The significance of social status and personal activities in the early medieval Scandinavian population
Abstract
The paper should enlighten which personal activities the Old Norse society cherished, based on the written information we have on the deceased from memorial stones. The importance of the mentioned activities of the deceased was concluded from the proportion of incidence of the activities and denotations of social status in the memorial rune stones.
The whole material of memorial rune stones on deceased in Scandinavia was analysed, being a precious written source since the texts remained unchanged and thus represent a contemporary evidence of what the heirs wanted to be remembered about the deceased. Subsequently, correlation with the later literary sources concerning the same period, the Icelandic family sagas, was made.
Both male and female roles and activities are discussed.