A Natural Choice: Ontologies of Death and Burial between Faiths in Early Medieval Scandinavia

Abstract This study re-evaluates south Scandinavian burial practices during the early part of the Christianization period (tenth–eleventh centuries). By employing a bottom-up approach, we focus on the specific funerary practices rather than on teleological, top-down models of religion. We identified a significant shift from Viking Age grave goods (exotic, precious, personal objects with long and complex biographies) toward everyday, local and natural (biotic) materials, such as charcoal, hazel sticks, unburned animal remains and stone. Rather than being grave goods per se that emphasize individual or social identities, these materials are argued to have been chosen because of their anticipated abilities to prolong the vitality and integrity of the dead body. In particular, the placement of charcoal and animal remains around vulnerable areas, such as the head and pelvis, suggests a prophylactic intent. The use of such materials and practices vanished as formal Christian burial grounds became fully established in the twelfth century. Thus, the intermediate period graves reveal a distinct ontology of death, dead bodies and eschatology different from both earlier Old Norse and later Christian beliefs.