Doing Things With Rings : Amulet rings in the Late Iron Age of eastern Middle Sweden (550-1100 CE)

Doing Things With Rings investigates a range of rituals involving amulet rings, and how this set of practices can serve as a window onto some of the broader themes at play in the religious life of eastern Middle Sweden during the Late Iron Age. Though it has become increasingly clear that using amulet rings was a characteristic manifestation of the forn siðr (‘ancient traditions’) current in this region during this period, there has been little research specifically dedicated to studying these practices or considering varied facets of this phenomenon in a more holistic way. This thesis addresses these issues by employing a fine-grained ‘bottom-up’ archaeological approach to analyze a variety of assemblages that incorporate amulet rings from three different case sites located in the Mälardalen area: the gravefield designated RAÄ Söderby 28 on the island of Lovö, a ‘cult place’ discovered at Gruffet in Västmanland, and a Late Iron Age farmstead excavated at Viggbyholm, in Täby parish north of Stockholm. The physical evidence at the core of the case studies is in turn explored further in combination with the archaeology from comparable sites, other types of sources, and through the lenses of new materialist conceptions of ritualization, assemblage, relationality, and affect, in order to flesh out the most detailed and vivid possible picture of the events in question. The resulting image not only serves to reveal more about specific ritualized actions involving amulet rings but also allows us to approach something of the lived experiences of the people who carried out these actions. This process of working from apparently static objects all the way through to the dynamic (intra)actions that constituted amulet ring practices presents an example of the possibilities afforded by taking a more affective and relational approach to the archaeology of ritual.