- parasiter. Populär Arkeologi 1988:2. Lärbro. dies of First Millennium AD burials in Crimea, Silvén, Ulla. 1956. En gotländsk vapengrav med England and southern Scandinavia. BAR Inter- charonsmynt? Gotländskt Arkiv 28. Föreningen national Series 781. Oxford. Gotlands Fornvänner. Visby. Reichstein, Joachim. 1975. Die kreuzförmige fibel. Solli, Brit. 1999. Odinn – the queer? On ergi and Zur Chronologie der späten römischen Kaiserzeit und shamanism in Norse mythology. Gustafsson, der Völkerwanderungszeit in Skandinavien, auf dem Anders & Karlsson, Håkan (eds.). Glyfer och Kontinent und in England. Offa-Bücher 34. Neu- arkeologiska rum – en vänbok till Jarl Nordbladh. münster. GOTARC serie A, vol. 3. Department of Ar- Roslund, Mats. 2001. Gäster i huset. Kulturell över- chaeology, University of Gothenburg. föring mellan slaver och skandinaver 900 till 1300. Staecker, Jörn. 1997a. Gotlands kyrkogårdar. Ge- Skrifter utgivna av Vetenskapssocieteten i nus, mission och social hierarki. Kirkearkæo- Lund 92. Lund. [496 pp] logi i Norden 6 – Skåne, Sverige 1996. Hikuin Rundkvist, Martin. 2001. Late Viking Period pag- 24. Højbjerg. [24 pp] an burial in Gotland: the symbolic code. Ghe- Staecker, Jörn. 1997b. Searching for the unknown. orghiu, Dragos (ed.). Material, virtual and tem- Gotland’s churchyards from a gender and mis- poral compositions. On the relationship between objects. sionary perspective. Lund Archaeological Review BAR International Series 953. Oxford. [6 pp] 1996. [24 pp. Largely identical to Staecker Rundkvist, Martin. 2003. Barshalder 1. A cemetery in 1997a] Grötlingbo and Fide parishes, Gotland, Sweden, c. AD Staecker, Jörn. 1998. Die Christianisierung des west- 1-1100. Excavations and finds 1826-1971. Stock- lichen Ostseeraumes. Blomkvist, Nils (ed.). holm Archaeological Reports 40. Department Culture clash or compromise? The europeanisation of of Archaeology, University of Stockholm. the Baltic Sea area 1100-1400 AD. Papers of the Rundkvist, Martin. In press. Changing gender XIth Visby Symposium held at Gotland Centre symbolism in aristocratic burial at the Migra- for Baltic Studies, Gotland University College, tion-Vendel Period interface in Gotland, Swe- Visby, October 4th-9th, 1996. Acta Visbyensia den. Nilsson, Liv & Vander Linden, Marc 11. Visby-symposiet för historiska vetenskaper (eds.). Dealing with death. BAR International Se- 1996. Gotland Centre for Baltic Studies, Gotland ries. Oxford. University College. Visby. [31 pp] Rundkvist, Martin; Lindqvist, Christian & Thors- Staecker, Jörn. 1999. Rex regum et dominus domino- berg, Karl. In press. Barshalder 3. Rojrhage in rum. Die wikingerzeitlichen Kreuz- und Kruzifix- Grötlingbo. A multi-component Neolithic shore site anhänger als Ausdruck der Mission in Altdänemark on Gotland. und Schweden. Lund Studies in Medieval Ar- Rundqvist Nilsson, Elisabet. 1990. Vikingatida got- chaeology 23. Stockholm. [621 pp] ländska dräktnålar. BA thesis. Department of Staecker, Jörn. 2000a. Thor’s hammer – symbol Archaeology, University of Uppsala. of Christianization and political delusion. Lund Salin, Bernhard. 1935. Die altgermanische Thieror- Archaeological Review 1999. Department of Ar- namentik. Typologische Studie über germanische Me- chaeology, University of Lund. [16 pp]

