In the Landscape
and Between Worlds
B
ronze age settlements and burials in the Swedish
provinces around Lakes Mälaren and Hjälmaren yield few
bronze objects and fewer of the era’s fine stone battle axes.
Instead, these things were found by people working on wetland
reclamation and stream dredging for about a century up to the
Second World War. Then the finds stopped because of changed
agricultural practices.
The objects themselves have received much study. Not so with
the sites where they were deposited. This book reports on a wideranging landscape-archaeological survey of Bronze Age deposition
sites, with the aim to seek general rules in the placement of sites.
How did a person choose the appropriate site to deposit a socketed
axe in 800 bc?
The author has investigated known sites on foot and from his
desk, using a wide range of archive materials, maps and shoreline
displacement data that have only recently come on-line. Over 140
sites are identified closely enough to allow characterisation of their
Bronze Age landscape contexts. Numerous recurring traits emerge,
forming a basic predictive or heuristic model. Bronze Age deposition sites, the author argues, are a site category that could profitably
be placed on contract archaeology’s agenda during infrastructure
projects. Archaeology should seek these sites, not wait for others to
report on finding them.
martin rundkvist is an archaeologist who received his doctorate
from Stockholm University in 2003. He has published research into
all the major periods of Sweden’s post-glacial past. Rundkvist teaches
prehistory at Umeå University, edits the journal Fornvännen and keeps
the internationally popular Aardvarchaeology blog.
cover image: detail of a rock-art panel at Hemsta in Boglösa, Uppland (site Raä 128).
An axe with its characteristic s-shaped haft, an incomplete ship and two cupmarks.
According to Johan Ling, the panel’s ship types and the level above the sea indicate a
date in Per. II, about 1400 cal BC. The closest known Early Bronze Age deposition site
is Hjältängarna at Grop-Norrby in Vårfrukyrka, about 14 km to the NNW. An axe was
deposited there a century or two after the Hemsta carvings were made. Photograph by
Sven-Gunnar Broström.
Parishes with certain or potential Bronze Age depositions.
Bold face denotes parishes with at least three depositions.
Map by Lars Östlin.
A RCH A EOLOGy
A Nd EN V IRONM EN t 29
In the Landscape and Between Worlds
Bronze Age deposition Sites
Around Lakes Mälaren and Hjälmaren
in Sweden
Martin Rundkvist
ARCHAEOLO Gy ANd ENVIRONMENt 29
© 2015 martin rundkvist
iSBn 978-91-7601-213-0
iSSn 0281-5877
publisher department of historical, Philosophical and religious Studies, Umeå University
design Bitte granlund / happy Book
cover Bitte granlund, with a photograph by Sven-gunnar Broström
PdF preprint version, march 2015
tA Ble oF con ten tS
preface 7
1. introduction 9
Field of Study 9
goals and methods 11
Previous Work in other regions 12
Sacrifice? retrievable and irretrievable deposits 15
ritual and rationality 18
Artificial Scarcity and individual
Agency 20
Site continuity vs. continuity of Site Selection
criteria 22
deposit diversity 22
chronology and typological terminology 23
2. overview of the data in context 25
Scope and delimitation 25
Avoiding late neolithic Axes and daggers 26
overview of the database and data collection 27
Shoreline displacement, Site classification and
Bronze Patina 28
3. grouping and characterising the
sites 30
multi-episode Sites: Accumulated deposits 31
Single-episode river Sites 32
lake Sites 34
inlets of the Baltic Sea 38
Bronze Age Bogs/other Wetland 40
multi-trait locations 41
dry land: gravel ridges and Settlements 42
dry land: nondescript locations 43
Strong Place Features: Boulders, a cave, a Spring,
rock crevices 44
What Was deposited Where And When? 47
deposition Sites in the Settled landscape 49
4. conclusions: a heuristic procedure
for finding unknown deposition
sites 51
Step 1. is this a productive parish? 51
Step 2. Where were the Bronze Age lakes and sea
inlets? 52
Step 3. Where did the water do something interesting? 52
Step 4. is your candidate basin the right distance
from Bronze Age settlement? 53
Step 5. Auger the basin, then machine strip while
metal detecting 53
5. gazetteer: detailed information on
a selection of interesting deposition sites 54
nä, Askersund, norra Algrena, mobergsudden 54
nä, glanshammar, hassle 54
nä, glanshammar, Storsicke 55
Sö, Bärbo, täckhammar bridge 55
Sö, eskilstuna, hyndevad and Kälby 56
Sö, helgesta, Frändesta, oxbroberget 58
Sö, huddinge, Balingsnäs 58
Sö, Spelvik, church hill 58
Sö, Svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan 58
Sö, turinge, nykvarn, ekudden 59
Sö, vrena, dalby, vrenaån 59
5
Sö, vårdinge, hjortsberga, höglund 59
Sö, vårdinge, långbro 60
Up, Alsike, rickebasta 60
Up, Bred, eklunda, mossen 61
Up, härnevi, lilla härnevi 61
Up, lena church/vattholma 62
Up, lunda, Sigridsholm 62
Up, ramsta, Bragby, mönemossen 64
Up, rimbo, rimbo 64
Up, Skogs-tibble, ingla/vicarage 64
Up, Stavby, Sunnersbol (lake Bokaren) 64
Up, Söderbykarl, ekeby 65
6
Up, vårfrukyrka, grop-norrby, hjältängarna 65
Up, Österunda, domta vad 65
Up, Österunda, Pukberget cave 65
vs, dingtuna, Stora & lilla Jacksbo and Skerike,
häljebo 66
vs, munktorp, Avhulta 66
6. bibliography 68
7. appendices 77
A. maps, field photographs and finds images 77
B. Site list: known locations 124
c. Finds list: poorly known locations 138
Pr eFAce
i began work on this book in the autumn of
2009. After 15 years of mainly studying late iron
Age elite burials and small finds, i wanted to do
something new. The themes i decided to explore
were the Bronze Age, landscape and wetlands.
my choice of study area was dictated by where i
live: in order to do landscape archaeology you
need to wander about in the landscape, and i did
not want to drive too far. i believe the main influences on my thinking have been work by
richard Bradley and david Fontijn, though others will no doubt also be easy to spot.
The project was made possible by generous
financial support from the torsten Söderberg
Foundation, the Johan & Jakob Söderberg Foundation, the Berit Wallenberg Foundation, the
Åke Wiberg Foundation, the royal Swedish
Academy of letters, the magnus Bergvall Foundation and Svenska Fornminnesföreningen.
Thanks to Jane davis, Joakim goldhahn,
John massey and Uwe Sperling for many insightful comments on the manuscript. Thanks to
magdalena Forsgren, Patrik Johansson, rune &
luz mary Johansson, Johan larsson, Kenth lärk,
Samuel rundkvist messner and Svante tibell for
skilled fieldwork labour, freely given. Thanks to
tove Stjärna and lars Östlin for making all the
fine maps. Thanks to Jan Apel, Wojciech Blajer,
Sven-gunnar Broström, christina Fredengren,
lise Frost, Bertil Jonsson, marcin maciejewski,
caroline möllberg, Jonas Svensson hennius,
hans Wigenfeldt and roger Wikell for valuable
information. Thanks to matts enström, Pontus
Printzsköld, Stefan Sellin, Jonas toresäter (Archdiocese of Uppsala) and carl Wachtmeister for
access to land for fieldwork. Thanks to richard
grönwall, margareta Backe and all the other
archaeologists of the Stockholm county museum for fruitful and friendly collaboration. And
thanks to Thomas B. larsson and Karin viklund
for accepting this work into the fine monograph
series that they edit.
Martin Rundkvist
Fisksätra, 9 January 2015
7
“For some time it has been obvious that metal detectorists have been
extraordinarily fortunate in locating previously unrecorded hoards. The
same people have found them on a number of different occasions. Discussions with the finders have made it clear that this did not happen by
chance. Long before prehistorians had realized that the siting of hoards
might follow topographic ‘rules’, metal detectorists had reached the same
conclusion. Their ability to make new finds is the clearest indication of
the usefulness of taking a fresh approach to this material.” (Yates & Bradley 2010a:30)
“... hardly any attention was paid to the find spots of hoards, and so a
large portion of the hoards have no topographic context. The recontextualisation of hoards by means of archive studies, evaluation of old maps,
site inspection and new image processing tools is an important contribution to the continued study of hoards.” (Hansen 2012:42, transl. MR)
“Classifying reconstructed find spots into types and investigating their
temporal and spatial distribution, as well as juxtaposing them with other aspects of the hoards, have given strong indications that the picture is
at least partly determined by a patterned choice of deposition location.
Thus it appears that not only the hoard contents but also their deposition sites display regularities.” (Scholz 2012:87, transl. MR)
1. Introduction
this is a study of sites in their landscapes:
places where Bronze Age metalwork and stone
implements have been found in non-settlement,
non-burial contexts. The study’s goals are a) to
take inventory of these sites in the area around
lakes mälaren and hjälmaren in Sweden, b) to
investigate recurring traits in the siting of deposition, and thereby c) to develop a heuristic tool
kit that may aid archaeologists in finding undisturbed Bronze Age deposition sites.
Field of Study
Archaeological sites are commonly sorted into
three main categories: settlements, burials and
deposits (e.g. malmer 2002). to these, the
Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia adds abundant rock art sites and a far rarer class of hilltop
sanctuaries. in the study area, all except the deposition sites and the hilltop enclosures are readily identified in the field when well preserved –
and vegetation permitting. While the spatial
relationship between settlements, burials and
rock art has long been rather well understood
(Kjellén & hyenstrand 1977; damell 1985;
Wigren 1987; Johansen 1993), the depositions are
harder to tie into the wider landscape context of
the society that produced them.
Several authors have published general province-wide overviews of Bronze Age settlement in
the study area:
• Uppland (Up) and västmanland (vs): Jensen
1986; 1987; 1989; Apel et al. 2007
• Södermanland (Sö): damell 1987; Wigren
1987
• närke (nä): Karlenby 2003
All but one of the main categories of Bronze Age
site around lake mälaren and the adjoining
province of Östergötland have received monographic treatment in recent decades:
• Settlements: Ullén 1997; Borna-Ahlkvist
2002; Artursson et al. 2011; Karlenby 2011
• Burials: victor 2002; Thedéen 2004
• rock art: hauptman Wahlgren 2002; ling
2012
• hilltop sanctuaries: olausson 1995
The deposition sites form the exception. The
bronzes themselves received solid study long ago
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
9
(ekholm 1921; Baudou 1960; Bohlin 1968; oldeberg 1974–76; Willroth 1985; larsson 1986), and
since hardly any new finds have been forthcoming, scholars have not pursued that avenue of
research further. Sonja Wigren (1987:53–62) and
Susanne Thedéen (2004:68–82) have however
published brief overviews for Södermanland
province.
The empirical distinction between Bronze
Age settlement sites, cemeteries and rock art
sites has become somewhat blurred in recent
years with the excavations of e.g. Sommaränge
skog in viksta (Forsman & victor 2007), ryssgärdet in tensta (hjärthner-holdar 2008) and
nibble in tillinge (Artursson et al. 2011; Karlenby 2011), all in Uppland. The B.A.W. is strong
there: Bronze Age Weirdness (Price 2008). yet
this blurring has not touched much on the site
category under study here. The only real examples i have come across are an early Bronze Age
sword pommel found in a small boggy patch at
Sommaränge skog, between a cupmark boulder
and the foundation of an apparently mundane
coeval farmhouse, and possibly the 1902 hoard
from lilla härnevi in härnevi (Up: see the gazetteer). As we shall see in the following, deposition concentrates emphatically in landscape
locations where it would be difficult or impossible to either live or bury the dead.
A 2001 preliminary study by John coles of
the relationship between bronzes recovered
from wetlands and Swedish rock art motifs of10 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
fers interesting avenues of research that have not
yet been explored to any greater extent. The
theme of christina Fredengren’s useful 2011 preliminary paper coincides more closely with that
of this book, as it covers late Bronze Age wetland deposition in the lake mälaren area. The
most important differences in our approaches to
the material are her a priori concentration on
wetlands rather than the landscape at large, and
her emphasis on bones – human and animal –
whose dating is ambiguous. Fredengren’s blanket
statement that most late Bronze Age deposition
sites “have connections with rivers or other waterways” (p. 113) appears to be an artefact of the
map scale she works on. everything in the lake
mälaren area is near water if you map the entire
lake basin on a computer screen (as seen for
instance in Fredengren’s characterisation of the
härnevi hoard’s siting, pp. 115–117, which i believe to be mistaken). in any case, although we
share considerable material, our goals differ. her
paper aims to study a) “what role the link between depositions and the watery landscape
would have had [during] the transition between
the late Bronze Age and the early iron Age” but
also (like this book) b) “in what type of water the
various deposits were placed” (p. 110).
research in this field is severely hampered by
the facts that a) deposited objects are hardly ever
found any longer, and b) during the period when
they were found, scholars were hardly ever involved in their retrieval. This is because Swedish
Bronze Age deposition sites are not identifiable
on the surface: most are in bogs, lakes and
streams, where few archaeologists have been able
to do any directed large-scale fieldwork. Also the
main era of wetland reclamation for agriculture
in Sweden ended before World War ii (runefelt
2008). This happened about the time when tractors replaced horses, placing the farmer in front
of the plough where he can no longer see what it
turns out of the ground. Finally, Swedish law
effectively prevents the growth of any significant
metal-detector hobby (rundkvist 2008; Svensson 2014). to my knowledge, the last time a multiobject non-grave bronze deposit surfaced in the
study area was in 1986 (at Sigridsholm in lunda,
Up).
Furthermore, data coverage is patchy, inconsistent and difficult to map. digging or dredging
in various landscape situations can be seen as a
kind of experiment as to whether a Bronze Age
deposit will be found. yet we have information
about only a small subset of the cases where
something was in fact found, and none about the
innumerable experiments that have turned out
negative.
goals and methods
This book is intended as a piece of landscape
archaeology, a field and practice that has been
recognised under a name of its own since the
1970s in northern europe (Aston & rowley
1974) and thrives to this day (Wagstaff 1987; Ashmore & Knapp 1999; david & Thomas 2008; rippon 2012; see also the journals Landscape Research, 1976 onward; and Landscapes, 2000 onward). i seek knowledge on the landscape scale:
not on the artefact level, not on the level of the
province-wide distribution map, but on a scale
of hundreds of metres, where you can see from
one studied landscape feature to another and
walk between them in an hour or two. rather
than treating the find context as an attribute of
each find, i view finds as attributes of the places
under study. This means that i am primarily interested in finds with a reasonably detailed spatial provenance, those that can be tied securely to
a place. And i aim beyond the anecdotal, to identify regularities, Bronze Age rules of landscape.
Ultimately, i envisage a predictive model,
being a set of analytical tools that would allow
archaeologists to go out into the landscape like
homing missiles, as it were, and find Bronze Age
deposition sites without the aid of farmers, peat
cutters or dredging crews. Then we could learn
what sort of materials and structures those finders of great-grandfather’s generation left on site
when they selected the objects they handed in to
the authorities. And we could get a solid palaeoecological background for deposition events.
With such knowledge, we would be in a much
better position to say how Bronze Age deposition was performed. one of the most recently
found major hoards from Sweden, 15 shields
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
11
unearthed in 1985 at Fröslunda in västergötland
province (hagberg 1988; hansson 1990), was
lifted by archaeologists and turned out to have
been deposited along with only some grass, if
even that. But Fröslunda is just one find.
reading debate pieces on methods in landscape studies, i have found myself siding with
Andrew Fleming (1999; 2006; 2007) rather than
christopher tilley (1994; 2010). Personal “phenomenological” impressions are a) impossible to
communicate clearly, b) of indeterminate relevance to ancient personal impressions, and so
should not in my opinion be afforded any central
place in scientific discourse. But as Fleming and
tilley both agree, this is not to say that a landscape archaeologist can stay indoors. in order to
understand a landscape well enough to speak
clearly about its characteristics and formulate
testable hypotheses, an archaeologist must traverse it, preferably on foot. As we shall see further
on, i have identified over 140 land parcels that
have yielded relevant finds, and that can be visited. For reasons of time constraints, i have
walked the landscape around only 18% of these,
but that taught me a lot.
in a sense, this is also a study of structured
deposition. But as duncan garrow (2012) points
out, that term is mainly used for the differential
(and possibly meaningful) distribution of various find categories across settlements and monumental sites. garrow’s study (p. 94) sets Bronze
Age metalwork deposition aside as a field of its
12 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
own, and i too avoid the term “structured deposition” here. So also with the expression “placed
deposition”, which has a similar meaning but is
redundant, deposition after all meaning “placement”.
