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In this dissertation the structure, practices and evolution of a single Pitted Ware Culture site, Ajvide on Gotland, is explored and placed within the larger Pitted Ware Culture context. The site has been excavated over a period of 24 years, making it one of the most excavated Pitted Ware Culture sites in Sweden. Extensive archaeological and osteological material, burials, scattered human skeletal remains and faunal skeletal remains were discovered at Ajvide. Through the lens of practices identified by the means of these archaeological and osteological materials within different areas of Ajvide, the extensive remains can be untangled, creating a deeper insight to the Pitted Ware Culture on Gotland, Sweden and Åland. The osteological mass material has been analysed by studying species distribution, age, distribution of body parts, degree of bone fragmentation and more. It has thus been possible to provide an in-depth image of the handling of animal remains. This was achieved by applying GIS through the use of distribution maps as well as visual and statistical analysis. Seal hunting, fishing, the question of keeping and/or hunting domestic pigs/wild boars, the introduction of new species and rituals involving animals at Ajvide can all be studied throughout the 800 years of Middle Neolithic use of Ajvide. Combining the handling of animal remains with other prominent datasets, such as the documented features, dark areas and postholes, the archaeological data revealed a detailed timeline of practices and the impact of environmental events on those practices. Ajvide, and the practices identified there, can be placed within a greater context through comparative studies of other Pitted Ware Culture sites on Gotland, the Swedish mainland and Åland., English revised by: Judith Crawford.

Recently, a worn prehistoric ceramic sherd was found in a field outside the city of Borlange in the province of Dalarna, central Sweden. The sherd has been identified as a fragment of a vessel belonging to the Battle Axe culture, the first one ever found in Dalarna. At the same time, the sherd is the youngest known Stone Age pottery in the province, and after that the craft seems to have disappeared. The first reappearance dates to the Early Iron Age, 500 BCE-400 CE. Both south and north of Dalarna, ceramic production carried on continuously from the time it was introduced during the Neolithic. With very few exceptions (including northernmost Norway), this applies to the entire northern circumpolar part of the world despite difficulties in finding raw materials, fuel and suitable weather to perform the craft. Dalarna offers all the prerequisites for producing pottery, but despite this, and despite decades of contract archeology in the province, it seems from the current state of research that this was not done for about 2000 years. The main question is therefore: how may we understand why the ceramic tradition ceased in Dalarna at the end of the Stone Age?, Title in Web of Science: 2000 years without pottery? Towards an understanding of the disappearance of the ceramic tradition in Dalarna during the Middle Neolithic

In this paper, I analyze body position and orientation based on material from nine grave fields belonging to the Pitted ware culture (3300-2400 BC) on Gotland, Sweden. The archeological sites consist of Ajvide, Fridtorp, Grausne, Gullrum, Hemmor, Ire, Visby, Västerbjers and Västerbys. The aim of the thesis is to generate information, through the use of Correspondence Analysis, about the individuals and similarities and differences in an attempt to discern possible structures in ritual practice. The subject of the thesis is discussed with a focus on ritual based on Pierre Bourdieu's (1977) theories relating to practice and habitus. The analysis shows that specific body positions were preferred, which expressed minor variations between the archaeological sites. At the same time, it was possible to discern specific practices that were more frequent in certain areas. The dead were most often arranged either in a supine position or on their sides with knees straight or flexed, in a crouched position. The placement of the body in flexed position expressed a distinct differentiation linked to the degree of contraction of the knee- and hip joint, which show that there existed guidelines or standards in the practice of body position. The result also indicated age and gender differentiations expressed through skeletal position and orientation, which were expressed differently within some of the populations. The study has identified both regional and local patterns in ritual practice in relation to body position and orientation. Possible interpretations relating to similarities and differences in the material are further discussed in the thesis in order to identify a ritual context.

The subject of this thesis is animal bones found in the Pitted Ware Culture site of Ajvide in Eksta parish, Gotland, Sweden. The site has been excavated since the 1980s and along with 85 graves and 7500 artefacts about 2500 kg of animal bones has been collected. Previous studies have often focused on specific areas or species, but the aim of this work has been to get a wider perspective of different areas within the Ajvide site. A total of about 20 kg of animal bones from ten different areas in Ajvide have been analysed with osteological methods. The analysis has shown that there are some differences between the areas considering amount of bone material found and the present species. The material consists of almost exclusively unburnt fragments and fragmentation is high in all areas. In the deeper layers fish is the most common species while fragments of pig are the most common considering every layer and area analysed. The difference seen between the areas most likely depend on how the sites were used by the people in the Pitted Ware Culture and discussions are made on how some of the areas could have been used for more ritual purposes while others possibly have been used in the everyday life.

The thesis identifies and discusses some fundamental changes that took place during the middle neolithic period in Sweden, with the introduction of the Boat Axe Culture. The possibility of intrepreting the Corded Ware Cultures by way of networks, identified through the regional designes of battle axes, are proposed. With the aid of a reconsideration of the typology of the Swedish boat axes, ethnographic examples of gift-exchanges, and a theoretical reappraisal of the implications of archaeological praxis for prehistorc life-worlds, new possibillities for interpreting the changing role of such prestige items as the boat-axes are presented. A new chronological scheme is also presented for the Swedish boat axes, with a tripartite division of the latter middle neolithic into MN BI-III. The value of the boat axe is further considered to be explicable only in terms of a prestige item, dependent on a system of exchange for its continual valuation. Central to this discussion is the relationship between value and exchange. Several regions within the Swedish Boat Axe Culture are identified, and the boat axes in two of these regions in the southern part of the Mälar valley are thoroughly examined. It is shown that during the cours of the Boat Axe period, the emphasis gradually changed from a regional to an intra-regional focus concerning the development of types and special designes of the boat axes. Identified similarities and dissimilarities of contemporary boat axes within and between regions are explained as a result of a parallel change in gift exchanges, from a regional focus to an intra-regional focus. An hierarchical ordering of the latter middle neolithic soceity is also identified, where only a portion of the boat-axes were selected as burial gifts. This development is chartered onto the broader neolithic development in Sweden, with special focus on the role of prestige items such as battle axes. A fundamental change is identified as taking place during the Boat Axe