categories contain the same type of jewellery, but the pagan graves also contain metal
vessels with food.
However, when discussing Christian elements in the burial customs in order to
understand the progression of the conversion, we should not forget the remaining pagan
traits. The Danish historian of religions Jens Peter Schjødt has expressed it in this
way: depending on which aspect we choose to focus on – for example the view of the
missionaries or the view of the convert, the official attitude (the king) or the individual
(the people), our evaluation of the extent to which something or someone was Christian
will vary (Schjødt 1989 : 193 ).
The external structure of Viking Age graves is normally mounds or stone-settings;
even flat-graves occur, probably an influence from western Europe. At Viking Age
cemeteries in east Sweden there is sometimes a special kind of rectangular stone frame
over east–west oriented inhumation graves, datable to the eleventh century. Such
rectangular stone frames are often placed close to each other, sharing one side. In all
probability, these are the graves of the first Christian generation in the area, those who
died before there was access to a consecrated churchyard (Gräslund 2001 ).
Some of our preserved runic monuments may be the remains of the earliest church-
yards. Runestones with the inscription ‘Here lies X.. .’ found in churchyards may
be regarded as real tombstones, with the inscription pointing towards the medieval
tombstones. Another indication of an early churchyard is the so-called Eskilstuna
sarcophagus, made of limestone or sandstone and consisting of five big slabs, two long
walls, a roof or lid and two tall gable ends (Figure 46. 1. 1 ). They are richly ornamented
with carving in animal art and have runic inscriptions. They were raised on top of
graves from the middle of the eleventh century, to judge from the ornamentation, but
have normally been disturbed by later burials. They got their name from the first find,
at an old churchyard in Eskilstuna, Södermanland, but the largest amount of such
monuments – today mainly preserved as fragments – are found in the province of
Östergötland. Gotland has its own type of similar monument, a stone coffin, made
of four upright slabs with runic inscriptions and pictorial illustrations in relief, standing
on top of the grave. Concerning Gotland and the so-called churchyard finds already men-
tioned: women’s graves from the eleventh century, found to the north of the medieval
churches in many parishes (Thunmark-Nylén 1995 ). The reason why these graves are
always female is that sex segregation (women were buried to the north and men to
the south of the church) was often practised in the eleventh, twelfth and beginning
of the thirteenth centuries, and they are undisturbed because, from the high Middle
Ages, the north side of the church was not used for burials, due to superstition.
CULT PLACES AND CHURCHESThe topic of cult-site continuity has been vividly discussed for a long time. New
archaeological material supports the hypothesis of continuity; the most striking
examples are the offering site excavated under the church of Frösö (see Brink 1996
passim), and the Danish excavations of Viking Age manors in direct contact with early
medieval churches (e.g. at Lisbjerg, see Jeppesen and Madsen 1990 ). If the pre-Christian
cult was performed in the hall of the manor, the chieftain may, after the conversion, have
given place for a small private church at the farm. A good example of this seems to be
the aforementioned Lisbjerg in Jutland, where the excavation immediately outside the
–– Anne-Sofie Gräslund––