Concealed behind the symbol : a study of the ornament of the Pitted Ware Culture on the island of Gotland

This thesis analyses the decoration on the pots of the Pitted Ware Culture on Gotland. The pottery from this period is richly decorated with various ornaments, the most common are the pits but other types of decoration occur. The purpose of this study is to get an insight into what the patterns meant to the people that made and used them and what role these may have played in their lives. The author will analyse the decoration on potsherds found from the three Pitted Ware sites of Visby, Ajvide and Hemmor on Gotland. This will be used in a comparative analysis to investigate if differences and/or similarities of the pattern occur between and among the sites. A comparative study of various ceramic found in dated graves with various temporal status from the site Ajvide is also done to see if changes in the patterning occur with time. Since pits are common on most pottery from all the sites from this time they will not be used in these analyses but the focus will be on other type of pattern. Neolitiska livsstila