The Absence of Gender: Iron Age Burials in the Lake Mälaren area

Abstract

The article discusses the extent to which conceptions of sex and gender roles can be studied and interpreted on the basis of Iron Age grave material. In accordance with the results of excavations of lron Age cemeteries in central Sweden, it is here argued that the articulation of sex and gender roles was a rare phenomenon in mortuary contexts. Although the articulation of sex and gender is very limited in the artefact material, it is interesting to note that women's graves appear more often than men's graves. Accordingly, this raises questions about women's position in the political and social life of Iron Age society.