Early Christians, immigrants and ritualised practice. A case study of the south-eastern Bornholm

In the article funerary rituals observed on early medieval cemeteries of the south-eastern Bornholm are studied and explained from the perspective of theory of practice. Rituals, although sharing certain elements with other types of human practices, are viewed as a special kind of actions due to their formality, fixity and their outcomes. It is argued that the analysis of the funerary rituals practiced by the communities of the early medieval Bornholm can, on one hand, inform about non-verbal expression of identity of their members and, on the other hand, enlighten the circumstances and the reaction to the proceeding social and political change that took place on the island in the 1000-1100 AD.