susanne thedéen’s research while affiliated with Stockholm University and other places

This paper treats the ritual traditions and practices connected with burials in Bronze Age cairns and stone-settings in the province of Södermanland in east central Sweden. The author discusses how the social and ritual roles of the individuals buried in cairns can be intertwined with the characteristics ofthe landscape contexts where caims have been placed. Particular attention is given to the meaning ofa special combination of artefacts —a razor, a pair of tweezers, a double-stud and a knife blade —found in Bronze Age burial contexts. The author suggests that the razor and the other ritual equipment may have been used in connection with life course rituals.

Almost thirty years have passed since gender studies entered archaeological discourse in earnest. What is the current status of gender research? One of the aims of this book is to contribute to answer this and other related questions. Another is to shed some light on the pasts and possible futures of gender research. Contributions deal with publications statistics in journals over the last thirty years, neo-realist discussions of Mayan body-politic, intersectional analyses of current Swedish museum exhibitions and Viking Period bos brooches, masculinities in practice at a cultural heritage site, Viking period bodily abilities and disabilities and experiments regarding how once-lived bodies and lives may be materialized.

Almost thirty years have passed since gender studies entered archaeological discourse in earnest. What is the current status of gender research? One of the aims of this book is to contribute to answer this and other related questions. Another is to shed some light on the pasts and possible futures of gender research. Contributions deal with publications statistics in journals over the last thirty years, neo-realist discussions of Mayan body-politic, intersectional analyses of current Swedish museum exhibitions and Viking Period bos brooches, masculinities in practice at a cultural heritage site, Viking period bodily abilities and disabilities and experiments regarding how once-lived bodies and lives may be materialized.

Graves have always been important to archaeology. But what are we met with in a grave? The traces of someone who once was - or has the burial created a new person? Can only the living die and be buried? In this volume old material encounters new perspectives. The focus is not just on the deceased, but also on accompanying artefacts, animals and the survivors. What roles did they play? Here, these and other questions are discussed, with examples from the Stone Age to the present.

The aim of this paper is to explore the cultural construction of girlhood and the transition to womanhood in relation to beads and arm-rings in Viking Age (AD 800-1050) burials from Gotland. It is suggested that a distinct and dualistic division between childhood and adulthood may not have prevailed in Viking Age society. Further it is proposed that Viking Age girls up to the age of fifteen years were divided into two age groups. The first group comprised ages up to five years when infant girls were buried with a few beads and an arm-ring. The second group covered the ages from five to fi fteen years when girls were buried in a similar dress to adult females but with more elaborate bead-sets as well as wearing an arm-ring. This suggests that the number of beads in a burial tell less of social status and more of social age. An issue being addressed is whether the girls aged five to fifteen years should be considered as a second step of childhood, as female adulthood or as representing a 'hood' on the threshold. It is argued that beads and arm-rings had an important role in creating relational agebased identities; they had signi fications beyond the aspect of jewellery.

Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholms universitet, 2004.