Bones of the Earth: Imitation as Meaning in Viking Age Burial Ritual

Tore Artelius,Mats Lindqvist

doi:10.37718/csa.2005.02

Abstract

From excavation results of a pre-Roman Iron Age and Viking Age burialgroundin Västergötland, an example is presented ofhow religious meaning became projected into Viking Age burial ritual through imitation of an already then ancient custom. The burial-ground was abandoned for a period of at least 600 hundred years in between the two periods. In the Pre-Roman Iron Age and Viking Age graves the custom of depositing flakes of firecracked natural stone was documented. From a Viking Age perspective the tradition was imitated and derived from the urnfield burial-grounds ofther late pre-Roman Iron Age. The authors link the Viking Age ritual behaviour to the sagas, where stones are presented as symbolical representations of the human body and as cosmological parts of the skeleton that kept the earth together. In the interpretation it is argued that the very concrete use of older graves was essential in the Viking Age burial custom. In this specific example, the deposition of stones in the Viking Age ritual context is interpreted as a projection and representation of the past and the bodies of the dead.

Highlights

Scandinavian Viking Age religion and cult is generally regarded as most functional and very concrete in its religious symbolism and expressions of meaning (Ström 1967; Clunies Ross 1998)
In complex collective religious rituals the human body represents the starting-line from which we structure all our actions and experiences (Jennbert 2004:184). In such a complex social and religious context of meaning as an ordinary Viking Age burial, it is likely that the concrete fusion of cosmology and the human body became symbolically emphasised
A form or motif or as in this case a simple stone, is ascribed with a certain meaning; or as Maurice Halbwachs puts it, the container reproduces a content (Moon 1987:381;Lévi-Strauss 1977:210).A hierophany points to an object, like the stone, that within a certain sacral context, like a Viking Age burial ceremony, makes a reality of an entirely different order than that manifested by the profane world: The hierophany makes something happen; it "does something" to the beholder, and it creates ritual action (Eliade & Sullivan 1987:313).The motifs used in religious symbolism function as hierophanies, material culture opens up, reveals and reflects the nature and power of the numinous sphere to the beholders and "consumers" (Wikström 1993; Rolston 1999)

Summary

Imitation as Meaning in Viking Age Burial Ritual

From excavation results of a pre-Roman Iron Age and Viking Age burialground in Västergötland, an example is presented ofhow religious meaning became projected into Viking Age burial ritual through imitation of an already ancient custom. From a Viking Age perspective the f tradition was imitated and derived from the urnfield burial-grounds o the late pre-Roman Iron Age. The authors link the Viking Age ritual behaviour to the sagas, where stones are presented as symbolical representations of the human body and as cosmological parts of the skeleton that kept the earth together. In complex collective religious rituals the human body represents the starting-line from which we structure all our actions and experiences (Jennbert 2004:184) In such a complex social and religious context of meaning as an ordinary Viking Age burial, it is likely that the concrete fusion of cosmology and the human body became symbolically emphasised. The Viking Age behaviour copies ritual actions that had been abandoned more than 600 years ago

STONES AS SYMBOLS

STONES AT VITTENE

Tore Artelius ck Mats Lindqvist