Buried plants. Fossil plant remains from two Early Medieval burial mounds in east-central Sweden

Abstract

Fossil plant remains from two large Early Medieval burial mounds in Uppland, eastern central Sweden, are analysed and the results discussed. Four graves are examined: a Viking Age cremation inside Gullhögen, and three graves dating from 600–750 to c. 800 AD inside Vendla’s Mound. The remains of cereals, collected berries, nuts, root and stem tubers as well as ruderals, field weeds and meadow plants were recovered. It is suggested that the meadow plants in the graves from Vendla’s Mound were placed there as bedding material for the deceased, or as token fodder for a cremated horse. The deceased in Vendla’s Mound were buried in boats burnt on funeral pyres. Cereal crops were of crucial importance in Early Medieval society, and the cereals recovered from these graves had been deposited, perhaps as food and for mead production in the afterlife, but perhaps also as bearers of a resurrection symbolism.