Viskningar från en grav. Att se ett förhistoriskt samhälle via gravmaterialet

Sammanfattning: Since the down of archaeology much of the resurges has focused on graves and grave materials. This essay is an attempt to interpret a grave material to the society of the living, to investigate what a megalithic grave material can tell us about the society that made them and the people that were buried in them. The study is focused upon two megalithic graves in Löderup; Ramshög and Carlshög. A study of the bone materiel, building construction and building material at Ramshög and Carlshög is done and then compared with different theories that are made of Ramshög and Carlshög and of other megalithic graves. By studying different theories of megalithic graves and comparing these with Ramshög and Carlshög I have tried to evaluate which ones that are relevant in this case. The megalithic graves primarily shows some kind of change, in society or in their way of looking at the dead or the life after this. The conclusions are that the persons that were living in Löderup at the time of the megalithic graves belonged to a society that was more hierarchic than had been the case in earlier societies within the area. The megaliths has probably functioned as a form of family graves for a kin line. An increase of people in the area might have created a need to claim their territory and one of the purposes of the megaliths could therefore have been the use of territory markers. Though the territory was in an area with rich nature resources there is nothing in the material that proves that the society lived on hunting and fishing, but on the other hand there is nothing to prove it wrong either.