Ett landskap av tro. En uppsats om eventuella kopplingar mellan lämningar från yngre järnåldern och de första kyrkornas placering i västra Östergötland.

Abstract

For some time, there has been a general thought that churches built in the Early Middle Ages in Scandinavia, around the 12th century, directly replaced cult buildings or cult sites from the Late Iron Age. There are archaeologists who have criticized this and were instead skeptical that churches at all were built on places where a pre-Christian cult building existed. Several examples from Scandinavia contradict this and show a continuity of place and cult from the Late Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages. The aim of this thesis is through a spatial analysis, study Late Iron Age archaeological sites in the landscape around thirteen churches located around lake Tåkern in the western part of Östergötland, to see if there is a place and cult continuity from the Late Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages at the selected locations. During this period, the change from Old Norse religion to Christianity took place. It can be seen as a time of change in multiple ways; it affected people who lived during it both mentally and physically. Applying the spatial analysis in perspective to the change of religion and discussing this based on temporality, historical use and reuse of heritage, can provide a deeper understanding of the development of the landscape and the placement of the first churches in western Östergötland.