Skärningspunkt Sigtuna [Elektronisk resurs] En första presentation av ett forskningsprojekt

• This article presents a new research project: Skärningspunkt Sigtuna – de första människorna i Sveriges äldsta stad (Intersection Sigtuna – th  first inhabitants of Sweden’s oldest town), which runs from 2017 to 2020 and is sponsored by  the Swedish Research Council.  The project aims to understand cultural transformation in the town’s earliest periods by studying the people who lived and died there.  The main source material comprises c. 330 excavated graves dating from the town’s foundation in AD 970/80 until AD 1100.  These derive both from five early churchyards as well as so-called “graveyards” (Sw. gravgård) – where individuals were buried in accordance with Christian practice, but not in the proximity of a church building.  These early “graveyards” are unique to Scandinavia, but the phenomenon has yet to be subjected to in-depth analysis. Different kinds of burial grounds were partly in use simultaneously in Sigtuna and it is unclear how the interred individuals relate to one another, or what kind of social, cultural and religious communities they represent. The project combines archaeological and osteological data with regard to burial-place topography and location, burial custom including grave goods and relation to rune- inscribed stone monuments, isotopic analysis and ancient DNA- analysis of selected individuals. Sigtuna’s material culture in general indicates that it was a cosmopolitan town.  The project will extend our knowledge in this regard by focusing on the backgrounds of the  first generations of town dwellers. Our main objective is to understand urbanization, migration, cultural interaction between groups and individuals, early church organization, networks and transnational relations. 

Ämnesord

Humanities and the Arts  (hsv)

History and Archaeology  (hsv)

Archaeology  (hsv)

Humaniora och konst  (hsv)

Historia och arkeologi  (hsv)

Arkeologi  (hsv)

arkeologi  (su)

Archaeology  (su)

osteoarkeologi  (su)

Osteoarchaeology  (su)

Indexterm och SAB-rubrik

Sigtuna

Early Middle Ages

burials

graveyards/gravgård

churchyards

urbanization

migration

christianization