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

Fredrik Fahlander

doi:10.37718/csa.2016.10

Abstract

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

Highlights

RE-(AB)USE OF THE OLD DEADBurials that have been reopened, reused, destroyed and manipulated in various ways are known from all periods of prehistory (e.g. Randsborg 1998; Nilsson Stutz 2003; Kümmel 2005; Brinch Petersen 2006; Andrews & Bello 2006; Olofsson 2006; Fahlander 2008b, 2010; Klevnäs 2013)
The ancient dead need not be about genealogy and ancestors, but rather about something that is unrelated to the present social conditions and less likely to employed in social strategies The concept of mythical history is interesting and fits quite well with the substantial time-gap between the original burials and the subsequent reuse in the case studies discussed here
If the ancient dead and their graves were considered as a powerful materiality rather than representations of dead ancestors, the recently dead could possibly benefit from being buried close to them, as we find in the case studies

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Burials that have been reopened, reused, destroyed and manipulated in various ways are known from all periods of prehistory (e.g. Randsborg 1998; Nilsson Stutz 2003; Kümmel 2005; Brinch Petersen 2006; Andrews & Bello 2006; Olofsson 2006; Fahlander 2008b, 2010; Klevnäs 2013). As he did in the case of Vittene, that the reuse of the pre-Roman stone setting is further evidence of how older burials evoked curiosity during the Late Iron Age (2010:175) In the latter part of the period, he suggests that the inhumations under mounds were intentional as to allude to “the old ways” by using the mound as a superstructure (2010:208). It is important to note that the labour invested in the reuse in these cases is quite extensive (as in the case of mound A1 in Valsta) In addition to these rather large-scale constructions are traces of less substantial and less visible post-burial actions present at Broby Bro. One example is a flat and non-conspicuous Early Iron Age stone setting, which was reused for an 11th-century inhumation burial (A16000). When working from the bottom up one should not perceive the past from the view of the present, but to allow every past to have its particular array of perspectives on possible pasts and futures to come

Findings

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION