Death Ritual and Germanic Social Structure (c. AD 200-600)

By comparing similarities and differences among burial data from Scandinavia, South-East Europe and Anglo-Saxon England, Mads Ravn provides insights into the social structure of Germanic society. His methodological approach to the funerary data involves both a traditional statistical evaluation and the application of Exploratory Multivariate Analysis, as well as evidence from anthropological and written sources. The structure of this volume also includes much discussion of past approaches and theories on the subject and how the techniques adopted here can open up new possibilities for improving our knowledge of how Germanic societies perceived and expressed themselves. Gender and familial relations, community size and identity, socio-political inequalities, symbolism and ritual are just some of the issues discussed.