Spår efter ideologier i Södra Skandinavien under perioden 7,000 – 3,000 f.Kr.

Abstract

The aim is to find Mesolithic and Neolithic remains that can give evidence for social practices related to the ideology of each period. The early hunter’s use of decorated artifacts in a distant exchange network, indicate a world of magic. Images carved on bone from Maglemosean time shows ceremonies dedicated to fertility. Zoomorphic pendants worn around the neck gives indication of a totemic belief, where people believed their ancestors came from an animal, a possibility due an imagined thought that the free soul could jump between living creatures. Lakes and wetlands were thought to be entrances to the netherworld. Ritual meals performed close to water, where also parts of humans were eaten, were part of a complex offering process. Mesolithical and Neolithical societies were dominated by elderly men, who due to their showed strength were leaders of a kingroup. Elderly and fertile women were also highly respected. Society demanded respect to gods in order to avoid bad times for the group, improper behavior was punished fiercely. The openings of the monumental graves were pointed to water, so the second soul, bound to the body, was thought to be helped by the sun- or moonbeams from the grave to the water and the netherworld. This function seems to be valid regardless of type of grave. The social structure and the offerings in wetlands and the intentional function of the graves shows an ideological continuity from Mesolithic to the Neolithic period. The complexity of the ideology during this long period makes it however only possible to cover parts of it, within a work like this.