The Materiality of Death - mikroarkeologi.se

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y someone who was closely related to the deceased’s members of the family. These individuals are almost always within the nuclear family, namely son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife. Very rarely has somebody else performed this act. The rune stone and the bridge are both dedicated to the deceased. I will give you some examples of what the inscription of the rune stones can tell us: One example is the stone that was erected at the site mentioned above, excavated by the county museum: Ingifastr and Eysteinn and Sveinn had these stones raised in memory of Eysteinn, their father, and made this bridge and this mound. (U 135) (Fig.1). The most famous construction of this kind is probably the Jarlabanke Bridge in central Täby. As can be seen in the photo (Fig. 2) there is a road and rune stones. The road has been restored, but its origin lies in the Viking Age. And what do the rune inscriptions tell us? Jarlabanki had these stones raised in memory of himself while alive, and made this bridge for his spirit, and (he) alone owned all of Tábr. May God help his spirit. (U 164) This inscription is a sort of exception because it tells us that he made it for himself and was still alive while producing the monument. There are also other examples: Fastbjôrn and órunnr had ... erected ... the bridge made in memory of Ingifastr, their husbandman. May God help his spirit. Ásmundr carved the runes. (U 859) jalfi made the bridge in memory of Bolla(?), his daughter. Áli/Alli and Óleifr had (this) cut in memory of jalfi, their father; Inga in memory of her husband. May God relieve their souls. (U 867) orsteinn and Vígi had this bridge made for Ôzurr's spirit, their kinsman-by-marriage. This is now said for his soul: may God help. Ásbjôrn made.(?) (U 947) Finnvir raised this stone in memory of his brother órr, jalfi's son. May God and God's mother help his spirit. He made the bridge in memory of his brother and (so did) Ása, their mother. (U 200) ... raised ... in memory of Sveinn/Steinn, his son, and made the bridge for his soul. (He) ordered (it) to stand here ... (U 327) ... raised this stone in memory of Ormr, son ... in memory of himself and had this bridge made for their spirit and soul ... this memento ... in memory of… (U 345) Gullaug(?) had the bridge made for the spirit of Gillaug, her daughter, and whom Ulfr owned (i.e. was married to). Œpir carved. (U 489) Figure 1. The runestone nr U 135 with the inscription: Ingifastr and Eysteinn and Sveinn had these stones raised in memory of Eysteinn, their father, and made this bridge and this mound. Photo Bengt A. Lundberg, Riksantikvarieämbetet. The mound that is mentioned has been gone for hundreds of years, but there is a possibility that it once covered the now excavated graves. As we can well understand they are all Christian, and they do emphasise this fact. Almost every single rune stone has a Christian cross or crucifix modelled in different types. About 25% of the inscriptions mention the name of God. And in connection with his name they always say a prayer …” may God help…” The inscriptions also tell us something of their erectors’ conception of death. As good Christians, they were convinced that the individual has a soul and spirit that in some way would get to paradise. 148
Figure 2. The Jarlabanke Bridge that Jarlabanke made for his spirit. Photo Bengt A. Lundberg, Riksantikvarieämbetet. Discussion Sometimes the inscriptions say that the bridge was built in memory of somebody. But quite often they say that they made the bridge for the soul of the diseased. So why does the soul need a bridge or a road? Why was a bridge literally constructed for the soul? There is an element in some religions in which a bridge is necessary for managing to get to the other side in the afterlife. Concerning the Nordic heathen religion Camilla Grön in this volume mentions “Bifrost”. There is also another bridge called “Gjallarbro” in the world of the deceased. However – as far as I can see, and at least in the Bible – there is no conception of a bridge in the Christian religion, even though it is clear that according to Christianity the soul has to travel a very troublesome journey. Many hundreds of years later, according to some literary sources, it is said that it is considered a good Christian deed to build bridges and roads and that the person or landowner who did that will be rewarded in heaven (Holmbäck & Wessén, 1979:235). But that was stated in quite another historical context and is definitely not the same as the need of a bridge for the soul. Therefore I would regard the two phenomena, the building of a bridge during the Viking Age, and the mentioning of a Christian deed, as expressions of two different cultural traditions. Some facts and conclusions Some of the known bridges have visible grave mounds and stone settings close to them. Furthermore; in two examples of scientifically excavated bridges and their close surroundings, where there were no visible graves before the excavation, we have been able to verify Viking Age graves. This can lead to the reasonable hypothesis that all Viking Age bridges of this character are closely connected to Viking Age burials. We can see a connection between the paved construction, the graves at the grave field and the rune stones with their very explicit formulations. The inscriptions tell us clearly that the bridge was made for the soul of a deceased person whose name we also know. 149
