Bodies of objects: The role of grave goods in the construction of Viking Age persons

Why were people buried with things?

In past societies, grave goods often played intrinsic part in funerary practices, and so too in the Viking Age, but what was their purpose? In Viking Age research grave goods are generally interpreted as intimately connected to the identity of the deceased. A person buried with weapons for instance is generally interpreted as a) a man, and b) a warrior.

These static connections between persons and objects have been challenged by scholars demonstrating that more complex relationships between objects and bodies existed. This project examines the relationship between people and things in Viking Age graves.

It assesses which types of artefacts were most commonly used and what this can tell us about how persons were constructed through funerary rites.

There has been a tendency to focus on weapons and jewellery as the most significant types of grave goods as these are commonly linked to gender and social status.

However, there are other artefacts, such as knives, whetstone, and vessels, which seem to be more common in graves, but which have received relatively little attention as they are judged to be mundane and of little significance as markers of identities.

However, the very fact that they are so common and appear to cross-cut status and gender identities indicate that these were the most important artefacts to include in burials. Why were these so often used as grave goods? In what ways were they significant for constructing persons?