Anonymous Artefacts and Revealing Runes Scandinavian Runic Artefacts from a Gender Perspective Table of Contents

Anonymous artefacts and revealing runes – Scandinavian runic artefacts from a gender perspective The aim of this paper is to examine a group of runic artefacts dated to the Viking Age (800-1050 AD) from a gender perspective. The analysed material consists of 59 runic artefacts from Scandinavia, which differ in regards to base material, context and content. In the analysis, the material is separated, described and classified into different manageable groups of texts and artefacts. Several case studies are presented in the paper, based on information gathered from the inscriptions as well as the archaeological material. The main issue is whether it is possible to attribute runic artefacts to a specific gender by means of a combination of archaeological and philological methods. föremålen till ett specifikt vikingatida genus. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my wonderful friends and family for the unwavering support through the good and bad times in the process of writing this thesis. A special thanks to Karolina and Amanda who suffered through reading and commenting the unfinished versions, undaunted by the amount of charts, diagrams and transliterations. Also, thanks to Christoph Kilger who encouraged me to write about this topic in the first place. A special thanks to Magnus Källström, Riksantikvarieämbetet, who introduced me to Lisbeth M Imer's doctoral thesis.