Download or read book Ancestors, Their Worship and the Elite in Viking Age and Early Medieval Scandinavia written by Triin Laidoner and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It does not reject the existence of ruler ideology, but argues that the ideology was based on conventional and widely recognised religious practices revolving around kinship and ancestors. It introduces the concept of 'superior ancestors', used in social anthropology to denote a form of political ancestor worship used to deliberately regulate social structure. It is argued that the communal worship of deceased rulers derived from their doubly important role as social leaders and as ancestors.