Previous Work in other regions
northern europe’s metalwork hoards and single
finds are in themselves perennial subjects of
inquiry and publication, as are individual find
spots and their regional or province-wide distribution. But the literature about their landscapelevel siting, as studied in this book, is of quite
manageable size.
The field can be said to open with Walter
torbrügge’s seminal 1971 study of river finds in
central and north-Western europe. he demonstrated that most of that area’s innumerable
Bronze Age river finds must have been as intentionally placed as any find from a bog or a
spring. one of his primary arguments was that
certain widespread object types concentrate in
certain river stretches in a manner that chance
losses cannot. torbrügge argued in terms of
Deponierungsregeln, “rules of deposition”, although on the regional scale rather than on the
landscape scale pursued here. Still, he was fully
aware of “motive[s] for deposition that must be
understood with reference to the qualities of the
site” (p. 21). he commented at length on springs,
river mouths, islands, fords and bridges (pp. 61
–71), and more briefly on off-river deposition
sites including wells, ponds, lakes, sea inlets,
bogs and various dry site types (pp. 77–90).
Wolf Kubach (1983; 1985) looked at the landscape siting of find spots in lower Saxony, Westphalia and hesse, again largely in or near rivers.
he found (1985) that in some periods the composition of hoards is more consistent than their
siting, and argued that regardless of siting the
deposition custom has a “non-secular, in the
widest sense religious or magical background”
(1983:149). Kubach (1985) also notably suggested
that the interesting divide in his study area is not
between the single find and the multiple-object
hoard, but between finds of one to three complete objects on one hand, and large scrap metal
depositions on the other, particularly considering that every stray single object in the museum
collections may originally have been deposited
along with a few additional ones.
in his influential 2002 book on the southern
netherlands and northern Belgium (summarised in Fontijn 2008), david Fontijn documents
the various kinds of mainly wet deposition site
(p. 212) in that area, and studies what sort of objects were deposited where and when (p. 216 ff).
he finds that while swords and foreign jewellery
is found only in the main rivers away from settlement, local jewellery is found at the settlement
sites themselves.
heiko Scholz (2012) offers a classification
scheme for deposition sites in mecklenburg-
vorpommern, mainly covering various types of
wet location, and studies the different emphases
on the various site categories over the periods of
the Bronze Age. For instance, hoards of Per. iv
are particularly frequent in post-glacial kettle
holes and other small bogs.
regine maraszek (2012) examines the landscape situation of late Bronze Age hoards in
Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. She agrees (p. 114)
with Kubach that deposits of single and multiple
objects must be viewed in the same context. The
find spots include wet environments, banked
enclosures and settlements, but no clear rules of
deposition have as yet been identified.
denmark’s various landscapes are very different from the study area in terms of the topography and shoreline displacement. Karl-heinz
Willroth’s 1985 study of early Bronze Age deposits on the danish isles and in Sweden south of
Svealand (an area adjacent to the present one)
mainly operates on a high, regional scale level.
But Willroth also looked at a simple classification of find spots, documenting the varying proportions of grave finds, wetland finds and dryland deposits across time and space. one local
landscape parameter that he looked at briefly
was the (generally rather large) distance between
deposition sites and burial mounds (e.g. p. 98).
All later relevant work regarding denmark
that i have found deals with northern Jutland.
lise Frost (2008a), taking her inspiration from
the same writers as myself, Bradley and Fontijn,
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
13
has blazed a trail here with her studies of late
Bronze Age deposition sites on the local level.
She demonstrates that they are generally dispersed in wet environments but also form concentrations in certain parts of river systems,
large bogs or clusters of small bogs. no generally
applicable landscape rules emerged from Frost’s
work. But see her comments on landscape in
papers on individual hoards (Frost 2003; 2008b;
2010). Boddum et al. 2011 provide an anthology
of similar case studies.
in england and elsewhere, richard Bradley’s
1990 book The Passage of Arms (2nd ed. 1998)
has proved influential with scholars thinking
about deposition and landscape, even though it
operates primarily on a high, europe-wide scale
level. looking at south-east england, david
yates & richard Bradley (2010a) find that the
deposition sites cluster along watercourses and
near settlement indicated by lithics scatters (cf.
dunkin 2001). in another paper (2010b) they
look at the Fenland in cambridgeshire, noting
that just like in the netherlands many whole
weapons were deposited in rivers while fragmented ones are found singly on dry land. here,
hoards are often found in wetlands away from
the rivers. deposition is particularly dense near
coeval settlements along the fens’ edges and the
causeways across them to the isle of ely.
in Poland, Wojciech Blajer has documented
(2001) and re-tested with newer data (2008) the
variation across time and space of wetland met14 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
alwork deposition. it is particularly common in
northern Poland from the 16th century Bc onward. marcin maciejewski (2013) has researched
and analysed the find spots of north Polish
hoards from the 13th century and onwards in
greater detail. he notes a tendency for them to
occur on the edges of settlement clusters, about a
kilometre from the nearest known coeval settlement. he thus interprets the deposition sites as
boundary markers.
in Scotland, trevor cowie (2004) has looked
at the find spots of flat and flanged axes. Unlike
the Scandinavian sites, the Scottish ones are attracted by mountaintops, with many depositions
made on or next to spots with a commanding
view of the surrounding landscape.
in ireland, Katharina Becker (2013) has
looked at landscape siting as one facet of a wideranging study of metalwork deposition. She
finds that wet contexts predominate, with i.a. the
weaponry particularly favouring rivers. in line
with the aims of this book, she concludes that
“type-specific depositional patterns reflect rules
that were in place for different types of object”
(p. 31).
As for other more nearby regions in Sweden
and its neighbouring countries norway and Finland, i have not found any published studies of
this kind. For central norway, merete moe henriksen (2014:152–153) comments only briefly on
landscape location. in Finland bronze is just
generally rare in the period under study.
Sacrifice? retrievable
and irretrievable deposits
Until now, i have spoken only of “deposits”,
avoiding the word “sacrifice”. Scholars have long
distinguished retrievable deposits, “hoards”,
from irretrievable permanent deposits, “sacrificial/votive offerings” (see Berggren 2009; 2010
ch. 2 for overviews). The idea is that dry-land
hoards are buried secretly and temporarily for
mundane functionalist reasons, while wetland
offerings are disposed of permanently to communicate with the gods and often for reasons of
ostentatious display. (rychner 2001 and needham 2001:290–291 offer a caveat regarding deposition in shallow water whence objects could be
retrieved.) While this dichotomy is an empirical
reality (levy 1982:17–25, 43–44), it is doubtful if
the two classes of find should really be seen as
exponents of two different modes of thought
when we are dealing with a pre-monetary prestige economy and a pre-scientific world-view
(Karsten 1994:30–31; Bradley 2005:145–164;
rundkvist 2011a:61–62). in other words: it is true
that some of these finds could have been retrieved, and it is true that we often see different
object types in those contexts than we do in bogs
and rivers, but it is uncertain (and possibly untestable) whether the two classes of find were
really deposited for very different reasons. As
Katharina Becker (2013:32) puts it, “it is only by
breaking through the artificial boundary between the profane and ritual concepts that a coherent interpretation of the [type-specific deposition] practice in general … becomes possible.”
As the following study will show, dry-land
deposition was rare in the area we are dealing
with here, which makes the issue of retrievability
less interesting. nevertheless pursuing that
point, i have yet to see a convincing argument
for why we should interpret a given retrievable
pre-monetary, pre-state-society metal hoard as
mundane from a modern perspective. hansJürgen hundt (1955) argued extensively against
the idea. Bradley (1987) compared late Bronze
Age and viking Period metal deposition customs and found them to be largely similar. he
did not touch upon people’s motivations for depositing metal in either period, but emphasised
that during its use life an object could play a
number of different roles in both periods, indicated particularly by find combinations and degree of fragmentation. making the same interperiod comparison, christoph huth (2009)
agrees that the two periods’ metal depositions
are similar in most respects but points out that
they have been interpreted quite differently.
huth hints that he favours a mercantile interpretation for the use and deposition of both classes
of finds (cf. huth 1996). i disagree when it comes
to the deposition, and thus i take what is in fact
the long-accepted position on the issue in Scandinavian archaeology (Worsaae 1866:313 ff; Will1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
15
roth 1985:219–243; Bradley 1998:15–16). little
metal – Bronze Age or viking Period – was buried for mundane reasons, and even less was allowed to remain underground for such reasons.
For instance, the fact that every single farmer on
11th century gotland seems to have left silver
under the floor boards (Östergren 1989) cannot
be explained with reference to sudden death or
senile dementia in the owners. hiding silver and
never retrieving it was a cultural norm on the
island.
Klavs randsborg (2002) points out that precious metal was quite often cached in wet contexts in denmark during the wars of the 17th
century, and obviously for reasons that had
nothing to do with the supernatural. to my
mind however this milieu – a monetised protocapitalist state ravaged by repeated large-scale
military invasion – is too different from e.g.
Bronze Age Svealand for any comparison to be
very illuminating.
if we learn how to find undisturbed deposition sites, then the debate over sacrifice versus
mundane safe-keeping may one day become
transformed by detailed information on how
people placed these things. As Stuart needham
(1989:232) has noted, the few cases where information survives about bronze objects placed in
intricate arrangements, and sometimes along
with other less collectible materials, suggest “that
deposition was not only deliberate, but intended
to be permanent”.
16 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
it is in any case important to keep separate
the interpretation of why hoards were assembled
and why they were ultimately buried or sunk
into water. This distinction is not to my knowledge ever made in the literature. Following on a
long debate about “founder’s hoards”, Bradley
(1998:118) believes that the casting jets and fragments of slag found in certain hoards would
most likely not have been accumulated for sacrificial purposes. And indeed i see no reason to
question the idea that scrap metal was collected
for recasting. But bear in mind that much of the
collected scrap did demonstrably become recast,
as seen from the alloy composition of Bronze
Age metalwork (northover et al. 2001; Bray &
Pollard 2012). Bronze Age people probably did
not associate scrap metal primarily with holes in
the ground. This means that the buried scrapmetal hoards that we know of are ones that received unusual treatment and were not allowed
to take the normal path of their kind. Scrap metal was one kind of valuable that one might part
with to communicate with supernatural powers.
The owner of an unremarkable, haphazardly put
together bag of scrap might just one day decide
to sacrifice it.
But perhaps scrap for deposition was sometimes in fact carefully selected. Scrap metal
hoards by definition contain many fragmented
objects, but the pieces rarely add up to complete
artefacts. needham (2001:288) argues that this
may be due to a custom similar to one known
from ancient greece, where an animal was sacrificed and only certain parts that make poor eating were burnt as offerings to a god (a sleight of
hand taught to humanity by Prometheus the
trickster). Perhaps most scrap metal hoards from
northern europe contain the gods’ share of a
much larger collection of objects that were recast for renewed use. And Svend hansen
(2012:27) agrees, pointing out that at greek sanctuaries of the geometric period (9th and 8th
centuries Bc), tripod cauldrons dedicated to the
divinity were often re-cast, with only a few selected cut-off pieces taken aside and deposited in
sacrificial wells or middens (Kyrieleis 2006:97).
Though this sacral metal recycling is not mentioned in greek writing, the ideas behind the
animal sacrifice that took place at the same sites
are well documented in coeval written sources.
The Per. vi hoard from hassle in glanshammar
(nä) was housed in a tripod cauldron from the
Pontic greek area, thus documenting contact at
least through intermediaries between the very
milieu hansen refers to and our present study
area. But although several of our hoards contain
a few incomplete objects among the complete
ones, none is dominated by scrap.
Then we have the unfinished objects, often
found as collections of identical pieces and seen
by scholars as stock parked temporarily by the
bronze workers themselves. Anja endrigkeit
(2010:93) notes that the objects’ unfinished status
actually need not indicate that they were depos-
ited temporarily for mundane reasons. She does
however (echoing the founder’s hoard concept)
believe that no casting moulds, metal bars or
casting jets were parted with for supernatural
reasons. And there i disagree. either way, the
study area’s deposition sites have not to my
knowledge yielded any unfinished objects, although quite a few are in mint condition.
Joanna Brück (2001:157) suggests that the
dry-land deposits represent metal given to the
earth in return for goods taken from the earth,
including grain. Whether or not the earth was
envisaged as a personified deity here would be
difficult to tell. Joakim goldhahn (2010) offers a
similar interpretation where metalwork would
have been deposited to compensate for the taking of clay to make pots and casting moulds. This
may be so. note, however, that in Scandinavia it
cannot have been evident to most people that
metal had subterranean origins. Bronze came
from the packs of seafarers, not from the earth
like clay and grain did.
on the continent there are interesting object
types that must be seen as specialised votive
forms of a common depositional item, such as
the geistingen type of socketed axe that is too
thin-walled for use and often impossible to fit
with a haft (Fontijn 2002:160–161). Fontijn suggests that their introduction means that ideas
about the proper use history of an object for
deposition have changed: no longer must the axe
thrown into the lake come with memories at1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
17
tached. i would go further: such finds can be
taken to mean that our currently fashionable
ideas about artefact biography were never really
that important in those cultural contexts. Perhaps the important thing was always simply to
deposit a (commoditised) axe. We should reserve interpretations about the importance of
use histories for cases where we can document a
strong correlation between geographical origin
and the state of wear of an object type on the one
hand, and the manner and location of its deposition on the other.
Finally, on the subject of sacrifice, i do not
observe the distinction made by henri hubert
and marcel mauss ([1898] 1964:11–12) between
that term and “offering”. here sacrifice is simply
“the act of giving up something valued for the
sake of something else more important or worthy”, to quote the Concise Oxford Dictionary
(1990).
Ritual and Rationality
The debate about retrievable and irretrievable
deposits is intimately connected to the distinction between ritual and functionalist or mundane or domestic behaviour. As richard Bradley
has argued at length (2005), these terms are not
very helpful when dealing with prehistoric societies. one may easily think that “ritual” equals
“irrational” and thus “functionally inexplicable”.
conversely, “domestic” would then equal “functionalist”. But it is impossible to be more rational
18 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
than your level of knowledge about the world
allows. This has nothing to do with the oncefashionable epistemological relativism where
there was talk of “different ways of knowing”.
Simply put, in the pre-scientific era that makes
up almost the entire history of human culture,
people did not know very well what was real and
not. it was – and to some extent still is – extremely difficult for us to determine what sort of
actions will produce reliable effects. most likely,
people during prehistory believed that everything they did was functional. (Joanna Brück
1999 offers a fuller treatment of this issue that is
oddly hostile to rationalism but nevertheless
reaches similar practical conclusions for scholars.)
if everyone believes in the lady of the lake
and atheism is unheard of, then it will appear
entirely rational to make sacrifices to her. in fact,
doing so may produce solidly beneficial effects
– not thanks to any divine intervention, but because it impresses the neighbours. This view
coexists easily with some level of modern-style
economic rationality where rare imported goods
such as bronze would be valuable and prestigious and thus appropriate as sacrificial gifts. And
conversely, it means that when we see evidence
of people acting in mundane, sensible ways that
we can easily explain from a modern functionalist perspective, then we are nevertheless probably not dealing with behaviour that prehistoric
people saw as belonging to any separate category
of its own. if you really believe in gods, then sacrificing to them looks as sensible and/or ritual as
digging deep post-holes to keep your house from
collapsing. With the exception of people clinging
to old belief systems, every age acts upon its best
available knowledge.
my own interpretation of why the deposits
were made and left in place is that all were certainly left for reasons that appeared rational to
people at the time. But very few were left for reasons that would make any functional sense to
someone with a scientific world view. A belief in
the supernatural was clearly involved, and so the
deposits may rather blithely be termed “sacrificial”. We will most likely never know whether
modern scholars would classify the fictional
entities to which the sacrifices were directed as
gods, demons, spirits or ancestors. Thus hansen
(2012) speaks simply of “gifts to the imaginary
powers”.
Accepting an argument by Knut Stjerna
based on old norse literature and adding an
interpretation of recent folklore about elves,
gunnar ekholm (1916) was emphatically convinced that the deposits were intended as gifts to
the ancestors. he believed that objects were deposited in wetlands because the mists there were
seen as shades of the dead. hundt (1955) was
similarly convinced that many deposits in mecklenburg are Totenschätze, “treasures of the dead”;
that is, basically grave goods deposited elsewhere
than with the bodies of their owners. Although
hundt documented that graves became poorly
equipped in his study area at the same time as
deposition sites became rich, i am not as convinced by this interpretation as either ekholm or
hundt.
