Abstract
This thesis is concerned with how circumstances of migration and settlement in Viking Age northern Scotland affect the display of identity. It is argued that funerary rites are an important field for creating and negotiating identities in a migration context, as they are simultaneously based on homeland traditions and responses to the new circumstances. By comparing pagan Norse funerary practices in northern Scotland with supposed homeland practices in Møre og Romsdal, this thesis is examining the Norse settlers response to these new circumstances. Using a theoretical framework based on practice theory and theories of cultural memory it is argued that the transformations in mortuary practices between the two areas of study indicate that embodied and understood ritualised actions were carried out differently, and that these alterations should be interpreted as meaningful responses. The motives behind these changes are examined and this thesis suggests that the graves should be interpreted in the light of an elite power discourse, in which claiming Norse identity was crucial.