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Graham wrote:
>There will a good number of members on the List who can access your thesis,
Ingegerd, so please will you post the details - and if you have the time to
sketch out the main conclusions there'll be many others, like me, interested
in them.


Thank you for the interest!  At the moment, only a couple of copies exist of
my thesis at University College London, called "Vessel import to Norway in
the first millennium A.D.  Composition and context", Ph.D. thesis, Institute
of Archaeology, 1996, but, if I can finish off my revision of it fairly
soon, it will be published by The Archaeological Museum in Stavanger,
Norway, this year (still in English!) in their series AmS Skrifter.
As to the content and conclusions, they do not really deal with
Christianity, but the place and meaning of certain imported objects (vessels
of bronze, glass, pottery etc.) in pre-Christian Norwegian society.  Instead
of interpreting the vessels just as prestigious, but mainly functional,
objects, my theory is that they were used (and they are mainly found in
burials) as metaphors and symbols for regeneration, fertility and
continuity, both in rituals conducted during the lifetime of the deceased
and in the burial context.  Such rituals would probably have been seen as
particularly important for the leading families (hence the association with
high-status farms), who also had a ritual responsibility for their society
as a whole, another reason why they (who also had the means) were eager to
acquire specialized vessels for the purpose.

This may not be quite what you had expected, Graham, but if you, or anyone
else, is interested in discussing this, or the more general points about the
early introduction of Christianity into these Norse societies, I shall be
happy to do so, on or off list!

Ingegerd H.

Dr. Ingegerd Holand
e-mail: [log in to unmask]





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