But tacitus tells us that people believed in
gods in 1st century Ad northern europe, and
the mediterranean written evidence for godly
beliefs at the time of the Scandinavian Bronze
Age is extensive indeed. Several scholars have in
fact argued recently that Bronze Age depositions
in the area were directed to gods known from
the norse pantheon of the late iron Age and/or
surviving theophoric place names (Zachrisson
2004; Forsgren 2008; 2010; Fredengren 2011). i
am more skeptical about oral tradition’s ability to
maintain divine characters with recognisable
traits over such a long time span. i believe that
Bronze Age gods were worshipped in Scandinavia but that Snorri would not have recognised
them.
note that “ritual” does not mean “random”.
rituals, while irrational to someone with a scientific world-view, are in fact anything but random. it is part of the term’s definition that a ritual is structured, even scripted, and proceeds according to rules that allows it to be repeated in a
recognisable form that the participants and audience accept as traditional (cf. papers in Kyriakidis 2007). And for this reason, archaeologists
should not dispense with the concept of ritual
action. As i have argued above, almost all human
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
19
action during prehistory was very likely perceived as rational in its time. But much of it is
nevertheless likely to have been ritualised.
in any case, for the purposes of this study, the
rationale behind the deposition of metalwork
and stone implements is not a central issue. The
custom began long before our period and ended
long after it. indeed, at a few sites within the area
of study (such as hyndevad on river eskilstunaån, Sö) we have continuity of deposition from
the neolithic though the Bronze Age and on
afterwards. yet none of the continental written
sources from the end of the deposition era comment on the custom, even though it was current
in Spain and italy (Bianco Peroni 1980; ruizgálvez-Priego 1995; van rossenberg 2003 w.
refs) as well as across northern europe. The
ubiquity and longevity of the custom stand as a
silent conundrum. in all likelihood though, people did not think about deposition in exactly the
same way over those millennia or indeed over
the twelve centuries of the Scandinavian Bronze
Age. nor across the geographical range of the
South Scandinavian Bronze Age culture, at any
given time. As indicated by this book’s title, however, i tend to see the deposits as remains of acts
intended as communication with another world.
Whether this interpretation holds is not actually
an important issue here given my landscapearchaeological heuristic goal.
[An aside: as mentioned before, the earliest
narrative writers in europe, homer and hesiod
20 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
and their immediate successors in greek literature, appear unaware of the idea of wetland sacrifice. But at about the same time, King Sennacherib of Assyria is making occasional sacrifices in
water and commenting on them in cuneiform
inscriptions (dalley 2013:99–101). in c. 688 Bc,
the king inaugurates a major set of canals and
aqueducts designed to bring mountain-stream
water to niniveh. in the project’s main commemorative rock inscription at the source near
Bavian he describes offering precious stones,
gold figurines of stream-living animals and perfumes to ea and enkidu, the two appropriate
gods. And once while on campaign in the
marshes of southern mesopotamia, Sennacherib
suddenly finds his army’s camp disastrously
flooded. he responds by sacrificing a boat, a crab
and a fish of gold to ea by way of dropping them
into the water, as his annals record. note that the
king mentions neither tools, weaponry nor jewellery, which makes the Assyrian custom a poor
parallel to what we see in Scandinavia. But it
does document that during Per. vi there was a
mesopotamian belief that the gods of water
could usefully be interacted with though sacrifice in water.]
Artificial Scarcity
and individual Agency
colin Burgess (1979:275–276) suggested that the
many hoards from the end of england’s Bronze
Age are a symptom of low demand for bronze
after the adoption of iron working. “The only
sensible thing for a bronze-worker to do with his
stock would be to bury it until it was needed or
demand picked up.” regarding the last peak of
bronze-sword deposition in english rivers, he
argued that “For craftsmen struggling to cope
with the collapse of the bronze market, this
[bronze swords made mainly for display and
votive purposes] would have been one way of
staying in business and using some of their massive bronze surplus.” (1979:278).
At about the same time a similarly economic
mode of thought led michael rowlands
(1980:44) and Kristian Kristiansen (1981:245) to
suggest a more general model for such peaks in
bronze deposition, involving the concept of artificial scarcity. The Bronze Age elite’s social position very likely rested on control of trade (be it
mercantile or prestige gift-based) in scarce commodities, notably bronze. The artificial scarcity
model notes that the system would break down
and the elite lose their advantage if bronze became easy to come by. And so it suggests that
permanent deposition in graves and hoards was
a way to keep the bronze supply down and ensure the continued scarcity – and value – of
bronze. Thus rowlands (1980:44; 1998:176),
“Burying large quantities of it [bronze] may have
been the only means of maintaining some kind
of scarcity value”, and Kristiansen (1981:245), “By
removing scarce and prestigious goods from
circulation their value could be regulated and
controlled ...”, and Kristiansen again (1998:79),
who suggests that it could be that “hoarding represented a ritualised way of getting rid of seasonal overproduction, to prevent inflation ...”.
i find this model lacking in explanatory power. irretrievable deposition in lakes and rivers
did of course have the described effect on the
economic system to some extent, though it is
difficult to gauge what percentage of the available metal left circulation in such a manner. But
it is in my opinion out of the question that people had that goal in mind when they deposited
bronze. to the individual aristocrat who controlled bronze, scarcity was only desirable when
it happened to somebody else. no-one would ever
let go of their own bronze for the common abstract good of the aristocratic system. Bradley
(1998:38) offers similar criticism.
it is not clear from my reading whether rowlands and Kristiansen believed that this systemhygienic effect was consciously intended or just
emerged somehow. Bradley (1982; 1984:105) suggested that people’s motivation was in fact potlatch-like competitive destruction of wealth.
And Kristiansen agrees: on the subject of certain
huge late Bronze Age axe deposits in France, for
example, he writes (1998:150), “This destruction
of wealth is so remarkable that we must assume
overproduction and inflation, leading to a spiral
of desperate internal competition and ritual destruction.” to paraphrase, then, people sacrificed
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
21
many axes because axes had become common
and it no longer impressed the neighbours much
if you only sacrificed a few.
This is a marxist perspective where a society’s
economy lives a life of its own and people are
cogs in the machinery. But the artificial scarcity
model cannot explain the conscious reasons that
people chose to deposit bronze in the first place
(Fontijn 2002:278). if we asked Bronze Age people why they made sacrifices, they would not
reply “to make bronze scarcer” or “to impress
the neighbours”. i believe that the most common
answer would in all likelihood be something
along the lines of “Because it pleases the lady of
the lake”.
Site continuity vs. continuity
of Site Selection criteria
david Fontijn (2002:260) points out that repeated deposition in the same bog or stretch of river
over centuries presents something of a conundrum since the deposits would not have left any
visible traces to attract subsequent groups of
ritual celebrants. he argues that the explanation
would be oral traditions about deposition sites:
they may not have looked like much, but people
told and re-told stories about what had once
happened there. With Stijn Arnoldussen, Fontijn
has later suggested another explanation that
appears more likely given the long periods involved: the traditions may not have conveyed
22 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
specific memories of individual sites, but instead
transmitted general landscape rules governing
deposition (Arnoldussen & Fontijn 2006; cf.
Fontijn 2007). These are what this study seeks to
identify.
in this view, a person who sought an appropriate place to deposit objects might not know
whether or not anyone had done so before at a
given site, but might find that it fulfilled traditional ritual demands. The idea might not be
“This is a known place where the lady of the
lake has been contacted before”, but “This is the
kind of place where She may be contacted”. Such
a perspective might explain the pattern Fontijn
(2002:260–263; 2012) sees in limburg, where
Bronze Age deposits are found in unspecific and
rather extensive zones in the landscape, not at
discrete places. if the landscape rules of deposition are not strongly determinant, then deposits
will tend to spread out. But as Fontijn points out
(2002:275), the rule cannot have been as simple
as “Any wet place will do”. And as i argue below,
in the landscape of the study area there were
apparently a few long-lived attractors, notably
river rapids, that received repeated depositions.
deposit diversity
Beyond the baseline wetland theme Bronze Age
deposition sites in the study area are highly diverse. We cannot make general statements about
all Bronze Age deposition sites. There are many
kinds, and it is highly likely that they follow different landscape rules (cf. Bradley 2000:53; Fontijn 2002). The study area is not very rich in finds
of this kind compared for example to denmark
and Scania, and so we cannot operate with too
many categories. But the following distinctions
are in my opinion indispensable.
Single vs. multiple episodes of deposition. Accumulated finds represent sites that have attracted deposits repeatedly. i view them as key to the
issue at hand.
Single vs. multiple objects. As a rule, the finds
that mark the sites under study are single objects.
multi-object single-episode deposits are rare and
tend to contain unusual object types.
Chronology. The Swedish Bronze Age lasted
for almost twelve centuries. We must allow for
change over this time span and make good use of
the typo-chronology established by earlier research.
Functional and material categories. Weaponry, jewellery, tools and metalworking debris;
bronze and stone.
chronology and typological
terminology
The chronological backbone of this study is oscar montelius’s 1885 division of the Scandinavian
Bronze Age into six periods (cf. montelius 1917;
Åström 1985), as later elaborated by evert Baudou (1960) and Andreas oldeberg (1974–76) for
the study area. As with most archaeological
chronology, the relative sequence of types and
periods established in the 19th century still
stands with small corrections, while the absolute
dates have become much clearer thanks to radiocarbon dating. i accept the dates suggested by
Karen margrethe hornstrup et al. in a 2012 paper (tab. 1:1), based on a Bayesian analysis of
radiocarbon dates for cremated bone and dendro dates for danish oak log coffins. Period shifts
may have occurred somewhat later in the relatively peripheral study area than in denmark,
but this is probably on the scale of decades, not
quarter centuries. to aid comprehension, tab. 1:2
offers a glossary of the most common artefact
types involved.
1. i n t ro dU c t i o n
23
Table 1:1. Bronze Age absolute chronology according to Hornstrup et al. 2012
Early Bronze Age (EBA). 1700–1100 cal BC (600 years)
Per I. 1700–1500 (200 years)
Per. II. 1500–1330 (170 years)
Per. III. 1330–1100 (230 years)
Late Bronze Age (LBA). 1100–530/20 cal BC (575 years)
Per. IV. 1100–950/20 (165 years)
Per. V. 950/20–800 (135 years)
Per. VI. 800–530/20 (275 years)
Table 1:2. Glossary of the most common artefact categories
EngLIsh
swEdIsh
swEdIsh 19th C.
gErmAn
dAtE
Flanged axe
Kantyxa
skaftcelt
randbeil
Per. I
shaft-hole axe
skafthålsyxa
skafthålsyxa
schaftlochbeil
Per. I–II
Palstave
Avsatsyxa
Pålstav
Absatzbeil
Per. II
socketed axe
holkyxa
hålcelt
tüllenbeil
Per. II–VI
sloping-butt stone axe
nackböjd yxa
Orthogonal stone axe
rhomboid stone axe
reverse-twisted torque
rombyxa
wendelring
wendelring
24 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
nackengebogene steinaxt
LBA
rechtwinklige steinaxt
Per. IV–V
rhombische steinaxt
Per. V–VI
wendelring
Per. VI
2. Overview of the Data in Context
Scope and delimitation
As we have seen, deposits form a slightly fuzzy
category that is at heart defined in negative
terms: not found in graves, not found in culture
layers formed by daily life at settlement sites.
Thus here too: this study treats specialised deposition sites, not depositions made at settlements
(cf. Borna-Ahlkvist 2002:91–98), at grave monuments or at hilltop enclosures. When known
more specifically, the environment tends to be
wet; often lakes, streams, bogs and damp meadows. These sites deserve separate treatment as
they stand out from other contexts through the
types and quality of the objects found here, suggesting that Bronze Age people saw the deposition sites as a distinct category of place – or as
several.
data collection required that i face the problem of stray finds. most Bronze Age items in the
museum stores retain only the names of a hamlet
and a parish to identify where they were found.
They cannot be disregarded. And so i have followed a simple rule. i only study object categories that have been found in a wet context or a
multi-object hoard in the study area. Thus, for
instance, i do not comment on stray bronze
tweezers or razors, whose find contexts when
documented are exclusively dry and almost exclusively graves. But i do keep track of late
Bronze Age stone axes despite the fact that most
are stray finds. As Kubach (1985:179) put it, and i
translate: “if for instance certain find categories
occur only as single finds or predominantly in
watery contexts, it seems reasonable in cases
where no other information is at hand to classify
all finds of these categories as depositions.” And
as hundt (1955:97) noted, if we study stray finds
“... it is possible that a few inadvertently lost pieces will incorrectly be classified as deposits, but
this would skew the general picture of deposits
in bogs and on dry land less than if all single
finds were set aside” (my translation).
given these criteria and the need for secure
Bronze Age dates, i have covered only objects
made of bronze and stone, with an additional
few gold and tin finds. Pottery, quartz and quern
rubbers mainly feature at settlement sites. Svengunnar Broström and roger Wikell have pointed out three sites to me in Södermanland where
great numbers of quern rubbers have been collected next to settlements on the edges of
2 . ov e rv i e W o F t h e dAtA i n c o n t e x t
25
drained wetland (at Söderby in Salem, hässlingby in Österhaninge and gärtuna in Östertälje).
But i have not pursued that find category more
closely.
As for geography, we are dealing with four of
Sweden’s medieval landskap provinces: Uppland
(where Uppsala is), västmanland (where
västerås is), närke (where Örebro is) and Södermanland (where eskilstuna and Södertälje are).
The country’s capital Stockholm sits on the border between Uppland and Södermanland. This
study area equals the current län provinces of
Uppsala, Stockholm, västmanland, Örebro and
Södermanland. excluding a few outliers, the
sites i have been able to pinpoint for the purpose
of landscape study are all within a 175 km (W–e)
by 160 km (n–S) rectangle.
Avoiding late neolithic Axes
and daggers
The late neolithic’s characteristic flint daggers
and stone shaft-hole axes may have survived for
some time into the early Bronze Age. no distinct
type of stone axe in the late neolithic tradition
has so far been assigned a firm, exclusive and
widely accepted Bronze Age date, though many
scholars have tried. Following Per lekberg
(2002:85–86), i have disregarded such axes here.
As for the daggers, Jan-elof Forssander’s
(1936) and ebbe lomborg’s (1975) type vi is a
fairly good Bronze Age candidate. But apart
26 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
from early Bronze Age find combinations it also
has several secure combinations with dagger
type v which is diagnostic of the later late neolithic. torsten madsen (1978) placed most of
type vi’s production in the late neolithic as
well. Jan Apel (e-mail 11 october 2012) on the
other hand places the type entirely in the early
Bronze Age (cf. Apel 2001, where this is left
somewhat ambiguous). The present study area
was peripheral both to the dagger production
centres and to the bronze sources and so can be
expected to have lagged behind denmark and
Scania in the type repertoire. Thus following
Apel i have placed type vi flint daggers in Per.
i–ii of the Bronze Age.
Apel has kindly given me a copy of his dagger
database. i rely entirely on his classification. he
lists 55 daggers from the study area. none is in a
closed find combination with any Bronze Age
object. The only stone implements reported to
have been found in closed deposition contexts
with Bronze Age metalwork in the study area are
a flint sickle in a Per. ii hoard from oskarsborg
in Ärentuna (Up), and, oddly enough, a middle
neolithic battle axe found with a Per. i flanged
bronze axe under a boulder at Frommesta in
ekeby (nä).
There is little information about find contexts
for the 55 flint daggers. 40 are in the Swedish history museum’s online inventory database. 34 of
the 40 retain no context information whatsoever
beyond the names of the hamlet and parish. As
flint is not reliably changed by a wet environment,
we cannot know if those daggers are relevant to us
here. But five retain information about having
been found on reclaimed wetland or lake beds,
one from grindstugan in ludgo (Sö) “at a depth
of 4–5 feet, where there were also black oak
trunks”. This shows that flint daggers were in fact
deposited in the area during the early Bronze
Age, and so i have used the six Shm daggers with
context information in this study.
overview of the database
and data collection
i have disregarded finds recorded no closer than
to province or parish. This left me with about 370
named hamlets or crofts that have each yielded
at least one relevant documented find. These
properties have produced 143 finds that are recorded at least to the level of a land parcel within
a hamlet, forming the core material of the study.
73 finds are from Uppland, 41 from Södermanland, 17 from västmanland and 12 from närke.
of these 143 finds, finally, 51 have recorded find
spots within a land parcel to an accuracy of a few
tens of metres or better.
