The Social Construction of the Burial Site at Borre: A reexamination of the temporal and social development of the site based on the Bayesian theorem, social solidarity and materiality.

This thesis consists of two parts: 1. A reexamination of the chronology of the burial site at Borre, and 2. A discussion of the possibility of social solidarity as a significant force behind the construction of the burial mounds based on the reworked chronology. The thesis argues for the existence of a much more social force behind the construction of the large burial mounds than has previously been discussed. The argument is based on the understanding of disaster theory, a common theory in modern sociology but applied little within archaeology. Another important theory in the thesis is that of materiality, in this case understood as the theory that the mounds are the physical manifestation of social solidarity. The thesis presents a methodological presentation of the new chronology followed by an analysis of the implications of social solidarity. The purpose has been to broaden the view of the current understanding of Borre in particular, and of central places in Scandinavia during the Merovingian period in general