Tangible Traces 0f Devotion: The Post-mortem Life of Relics

Though relics have attracted immense interest from a variety of scholars, not much attention has been paid to the practical handling of the holy corporal remains. Here, with the aim of better understand- ing the treatment of the bodies and relics as physical objects in Sweden during the Middle Ages, osseous materials from three different contexts were osteo- logically analysed. The investigation offers detailed insight into the treatment of the bones and makes it possible to distinguish three physical phases of the cult of relics. The three phases demonstrate the utilitarian administration of the bones and the for- titude of belief.