87% of the finds with hamlet-level or better
provenance are comprised of only one object,
usually a socketed axe, usually from the late
Bronze Age. There are only 30 hoards of more
than two objects, plus six accumulated multiepisode sites, mainly river rapids.
most of the find provenances used in this
study come down to the present day as names of
hamlets in parishes, and occasionally land parcels in hamlets. A crucial requisite for the work,
and probably an important part of the explanation why such a study has not been undertaken
decades ago, is the recent availability of online
databases with scanned and digitised archive
materials. Until recently, it would have taken a
scholar days of travel between archives in different cities just to pinpoint a single find spot for an
early museum acquisition. moving on from
there to locate relevant nearby rock art etc. and
place that single find spot in relation to shoreline
displacement would have taken additional days.
And this presupposes that we were dealing with
the era of the photocopier, when scholars can
easily bring map copies with them from archive
to archive. in the age before that technology’s
widespread availability, the task would have been
even more difficult.
i have been able to do most of the data collection from my desk, which allowed me to pinpoint
and classify several sites a day. i have used the following online resources, and my gratitude goes out
to the people who have created the sites, update
them and keep them online.
• The Swedish history museum’s inventory.
mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/sok.asp
• The heritage Board’s sites and monuments
register. www.fmis.raa.se
2 . ov e rv i e W o F t h e dAtA i n c o n t e x t
27
• The (now sadly defunct) nationwide shared
map engine of the county Administrations.
www.gis.lst.se/lanskartor
• The Survey office’s historical maps. lantmateriet.se/Kartor-och-geografisk-information/
historiska-kartor/
• The Survey office’s current place-name map
engine. kso.lantmateriet.se/kartsok/kos/index.html
• The geological Survey’s shoreline displacement and deglaciation map engine. maps2.
sgu.se/kartgenerator/maporder_en.html
• The institute for language and Folklore’s
place name archive. www.sofi.se/ortnamnsregistret
• Swedish Wikipedia. sv.wikipedia.org
• eniro telephone directory. eniro.se
• google. Surprising things can be learned
simply by googling the name of the parish
and hamlet where something was found.
www.google.com
in addition i have travelled to museum stores in
Uppsala and hallstahammar to read off-line inventory ledgers and card files. Staff at museums in
Örebro, västerås, enköping, Uppsala, Stockholm,
Södertälje and nyköping have kindly answered
e-mail queries. Several local historical societies
(Sw. hembygdsförening) have also been very helpful in locating places whose names are in the museum ledgers but not on the maps.
28 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Shoreline displacement, Site
classification and Bronze Patina
Since deglaciation about 8000 cal Bc, the entire
study area has risen continuously due to rebound of the dent formed by the weight of the
inland ice. The rate of this rise has not been uniform but has decreased over time. And the
north-west edge of the study area rises faster
than the south-east edge, because it is closer to
the centre of gravity of the inland ice. Thus the
whole area is tilting slowly to the south-east over
the centuries. meanwhile, the sea level fluctuates
independently of the land’s behaviour. The sum
of these motions is a rather intricate history of
shoreline displacement that forms a classic field
of study within quaternary geology (recently,
Plikk 2010; Sund 2010; risberg & Alm 2011;
Katrantsiotis 2013).
rather than attempting an amateur landscape reconstruction for each site in the various
periods of the Bronze Age, i have used three of
the Swedish geological Survey (SgU)’s detailed
online nationwide ancient shoreline maps to
characterise them. These maps deal not only
with the sea but also with the likely behaviour of
inland basins (modern lakes, bogs and river valleys) as the land has risen and tilted. during the
Bronze Age, lake mälaren was an inlet of the
Baltic Sea filled with a dense inland archipelago.
lake hjälmaren was already a lake, as it remains
today.
The geological Survey offers maps with
1000-year intervals. For Per. i (1700–1500 cal
Bc), i have used the SgU map for 2050 cal Bc.
For Per. ii–vi (1500–520), i have used the map
for 1050 cal Bc. And for Per. vi, i have additionally looked at the map for 50 cal Bc in cases
where i have needed to gauge whether or not a
given basin is likely to have become isolated
from the sea at that time. The online maps do not
supply a perfect overall reflection of the research
consensus in Swedish quaternary geology (Jan
risberg, e-mail 11 August 2014), being better in
some areas and worse in others. But they are the
only viable access point for an archaeologist who
needs to understand over a hundred sites in relation to the seashore and lakes of their time and
cannot himself become a quaternary geologist.
When classifying the landscape location of a
site, i have paid little attention to whether the
finds look as if they have spent a lot of time under water or peat, and much more to how far the
find spot was from water at the time of deposi-
tion. most sites are in Bronze Age water or so
close to the shore that it is difficult to tell. And
though the vertical distance between the deposition site and the water’s surface was in a few
cases considerable – e.g. at oxbroberget in
helgesta (Sö) and marielund in Funbo (Up) –
i have classified these as lake sites rather than
setting them apart as a small class of lakeshore
hilltop site.
Bronzes that retain a metallic sheen with
black or brown staining are known to have been
in a low-oxygen wetland environment from deposition until recovery. But the corroded green
ones cannot be seen as indicating dry-land deposition with such certainty. This is because a)
shoreline displacement drained many wet sites
after deposition, b) people in the study area began draining and ploughing wetlands on a large
scale in the 19th century, giving verdigris ample
time to form on previously pristine bronzes in
the ground before recovery.
2 . ov e rv i e W o F t h e dAtA i n c o n t e x t
29
3. Grouping and Characterising the Sites
studying the landscape locations of the
area’s Bronze Age deposition sites, it soon becomes apparent that the most common class of
landscape feature involved is water in all its
forms: still and flowing, fresh and brackish. This
emerges particularly clearly if we look at the
Bronze Age state of things rather than the modern, uplifted and drained landscape. Beyond
that, my studies have convinced me that the second-most important attractor in the landscape is
simply settled spaces, as seen in the distribution
of burnt mounds and rock art. not all settlement
sites of the time have any preserved burnt
mounds, and some of the mound sites may have
been reserved for rituals, not everyday settlement. nor does all the rock art seem to mark
places where people actually lived. But these
caveats are unimportant to the present study.
Burnt mounds and rock art are restricted to the
settled parts of the landscape more generally,
and so they serve well to help us understand the
relationship between deposition sites and settlement, when the houses that people lived in have
left no traces above ground.
early in my work (rundkvist 2011b; in press)
i saw an affinity among the deposition sites for
30 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
sublime and dramatic landscape locations. This
tendency in a small sample of particularly rich
find spots has not been borne out by study of the
whole material. Some locations are indeed dramatic, but most are not, and the dramatic ones
conform to the general placement pattern.
So seek the bronze axe in the watery parts of
the settled Bronze Age landscape. But before
delving into details, let us orientate ourselves at
the opening of this chapter with a summary of its
main results (tab. 3:1). note three things.
a. 59% of the find spots are in or on the shores
of Bronze Age lakes or sea inlets. This may be
a low estimate if some of the apparent bogs
were in fact lakes at the time.
b. The 13% that are dry-land locations probably
include several unrecognised burial and settlement sites; that is, deposition events that
are not really relevant to the study’s theme.
c. Thus the figure of 87% wet locations represents a minimum.
Tab. 3:1. Location types for Bronze Age deposition,
by frequency.
Location
no of sites
%
47
33%
In/at Bronze Age lake
In/at Bronze Age sea inlet
37
26%
In/at Bronze Age river/stream
23
16%
dry land
19
13%
In Bronze Age bog
11
8%
multi-trait, wet
5
4%
sum total
142
100%
sum wet
123
87%
sum dry
19
13%
multi-episode Sites:
Accumulated deposits
let us begin our close look at the landscape preferences of the people involved with sites that
have yielded accumulated deposits. This term
refers to a series of deposition events, not to
hoards whose contents have accumulated over
time and then been buried in a single event.
When a site has proved attractive enough that
people have returned to it, then it is particularly
important for us to study its characteristics here.
i am aware of only six multi-episode sites (tab.
3:2). All were wet locations in settled areas, 1–4
kilometres from registered burnt mounds and
rock art. These, as we shall see, are common
traits among the deposition sites under study.
Four of the six locations share some further
important traits. during the Bronze Age, each
was in or next to a river at the point where it
entered and/or exited major bodies of water. At
least three sites were whitewater gorges with
rapids or waterfalls. This offers an explanation
for how people could stage so many deposition
events so accurately at these same sites over so
long a time. Three of the six sites saw deposition
starting in the middle or late neolithic. i have
argued above that the constant here is not any
oral tradition about previous deposition events,
but a long-lived set of rules for where deposition
is appropriate.
A stretch of river rapids is dramatic to the
senses, easy to find, small in its dimensions and
long-lived (prior to modern hydraulic engineering). This, i believe, is why the whitewater sites
are so over-represented among the accumulated
deposits in comparison to e.g. the Bronze Age
lakes. A stretch of rapids is always there and always attractive, even if the celebrants of each
event through the centuries believe that they are
the first ever to carry out deposition there. conversely, even though certain Bronze Age lakes
may have been seen as appropriate for deposition for centuries, there was no similarly distinctive point on most lakeshores that could steer the
depositions, allowing an identifiable accumulation of objects to form. When modern-day archaeology becomes aware of depositions in such
a lake, it is usually a question of only one object,
while we see the deposition made 150 years previously across the lake as a separate site, if indeed
we are aware of it at all.
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
31
Table 3:2
Bronze Age landscape situation
Date range
Distance
from burnt
mound (km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
nä, glanshammar,
storsicke
multi-trait: wetland on peninsula next
to the mouth of river Äverstaån on
Lake hjälmaren – gorge?
Per. I, II, LBA
2.6
3.8
sö, Bärbo, täckhammarsbro
river: in whitewater gorge, beginning
of rapids between Lake Långhalsen
and the sea (river nyköpingsån)
mnEO, LnEO, Per. I, II, IV,
and later
2.6
1.3
sö, Eskilstuna, hyndevads dammar
river: in whitewater gorge where
Lake hjälmaren emptied into the sea
(river Eskilstunaån)
LnEO, Per. I, II, IV-V, V, VI,
and later
1.3
1.4
sö, Vrena, Vrenaån
river: in whitewater gorge between
Lakes hallbosjön and Långhalsen
Per. I, IV-V
1.6
1.5
Up, skogs-tibble,
Ingla/Vicarage
Lake: in/at inland lake
Per. IV, VI
c. 0.1
c. 1.0
Up, Vårfrukyrka, gropnorrby
river: in/at short stream between
coastal lakes
LnEO, Per. III
c. 0.8
c. 0.1
Single-episode river Sites
The characteristics of the multi-episode sites lead
us to river sites where we know of only one object or hoard, or finds of only one Bronze Age
period that may have been deposited at a single
event. i am aware of 19 such sites (tab. 3:3). All or
none of them may in fact be as rich and longlived as the multi-episode sites treated above: we
know only what finders have told us. As to the
landscape character of these sites, note that even
the largest rivers in the area are little more than
streams a few tens of metres across. This is reflected in the names of the water courses with
32 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
deposition sites, all but one of which are Sw. åar,
which are not large. At one or two sites we are
actually dealing with little streamlets, bäckar.
Some finds made in modern rivers turn out to
originate in ancient lakes or sea inlets when
checked against the geological Survey’s landscape history model, and are dealt with in the
following sections. And conversely, a few other
basins probably held Bronze Age streams where
there are now bogs.
Table 3:3
River/stream, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance
from
burnt
mound
(km)
Dis
tance
from
rock art
(km)
nä, Edsberg, Löten
In Fjugestaån/ruggebäcken, a small tributary of svartån,
inland
Per.
V-VI
Axe
>5
3.3
nä, glanshammar, hassle
In Äverstaån, short river stretch between small lakes, 3.8
km upstream from river mouth at storsicke
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
2.9
0.2
nä, Karlskoga
In svartälven where the river emptied into Lake möckeln
Per.
V-VI
Axe
>5
>5
nä, Kumla, Blacksta
near ralaån, close to its confluence with Kumlaån, inland
Per. III
Axe
>5
>5
nä, Örebro, skebäck
In svartån where the river emptied into Lake hjälmaren
Per.
V-VI
2 axes
City
City
sö, Barva, Bjurkärrsäng
In/at small stream
Per. III
3 axes
>5
c. 2.5
sö, helgona, Kristineholm
In nyköpingsån: whitewater gorge, end of rapids between Lake Långhalsen and the sea, 1.4 km downstream
from täckhammar bridge
Per.
IV-V
Axe
1.2
1.0
sö, Lid, Lilla Lundby
In/at stream that drains Lake Lagerlundssjön
Per.
II-III
Axe
c. 0.4
c. 0.4
sö, näshulta, Kråksten
In/at sjöängsrändeln stream near where it emptied into
Lake näshultasjön
Per.
IV-V
stone axe
>5
>5
sö, torsåker, harlinge
At mouth of short stream between lakes
Per. I
spear
3.9
2.6
Up, Altuna, drävle
In short stream near where it emptied into coastal lake
Per. I
Axe
2.2
2.7
Up, simtuna/torstuna, Forsby
bridge
In Örsundaån, short river stretch with rapids between a
lake and another lake or inlet of the sea
LBA
stone axe
0.5
1.2
Up, skogs-tibble, Lillsjön/
stensmyran
In/at short stream between an inland lake and a lake or
sea inlet, currently stensmyran bog
Per. I
Axe
0.9
1.8
Up, skogs-tibble, Ulvansvad
In/at short stream between lake and sea, currently
sävaån
Per.
I-II
Flint
dagger
c. 0.3
c. 3.6
Up, Ärentuna, gammelängen
near Lissån, under boulder next to end of short stream
between inland lakes
Per. II
spear
3.0
3.0
Up, Österunda, täppdammen
In/at short tributary of skattmansöån
?
spear
c. 1.1
c. 1.5
Vs, Arboga, Kråkdiket/Vinbäcken
In Kråkdiket/Vinbäcken where it emptied into the sea
LBA
stone axe
c. 1.9
>5
Vs, tortuna, Fors
In rapids where a lake system emptied into the sea,
currently tillbergaån/Lillån
Per. I
2 axes
1.0
0.1
Vs, Västerås, tunby
In/at short stream between lake and sea
Per. II
Axe, 3
sickles
0.1
0.4
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
33
The accumulated finds treated above demonstrate that rapids were important. And so we
might begin our study of the river sites by noting
that two are at hamlets named something including fors, denoting rapids: Forsby in torstuna
(Up) and Fors in tortuna (vs) (the two parish
names, though similar, are not in fact cognate).
And more generally, the rule seems to be that
river deposition was seen as appropriate at sites
where a river changes state. only a few finds have
been made where the river apparently just
flowed past and did nothing in particular. most
sites are where rivers entered or exited bodies of
still water, often with rapids. As Fredengren
(2011:116) puts it, “... metalwork depositions were
placed at exits of waters such as river mouths and
the confluence (meetings) of different waters,
sweet and salt”. note though that the meeting of
fresh water and the brackish Baltic does not in
fact seem to have been very important when
seen in the light of my larger sample. All sites
except three are in the settled landscape near
registered burnt mounds or rock art.
34 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
lake Sites
many of the river sites are near the lakes these
watercourses drain or replenish. And deposits
were made in the lakes as well – in fact, overwhelmingly commonly. identifying Bronze Age
lakes is largely contingent on the geological Survey’s model, as the situation is in many cases
very different today. many of the era’s lake basins
have
• silted up into bogs
• dried out through land uplift, becoming river
valleys
• recently been artificially drained and cultivated
And conversely, many current lakes were inlets
of the sea during the Bronze Age. But any current body of open water was open water during
the Bronze Age too, though often at a higher
level in relation to its basin. As it turns out,
Bronze Age lakeshores and lakes form the most
common category of deposition site of all: i am
aware of 47 (tab. 3:4) including one of the multiepisode sites discussed above.
Table 3:4
Lake, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
nä province
In Lake hjälmaren, south-west part
Per. I
Axe
?
?
nä, Asker, Bystad
In/at Lake sottern, on island or peninsula, near
mouth of stream on north-facing shore
Per.
IV-V
Axe
>5
>5
nä, Ekeby, mosjön
In Lake mosjön, south-east part
Per.
I-II
Flint
dagger
>5
>5
nä, glanshammar, sticksjö
In Lake hjälmaren among small islands
Per.
I-II
Flint
dagger
>5
c. 4.4
nä, Lännäs, tunäs/vicarage
In Lake hjälmaren next to the mouth of river
täljeån on east-facing shore
Per. II
spear
>5
>5
nä, Lännäs, djursnäs
In/at Lake hjälmaren next to a stream mouth
on north-facing shore
Per.
