Bread in Birka and on Björkö

Abstract

This article focuses on bread deposits in the cremation graves in Birka and from the Ormknös A and B cemeteries on Björkö. Some of these deposits were found in a fragmentary state. Methods used to establish the original number of bread loaves are taken up as well as their size and morphology. The provenance of the loaves is dis-cussed; whether the grave bread was baked in individual households or in a town bakery. Various other aspects of the gravebread are also discussed; the distribution as well as the symbolic function of the charred loaves.