Fräls oss ifrån ondo : En komparativ studie om avvikande död, apotropeiska ritualer ochpermanent farlighet

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines perceptions of deviant dead and the ways in which they were managed in Sweden during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The study employs a qualitative comparative method in which archaeological and ethnological materials are compared to investigate the cosmological structures governing the treatment of deviant dead and their burial practices. The theoretical framework is based on Turner’s concept of liminality, supplemented by Douglas’ perspectives on social and categorical structures in order to understand perception of danger associated with deviant dead. The results show that the archaeological and ethnological materials express similar principles concerning danger, spatial distance, and the handling of deviant dead, although these principles are manifested through different forms of expression. The structural logic that emerges from comparison indicates that certain dead individuals were perceived as permanently dangerous and therefore required spatial separation and specific ritual handling. This danger appears to have been a persistent state rather than a liminal phase as these dead, due to their unholiness, could not be incorporated in holy death. The thesis proposes permanent danger as a concept to elucidate how deviant dead were perceived as a threat to both the living and the sacred.