V-VI
spear,
knife
>5
>5
sö, Björkvik, Edeby
In/at Lake Yngaren on south-facing shore of
island
Per. I
Axe
0.6
0.7
sö, Frustuna, hållsta
In coastal lake or sea inlet, currently the drained
Lake Igelsjön
Per. I
Axe
1.4
0.3
sö, Frustuna, hällesta
In/at lake, currently drained farmland
Per. II
Axe
sö, helgesta, Frändesta, Oxbroberget
On high promontory on south-facing shore of
island above narrows in Lake Båven
Per. III
spear
1.9
1.7
c. 0.5
>5
sö, huddinge, solgård
On hillside above stream’s entry point into west
end of long narrow lake, under boulder
Per. V
dagger
>5
1.1
sö, husby-Oppunda, tärnö
In Lake Långhalsen among small islands
Per. II
Axe
3.7
3.2
sö, husby-rekarne, Årby
In small inland lake
Per.
IV-V
Axe
c. 0.6
c. 1.0
sö, Kila, Villa solbacken
In Lake Bålsjön
Per. II
Axe
>5
>5
sö, Lista, Vingsleör
In Lake Apalsjön
Per.
I-II
Flint
dagger
c. 1.5
c. 3.7
sö, torsåker, torsnäset
In/at Lake sillen, below high promontory
Per.
III-IV
Axe
c. 0.5
c. 1.7
sö, torsåker, tuna
In Lake sillen
?LBA
Axe
0.8
1.1
sö, turinge, Ekudden
In/at Lake norra Yngern, on south-west-facing
shore of promontory
Per. III
mixed
hoard
0.2
>5
sö, tveta, rophäll
In Lake Långsjön
Per.
IV-V
Axe
2.9
1.5
sö, Vårdinge, nådhammar
In Lake Långsjön
Per. III
Axe
c. 0.2
c. 1.4
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
35
Table 3:4
Lake, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
sö, Västerhaninge, Prästängen
In/at inland lake, on west-facing shore
Per.
IV-V
Axe
>5
c. 3.4
sö, Österåker, maren
In/at Lake hjälmaren near the mouth of river
Forsån, “rapids stream”, on west-facing shore
Per.
IV-V
stone axe
>5
>5
Up, Björklinge, Kambo
In/at Lake Långsjön, on west-facing shore
Per. V
Axe
c. 2.3
c. 2.8
Up, Fasterna, grindtorpet
In Lake skedviken near mouth of stream on
north-east-facing shore
Per.
V-VI
Axe
c. 1.1
c. 4.4
Up, Funbo, marielund
On high promontory on south-east-facing
shore of Lake trehörningen
Per. V
Belt
dome
0.8
5.0
Up, Järfälla, säby
In Lake säbysjön, located on an island in the sea
Per. IV
neck
ring, 2
gold
spirals
1.0
0.8
Up, Knutby psh
In Lake Långsjön, located on an island in the sea
Per. VI
weapon
hoard
c. 1.9
c. 4.4
Up, Kårsta, Lilla sunnarby
In lake on island in dense archipelago, currently
mysingsån stream
Per. IV
neck ring
1.8
2.3
Up, Lunda, sigridsholm
In coastal lake or sea inlet, currently Lake sigridsholmssjön
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
3.9
4.8
Up, Läby, håmö, Frosshögarna
In Lake Läbyträsk
LBA
stone axe
c. 0.7
c. 0.8
Up, nysätra psh
In/at Lake hålsjön
Per.
V-VI
Axe
c. 3.2
c. 4.1
Up, rasbo, Västerberga
In coastal lake
Per.
IV-V
Axe
c. 1.1
c. 0.7
Up, rasbokil, Årby
In/at lake, currently Årbymyran bog
Per.
IV-V
Axe
c. 2.1
c. 2.2
Up, ramsta, Bragby
In small lake on island in sea
Per. I
sword
c. 0.6
c. 1.5
Up, skogs-tibble, between Vrå
and church
In coastal lake or sea inlet, currently river
sävaån
Per. I
Axe
0.9
0.5
Up, skogs-tibble, Ingla-Långmyran
In inland lake, currently Långmyran drained
bog
Per.
IV-V
Axe
c. 1.2
c. 2.0
Up, skogs-tibble, Långmyran
In inland lake, currently Långmyran drained
bog
Per.
II-III
Axe
c. 2.2
c. 2.6
Up, Vendel, holvarbogärde
In/at small inland lake
Per. V
Axe
>5
c. 1.7
36 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Table 3:4
Lake, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
Up, Vittinge, Ösby
In/at small inland lake
Per.
III-IV
Axe
>5
c. 4.1
Up, Vänge, Bärby
In Lake rönningen, at narrows
Per.
V-VI
Axe
1.7
3.2
Up, Vänge, Bärby
Up, Österunda, domta vad
In lake, currently river sävaån
LBA
stone axe
0.6
c. 1.3
In lake, currently bog
Per. V
Belt
domes,
rings
>5
2,1
Up, Österunda, Oxsjön
In/at Lake Oxsjön
Per.
II-III
sword
chape
2.3
3.5
Up, Österunda, Pukberget
At narrows in inland lake, in cave
Per.
V-VI
spear
>5
2.5
Vs, Björksta, Vida/högtorp
In/at inland lake on south-west-facing shore
Per. III
Axe
c. 0.2
c. 0.3
Vs, Fellingsbro, Eke
In Lake sällingsjön
Per. III
dagger
>5
>5
lakes named långsjön, “the long lake”, have
yielded many finds. it would be difficult to calculate the percentage of the area’s Bronze Age lakes
that currently bear this common name. But they
do appear over-represented among the deposition sites, which would suggest that Bronze Age
people were attracted to relatively long and narrow waters when depositing objects – as we have
already seen from the many river finds. note also
the two finds from the långmyran former bog
(“the long bog”) in Skogs-tibble (Up), and the
many locations at long narrow sea inlets as documented below. narrows in lakes are clearly attractive too. Perhaps we are seeing something
similar to how people behaved around rivers and
streams: lake deposition was deemed particularly appropriate at spots where the lake did
something. in a few other cases, lakes have been
selected that were on islands in the sea at the
time of deposition, demanding that people travel
across brackish water with the objects in order to
reach the freshwater lake for the deposition
event. People do not seem to have favoured any
particular facing for deposition on or just off the
lakeshores.
As argued above, the reason that so few lake
sites have yielded accumulated finds attesting to
multiple deposition episodes is probably as follows. even if a group of people agree for many
generations that a certain lake is appropriate for
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
37
depositions, then they will only rarely happen to
select the same spot along the lakeshore for such
events more than once. This is because they have
no written record of where the last deposition
event was enacted, and the lake itself offers no
hint.
inlets of the Baltic Sea
Some finds from current lakes are difficult to
date in relation to each lake basin’s isolation from
the Baltic Sea. They may have been deposited in
brackish sea water with all its communicative
potential, before the isolation phase, or in fresh
water after it. There are however many sites without this ambiguity, where objects have clearly
been deposited in or at inlets of the sea. i know
of 38.
An association with islands is far more common here than among the lake locations. This is
because of the mälaren basin’s topography: a
great deal of its surface area was (and is) taken
up by islands rather than by water. in order to
deposit an object in the open sea far from any
island, a person would have to travel quite a long
way from settled parts, which we have seen that
they usually did not do for that purpose. Also, an
object deposited in the deep sea would be highly
unlikely to come to our attention. in any case, it
appears that for most kinds of object, the distinction between the freshwater of lakes and rivers
and the brackish water of the Baltic was not decisive for whether a given location was acceptable
as a deposition site. As we have seen though, in a
few cases a freshwater lake located on an island
in the sea was chosen.
With the sea inlet sites, there is a clear 5:2
preference for deposition near south-facing
shores over north-facing ones.
Table 3:5
Sea, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
sö, Brännkyrka, Årsta
On/at north-facing shore near narrow mouth
of inlet
Per. II
Axe
City
c. 1.7
sö, Eskilstuna, tunavallen
On/at north-facing shore next to the mouth of
river Eskilstunaån
Per.
IV-V
Axe
2.0
2.5
sö, grödinge, sibble
On south-facing shore of an island
Per. III
4 sickles
c. 0.1
c. 0.9
sö, sorunda, Fituna, mörkarfjärden
In an inlet, between the södertörn mainland
and a small island
Per.
IV-V
stone axe
>5
c. 1.8
sö, spelvik, church hill
On/at south-facing shore of sheltered inlet,
under a boulder
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
0.6
0.5
sö, strängnäs, sundby
At inlet on south-facing shore of an island,
under a boulder
Per. VI
Jewellery
hoard
>5
c. 2.4
38 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Table 3:5
Sea, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
sö, tunaberg, Bråten
At south-facing shore, inner end of protected
inlet
Per. II
Axe
c. 4.5
c. 0.8
Up, Alsike, Krusenberg
south-facing shore of major island in dense
archipelago
Per.
V-VI
Axe
>5
c. 3.7
Up, Bromma, norra Ängby
In a narrow inlet off a west-facing promontory
between two islands
Per. II
Axe
4.1
0.7
Up, Börje, Brunnby
In an inlet among small islands
Per. I
Axe
c. 0.4
c. 0.9
Up, Ekerö, skärvik
south-facing shore of island
Per.
V-VI
stone axe
c. 3.4
c. 1.3
Up, Fröslunda, noppsgärde
Off south-west-facing shore of an island
Per. I
spear
1.6
0.1
Up, gryta, säva
south-facing shore of small island in dense
archipelago
Per. I
Axe
c. 0.3
c. 1.1
Up, gryta, grängesberg/
Eningsberg
At north-facing shore, inner end of protected
inlet
Per. I
Axe
c. 0.2
c. 0.2
Up, dalby, gräna
In wide inlet, currently Lake Ekoln
Per. I
Axe
c. 2.0
c. 0.1
Up, dalby, tuna
south-facing shore of inlet
Per. V
Axe
c. 0.3
c. 0.3
Up, Edsbro, smaranäs
Off a north-facing promontory in a long canallike inlet acting as inland communication
route, currently Lake sottern
Per.
IV-V
Axe
3.4
>5
Up, gamla Uppsala, sanda
On east-facing slope of short gravel ridge
island
Per. V
Axe
c. 1.3
c. 2.0
Up, hagby, Focksta
On/at east-facing shore of sheltered inlet,
currently sävaån
Per. II
spear
c. 0.1
c. 0.3
Up, hammarby, Ekebo
East-facing shore of inlet on small island in
dense archipelago, beside a boulder
Per. V
Axe
3.7
3.7
Up, husby-sjutolft, Ekolsundsviken
Between two large islands in dense archipelago, currently an inlet
Per.
IV-V
Axe
3.4
2.9
Up, Jumkil, Ubby
In inlet, currently a tributary of river Jumkilsån
Per. I
Axe
c. 0.4
c. 2.5
Up, Lagga, morby
Cove on north-facing shore of large island
LBA
stone axe
c. 3.1
c. 3.6
Up, Lena, Edshammar
west-facing shore of long narrow inlet of the
sea, currently Fyrisån
Per. VI
spear,
axe
c. 0.6
c. 0.7
Up, skepptuna, Ånsta
In narrow closing inlet between two recently
joined islands in dense archipelago
Per. VI
sword
c. 3.2
c. 1.4
Up, solna, råsunda
south-facing shore of island
Per. VI
sword,
dagger
4.3
2.0
Up, solna, Ulriksdal
On/at north-east-facing shore of Edsviken inlet
Per. I
Axe
>5
c. 2.3
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
39
Table 3:5
Sea, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
Up, spånga, Oljeberget
south-facing shore of small island or peninsula
Per.
V-VI
Axe
3.3
0.8
Up, stockholm, hammarby/
mårtensdal
In long canal-like inlet acting as communication route through dense archipelago
Per.
V-VI
stone axe
City
2.2
Up, stockholm, Karlbergsvägen
Up, stockholm, Värtahamnen
south-facing shore of small island
Per. I
Axe
City
c. 2.1
Between two small islands
Per. II
Axe
City
c. 1.8
Up, söderby-Karl, norrmarjum
Among islands
Per. I
Axe
c. 1.1
>5
Up, Uppsala, tingshögsgatan
near small islands
LBA
stone axe
c. 1.8
c. 2.0
Up, Uppsala-näs, skärfältens
In long canal-like inlet acting as inland communication route, currently sjökärret Bog
Per. I
spear
c. 0.5
c. 0.6
Vs, Fellingsbro churchyard
south-facing shore of small island or peninsula
Per. I
Axe
c. 2.4
c. 3.3
Vs, Kärrbo, skyttebo
south-facing shore of promontory on island at
protected inlet
Per. II
Axe
c. 4.4
c. 2.9
Vs, Odensvi, Kumla
East-facing shore of promontory
Per. I
Axe
Vs, skultuna, Åkesta
On/at south-west-facing shore of long canallike inlet acting as inland communication
route, currently svartån, just downstream from
rapids at Forsby
Per.
IV-V
stone axe
Bronze Age Bogs/other Wetland
This site location category involves modern-day
bogs that are not sea inlets or lakes on the geological Survey’s landscape reconstructions for the
Bronze Age. if we look far enough back in time
up until deglaciation, all bogs in the study area
are actually silted-up former lakes and/or inlets
of the sea. But the apparent Bronze Age bogs are
difficult to interpret because sediment drill cores
for environmental history have been analysed for
only very few. For each of these basins it is in fact
uncertain if there was any open water at the time
40 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
0.9
0.6
c. 0.4
c. 0.5
of an individual Bronze Age deposition event.
The question boils down to whether finds from
apparent Bronze Age bogs represent people
throwing objects into water (irretrievably), burying them in pits in the peat (retrievably) or leaving them on top of the peat (even more retrievably). luckily these sites are rather few.
table 3:6 does not cover finds where only the
name of the hamlet owning the land and the
mention of a bog are known. in those cases we
cannot judge whether a given find belongs in
this category or is in fact from a Bronze Age sea
inlet, lake or stream.
Table 3:6
Bog, Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
nä, Edsberg, Karaby
nondescript bog, near a boulder
Per. I-II
Flint
dagger
>5
3.6
sö, Björnlunda, mosstugan
nondescript bog
Per. I
sword
1.5
1.1
sö, Eskilstuna, Kälby
0.9 km from the hyndevad rapids in river
Eskilstunaån
Per. II
2 display
axes,
dagger
0.5
1.5
sö, svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan
nondescript bog
Per.
IV-V
Axe
c. 1.9
c. 0.2
sö, svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan
nondescript bog
Per. VI
sword,
neck ring
1.8
0.1
sö, Vårdinge, hjortsberga
Bog next to settlement with graves and cupmarks
Per. VI
neck ring
c. 0.2
c. 0.3
sö, Östra Vingåker, skiringstorp
nondescript inland bog
Per. II
sword
>5
>5
Up, nysätra, stockmossen
nondescript inland bog
Per. V
Axe
c. 4.1
c. 4.1
Up, sparrsätra, gångmossen
Inland bog next to small lake in separate basin
Per.
V-VI
Pin
c. 0.8
c. 2.5
Up, spånga, Backlura
Inland bog on large island
Per.
II-III
sword
2.6
3.1
Vs, svedvi, Berga I-II
In/at lake below the svedvi vicarage ridge site
Per.
V-VI
2 jewellery
hoards
c. 0.5
c. 0.5
multi-trait locations
having identified some categories of landscape
location that attracted Bronze Age deposition in
and of themselves, we can now look at sites that
combine two or more of these categories (tab.
3:7). They deviate distinctly from the norm in
several respects.
Unusually, all four sites are on gravel ridges.
The two sites in lena parish are only c. 800 m
apart and may be close in time as well. torslunda
in tierp is a lone northern outlier in the macroscale distribution of the sites across the study
area. These multi-trait sites are not only exceptional in terms of their Bronze Age topography,
but also of what people chose to deposit there:
weapons and multi-object hoards.
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
41
Table 3:7
Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
sö, Vårdinge, Långbro
next to small cairn in small bog on top of
short gravel ridge above lakeshore
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
c. 0.9
c. 1.6
Up, Lena church
On south gravel ridge terminal above
whitewater gorge where Vattholmaån
entered a long narrow inlet of the sea, currently
Vendelån-Fyrisån
Per.
