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På höjderna och i stadens utkant: gravfält och gravgårdar i det äldsta Sigtuna
Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet.
Upplandsmuseet, Uppsala.
Institutionen för arkeologi och antikens kultur, Stockholms universitet.
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2024 (Swedish)In: Fornvännen, ISSN 0015-7813, E-ISSN 1404-9430, Vol. 119, no 3, p. 199-223Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article discusses late Viking Age mortuary practices in the town of Sigtuna during the early urban phase (c. 980–1100 AD) with focus on the so-called graveyards (Sw. gravgårdar): cemeteries where the dead were inhumed mainly in accordance with Christian customs, but that lacked churches. It aims to trace cultural, social, or religious communities among the early town dwellers based on an analysis of their burial rituals, in combination with results of osteological and bioarcheological studies of their physical remains. The paper shows that burial customs varied within the early townscape: the dead were laid to rest under visible grave constructions in exposed topographical locations, as well as on flat-ground cemeteries in lower terrain close to the settlement area or at early churchyards. Moreover, diversity in mortuary customs, sex and age distribution, gender division, and diet can be detected between individual cemeteries, indicating that they were used by different urban groups that to some extent parted from their dead in different ways. The results of bioarcheological analyses indicate a heterogenous early urban population, comprising people from the Mälaren area, and also from distant regions. The burial customs reflect this specific urban situation, bearing witness to both long-distance contacts and roots in local mortuary traditions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 2024. Vol. 119, no 3, p. 199-223
Keywords [en]
Sigtuna, Burial customs, Graveyards, Urban communities, Urbanization
National Category
Archaeology History
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:raa:diva-8565OAI: oai:DiVA.org:raa-8565DiVA, id: diva2:1905745
Available from: 2024-10-15 Created: 2024-10-15 Last updated: 2024-10-18

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5678910119 of 11
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
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  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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  • rtf