Warning for stereotypes : a study with the aim to discus gender and identity

Through this thesis I aimed to further investigate how we can adapt our western and modern views of masculinity and femininity in an ancient population, here on the Pitted Ware population from Ajvide on Gotland. A questionnaire survey was used to compile the modern view of masculinity and femininity. This modern view was then compared with patterns which had become visible through statistical processing of the burial gifts found on Ajvide. The thesis is mainly focused around the concept of gender, but age and status have also been discussed. Through several performed correspondence analysis, it became clear that the current view of male and female differed from the one that became visible in the archaeological record. Grave gifts that in the survey, for example, was estimated to be typically feminine turnes out to be more common in mens' graves. This means that the use of burial gifts as a method, for example in gender assessment or as an indicator of identity is inadequate. The study of the interaction between material culture and gender and gender roles require further development