The heroized dead. People, animals, and materiality in Scandinavian death rituals, AD 200-1000

The Scandinavian death rituals are expressions of agency (war, negotiations, hunting, and personal attraction), and the outcome of the investigation of depositional practices archaeo- logically. Thus, the death rituals cannot be interpreted as self- explanatory afterlife constructions. The wealth depended on political mobilization and a narration of a sense of belonging. As such, the death rituals acted for social identity in diasporic relations and networking, a kind of cultural hybridity as in our modern time (Anthius 2001). The power of the past and the grand narratives to glorify the past, such as Charlemagne as the Roman emperor, speaks for the power of remembrance in the long term and a heroizing of the dead.