II-III
sword
0.5
0.3
Up, Lena, Vattholma
On south gravel ridge terminal above
whitewater gorge where Vattholmaån
entered a long narrow inlet of the sea, currently
Vendelån-Fyrisån
Per. IV
weapon
hoard
0.8
0.8
Up, tierp, torslunda
On south gravel ridge terminal at southeast-facing shore of long sea inlet
Per. I
2 axes,
spear
c. 2.4
c. 1.9
dry land: gravel ridges
and Settlements
As seen above, a few finds can be pinpointed to
eskers, the gravel ridges that cross the study area
in a nnW–SSe direction. (They map the slow
movement across the land of the mouths of meltwater rivers under the inland ice during deglaciation.) All such sites are either on the southern
terminal of a longer stretch of ridge or on a short
ridge where no real terminal can usefully be distinguished. Another handful of finds with location information only on the hamlet level are
reported to have come to light during gravel extraction, suggesting that gravel ridges may have
been attractive in themselves as deposition locations. But not all gravel pits are on ridges. And in
the cases where we can pinpoint a find accurately
on an esker, the tendency is for the site to have
42 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
other characteristics that have proved attractive
in far more numerous cases – see the multi-trait
sites above. There is in fact only one accurately
pinpointed esker site that has none of the usual
watery associations documented above: hökåsen in hubbo (vs). A burnt mound and a cupmark boulder suggest nearby settlement.
This is not a study of depositions made
among the buildings of active settlements, such
as the sword pommel from Sommaränge skog in
viksta (Up) mentioned in ch. 1 (Forsman &
victor 2007) or the spearhead found near burnt
mounds at orreboda in Uppsala-näs (Up; raä
116-118; UmF 4826). But one of the very largest
hoards from the study area, from lilla härnevi
in härnevi (Up), was found on the outskirts of a
likewise very large settlement site. most likely
however this late Per. vi deposition was made
centuries after the settlement had been aban-
doned. radiocarbon dating places the only excavated burnt mound there at about 900 cal Bc, in
Per. v (Karlenby 1998:27–28), and by the time of
the hoard’s deposition the site had long lost contact with the receding seashore that was generally decisive in settlement siting. Speculating
about the rationale behind this unique find’s
placement, i believe the people behind it recognised the site with its many prominent burnt
mounds as an ancestral dwelling place.
in the study area, we do not see anything like
the lilla härnevi deposit even at major wellexcavated settlements such as hallunda in Botkyrka, Apalle in Övergran or Pryssgården in
Östra eneby (Jaanusson 1981; Ullén 1997; BornaAhlkvist 2002). But in south-east england,
Bronze Age hoards are sometimes found on the
edges of settlement-indicating flint scatters
(dunkin 2001).
dry land: nondescript locations
table 3:9 lists finds from dry locations where i
know to good accuracy where a find has been
made but cannot see anything distinctive about
the place. common characteristics among these
14 sites are that most have yielded Late Bronze
Age finds and are located only a few hundred
metres from burnt mounds and rock art. This
suggests that we are dealing mainly with finds
from unrecognised settlements. A few of the
objects may nevertheless have been deposited
ritually according to landscape rules that i have
not picked up on, or placed in unrecognised
graves, or simply lost to happenstance.
Table 3:8
Bronze Age dry land landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
Up, härnevi, Lilla härnevi
Edge of abandoned settlement site, inland
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
0
0.4
Vs, hubbo, hökåsen
south gravel ridge terminal
Per. VI
2 jewellery
hoards
0.8
1.4
Vs, svedvi vicarage
south gravel ridge terminal above the Berga I-II
lakeshore site
Per. VI
neck ring
0.6
0.5
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
43
Table 3:9
Bronze Age landscape situation
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
sö, sorunda, Petterslund
On low ridge, 0.4 km east of Fagersjön lakeshore, major Late mesolithic settlement site
Per.
V-VI
dress pin
4.5
4.5
sö, sorunda, södra rangsta
w foot of ridge, 0.6 km north of seashore
Per.
V-VI
spear
0.2
0.2
sö, Överjärna, Järna rwy stn
Between two ridges, 0.7 km from seashore and
lakeshore
Per. I-II
Flint
dagger
c. 0.8
c. 0.7
Up, Bondkyrka, grindstugan
E of low ridge on large island in dense archipelago
Per.
III-IV
Axe
c. 1.0
c. 2.7
Up, Börje, Altuna
Upland, 0.7 km west of seashore
Per. VI
mixed
hoard
c. 0.2
c. 0.6
Up, dalby, tuna
Flat ground 0.3 km from south-facing shore of
sea inlet
Per. V
Axe
c. 0.3
c. 0.3
Up, Lena, Flugtorpet
E foot of low inland hill, 1.1 km from lakeshore
Per. V
Axe
c. 1.8
c. 1.3
Up, skogs-tibble, Lundbacka
Upland, 0.6 km from lakeshore
Per. VI
2 neck
rings
c. 0.4
c. 0.3
Up, spånga, sundby
Flat ground on island between Flystaberget hill
and seashore, c. 0.1 km from shoreline
Per. VI/
IA
2 armlets
3.3
0.4
Up, Vårfrukyrka, hällstigen
Upland, 0.5 km from lakeshore
Per.
V-VI
stone axe
c. 0.2
c. 0.3
Up, Ärentuna, storvreta rwy stn
Upland, 1.0 km from seashore
Per. II
mixed
hoard
0.5
0.5
Vs, hubbo, mälby
Upland, 0.2 km from lakeshore
Per. V
Axe
3.1
0.2
Vs, malma, Åsby
south-facing hillside, 0.6 km from lakeshore
Per. VI
neck ring
0.2
0.2
Vs, Västra skedvi, Klockarkilen
Between low hills, 2.5 km from lakeshore
Per.
IV-V
stone axe
>5
>5
Strong Place Features: Boulders,
a cave, a Spring, rock crevices
So far each site has been mentioned in only one
table. But in table 3:10 some sites are mentioned
a second time because they had strong place features. on this study’s landscape scale level and
44 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
considering the somewhat forgiving accuracy i
have demanded for positioning, these are features that should in my opinion be seen more on
the level of site detail than as landscape locations
in the usual sense. most are simply boulders, but
here i also count the Pukberget cave in Österunda (Up) that i have classified as a lakeshore
location and the norrbacken spring in husbylånghundra (Up) that is to my eye an otherwise
nondescript location. Both the cave and the
spring are unique place features among the studied sites, and so they are difficult to interpret. But
both in my opinion carry a strong timeless suggestion of the numinous.
only ten of these sites have sufficient location
information to classify their landscape location.
The most eye-catching difference from the general distribution (tab. 3:1) is that among sites
with strong place features, dry sites are twice as
common. This probably largely reflects the simple fact that it is difficult to hide anything under
an underwater boulder. But it may also have to
do with retrievability: if people wanted to be able
to retrieve a deposition, burying it under a boulder on dry land was the most dependable alternative. it should thus not surprise us to find
hoards greatly over-represented in the boulder
category.
mention should also be made of a rare but
recurring association between spears and rock
crevices. At oxbroberget in helgesta (Sö), a site i
have classified above as a lake location, a spearhead had been left in a fissure on a hillside. Similarly, the spearhead found next to a stream at
gammelängen in Ärentuna (Up) was described
by the finder as having been thrust below a boulder. And the spearhead from the Pukberget cave
in Österunda (Up) had obviously entirely entered a hill. looking for a moment at a nearby
region, a bronze spearhead was found “wedged
into the rock face” at hassli on the limestone
island of Stora Karlsö, eksta parish, gotland
(Shm 8343). These finds, although separated by
centuries, suggest a custom where spears were
seen to belong inside bedrock. They invite speculation about the goings-on between Father Sky
and mother earth, or about sacrifices to some
deity of high places. looking at jewellery, a crevice at väster-vad in Simtuna (Up) has yielded a
Per. vi brooch and dress pin (Shm 4288). Similar finds in crevices and caves have been made in
lower Saxony (Kubach 1983:140-142 w. refs) and
southern germany (maier 1977; Schauer
1996:382 note 3 w. refs).
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
45
Table 3:10
Strong Place Feature
Site type
Date
Objects
Distance from
burnt mound
(km)
Distance
from rock
art (km)
Up, husby-Långhundra, norrbacken
In inland spring
nondescript
Per. IV
Axe
c. 1.3
c. 0.8
Up, Österunda, Pukberget
At narrows in inland lake,
in cave
Lake
Per.
V-VI
spear
>5
2.5
nä, Edsberg, Karaby
nä, Ekeby, Frommesta
Boulder
Bog
Boulder
?
Per. I-II
Flint dagger
>5
3.6
Per. I
Bronze axe,
stone axe
?
?
nä, Ekeby, högtorp
Boulder
?
Per.
II-III
Axe
?
?
nä, Ekeby, torsta
Boulder
?
Per. I
Axe
?
?
nä, stora mellösa, dömmesta
Boulder
?
Per. III
Axe
?
?
sö, Botkyrka, tullinge
Boulder
?
Per. III
mixed hoard
?
?
sö, gillberga, Åsby
Boulder
?
Per. I
Axe
sö, huddinge, solgård
Boulder
Lake
Per. V
dagger
sö, Kila, Ålberga
Boulder
?
Per. II
Axe
?
?
sö, spelvik, church hill
Boulder
sea
Per. VI
mixed hoard
0.6
0.5
sö, strängnäs, sundby
Boulder
sea
Per. VI
Jewellery
hoard
>5
c. 2.4
Up, hagby, Filke
Boulder
?
EBA
spiral arm
ring
?
?
Up, hammarby, Ekebo
Boulder
sea
Per. V
Axe
3.7
3.7
Up, simtuna, möllersta
Boulder
?
Per. I-II
Axe
?
?
Up, Ärentuna, gammelängen
Boulder
stream
Per. II
spear
3.0
3.0
Up, Ärentuna, storvreta rwy stn
Boulder
dry nondescript
Per. II
mixed hoard
0.5
0.5
Vs, hubbo, hökåsen
Boulder
gravel ridge
Per. VI
2 jewellery
hoards
0.8
1.4
46 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
?
?
>5
1.1
that the blanket category of deposition covers a
range of acts that were construed quite differently. let us therefore investigate what was deposited where and when at these different kinds
of location, in the manner of david Fontijn
(2002:212 ff; 2008).
What Was deposited Where
And When?
Above we have largely looked at deposition as a
single kind of act that took place at different
kinds of location. But there is reason to believe
Table 3:11
A: EBA
Lake
Sea
Stream
Bog
Bronze axe
11
15
10
1
spear
2
3
3
sword/
dagger
3
-
1
Jewellery
-
-
mixed hoard
1
-
Flint dagger
3
sum
20
C: LBA
Dry
non
desc
B: EBA
Lake
Sea
Stream
Bog
Dry
non
desc
-
37
Bronze axe
30%
41%
27%
3%
0%
1
9
spear
22%
33%
33%
0%
11%
4
-
8
sword/
dagger
38%
0%
13%
50%
0%
-
-
-
0
Jewellery
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
mixed
hoard
100%
0%
0%
0%
0%
-
1
1
1
6
Flint
dagger
50%
0%
17%
17%
17%
18
15
6
2
61
Bog
Dry
non
desc
Lake
Sea
Stream
Bog
Dry
non
desc
D: LBA
Lake
Sea
Stream
Bronze axe
13
8
7
2
3
33
Bronze axe
39%
24%
21%
6%
9%
spear
2
-
-
-
1
3
spear
67%
0%
0%
0%
33%
sword/
dagger
1
2
2
-
-
5
sword/
dagger
20%
40%
40%
0%
0%
Jewellery
4
1
1
3
4
13
Jewellery
31%
8%
8%
23%
31%
mixed hoard
2
2
-
-
1
5
mixed
hoard
40%
40%
0%
0%
20%
stone axe
3
6
3
-
2
14
stone axe
21%
43%
21%
0%
14%
sum
25
19
13
5
11
73
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
47
tables 3:11 ABcd only cover categories of object
and location that have more than a few examples
each, and disregard the few ambiguous multitrait locations i have identified (such as torslunda in tierp). i count deposition events (that is,
sites and object categories) as on/off for the eBA
and lBA respectively, not the number of objects
or deposition events within the eBA or lBA. For
example, the number 11 regarding eBA bronze
axes in lakes means that i know of 11 sites in or at
eBA lakes where “bronze axe” is “on” at least
once.
”mixed hoards” are those that combine the
categories in the tables; e.g. the weaponry, tools
and jewellery in the hoard from ekudden in turinge. on the other hand, the successive accumulation of various objects at hyndevad counts
as four sites in the tables, one eBA (axe) and
three lBA (axe, dagger, jewellery).
The percentages are more interesting than the
absolute figures. For the eBA (tab. 3:11 B), one
class of find behaves differently from the rest:
swords and daggers. They are never found in
Bronze Age sea inlets where axes and spears are
common. instead they concentrate in Bronze
Age bogs, which have yielded no spears and
hardly any axes. This looks intentional. (And it
suggests, importantly, that we can actually largely rely on the geological Survey’s ability to tell
Bronze Age lakes and bogs apart on their maps.)
But what does it mean? That people wanted their
swords to be more retrievable than their axes
48 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
after deposition? or that the sea god did not
appreciate being given swords? Anyhow, other
patterns in the percentages for the eBA are too
poorly grounded in the numbers to bear much
interpretation.
For the lBA, the most interesting and
most firmly data-supported percentages (table
3:11 d) pertain to the bronze and stone axes and
the jewellery. Both kinds of axes are disproportionately rare on nondescript dry sites (probably
unrecognised settlements): people very determinedly saved them for deposition at wet locations. The stone axes, though, are also exceptionally rare in lakes, but exceptionally common in
sea inlets. The jewellery, conversely, is exceptionally rare in sea inlets and exceptionally common
on nondescript dry sites. (Similar patterns have
been documented for the southern netherlands
– Fontijn 2002:216; 2008; and southern germany
– Falkenstein 2005). An obvious way to interpret
this dichotomy is in terms of gender and mobility: men depositing axes in the sea on voyages
abroad, women depositing jewellery at home.
The interpretation suffers from the fact that we
do not know which gender of people, if any, actually travelled more than the other. Also it is
difficult to understand why, at sea, stone battle
axes were treated so differently from bronze
axes, some types of which were probably likewise
designed more as weapons than as tools.
deposition Sites in the Settled
landscape
Table 3:12
Median distances (km)
Burnt mound
Rock art
Lake EBA (n=19)
1.5
3.2
Lake LBA (n=24)
2.2
2.4
sea EBA (n=19)
1.0
0.9
sea LBA (n=19)
3.3
2.0
stream EBA (n=10)
1.6
2.6
stream LBA (n=7)
2.9
3.3
nondescript dry LBA (n=11)
0.4
0.3
multi-episode (n=6)
1.5
1.4
Boulder EBA + LBA (n=8)
3.4
1.9
Bog EBA + LBA (n=11)
1.8
1.5
All sites (n=140)
1.8
1.7
Simply put, in the study area burnt mounds
mark settlements and rock art does not. The
picture is slightly fuzzy: there are known settlements without preserved burnt mounds, and
occasionally we find a few cupmarks (but no
figurative rock art) at a settlement. But both categories of site congregate in the settled landscape. table 3:12 presents the median distance
from deposition sites of various categories to
burnt mounds and rock art. to put these figures
into perspective, note firstly that all categories of
deposition site are typically only 1.7 or 1.8 km
from those two other types of site. most deposi-
tion sites were not liminal secret locations in the
woods halfway to the neighbouring tribe’s area:
they were in the settled home territory. (i have
not looked at the relationship to burial sites, because the eye-catching early Bronze Age cairns
are simply and uniformly on coastal hilltops,
while the known late Bronze Age cremation
cemeteries keep a low profile and are too few to
support any significant conclusions.)
Secondly, Bronze Age people in all likelihood
did not think of the distance between their
settlements and rock art sites and the area’s deposition sites in lakes and sea inlets primarily in
terms of the depositions, but in terms of how far
they had to walk to the lakes and the sea themselves.
Thirdly, we do not have dates for most of the
burnt mounds and rock art to which i have
measured the distances. (most of the rock art is
cupmarks which are not stylistically datable.)
There must be many cases where a spot did not
receive any burnt mounds or rock art until the
lBA, and so was completely nondescript (or still
below sea level) during the eBA. We must not
over-interpret the figures. But it may be useful to
compare them to one another. An interesting
pattern emerges.
A comparison of the figures for the eBA and
the lBA in tab. 3:12 reveals that the great majority of deposition events – those in lakes, sea inlets and streams – move away from burnt
mounds over the course of the Bronze Age, most
3 . g ro U P i n g A n d c h A r Ac t e r i S i n g t h e S i t e S
49
dramatically in the case of the sea sites. conversely, the deposition events in lakes and
streams approach rock art sites over time – probably because most of the rock art is created at the
same time as the lBA depositions, and by the
same people. only the deposition events in sea
inlets move away from rock art as well as from
burnt mounds, for some reason. meanwhile,
lBA nondescript dry sites are usually exceptionally close to both burnt mounds and rock art. i
have already suggested that many of them are
probably simply unrecognised settlement sites
and thus not quite relevant to this study’s theme.
