Title: Sacred places, sacred persons : religion, death and leadership in Roman Iron Age Scandinavia
Source document: Sacra. 2009, vol. 7, iss. 2, pp. 5-29
Extent
5-29
-
ISSN1214-5351 (print)2336-4483 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/118512
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The primary aim of this essay is to try to better understand the ancient Germanic religious practise and it's organization and structure, based on archaeological evidence. In the introductory part, several approaches to the archaeology of religion, as well as certain terminological issues are discussed. Next comes a summary of various types of "sacred sites", i.e. places where religious activity took place, and discussion on possible interpretations of such places. The following part includes discussions on the often neglected connections between religion and funeral customs, domesticity, productivity, and social and political structures of the ancient Germanic society. Position of religious performers and elites and changes in society, reflected in changes in religious practice, is mentioned in the final pages.
References
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[26] Renfrew, C. – Zubrow, E. B. W. (eds.) 1994. The ancient mind: elements of cognitive archaeology. (New directions in archaeology). Cambridge – New York: Cambridge University Press.
[27] Sigvallius, B. 2005. Sailing towards the Afterlife. Analysis of a Ship-Formed Burial Monument at Hellerö by the Baltic Sea. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter , 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 159–173.
[28] Stausberg, M.(ed.) 2001. Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgĺrd zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23. 12. 2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter.
[29] Sundqvist, O. 2000. Freyr's offspring. Rulers and Religion in ancient Svea society. Uppsala: Teologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
[30] West, M. L. 2007. Indo-European poetry and myth. Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press.
[31] Widholm, D. 2006. Sacred sites: burial customs in south Scandinavian Bronze and Iron Age. (Report series / University of Lund, Institute of Archaeology 95; Kalmar studies in archaeology 1). Kalmar: Institutionen för humaniora och samhällskunskap, Högskolan i Kalmar – Lund : Department of archaeology and ancient history, University of Lund.
[2] Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. Germania. Translation by T. Gordon [online]. Available at: http://www.northvegr.org/lore/tacitus/; [as per 16. 11. 2009].
[3] Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.) 2005. Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65).Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden.
[4] Aspeborg, H. 2005. The dead in the hills: reflections on the cult of the dead in the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age of Uppland. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 201–220.
[5] Bradley, R. 2005. Ritual and domestic life in prehistoric Europe. London: Routledge.
[6] Brink, S. 2001. Mythologizing landscape. Place and space of cult and myth. In: Stausberg, M. (ed.). Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgård zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23.12.2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter, 76–112.
[7] Carus, P. 2008. The History of the Devil: And, the Idea of Evil from the Earliest Times to the Present Day [online]. Available at:http://books.google.com/books/p/pub-4297897631756504?id=79KEpjUgX5IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=carus [as per 20. 5. 2009].
[8] Christensen, Ch. 2003. The sacrificial bogs of the Iron Age. In: Jørgensen, L. – Storgaard, B. – Thomsen, L. G. (eds.). The Spoils of Victory. The North in the Shadow of the Roman Empire. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet, 346–354.
[9] Ellis, H. R. 1943. The Road to Hel. Cambridge: University Press.
[10] Fischer, S. 2005. Roman imperialism and runic literacy: the westernization of Northern Europe (150–800 AD). (Aun 33). Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
[11] Gräslund, A. S. 2001. Living with the dead. Reflections on food offerings on graves. In: Stausberg, M. (ed.). Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgård zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23. 12. 2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter, 222–23.
[12] Glob, P. V. 1972: Lidé z bažin. Lidé z doby železné uchovaní po dva tisíce let. Praha: Odeon.
[13] Hedeager, L. 1992. Iron-age societies: from tribe to state in northern Europe, 500 BC to AD 700. (Social archaeology). Oxford: Blackwell.
[14] Hultkrantz, Å. 2001. Scandinavian and Saami religious relationships: Continuities and discontinuities in the academic debate. In: Stausberg, M. (ed.). Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgĺrd zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23. 12. 2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter, 412–423.
[15] Häringe Frisberg, K. 2005. Where are the dead?: empty graves from early Iron Age Uppland. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 143–158.
[16] Johnson, M. 1999. Archaeological Theory: an introduction. Oxford – Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.
[17] Jørgensen, L.– Storgaard, B. – Thomsen, L.G.(eds.) 2003. The Spoils of Victory. The North in the Shadow of the Roman Empire. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet.
[18] Kaliff, A. 2001. Ritual and everyday life – the archaeologist's interpretation. In: Stausberg, M. (ed.). Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgård zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23. 12. 2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter, 422–463.
[19] Kaliff, A. 2005. The Grave as concept and phenomenon. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 125–142.
[20] Kaliff, A. 2007. Fire, Water, Heaven and Earth. Ritual practice and cosmology in ancient Scandinavia: An Indo-European perspective. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet – Oxford: Oxbow Books.
[21] Kaliff, A. – Sundqvist, O. 2004. Oden och Mithraskulten. Religiös ackulturation under romersk järnĺlder och folkvandringstid. (Occasional Papers in Archeology 35). Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia.
[22] Kaul, F. 2003. The bog – the gateway to another world. In: Jörgensen, L. – Storgaard, B. – Thomsen, L. G. (eds.). The Spoils of Victory. The North in the Shadow of the Roman Empire. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet, 18–43.
[23] Larson , L. 2005. Hills of the ancestors. Death, forging and sacrifice on two Swedish burial sites. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 99–124.
[24] Nordin, P. 2005. Wealthy Women and Absent Men: Gender in Early Iron Age. Burial-Grounds in Ostergötland. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter, 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 221–235.
[25] Price, N. S. 2002. The Viking Way. Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. (Aun 31). Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
[26] Renfrew, C. – Zubrow, E. B. W. (eds.) 1994. The ancient mind: elements of cognitive archaeology. (New directions in archaeology). Cambridge – New York: Cambridge University Press.
[27] Sigvallius, B. 2005. Sailing towards the Afterlife. Analysis of a Ship-Formed Burial Monument at Hellerö by the Baltic Sea. In: Artelius, T. – Svanberg, F. (eds.). Dealing with the Dead. Archaeological Perspectives on Prehistoric Scandinavian Burial Ritual. (Riksantikvarieämbetet arkeologiska undersökningar skrifter , 65). Stockholm: The Swedish National Heritage Board – The Museum of National Antiquities in Sweden, 159–173.
[28] Stausberg, M.(ed.) 2001. Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte. Festschrift für Anders Hultgĺrd zu seinem 65. Geburtsdag am 23. 12. 2001. (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31). Berlin – New York: de Gruyter.
[29] Sundqvist, O. 2000. Freyr's offspring. Rulers and Religion in ancient Svea society. Uppsala: Teologiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
[30] West, M. L. 2007. Indo-European poetry and myth. Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press.
[31] Widholm, D. 2006. Sacred sites: burial customs in south Scandinavian Bronze and Iron Age. (Report series / University of Lund, Institute of Archaeology 95; Kalmar studies in archaeology 1). Kalmar: Institutionen för humaniora och samhällskunskap, Högskolan i Kalmar – Lund : Department of archaeology and ancient history, University of Lund.