98 Staecker, Jörn. 2000b. Die normierte Bestattung. Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla. English trans- Gotlands Kirchfriedhöfe im Spiegel mittel- lation: Hollander, Lee M. 1964. Austin. alterlicher Normen und Gesetze. Ruhe, Doris Sviskonkvist, Sigismund. 1924. Plommon och & Spiess, Karl-Heinz (eds.). Prozesse der Norm- shamanism i det forntida Knäred. En experi- bildung und Normveränderung im mittelalterlichen mentell studie. Orgiastiska Förbundets Årsskrift Europa. Mittelalterzentrum Greifswald. Stutt- 4, 1922. Uppsala. gart. [41 pp. Largely identical to Staecker Swanström, Lennart. 1993. Bildstenar berättar - en 1997a] tolkning av symbolerna på de gotländska bildstenarna Staecker, Jörn. 2001. In atrio ecclesiae. Die Be- från folkvandringstid. Seminar paper. Stockholm stattungssitte der dörflichen und städtischen University, Department of Archaeology. Friedhöfe im Norden. Muntis, Auns (ed.). Lü- Thunmark, Lena. 1979. Burget på Burge. Falck, beck style? Novgorod style? Baltic rim central places Waldemar (ed.). Arkeologi på Gotland. Gotlan- as arenas for cultural encounters and urbanisation dica 14. Kulturnämnden i Gotlands kommun. 1100-1400 AD. Transactions of the central level Visby. symposium of the Culture Clash or Compromise Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1980. Om de gotländska (CCC) project held in Talsi September 18-21 1998. kyrkornas ålder. Gotländskt Arkiv 52. Förenin- CCC Papers 5. Gotland University College, gen Gotlands Fornvänner. Visby. Centre for Baltic Studies, Visby. Riga. Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1983. Vikingatida dos- Stenberger, Mårten. 1936. Ett par gravfynd från spännen. Teknisk stratigrafi och verkstadsgruppering. Ihre i Hellvi. Gotländskt Arkiv 8. Föreningen Archaeological Studies 4. Department of Ar- Gotlands Fornvänner. Visby. chaeology, University of Uppsala. [152 pp] Stenberger, Mårten. 1947-1958. Die Schatzfunde Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1984. Socialgrupper i vi- Gotlands der Wikingerzeit. KVHAA. Stockholm. kingatiden. Gotländskt Arkiv 56. Föreningen Stenberger, Mårten. 1962. Das Gräberfeld bei Ih- Gotlands Fornvänner. Visby. re im Kirchspiel Hellvi auf Gotland. Der Wi- Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1986. Hedningar, kristna kingerzeitliche Abschnitt. Acta Archaeologica 32. och silverskatter. Gotländskt Arkiv 58. Fören- Copenhagen. ingen Gotlands Fornvänner. Visby. Stenberger, Mårten & Klindt-Jensen, Ole. 1955. Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1989. Samfund och tro Vallhagar. A Migration Period settlement on Gotland, på religionsskiftets Gotland. Andrén, Anders Sweden. Copenhagen. (ed.). Medeltidens Födelse. Lund. [20 pp] Steuer, Heiko. 1987. Helm und Ringschwert. Prunk- Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1991. Vikingatid eller bewaffnung und Rangabzeichen germanischer medeltid? Om datering av gotländska grav- Krieger. Eine Übersicht. Studien zur Sach- fynd. Tor 23, 1990-1991. Societas Archaeologi- senforschung 6. Hildesheim. [48 pp] ca Upsaliensis. Uppsala. [62 pp] Stjerna, Knut. 1912. Essays on questions connected Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1995a. Vendeltid eller with the old English poem of Beowulf. Viking Club vikingatid? Om datering av gotländska forn- Extra Series 3. Coventry. fynd kring år 800. Tor 27:2, 1995. Societas Ar- Stolt, Bengt. 