The Materiality of Death - mikroarkeologi.se

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Fig. 2. A drawing of the Jarlabanke Bridge made by Peringsköld around 1700. Note the upright stones or boulders. fig. 3). Next to the river Karby ån, along the road Frestavägen, there were three rune stones that mention both a bridge and a mound. The rune stones were moved in modern times to a safer place close by, due to concern over the effects of heavy traffic. The excavation revealed three skeleton graves dated to the Viking Age (about 1000 AD) and nine postholes. No clear traces of a former bridge were found, although some of the postholes could be remains of the bridge that the rune stones indicate (Andersson & Boje-Backe 1999: 1, 28). The burial ground Now, where does the bridge lead? Well, to a burial ground which consists of 17 graves, most of them rectangular stone settings oriented in an east-west direction and containing skeleton burials. The grave gifts were few, if any; in most cases limited to a knife and/or a small piece of pottery. The burial ground was excavated simultaneously with the bridge lane. The graves were dated by their appearance, content, shape, form and C 14 - datings to the Viking Age and early Middle Age, that is to about 700-1100 AD. The same criteria have led us to identify some of the graves as, if not “pure” Christian graves, graves influenced by Christian ideas. The burial ground belongs to the transitional period between the pre-Christian and Christian era (Grön & Sundberg 2005). Other bridge-lanes, bridges and pavings There are several Iron age roads, bridges, bridge lanes and pavings in the area around Broby, especially around the Vallentuna lake. In figure 3 each number represents a bridge lane or bridge (no. 1 is Broby). Most of them haven’t been excavated but we know they indicate a bridge or a road from the rune stones that were raised beside them. Most of the rune stones bear the inscription: “…made this bridge” (the author’s translation), which is an unambiguous evidence of some kind of bridge or paving. The area is a kind of “land of rune stones” or “land of bridges”. One of the bridges which have actually been excavated is Gullbro (no. 5 on the map, fig. 3). The excavation revealed two phases, of which the last one was dated to the Viking Age (Shierbeck 1995:14). Another, partly excavated bridge is the aforementioned Jarlabankebro (no. 6) where several minor excavations have been carried out throughout the years. This bridge has also been dated to the Viking Age, specifically to the 11 th century (Andersson & Boje-Backe 1999:35). A third excavation that must be mentioned in this context took place in the immediate vicinity of Broby Bridge (no. 7 on Fig. 3. Map with numbers of known bridges, bridge lanes or pavings around the Vallentuna lake. 1. Broby, excavated by the author. 2 Hagby. 3 Fällbro. 4 Harby. 5 Gullbron. 6 Jarlabankebro. 7 Broby. Discussion If we take a closer look at the bridges we will find that some of them are situated rather close to a burial ground or groups of graves. This is valid not only in the area around the Vallentuna Lake, there are examples from other parts of Uppland as well as other parts of Sweden. Graves and grave fields (from different times in our prehistory) are rather often situated close to roads, crossroads and bridges (see Rudebeck 2002). In several 152
Fig. 4. Clearing the bridge on an early autumn morning. Photo: C. Grön. cases they seem to lead from the village or settlement to the burial ground – like the two bridges in Broby (nos. 1 and 7, fig. 3). Sometimes they lead from one burial ground to another, or from a burial ground to a group of graves – like Fällbro (no. 3, fig 3). A relationship seems to exist between the bridge and the grave or the burial ground. Even if the majority of the grave groups and fields have not been archaeologically excavated, we have solid reasons to believe that they have been in use during the same period as the bridge lane. The exteriors of the graves visible above ground and the ornaments on the rune stones indicate that they are contemporary. The bridge lane was, of course, of great importance for transporting goods, cattle/livestock, people or anything else that had to go from one side of the bridge to the other. But what if it served a further, a more nonpragmatic purpose? The phenomena graves and roads/bridges have (naturally) been connected with travelling, from this life to afterlife, and the liminal phase in which the deceased is neither part of life nor afterlife (Rudebeck 2002:191). What if it was important that the deceased literally had to cross a bridge on their way from this life to afterlife as a part of the burial act? Norse mythology tells us about Bifrost – a bridge made of fire that can be seen on the sky as the rainbow in daytime and as the Milky Way in night time. It leads from earth to Asgård, home of the gods and the actual place for the afterlife. Some sources refer to it as the bridge to Hel – the place reserved for the dead. Please note that Hel is not to be confounded with hell, the dwelling of the devil (Näsström 2001:32, 342; Thunmark-Nyhlén 1981:20). The journey to the afterlife, as we know it from the Norse mythology and literature, is often described as dangerous and troublesome. It is possible, indeed plausible, that the journey was performed as a drama during the burial act in order to help the dead to the other side. The bridge used could be a real bridge or just a symbolic one, for example a thread over a stream (Nordberg 2003:82-84). Most of the rune stones are considered to be Christian monuments, raised by early Christians (Gräslund 1996). A great number of the known rune stones bear the inscription “…NN raised the stone and made the bridge” (author’s translation, see also Åke Johansson, this volume). In my opinion it seems logical: if a rune stone is considered to be a Christian monument, the acts 153
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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
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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 and 152: Chapter 14 A Road for the Viking’
Page 153 and 154: Figure 2. The Jarlabanke Bridge tha
Page 155: Chapter 15 A Road to the Other Side
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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