The Dating of Västerhus Cemetery A Contribution to the Study of Christianization in Jämtland

Abstract

In this article, the author uses different dating methods to try to show that the Västerhus cemetery was established between c. 1125 and 1250 and that it ceased to be used between c. 1375 and 1500.This time period is later than the dates proposed previously on the basis of 14C analyses of skeletons from the cemetery. In the author's opinion, the 14C dates are probably misleading on account of reservoir effects. The Västerhus church and cemetery —which yielded one of the best preserved and rnost well-studied medieval skeletal materials in northern Europe —were thus not established at the time of Jämtland's official Christianization, as earlier claimed, but instead one or a few generations later. The author points out that several other early churches and cemeteries in Jämtland are just as late. Similar gaps in time between the official Christianization and the widespread building of churches are also known from other parts of Scandinavia.