2001. Grötlingbo kyrka, Grötlinge ting, chaeologica Upsaliensis. Gotland. Sveriges Kyrkor. KVHAA. Stockholm. Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1995b. Churchyard finds Straume, Eldrid. 1987. Gläser mit Facettenschliff aus from Gotland (11th-12th centuries). Jansson, skandinavischen Gräbern des 4. und 5. Jahrhunderts Ingmar (ed.). Archaeology east and west of the Bal- n. Chr. Instituttet for sammenlignende kultur- tic. Papers from the Second Estonian-Swedish Ar- forskning. Serie B, skrifter 73. Oslo University chaeological Symposium, Sigtuna, May 1991. Theses Press. [270 pp] and Papers in Archaeology, New Series 7. Strelow, Hans Nielssøn. 1633 / 1978. Cronica Gu- Department of Archaeology, University of thilandorum. Facsimile of the first edition pub- Stockholm. [32 pp] lished in Copenhagen. Visby. Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. 1995-. Die Wikingerzeit Ström, Folke. 1985. Nordisk hedendom. Tro och sed i Gotlands. KVHAA. Stockholm. förkristen tid. Third ed. Gothenburg. [271 pp] Tillväxten 1927. Statens Historiska Museum och Kungliga Myntkabinettet. Samlingarnas tillväxt

99 1927. Kungliga Vitterhets, Historie och Antikvitets- Valk, Heiki. 1998. About the transitional period akademiens Årsbok 1928. Stockholm. in the burial customs in the region of the Baltic Trotzig, Gustaf. 1967. En ovanlig vikingatida Sea. Blomkvist, Nils (ed.). Culture clash or com- brandgrav på Gotland. Fornvännen 1967:3. KV- promise? The europeanisation of the Baltic Sea area HAA. Stockholm. 1100-1400 AD. Papers of the XIth Visby Sym- Trotzig, Gustaf. 1969. Gegensätze zwischen Hei- posium held at Gotland Centre for Baltic Stu- dentum und Christentum im archäologischen dies, Gotland University College, Visby, Oc- Material des 11. Jahrhunderts auf Gotland. Ac- tober 4th-9th, 1996. Acta Visbyensia 11. Visby- ta Visbyensia III. Visby-symposiet för historiska symposiet för historiska vetenskaper 1996. vetenskaper 1967. Visby. [10 pp] Gotland Centre for Baltic Studies, Gotland Trotzig, Gustaf. 1972. En stavkyrka i Silte. Got- University College. Visby. [14 pp] ländskt Arkiv 44. Föreningen Gotlands Forn- Wagnkilde, Hanne. 1999. Slaviske træk i born- vänner. Visby. holmske grave fra tiden omkring kristendom- Trotzig, Gustaf. 1978. En gotländsk ”bronsklub- mens indførelse. En oversigt over gravpladser ba” i Västmanlands läns museum. Västmanlands og skattefund fra 1000-tallet på Bornholm. fornminnesförenings årsskrift LVI. Västerås. [8 pp] META, Medeltidsarkeologisk tidskrift 1999:2. Trotzig, Gustaf. 1981. Holzkirchen-Archäologie Medeltidsarkeologiska föreningen. Lund. [18 pp] auf Gotland und der Sonderfall von Silte. Ahr- Wagnkilde, Hanne. 2000. Gravudstyr og mønter ens, Claus (ed.). Frühe Holzkirchen im nördlichen fra 1000-tallets gravpladser på Bornholm. Hi- Europa – zur Ausstellung des Helms-Museums, kuin 27. Højbjerg. Hamburgisches Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Wagnkilde, Hanne & Pind, Torben. 1996. Tæt på vom 13. November 1981 bis 28. März 1982. Ver- 1000-tallets inbyggere i Aaker sogn. Gravplad- öffentlichungen des Helms-Museums 39. ser fra tidlig kristen tid ved Ndr. Grødbygård. Hamburg. [17 pp] Bornholmske samlinger III:10. Bornholms His- Trotzig, Gustaf. 