Bog bodies
The Alvastra pile dwelling is situated in a spring-fed mire (Dagsmosse) between the eastern shore of Lake Vättern and the southern slopes of Omberg Hill in the parish of Västra Tollstad (archaeological site 22), the province of Östergötland. It is neither a dwelling, nor a dwelling placed on piles. The vertical piles that have actually been found in the mire formed palisades or boundaries/fences of various kinds. Activities were carried out on a wooden platform built of horizontal timbers and connected to dry land by a wooden causeway. The activities, conducted during the Middle Neolithic around 3000 B.C., were probably focused on the ritual and the festive rather than day to day dwelling.

Accession number 16026 – cranium with cut marks across the forehead Photo: Christer Åhlin, SHMM
Accession number 16026 – cranium with cut marks across the forehead
Photo: Christer Åhlin, SHMM

Assemblages associated with the Funnel-beaker Culture and the Pitted Ware Culture were found in the mire. They consisted of primarily of pottery, flint tools, antler/bone tools, amber beads, double-edged battle axes of stone and large amounts of burnt grain (barley and wheat), large numbers of burnt apples and hazelnut shells.

The site was excavated from 1909 – 1930 by Otto Frödin at the Museum of National Antiquities (now the Swedish History Museum) and in 1976 – 1980 by Mats M. Malmer of the University of Stockholm. The early excavations were published in 2011 by Hans Browall (Browall 2011) and the later excavations are in the process of being published digitally in an infrastructure project run by the Swedish History Museum and the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at the University of Stockholm and funded by the Swedish Foundations for Humanities and Social Sciences. The team working with this digitizing project consists of Nathalie Dimc, Jacqueline Taffinder and Gregory Tanner (www.alvastrapiledwelling.historiska.se).

Human remains retrieved from the site consisted of approximately 10 kg of bones scattered throughout the cultural layers and not in any anatomical order. They represent 45 individuals of which 20 are men and one is possibly a woman. 10 of these 45 are teenagers and fewer than 10 are children under the age of 10. 16% of the bones were fire-damaged or totally burnt (Malmer 2002).

There is only one example of pre-depositional bone damage. A skull with horizontal cut marks on the forehead has been compared with scalped skulls of Native Americans in collections of the Smithsonian. Decapitated before being scalped as bone still plastic when cut marks made and skull joined to upper 2 vertebrae. Found at the place where the causeway meets the southern edge of the wooden platform. Man around age of 20 (During & Nilsson 1991). The skull contained preserved brain substance.

Browall, H., 2011. Alvastra pålbyggnad. 1909-1930 års utgrävningar. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien handlingar. Antikvariska serien 48. Stockholm.
During, E., Nilsson, L., 1991. Mechanical surface analysis of bone: a case study of cut marks and enamel hypoplasia on a Neolithic cranium from Sweden. American journa of physical anthropology 84. Columbus.
Malmer., M.P. 2002. The Neolithic of south Sweden. TRB, GRK and STR. The Royal Swedish academy of letters history and antiquities. Stockholm.