Collective spaces and material expressions: ritual practice and island identities in Neolithic Gotland

• In this chapter we explore the mid-Neolithic ritual evidence associated with the Pitted Ware Culture groupson the Island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. We discuss collective spaces and actions and question whether thegraves are the result of a sedentary-settlement concept. A nuanced approach is advocated, which brings tolight the complexity of the individual inhumations found at cemeteries as part of ritual actions tied to specificplace and collective space alike. These burials are apparently part of a collective ritualised expression, but alsoindividualised in terms of the personal expressions found in the grave goods, body position and treatment ofskeletal remains. We will use several case studies which will explore group identity and dynamics in an islandcontext as well as how certain expressions are seen in the individual grave-rituals.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Burial ground

material culture

ritual practice

pitted ware

Gotland

Arkeologi

Archaeology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)