Presenting the past: On archaeologists and their influence on modern burial practices

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how antiquarians and archaeologists have influenced the burial practices of their times. They have encouraged the re-invention of prehistoric monuments in contemporary burial practices and also been involved in introducing the practice of modern cremation. Whereas antiquarians encouraged the upper-class stratum of society to reuse prehistoric material culture, their nineteenth century successors, archaeologists, turned to another audience. By focussing in greater detail on the earliest archaeologists and their endeavours to make archaeology a subject of public interest, it is revealed how they facilitated the re-invention of prehistoric material culture. For instance, bautas (a prehistoric memory stone for a deceased) became popular in the late nineteenth century, and it was also a category of sepulchral objects that the wealthier working class could afford. Hereby it is further shown how archaeology is an integral part of society, and not, as commonly argued within the history of archaeology, a discipline which in its interpretation of prehistory is influenced from a societal ‘outside’.

Keywords:

• archaeology
• death
• cremation
• material culture
• burials
• Sweden
• bautas
• Montelius
• Hildebrand

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the two anonymous referees as well as my colleagues Fredrik Fahlander and Marta Lindeberg for their most valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. I am also grateful to Patrik Nordström for information on Montelius' grave. I am further heavily indebted to Howard Williams for his most valuable comments on this paper, and I would also like to thank him for inspiration, enthusiasm, and for inviting me to write in this issue. Without Milton and Per, this work would not have been done.