To be Buried Inside a Long-Forgotten World: Studying the Reuse of Passage Graves Wearing “Bronze Age Glasses”

Gustav Wollentz

doi:10.37718/csa.2012.13

Abstract

The theories presented about the reuse of Neolithic monuments during the Bronze Age in Scandinavia are mainly universal, i.e. applicable to all periods during prehistory. I argue that there is no point in isolating reuse as something separate from society. The focus of my study is the Mysinge passage grave on the is- land of Öland. I have also studied the reuse of other graves on Öland and of passage graves in Falbygden. I propose that the passage grave was linked to the un- derworld and that some of those buried in the cham- ber of Mysinge during the Bronze Age were people travelling by sea.

Highlights

Why would the reuse of older graves during the Bronze Age be isolated from the Bronze Age? the question in itself is quite absurd
This article will focus on the reuse of the Mysinge passage grave, Öland, SE Sweden, during the Bronze Age
To do this I will investigate the practice of reuse on Öland and in passage graves in Falbygden, Västergötland, and put the results in relation to what is seen in Mysinge

Summary

Introduction

Why would the reuse of older graves during the Bronze Age be isolated from the Bronze Age? the question in itself is quite absurd. The stone with cup marks at Norra Lundby is not linked to the identified burials from the late Bronze Age, since those were placed higher in the stratigraphy of the chamber; a cairn had probably even closed the entrance by that time.

Results

Conclusion