Riksantikvarieämbetet

This article focuses on the inhumation graves from the Late Bronze Age and the earliest part of the Iron Age that have been excavated in Uppland. The aim is to discuss the inhumation burial practice during the Late Bronze Age in this part of the Mälaren valley. It has been known for a long time that there was wide variety in the construction of graves and/or bone deposits from the Late Bronze Age in Uppland. Most of the graves are cremation graves, but archaeological excavations in Uppland and central Sweden in the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century found and investigated a few inhumation graves dated to the Late Bronze Age and the earliest part of the Iron Age. Even though inhumation graves in the area were known during most of the 20th century, they are often seen as something unknown, unexpected and unusual. Recent studies of burial traditions in the Mälaren valley during the Bronze Age have mainly focused on cremation graves,and especially the category of “cremation graves” which contain very few bones. In the article it is argued that the evidence of inhumation burials in Uppland needs tobe further examined in order to better understand the complex burial customs ofthe Late Bronze Age and the earliest Iron Age in central Sweden.