We know that when lBA people went away
50 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
from their settlements to deposit objects, they
rarely travelled far. But table 3:12 shows that they
were thinking differently from their eBA forebears and moving farther afield. most burnt
mounds in the study area probably mark lBA
settlements, and these certainly do not avoid
lakes or seashores. i believe this evidence carries
some weight. did deposition events become
more private affairs with the lBA, at the same
time as jewellery became more common in the
deposits? This would explain why lBA people
were willing to walk or paddle a longer distance
from settlement to deposit objects than had their
eBA forebears.
4. Conclusions: A Heuristic Procedure For
Finding Unknown Deposition Sites
as david yates and richard Bradley put it,
“Analysis of the findspots can shed light on the
character of metalwork deposits themselves, but
it is equally important to predict where further
discoveries will occur” (2010a:4). For reasons of
funding constraints and the dramatic damage to
wetlands entailed in any comprehensive fieldwork, most deposition sites in the study area are
probably not accessible to research-driven investigation without land-developer funding. cases
like the Per. i bronze spearhead from harlinge in
torsåker (Sö), which was found under two metres of bog peat on an ancient stream bed, are all
too instructive. our best chances lie in taking
metal detectors to promising sites that have been
thoroughly drained and ploughed, causing the
organic sediments to rot away and collapse. But
contract archaeology has good opportunities for
this kind of work. road and rail projects have
ample budgets for archaeology and routinely
cross various kinds of wetland. This also goes to
some extent for peat quarrying operations – indeed, many important mesolithic lake sites in
southern Sweden have become accessible to archaeology only after several metres of later peat
were quarried away for commercial purposes.
This chapter forms a kind of summary of the
study’s results. it is written as a heuristic procedure intended for archaeologists involved in
large-scale land development in the study area
that touches to some extent upon former or current wetlands. it should be useful throughout the
current process in contract archaeology, from
evaluation through trial excavations to final
open-area excavations.
Step 1. is this a productive parish?
A good first shorthand step is to simply look at
whether any Bronze Age depositions are previously known from the parishes you are working
with or one of their neighbours. Settlement (and
deposition) concentrates in a wide belt between
the sea and the elevated inland, and beyond that
belt to either side there is little reason to expect
sites of this kind. table 4:1 lists parishes with at
least three deposition sites, and the full list is at
the back of the book, also sorted by parish. in
Uppland a dense belt of rich parishes stretches
from enköping to Uppsala and centres upon
Skogs-tibble parish, while in Södermanland the
richest area centres on lake Sillen and torsåker
4 . conclUSionS
51
parish. in västmanland and närke, only the lowlands bordering lakes mälaren and hjälmaren
appear worthwhile in this kind of search.
Table 4:1. Parishes with at least three deposition sites
Parish
Sites
Parish
Sites
nä, Ekeby
6
Up, Litslena
3
nä, glanshammar
4
Up, Lohärad
3
nä, Lännäs
4
Up, nysätra
5
sö, Björkvik
4
Up, rasbokil
3
sö, Björnlunda
4
Up, simtuna
7
sö, Eskilstuna
7
Up, skepptuna
3
sö, Frustuna
4
Up, skogs-tibble
9
sö, hölö
4
Up, sparrsätra
3
sö, sorunda
4
Up, spånga
3
sö, torsåker
3
Up, stockholm
3
sö, tunaberg
3
Up, tensta
3
sö, turinge
4
Up, tierp
5
sö, Vårdinge
6
Up, tillinge
3
sö, Västerhaninge
3
Up, torstuna
7
sö, Ytterenhörna
3
Up, Uppsala-näs
4
sö, Ärla
3
Up, Vårfrukyrka/Enköping
9
sö, Överjärna
3
Up, Vänge
4
Up, Altuna
3
Up, Ärentuna
3
Up, Bred
6
Up, Österunda
5
Up, Bälinge
3
Vs, Björksta
4
Up, Fröslunda
3
Vs, Fellingsbro
5
Up, gamla Uppsala
5
Vs, hubbo
4
Up, gryta
3
Vs, munktorp
3
Up, hagby
5
Vs, svedvi
6
Up, Lena
9
Vs, tortuna
3
52 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Step 2. Where were the Bronze Age
lakes and sea inlets?
only 13% of potential deposition sites with good
location data are on land that was dry and distant from water in the Bronze Age. And in
choosing between different types of Bronze Age
wet environment, freshwater lakes and sea inlets
and their shores are the most productive.
Streams show intermediate numbers. Apparent
Bronze Age bogs are not very productive. At the
time of writing, the most comprehensive, consistent and accessible way to get access to quaternary geology’s ideas about shoreline displacement and drainages over time in the study area is
the Swedish geological Survey’s online map
service. This will of course be superseded as research in that field advances, and a future reader
of this book may no longer have access to it. i
trust that with time even better data sources will
become available to archaeologists who wish to
know where Bronze Age lakes, sea inlets and
streams were.
Step 3. Where did the water do
something interesting?
look for the entrypoints and exits of streams, for
rapids (or farmsteads named something involving -fors-), for narrows in lakes and sea inlets,
indeed for long narrow lakes and inlets in general (such as the many Långsjön), for the sunlit
south side of islands and promontories in the
sea. Also keep an eye open for the southern terminals of gravel ridges immediately above
Bronze Age waters.
Step 4. is your candidate basin the
right distance from Bronze Age
settlement?
make note of where the area’s burnt mounds and
rock art are. deposition sites are typically located
1.8 km from the nearest burnt mound and 1.7 km
from the nearest rock art – usually cupmarks but
sometimes figurative engravings as well.
Step 5. Auger the basin, then
machine strip while metal detecting
Following the corridor of a projected highway
across the landscape, steps 1–4 above will allow
the contract archaeologist to identify promising
basins in the terrain. Those that have long been
drained and ploughed can immediately be evaluated with the aid of a metal detector. But basins
with preserved wet sediments will demand machine stripping as well, for two reasons: augering
will often prove the sediments to be thicker than
the range of a metal detector, and wet sediments
preserve organics that cannot be sensed remotely with current technology. Where a highway
project crosses a promising basin, machine strip
the sediments in layers of no more than 20 cm
while metal detecting, and be prepared to call in
a quaternary geologist and palaeobotanist to
document and sample the stratigraphy if you
come across a deposit.
i believe that if this procedure is adopted by contract archaeologists in the study area, we will not
have to wait another 30 years for our next Bronze
Age hoard. And with luck, it will be found by
people who can document and sample its find
context.
4 . c o n c lU S i o n S
53
5. Gazetteer
the headers in this section of the book are on
the format Province, Parish, hamlet, Parcel/
Place. The entries offer detailed information on a
selection of interesting deposition sites where we
have good location information. in the cases of
ekeby (Up), eklunda/mossen (Up), rimbo (Up)
and mobergsudden (nä) i have been unable to
translate that information into grid coordinates
due to lack of access to local historical sources,
but i have no doubt that it could be done.
Balingsnäs (Sö), Avhulta (vs) and Jacksbo/
häljebo (vs) are discussed here because their
location information is not actually as good is it
seems. Sunnersbol/Bokaren (Up) and rickebasta
(Up) are included because they have been ascribed a Bronze Age date in the literature, although this is most likely not correct.
Nä, Askersund, Norra Algrena, Mobergsudden
in 1893 the Swedish historical museum accessioned the archaeological collection of district
veterinarian Fredrik Alexius nordeman in vadstena. it includes a Per. iv socketed axe of Baudou’s type A1a mit seitlichen Blenden (Shm
9170:1227), found at mobergsudden on the land
of norra Algrena hamlet. The place name sug54 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
gests a promontory on a lakeshore associated
with a person or a hill named moberg, “hill with
barren sandy soil”. The issue is complicated by
the fact that Algrena hamlet is located between
no less than three lakes. despite telephone conversations with knowledgeable members of the
local historical society, i have not been able to
identify mobergsudden, so this find spot is not
included in the book’s core database of known
sites. i leave the identification of the site to future
researchers with access to local historical sources
and maps.
Nä, Glanshammar, Hassle
After an uncommonly strong spring flood in
1936, a Pontic bronze cauldron was found poking
out of the bank of river Äverstaån, immediately
downstream from a ford (raä 53). it contained
two etruscan or eastern Alpine ribbed buckets
(ciste a cordoni, Rippenzisten), two mindelheim
swords of hallstatt-culture design, one matching
sword pommel, two small bronze hooks and
twelve decorative discs with iron fittings and
rivets (Waldén & gustawsson 1937; ekholm 1943;
Baudou 1960 hoard #162). regarding the discs,
Jørgen Jensen (1997:180) points to parallels from
moravia and suggests that they were intended as
cardiophylakes, armour plates worn on the bandolier, one on the chest and one on the back. The
finds date the deposition to late Per. vi, when the
site was on a short river stretch between small
lakes, 3.8 km upstream from the river mouth at
Storsicke. recent fieldwork near the site revealed
interesting evidence for later wetland rituals but
shed no light on the late Bronze Age (Karlenby
2007).
Nä, Glanshammar, Storsicke
A boggy field at Storsicke hamlet has yielded an
accumulation of axes: a flanged axe (Per. i; oldeberg 2682), a palstave (Per. ii; oldeberg 2683), a
rhomboid stone axe (lBA) and various neolithic
shaft-hole axes (raä 50 & 70; Shm 13376; Örebro
14274; private collection; Karlenby 2003). About
1050 cal Bc the site was a bog on a peninsula
next to the mouth of river Äverstaån on lake
hjälmaren. The last stretch of the river here may
have been gorge-like before modern dredging
changed its bed.
Sö, Bärbo, Täckhammar bridge
täckhammar manor is on the shore of lake
långhalsen next to where river nyköpingsån
drains the lake through a narrow gorge. A 13th
century property document refers to rapids here
(Böklin 1961:27), and prehistoric finds have been
made during work on hydraulic engineering to
calm those rapids, as well as on the various ver-
sions of the täckhammar bridge across the river.
The first finds that came to archaeology’s attention were dredged up in 1856 (raä 80) and the
latest ones saw daylight when the current bridge
was built in 1939 (raä 85). it is an accumulation
of objects from the middle and late neolithic,
the early and late Bronze Age, and even a 17th
century copper coin hoard (Shm 2273, 4177,
22228; nyköping 2595 / Strängnäs 1083; Strängnäs 1085, m 156). The Bronze Age objects are four
flanged axes, two socketed axes, two spearheads
and a sword (Berg 2006). Another socketed axe
was found 1.4 km downstream in the river, during dam building at Kristineholm manor in 1938
(raä helgona 173).
About 1050 cal Bc the river gorge opened up
into a shallow sea inlet covering much of what is
now a somewhat boggy field on the left, eastern
river bank. in April of 2011 i directed metal-detecting (14 person hours) and fieldwalking (10
person hours) across this field. our idea was that
since the gorge had attracted repeated deposits
over millennia, maybe the inlet had as well. But
all we found was a respectable amount of firecracked stone, one piece of fired clay and a collection of lithics. roger Wikell kindly classified
the latter and identified only three certainly
modified pieces: a bipolar core, a scraper and an
unclassifiable piece, all of quartz. These observations most likely indicate riverside settlement.
5. gA Zetteer
55
Sö, Eskilstuna, Hyndevad and Kälby
The hamlet of hyndevad (“Ford of the hind”) is
on the left bank of river eskilstunaån at the
ryngsberg pass where the river breaks through
the Strömsholm gravel ridge. eskilstunaån
drains lake hjälmaren, and thus indirectly
much of the province of närke, into lake mälaren (an inlet of the sea at the time under study).
These two lakes are among Sweden’s largest. in
1878 a major land reclamation project began
which resulted in lake hjälmaren’s mean surface
level being lowered by 1.3 metres (Waldén 1940;
lennqvist 2008). This new level was first measured in the winter of 1885–86, at which time lake
Kvismaren to the south-west had also been all
but drained.
Before the lowering of the lake there was a
series of four waterfalls or rapids in the river
downstream from the hyndevad ford, romantically described in his journal Runa by a visibly
stirred richard dybeck (1842:32f, and i translate).
From a tall cliff, by woods and clamouring waters
surrounded, at the hyndevad waterfall one enjoys a
truly enrapturing view. At the foot of the cliff, a mobile darkness, into which the waterfall incessantly
splashes clear droplets; tall spruce-trees, extending
beneedled boughs over the surge, as if they wanted
to veil its disquiet, or exhort it to calm; the still water
above the fall, much like a placid lake, with projecting leafy groves, by lush rushes and proud yellow iris
wreathed; farthest off across the limpid water’s surface, on a rising ridge, among verdant linden trees,
56 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
husby’s ancient church, and next to it dark forest
eaves, transporting the viewer, the prospect of lovely
ryningsberg manor. reader! if you require a sky over
the painting, then paint it yourself!
one of the first interventions the project engineers made in 1878 was to blast a side channel
past the rapids, close off the river’s main course
at both ends, drain it and deepen it, a task performed by workers with shovel in hand under
the direction of geologist otto gumaelius. he
was interested in possible past variations in the
surface level of lake hjälmaren. during the digging, a large number of ancient artefacts were
found in the exposed sediments on the bed of
the uppermost rapids (raä 587), and many were
painstakingly plotted in three dimensions. gumaelius also drew a detailed plan of the riverbed,
noting that it descended six Swedish feet (1.78 m)
over a distance of c. 600 feet (178 m). Then a
river dam was built across the find spot. in 1885
gumaelius published a detailed account of his
work at hyndevad in a geology journal, using
the artefact finds to date geological events. he
was convinced that the artefacts had ended up in
the rapids when boats had overturned there,
because the river had been an important transport route.
long after the initial work on the land reclamation project ended in 1885, the project organisation continued to function as a company in
order to fulfil its agreed-upon maintenance duties. A simplified copy of the hyndevad plan and
finds from that site and others were kept in the
company office in Örebro until February of 1909.
Then the company overturned an earlier negative decision and decided to grant a request from
the custodian of Ancient monuments to have
the finest objects and the plan sent to the Shm
in Stockholm (Shm 8234:15, 13671). The humbler
items were retained in Örebro’s museum (Örlm
3608). At this time, over 30 years had passed
since the river was laid dry, and little surrounding information about the finds was available to
enter into the museum inventory notes. The simplified plan sent to the museum is impossible to
fix on the ground, as it shows no buildings and
has neither scale bar nor compass arrow. The key
to understanding the hyndevad finds is gumaelius’s 1885 paper.
The hyndevad rapids had apparently seen
repeated deposition events over millennia starting in the late neolithic. For our present purposes, the following Bronze Age objects are of
interest: a Per. i flanged axe (oldeberg 2739), a
Per. ii palstave, a tanged dagger blade (o 2740),
two Per. iv–v socketed axes, a Per. vi or later
spiral-head pin, a scroll-head pin of similar date,
and an unusual belt hook adorned with two large
spiral discs, being of similar date as the two pins
(damell 1971:71–80; 1985; 1999). torun Zachrisson (2002:24f) has noted that spatially speaking,
the bronze axe heads were found in pairs that
may have been deposited together, as may the
spiral pin and the belt hook.
looking at the site’s Bronze Age landscape
situation, it was a stretch of rapids then as well.
But river eskilstunaån was far shorter at the
time and debouched into an arm of the sea little
more than a kilometre downstream from the
deposition site.
The river dam project and a nearby railway
yard have remodelled the landscape around
hyndevad dramatically. But the site of the famous paired votive axe find of 1864 at Kälby (raä
558; Shm 3573, 6759; private collection cavalliholmgren; oldeberg 2729), known as the
“Skogstorp axes”, is well preserved and located in
a small bog next to a roundabout only c. 900 m
to the north (damell 1971:81–83; BeckmanThoor 2002). The site was apparently a bog at the
time of the deposition event as well. it saw fruitless metal detecting and test-pitting under david
damell’s direction in 1974 (report in AtA). Karin
Beckman-Thoor has suggested that a low curved
natural ridge near the find spot might have functioned as the seating tiers of an amphitheatre
where people could watch rituals involving deposition. This does not strike me as very illuminating. There is only evidence for one ritual
event at the site. Perhaps someone watched it
from the ridge, perhaps not. This does not make
the ridge an amphitheatre. (For a summary of
the debate about the dating of the axes, see Sjöberg 2008.)