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The Materiality of Death Bodies, bu
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Contents Chapter 1. The Materiality
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Fig. 1. Pieter Bruegel, The Triumph
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ather one has to emphasise the mate
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dead are often regarded as unfriend
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Fig 3. The old man Tei Tetuna by hi
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The Materiality of Social Change: H
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The Materiality of Eternity - The A
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FAHLANDER, F. & OESTIGAARD, T. 2004
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Susanne Kuechler-Fogden, Webb Keane
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Chapter 2 More than Metaphor: Appro
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discuss death and the treatment of
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had to deal with. This is not to sa
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hide that could be removed to expos
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pp111-123. Philadelphia: University
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Chapter 3 A Piece of the Mesolithic
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The main point is that the division
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A Piece of the Mesolithic: Skatehol
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question we need to construct some
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Fig. 4. Skateholm I (above) and Ska
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visible many years after the origin
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Phase Area Properties Interpretatio
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phase of one site with a contempora
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MILNER, N. & WOODMAN, P. 2005. Meso
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with dead people belonging to other
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Fig. 2. Due to the extraordinaire c
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As with all cremations in Hinduism,
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Based on the amount of scattered bo
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To have an ethical approach involve
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Chapter 5 From Corpse to Ancestor:
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Figure 2. Isola Sacra, Tomb 100. Ph
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Figure 4. Isola Sacra, Tomb 87. Pho
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69 Burials
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through careful recording of the or
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Figure 4: Pencraig Hill: Distributi
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focussed on use of partial sets of
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Chapter 7 Ritual and Remembrance at
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urial (tomba a doppio loculo tipo M
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‘original’ walls of the tomb. L
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chambers cut into two earlier trenc
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Madison: Prehistory Press, Monograp
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Well-organized cemeteries or messy
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influenced who was buried inside th
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it was quite short, which could ind
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References ARTELIUS, TORE 2004. Min
Page 103 and 104: Chapter 9 Life and Death in the Bro
Page 105 and 106: Fig. 5.1. Cremation necropolis at P
Page 107 and 108: place. These burials were very simp
Page 109 and 110: Chapter 10 Norwegian Face-Urns: Loc
Page 111 and 112: The recurring themes in the debate
Page 113 and 114: The local context of the Norwegian
Page 115 and 116: Death is the inevitable conclusion
Page 117 and 118: OESTIGAARD, T. 1999. Cremations as
Page 119 and 120: Chapter 11 The Use of Ochre in Ston
Page 121 and 122: Ochre was used so intensively that
Page 123 and 124: Fig. 5. Zvejnieki burial ground. Th
Page 125 and 126: grave has been dated to 5690±45 BP
Page 127 and 128: Khanty of northern Siberia, the col
Page 129 and 130: 125 Beliefs
Page 131 and 132: Chapter 12 ”Death Myths”: Perfo
Page 133 and 134: Variation within the same cist Bø,
Page 135 and 136: Variation within the same mound Lyd
Page 137 and 138: Figures 6 and 7. Modvo, Luster muni
Page 139 and 140: To what extent there have been corr
Page 141 and 142: when they die, a probable explanati
Page 143 and 144: fragmented spindles, iron weaving s
Page 145 and 146: Chapter 13 Reproduction and Relocat
Page 147 and 148: may be questioned, and analysed mor
Page 149 and 150: References Andersson, G. 1997: A st
Page 151: Chapter 14 A Road for the Viking’
Page 155 and 156: Chapter 15 A Road to the Other Side
Page 157 and 158: Fig. 4. Clearing the bridge on an e
Page 159 and 160: Chapter 16 Stones and Bones: The My
Page 161 and 162: Fig. 4. An Iron Age scene at Sylta
Page 163 and 164: Fig. 7. The resemblance between cru
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