Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:08:28.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Prehistoric Soul Beliefs in Northern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Bo Gräslund*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Uppsala University, Gustavianum, S–753 10 Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract

Prehistoric burial rites and burial finds ought to be studied also in the light of primitive soul beliefs. It is argued that the customs of submitting prestige grave goods in northern Europe during the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age consistently reflect a pluralistic soul idea with a free soul aimed for the next existence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adler, G. 1977. Widergeboren nach dent Tode? Frankfurt am Main.Google Scholar
Arbman, E. 19271928. Untersuchungen zur primitiven Seelenvorstellungen mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Indien. Le Monde Oriental 20, 85226, 21, 1–185. Uppsala.Google Scholar
Badham, P. & Badham, L. (eds) 1987. Death and immortality in the religions of the world. New York: Paragon House.Google Scholar
Becker, G. 1964. Geist und Seele im Altsächsischen und im Althochdeutschen. Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Bendann, E. 1930. Death customs. An analytical study of burial rites.Google Scholar
Berg, H. 1961. Gravstuen. Skalk 3, 69.Google Scholar
Bremmer, J. 1983. The Early Greek Concept of the Soul. Princeton: University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, R., Kinnes, I. & Randsborg, K. (eds) 1981. The Archaeology of Death. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Chidester, D. 1989. Patterns of Transcedence. Religion, Death and Dying. Belmont: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Cipoletti, M. S. 1983. Jenseitsvorstellungen bei den Indianern Südamerikas. Berlin Google Scholar
Coles, J. M. & Harding, A. 1979. The Bronze Age in Europe. An introduction to the Prehistory of Europe c. 2000–700BC. London: Methuen & Co. Google Scholar
Cullberg, C. 1963. Megalitgraven i Rössberga. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Ebbesen, K. 1975. Die Jüngere Trichterbecherkultur auf den Dänischen Inseln. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Firth, R. 1955. The Fate of the Soul. An Interpretation of Some Primitive Concepts. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fischer, H. 1965. Studien über Seelenvorstellungen im Ozeanien. München.Google Scholar
Frazer, J. G. 1913. The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, I. London.Google Scholar
Frazer, J. G. 19331934. The Fear of the Dead in Primitive Religion, I–II. London.Google Scholar
Giot, P.-R. 1981. The megaliths of France. In Antiquity and Man. Essays in Honour of Glyn Daniel, 8293. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Gnoli, G. & Vernant, J.-P. (eds) 1983. La Mort, les Morts dans les Societes Anciennes. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Goody, J. 1962. Death, Property and the Ancestors. A Study of the Mortuary Customs of the Lodaga of West Africa. London.Google Scholar
Gräslund, B. 1981. Climatic fluctuations in the Early Subboreal Period. A preliminary discussion. In Florilegium Florinis Dedicatum. Striae 14, 1322.Google Scholar
Gräslund, B. 1983. Jordfästning och likbränning. Vägen till livet efter detta speglat i bronsålderns och stenålderns gravskick. Foredrag ved det 1. nordiske bronsealdersymposium på Isegran 3–6 okt. 1977. Varia 9, 4856.Google Scholar
Gräslund, B. 1989. Gånggrifternas funktion i ljuset av primitiv sjalstro. In Arkeologi och religion. University of Lund, Institute of Archaeology, Report Series 34, 6776.Google Scholar
Gräslund, B. 1990. Forntida själstro i arkeologisk belysning. Kungl Vitterhets Historie o. Antikvitets Akademiens Årsbok 1989, 6067, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Hochegger, H. 1965. Die Vorstellungen von ‘Seele’ und Totengeist bei afrikanische Völkern. Anthropos 60.Google Scholar
Hultcrantz, Å. 1953. Conceptions of the Soul among North American Indians. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Jacobsson-Widding, Å. 1984. Kropp och själ i centralafrikansk världsbild. Kungl Vitterhets Historie o. Antikvitets Akademiens Årsbok 1983, 6878, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Jensen, J. 1982. The Prehistory of Denmark. London/New York.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. E. 1963. Myths and Cults among Primitive Peoples. Chicago.Google Scholar
Jochmann, Fr. 1969. Seelen und Totenvorstellungen bei drei Bevölkerungsgruppen in Neuguinea. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Kaelas, L. 1981. Megaliths of the Funnel Beaker Culture in Germany and Scandinavia. In Antiquity and Man. Essays in Honour of Glyn Daniel, 141155. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Kinnes, I. 1992. Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in the British Neolithic. British Museum Occasional Papers 52.Google Scholar
Klimkeit, H.-J. (ed.) 1978. Tod und Jenseits in Glauben der Volker. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Lévy-Bruhl, L. 1931. Le Surnaturel et la Nature dans la MentalitéuPrimitive. Paris.Google Scholar
Malefijt, A. 1968. Religion and Culture. An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion. New York/London.Google Scholar
Paulson, I. 1958. Die Primitive Seelenvorstellungen der Nordeurasischen Volker. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Paulson, I. 1960. Seelenvorstellungen und Totenglaube. Ethnos 25, 85118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanks, M. & Tilley, C. 1982. Ideology, symbolic power and ritual communication: a reinterpretation of Neolithic mortuary practices. In Hodder, I. (ed.), Symbolic and Structural Archaeology. Cambridge: University Press.Google Scholar
Schlenter, U. 1960. Brandbestattung und Seelenglauben. Verbreitung und Ursachen der Leichenverbrennung bei Aussereuropäischen Völkern. Berlin.Google Scholar
Schuldt, E. 1972. Die Mecklenburgischen Megalith gräber. Untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion. Berlin.Google Scholar
Strömberg, M. 1971. Die Megalithgräber von Hagestad. Zur Problematik von Grabbauten und Grabriten. Lund. Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 1991. Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge: University Press Google Scholar
Toynbee, J. M. C. 1971. Death and Burial in the Roman World. London.Google Scholar
Uecker, H. 1966. Die Altnordischen Bestattungssitten in der Literarischen Überlieferung. München.Google Scholar
Wachtmeister, A. 1925. Primitiv Själavandringstro. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Wachtmeister, A. 1957. Själavandringstro hos Nordamerikas Indianer. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Widengren, G. 1969. Religionsphänemenologie. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Woodburn, J. 1982. Social dimensions of death in four African hunting and gathering societies. In Bloch, M. & Parry, J. (eds), Death and the Regeneration of Life, 187210. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wulff, J. 1969. Totenkult der Naturvölker des südlichen Südamerikas. Hamburg.Google Scholar