Paths Towards a New World by Larsson Mats;Liden Kerstin;Lemdahl Geoffrey;

Author:Larsson, Mats;Liden, Kerstin;Lemdahl, Geoffrey;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Europe / General
ISBN: 9781782972587
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2014-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 6.5. The passage grave at Carlshögen in southern Scania, during excavation (source: Strömberg 1971).

In connection with Frödin’s limited study in 1916, several amber beads shaped as doubleedged axes or clubs were found, which were obviously associated with the skeletal material and perhaps worn on necklaces. Some flint was found, but no intact objects. The amount of pottery found was much greater however, a little more than one kilogram. The ornamentation indicates a date during MN I or even a somewhat later part of MN III–IV. Due to the structure being so damaged, the distribution of the pottery was uneven and most of it was found in the southern part of the structure. Interestingly enough, analyses of the pottery revealed a similarity to the material from the passage grave at Rössberga, mentioned above. This is also true as far as the exterior and the addition to the clay of a kind of volcanic rock that does not occur in Östergötland. Is it possible that the vessels from the Alvastra dolmen come from Rössberga and Falbygden? We cannot say with any certainty, but indications of contact exist.

New analyses of the skeletal material have also provided interesting results. The number of individuals buried is estimated at over thirty, with both sexes represented as well as both children and adults. Analyses of stabile isotopes from the skeletons clearly indicate that the people buried in the dolmen lived primarily on a diet of meat and land-based plants. Even though it was not far to lakes like Tåkern and Vättern, fish was clearly not a part of their diets.

Extremely interesting is the fact that one of the skeletons in the grave has been radiocarbondated to the Mesolithic, that is, several thousand years earlier. He has been designated the ‘Alvastra Man’ (Alvastramannen). The skeleton has been dated to 6030 BC and it turns out that he was a 60-year-old man. It is very possible that some of the quartz collected here comes from the same period. A technical examination supports this. It is most likely that a settlement as well as a grave-field had been located in the vicinity.

Why did people construct these large monuments then? The dolmens were, at least in the beginning obviously intended for only one person, while we know that the passage graves were seen as collective burial grounds. One idea that has been around awhile is that the social system to which these early farmers belonged can be called segmentary. This is a term borrowed from social anthropology, meaning that in a segmentary society, the graves/grave sites are the central points in peoples’ lives. Settlements are scattered and small, and fixed points are necessary for the sake of social cohesion. These fixed points were the graves and thus the place of the ancestors. It is of course difficult to see such a social system in the archaeological material and perhaps it is so that it fits better into the early Neolithic society with its scattered settlements. Regarding the period we are

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