Heliga sopor : skärvstenshögen utifrån ett polynesiskt perspektiv

In Scandinavia the general idea of the Bronze Age society is that it was organised as chiefdoms. The model for what they looked like is taken from the anthropological studies of the Polynesian chiefdoms. The aim of my study is to investigate a Scandinavian Bronze Age feature, known as cairns mainly containing fire-cracked stone. This is compared with how people in different Polynesian chiefdoms, looked at similar remain. This is done to get a background for new ways of interpretation of such remains. The method is ethno-archaeological and carried out by studying ethno-historical Polynesian chiefdoms and theories on Scandinavian Bronze Age. For example, in prehistoric Polynesian societies it is shown that refuse heaps or pits for ritual garbage occur on or near the ceremonial place, called Marae. The materials deposited were sacred, and had to be placed on or close to the Marae. Most rituals in Polynesia can be described as long processes with numbers of minor rituals. To me these insights place the Scandinavian remains in a new light. The heaps with fire-cracked stone could possibly be the garbage/refuse left over after one or a number of ritual ceremonies, consciously placed there by the people using the site, and thereafter respected because of its sacredness