1983. Den gamla och den nya toriske Samfund. Rønne. [20 pp] religionen. Jansson, Ingmar (ed.). Gutar och vik- Wase, Dick. 1995. De Strelowska kyrkoårtalen. ingar. Historia i fickformat. SHM. Stockholm. Fornvännen 1995:2. KVHAA. Stockholm. [11 Trotzig, Gustaf. 1985. An axe as sign of rank in a pp] Viking community. Backe, Margareta (ed.). In Wason, Paul. 1994. The archaeology of rank. New honorem Evert Baudou. Archaeology and Envir- Studies in Archaeology. Cambridge. [221 pp] onment 4. Department of Archaeology, Umeå Widerström, Per. 2001. Utgrävning i Bro kyrka. University. Gotländskt Arkiv 73. Föreningen Gotlands Trotzig, Gustav. 1991a. Craftsmanship and function. fornvänner. Visby. [3 pp] A study of metal vessels found in Viking Age tombs WinBASP 1994. Bonn Archaeological Statistics on the island of Gotland, Sweden. SHM Mono- Package, Windows version. graphs 1. Stockholm. http://www.uni-koeln.de/~al001/basp.html Trotzig, Gustaf. 1991b. Vikingatida gravkärl av kop- Zachrisson, Torun. 1998. Gård, gräns, gravfält. Sam- par och kopparlegeringar från Birka och Gotland. manhang kring ädelmetalldepåer och runstenar från Tillverkning, användning och sociala förutsättningar. vikingatid och tidig medeltid i Uppland och Gäst- Theses and Papers in Archaeology B:1. Ar- rikland. Stockholm studies in archaeology 15. chaeological Research Laboratory, University Department of Archaeology, University of of Stockholm. Stockholm.

100 8. Abbreviations

ÄEG Die Ältere Eisenzeit Gotlands (Alm- and Early Viking Period jewellery, gren & Nerman 1914-1923). cf. Barshalder 1 section 7.3. AF Antal Föremål. The number of ar- KVHAA Kungliga Vitterhets-, Historie- och tefacts in a grave. Antikvitetsakademin. The Royal AOT Antal Oldsags-Typer (Da.). The Academy of Letters, History and number of artefact types in a grave. Antiquities; Stockholm. ATA Antikvarisk-Topografiska Arkivet. Raä Riksantikvarieämbetet. The State Central archives of the Raä and Board of National Antiquities. SHM, Stockholm. SGW Die Schatzfunde Gotlands der Wiking- Bhr Barshalder. In excavated feature erzeit (Stenberger 1947-1958). numbers, this abbreviation is follo- SHM Statens Historiska Museum. The wed by the year of excavation, a Museum of National Antiquities, colon, and an individual number, Stockholm. usually the one given by the exca- Sw Swedish. vating archaeologist. See catalogue Tpq Terminus post quem, earliest pos- in Barshalder 1. sible date. CA Correspondence analysis. VWG Die Völkerwanderungszeit Gotlands Csn Carlsson’s (1983, 1988) typological (Nerman 1935). phases of Viking Period jewellery, VZG Die Vendelzeit Gotlands (Nerman cf. Barshalder 1 section 8.3.3. 1969-1975). Da Danish. W&G Waffen und Gräber (Nørgård Jørgen- EAA European Association of Archaeo- sen 1999). logists WG12 etc. Nørgård Jørgensen’s (1999) chro- GF Gotlands Fornsal. The County nological phases for the Vendel Pe- Museum of Gotland, Visby. riod male graves of Gotland, cf. GOKV1 etc. Høilund Nielsen’s (1999a, 1999b) Barshalder 1 section 7.3.10. chronological phases for the Ven- WKG Die Wikingerzeit Gotlands (Thun- del Period female graves of Got- mark-Nylén 1995-). land, cf. Barshalder 1 section 7.3.9. # Number. KHN Høilund Nielsen’s (1987, 1991, 1999a, 1999b) typology for Vendel Period

101