En enkel till Himlingøje. Dödens mode 1: ett virrvarr av varianter : Praktgravar i Sydskandinavien under 1000 år: ca 150 e.Kr. – ca 1050 e.Kr

Sammanfattning: One purpose of this dissertation is to show how these graves, set apart due to their often spectacular exterior and an abundance of rich contents, have been inspired as to construction and ideological contents by Roman influence from the south when local Scandinavian chieftains were buried with finesse extraordinaire – from the earliest Roman Iron Age via the more complex societal forms of the Migration and Vendel Periods to the regulated and strictly stratified society of the Viking Period. The dissertation also intends to show how the most magnificent burial customs the Scandinavian Iron Age was not necessarily influenced only by religious beliefs: imported (Roman) prestige goods and, in time, increasingly more lavish local props to bring into the grave became one way for the German farmer and warrior elite groups to manifest and maintain their superior social position and thus accelerating class differences in the Iron Age society of southern Scandinavia. I suggest that this type of German burial customs was dictated by a continuously changing fashion among chieftains and princes of northern Europe as they journeyed from life to death, rather than any ancient religious belief. The main characteristic of the elite strata of the Scandinavian Iron Age was long-distance communication: contacts with distant chiefdoms and the ability to travel themselves. The dissertation also aims to reinstate the cultural historical perspective that i.a. sees material remains as the result of culture, rather than as culture itself. In direct opposition to the over-theoretical archaeology of the late 20th century and the early 21st century I propose the use of a methodological analysis for the study of rich graves. The text also proposes to act as a counterpoint to the sort of ghostly impersonal presentations that too often written are by archaeologists.