In Bone and in Memory : Identity, Mortuary Practise, and Social Relations on Viking Age Barshalder

Sammanfattning

This thesis aims to examine spatial and social organisation in the northern Late Viking Age section of Barshalder cemetery on Gotland. Via spatial, chronological, and contextual analysis, the thesis evaluates whether these clusters represent meaningful social groupings, and how they relate to identity expression. The results show that the clusters are intentionally constructed but internally variable, combining shared burial norms with differences in grave construction, orientation, and material expression. These patterns imply fluid and relational groupings rather than fixed units such as families. Grave reuse and close spatial associations indicate an ongoing interaction with the dead and continuity in the use of specific, meaningful locations. The material also reflects a gradual and complex transition from pagan to Christian practices, where aspects of both coexist and remain. The study argues that the cemetery functioned as a dynamic social landscape in which identities were negotiated through practice rather than defined by rigid categories.