The Power of Death : Comparative study of traces of syncretism in burial mounds in the Mälardalen area

The purpose of this essay is to investigate syncretism in burial mounds that were active burial places during the Iron Age and the change of religion from pre-christianity to christianity in Mälardalen. The study consists of a comparative analysis of two burial mounds that was recycled and has two different burials pracites on its primary and secondary graves. The essay is a literature study and based on fieldwork reports from excavations of the two burial mounds and the burial fields Spånga RAÄ 193 and Valsta RAÄ 59. Tombs can have been a visible power symbol in the landscape during the Iron Age. A physical link between the dead and the living, between people and the ownership of the earth and the odal concept. The grave ship during the Iron Age had a great variety. Concepts like syncretism can be difficult interpreted because it was used as a concept in religious history from the beginning. It deals with the process of diffrents religions meet and the consequences of that meeting