5. gA Zetteer
57
Sö, Helgesta, Frändesta, Oxbroberget
in 1937 count eric von rosen donated a bronze
spearhead to the Shm. it had been found in “a
crevice under a flaked-off slab in oxoberget
[now oxbroberget, “ox Bridge hill”]”. The
spearhead is of type gundslev and dates from
Per. iii (Shm 21687; oldeberg 2737). The crevice
was 150 m from the road between nyköping and
Sparreholm, which allows good pinpointing. At
the time of deposition the site was on a high
promontory on the south shore of an island at a
narrows in lake Båven.
Sö, Huddinge, Balingsnäs
This apparent bronze hoard find is poorly documented and the objects are in the hands of unknown private owners. But the site is in the sites
and monuments register (raä 276) and there is a
slight paper trail in the AtA. The finds are described as a spearhead, a socketed axe, a shafthole axe and a number of hollow bronze spheres
– a decidedly odd find combination – all found
within a 40 metre diameter area. my colleague
roger Wikell and modern runestone artist Kalle
dahlberg know the finder and have told me
something about the case.
in about 1980 a teenage boy from the area was
using a metal detector and found some ancient
objects at a site in Sorunda parish. When submitting them to the Swedish history museum he
got a severe talking to and lost all interest in further contact with the museum staff. he contin58 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
ued metal detecting for some time, and when he
found the Balingsnäs hoard he took it to a coin
dealer instead, where one imagines that he got a
warmer welcome. in 1992 however Kalle dahlberg, who had been shown the site, reported the
find to the national heritage Board.
in 2013 dahlberg pointed out a spot to me
that is 200 m east of the one registered in 1992.
Both spots are however situated in a similar position in relation to a Bronze Age lake. in 1050
cal Bc, they were on or very near the south shore
of lake trehörningen, which though smaller is
still there today. in view of the many uncertainties around this find, i have not included it in
this study’s core database.
Sö, Spelvik, church hill
in 1838 a major Per. vi bronze hoard was found
after a boulder had been blasted apart near Spelvik church (Shm 813; raä 98). it was one of the
first bronze hoards acquired by the Shm. it consists of twelve complete Wendelring reversetwisted torques, fragments of at least six similar
ones, one likewise twisted torque with wide end
plates, two spearheads, two socketed axes and a
belt box. in 1050 cal Bc the site was on an isthmus near the south-facing shoreline of a sheltered sea inlet.
Sö, Svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan
The Kråknäs hoard from Per. vi was found in
1933–34 after bog drainage for arable på hagslät-
ten, “on the flat pasture land” (raä 146:1; Baudou
1960 hoard #160). it consists of an antenna
sword and a Wendelring reverse-twisted torque
– an unusual combination. The sword, comprised of a separately cast bronze hilt and blade,
is repaired with an iron rivet and has a close parallel in a bronze-hilted iron sword found in Pomerania (Arbman 1934). The find spot was apparently a nondescript bog location even at the
time of deposition. About 200 m from the hoard,
a type mälaren socketed axe of Per. iv–v has
been found, likewise in a Bronze Age bog location (raä 146:2).
Sö, Turinge, Nykvarn, Ekudden
This lakeshore location (raä 328) has not
changed appreciably since the Bronze Age. in
1885 J.A. larsson dug a pit to bury a calf that had
died, and he came upon a mixed bronze hoard of
Per. iii (Schnell 1937). it is the largest known
from the study area in terms of how many objects it contains: 58. it consists of 30 decorative
tubes for a string skirt, seven tutulus bosses, seven saw blades, four small spiral rings, three socketed gouges, two palstaves, two spiral arm
rings, a long tapered button, a spearhead and a
socketed axe (oldeberg 2759; Shm 7774). in
other words, jewellery, tools and a weapon. A
1931 investigation of the site turned up only some
knapped flint.
Sö, Vrena, Dalby, Vrenaån
The vrenaån stream is only 700 m long and
drains lake hallbosjön through a cut in a ridge
into lake långhalsen. in the Bronze Age this
was a whitewater gorge. during damming and
digging to improve the passage, a type mälaren
socketed axe (Shm 2417) of Per. iv–v was found
here. in 1857 it was donated to the Shm by the
military hydraulic engineer major e.c. leijonanckar. in 1875 two Per. i flanged axes (Shm
5659) from the same site were donated by local
landowner oscar Baker. These had come to light
many years previously during river improvement, probably during leijonanckar’s work at
vrena. These two axes were reportedly found
close together on the riverbed.
Sö, Vårdinge, Hjortsberga, Höglund
on hjortsberga manor’s land, in the woods near
the croft höglund, is an outfield. The land is a
former bog which has been drained, farmed for a
time, then turned to pasture, and finally in recent
years deprived of its fence and left as grass fallow.
it has largely reverted to wetland. in 1907, shortly
after the original drainage work, a Wendelring
reverse-twisted torque from Per. vi was found
here (raä 59; Shm 13117). often, several such
rings have been found together. in April and may
of 2011 i therefore directed 9.5 person-hours of
metal detecting across the outfield. We found
nothing dating from before the 20th century.
only a few hundred metres north down slope
5. gA Zetteer
59
from the find spot is a cluster of burnt mounds,
low burial cairns and cupmark boulders at the
1050 cal Bc lakeshore. The torque was apparently deposited in a bog just uphill from a coeval
settlement and ritual site.
Sö, Vårdinge, Långbro
in 1859 railway workers broke through a short
section of gravel ridge at långbro in vårdinge,
removing a small peat bog that had formed in a
basin on top of the ridge. in the peat they found
many preserved trees and a metalwork hoard
(Shm 2674) placed at a depth of four to five feet.
This was five feet from the edge of a stone cairn
that was itself five feet in diameter, lying bedded
into the bog at the same depth as the hoard. Bror
emil hildebrand later found part of a finegrained sandstone whetstone (Shm 2842) in a
spoil dump at the site.
The hoard consists of 21 pieces: seven reverse-twisted torques, four spiral wire arm rings,
two spectacle brooches, two disc-headed pins, a
hollow sheet armring, a sheet collar, two socketed axes, a socketed chisel and a faceted ring of
tin broken into seven parts. it dates from Per. vi.
The break-through point of the railway at
långbro is easily found today. no sign of the bog
remains. About 1050 cal Bc the site was above a
steep slope into a lake. This placement of a hoard
in a bog on a ridge top subverts the symbolic
dichotomy suggested by Birgitta Johansen
(1993): high and dry vs. low and wet.
60
Up, Alsike, Rickebasta
At rickebasta in Alsike (raä 52) a large collection of animal bones, a steering oar and a part of
a wooden boat of late iron Age type (larsson
2007:240) were found in 1961 during drainage
work when a streamlet through a bog was
straightened and deepened. Ulf erik hagberg
surveyed the site in 1963–64 (hagberg 1967:77;
reports in AtA; finds Shm 28410). According to
studies by Bengt lundholm, the bones represent
three fairly complete horses and sundry parts of
a cow and a pig. years after the find many animal
teeth could still be seen in the ploughsoil at the
site. today the property has reverted to wetland.
A horse bone gave a radiocarbon date of
about 800 cal Bc, the late Bronze Age (St-2350).
i have however disregarded the site in this study.
There are four important reasons to question the
Bronze Age date*.
The find spot is located at a level between 5
and 10 m a.s.l. and was thus on the sea bed until
the mid-1st millennium Ad. it appears unlikely
that animal carcasses dropped into an inlet of the
sea would stay together in one spot in this manner.
The boat part dates from the late iron Age.
There is no sign of any Bronze Age activity in
the vicinity: no burnt mounds, no rock art, no
hilltop cairns, no stray finds. The landscape situation (within sight of the tuna in Alsike boat
burials) rather suggests a late iron Age date for
the animal sacrifices.
* during proofreading i learned from Fredengren’s paper in Fornvännen 2015:2 that
recent radiocarbon analyses of bones from rickebasta have given dates in 790–410 cal
Bc (cattle), 720–620 cal Bc (horse), 410–570 cal Ad (horse) and 1640–1960 cal Ad
(pig). late Bronze Age and later.
radiocarbon sample preparation methodology was not very well developed in the 1960s.
Up, Bred, Eklunda, Mossen
in 1963 a socketed axe (västerås 11863) was found
in a bog named mossen, “the bog”, on the land of
eklunda hamlet in Bred parish, Uppland. despite attempts to contact knowledgeable local
people i have not been able to identify the bog,
and so this find spot is not included in the book’s
core database of known sites. i leave the identification of the site to future researchers with access to local historical sources and maps.
Up, Härnevi, Lilla Härnevi
The hamlet of lilla härnevi (“little Sanctuary of
hörn”) is in the Örsundaån river valley near
enköping in Uppland. in 1902 during ditch digging on the hamlet’s land a major bronze hoard
was found, partly packaged in a belt box and
wrapped in a leather garment decorated with
bronze discs. it contains c. 50 objects – jewellery,
weaponry, tools and more – some possibly dating from Per. iv, most of them certainly from
Per. v and vi (Baudou 1960 hoard #171). The
hoard was most likely deposited in the late Per.
vi. due to a high degree of fragmentation, the
varied functional and chronological character of
the contents and the inclusion of two casting jets,
the hoard has often been interpreted as a metalworker’s non-ritual scrap cache (Stenberger
1964:288; hjärthner-holdar 1993:164; Karlenby
1998:7). magdalena Forsgren (2007) argues
against the idea. one notable feature of the
hoard is that the belt boss has traces of iron
struts being used when it was cast (hjärthnerholdar 1993:164f).
The preservation of the leather and the ditch
digging might suggest that the site was quite wet
in 1902, but the bronzes have distinct green dryland patination. The find spot’s location is
known to an accuracy of a few tens of metres
(raä 69 – the register point is actually located
between the two identified by A. gottfrid eriksson and erik Floderus respectively). it is near the
25 m a.s.l. contour curve and two burnt mounds
(raä 83), both being traits typical of late Bronze
Age settlement sites in the area. indeed, there are
many preserved burnt mounds in the vicinity
despite extensive cultivation, and much firecracked stone and quartz can be seen in the
ploughsoil. Small parts of a Bronze Age settlement have been excavated less than 400 m to the
north, producing the foundation of a threeaisled post-built house, a burnt mound dated to
about 900 cal Bc, unusually large amounts of
fine pottery and fragments of casting moulds
(Karlenby 1998; eriksson 2009). At the time of
the hoard’s deposition, the find spot would have
been located between 1 and 1½ km from the seashore. All in all, the hoard appears to have been
buried on dry land next to a most likely abandoned Bronze Age settlement.
in April and August of 2011 i directed metal
5. gA Zetteer
61
detecting (19 person hours) and fieldwalking (2
person hours) over the find spot and its immediate surroundings. The oldest datable find was a
17th century copper coin of Queen christina,
but we also found a quern rubber (weight 397 g,
diameter 55–64 mm, a characteristic find at
Bronze Age settlement sites), two pieces of
knapped imported flint and three pieces of copper alloy. in december myself and inga Ullén
compared the three fragments with the härnevi
hoard at the Shm. We found that though two
fragments have the right thickness, curvature,
surface texture and colour to be part of the spectacle brooch and the belt box, neither of them
have breaks or any decoration that fit with the
Bronze Age jewellery items.
Forsgren (2008) has studied the find’s landscape situation, pointing out its proximity to an
important routeway crossing where river Örsundaån breaks through the enköping gravel
ridge. in Per. vi the river mouth was actually
near the breakthrough point, 2 km north of the
find spot. A problem with Forsgren’s study is that
neither the 20 m nor the 15 m a.s.l. elevation contour she has had access to is likely to represent
the seashore at the time of the deposition. Another is that as the hoard is so late within the
Bronze Age, many sites of that period that she
plots on her landscape map were probably not in
continued use by then. And with the beginning
of the iron Age, visible field monuments disappear from the area for several centuries. Fors62 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
gren’s idea of a small natural amphitheatre used
to seat the audience of a ritual drama performed
at the find spot (credited to Beckman-Thoor
2002, who suggested it for the votive axe deposit
at Kälby in eskilstuna, “the Skogstorp axes”)
appears untestable, and to my mind the topography does not suggest anything of the kind.
Up, Lena church/Vattholma
The environs of lena church, on a gravel ridge
terminal above the confluence where rivers
vendelån and vattholmaån join to form river
Fyrisån, have produced two finds: an eight-piece
Period iv weapon hoard found in 1833 and a
Period ii-iii sword found in 1915 (Shm 612 and
Uppsala 4565). gunnar ekholm (1921:42) reproduces a map sketch of the hoard’s find spot made
two weeks after it surfaced, offering a very good
idea of where it was. information about the single sword’s find spot suggests that it would have
been unearthed near the registered late iron
Age cemetery raä 90. The two finds were made
only about 800 m apart.
About 1050 cal Bc, the valley of rivers vendelån and Fyris was still a long narrow arm of
the sea, while vattholmaån was a short whitewater gorge draining a lake into this sea inlet. The
two find spots overlooked the rapids.
Up, Lunda, Sigridsholm
The last time a multi-object deposition site was
identified in the area under study was in 1986.
having repeatedly found bronze objects during
ploughing in a certain part of a field north of
lake Sigridsholmssjön (raä 232), the owners of
Sigridsholm manor alerted the authorities. in
July of 1986 Birgitta Sander directed metal detecting and machine stripping of c. 400 sqm on
the site, finding four scattered bronze fragments,
some of which fitted with objects found by the
landowners. All finds went to the Shm for conservation and documentation, but then in early
1989 the objects found by the landowners were
returned to them. Apparently this was done because these copper-alloy finds had not been
made at the same time or at exactly the same
spot, which meant that according to the 1986
legal situation, it was not mandatory for the finder to offer them to the state. The hoard thus remained in private hands and was still kept at the
manor in September of 2013.
All in all, there are ten or eleven objects.
looking at their dates, all may have been deposited together during Per. vi. But the type mälaren axe is anachronistic and might be interpreted
as evidence for an earlier deposition event. i have
not however done so, because of the lack of detailed find context. The incomplete type c1a axe
is coeval with the type mälaren axe and may
have been included as a piece of more or less
antique scrap.
in Per. v and vi the basin with the find spot
was either still a sea inlet or a recently isolated
coastal lake. The finds are as follows, with Baudou’s 1960 type codes.
Four or five rings
A complete deeply flanged Wendelring
torque, type d2, Per. vi
two pieces of a shallowly flanged early Wendelring torque, type d1, Per. (v-) vi
Five pieces of a thin unadorned torque with
round cross section
nine pieces of a flat hollow armlet or anklet
with groups of four ribs, width c. 2.5 cm,
Per. vi. Better-preserved rings of this type
are known from hoards at ingla in Skogstibble (Up) and hökåsen in hubbo (vs).
A small oval unadorned ring, possibly of later
date
Three socketed axes
one type B1a mälaren, length c. 10.0 cm, Per.
iv-v
one type B2a Scania, length c. 8.5 cm, Per.
v-vi
one incomplete type c1a with three cuffs,
original length c. 4.5 cm, Per. iv-v
Two dress pins
The heads of two type B2d trefoil dress pins,
Per. vi
deposition in or at the northern part of the lake
continued after the Bronze Age. Finds include
the bones of various animals, two small wooden
boats and a viking Period sword (Shm 6742;
larsson 2007:149).
5. gA Zetteer
63
Up, Ramsta, Bragby, Mönemossen
in 1912 a Per. i vollgriff bronze sword was found
at a depth of seven inches in the mönemossen
bog on land belonging to Bragby hamlet in ramsta parish (Shm 14759). gunnar ekholm (1916)
published the find in Fornvännen. But knowledge of the find spot was then lost. mönemossen
is on no modern map and is not remembered
locally. ekholm stated that it was 2 km south of
the hamlet, but that would be in the neighbouring parish and not on Bragby’s land and so must
be an error. current landowner hans Wigenfeldt
showed me an 18th century map of the hamlet’s
land with a bog named Mönmossen, located 1 km
south-east of Bragby’s home plots. This is 2 km
south of ramsta church, which may explain ekholm’s error, and should be the find spot. About
the time when the sword was made, mön(e)mossen was a small lake on an island in the sea.
Up, Rimbo, Rimbo
in 1912 J. Broberg had workers dig for the foundation of his new house in the small town of
rimbo. They found a type mälaren socketed axe
(Shm 14586). i have not been able to identify
Broberg or his house, and so this find spot is not
included in the book’s core database of known
sites. i leave the identification of the site to future
researchers with access to local historical sources
and maps.
64 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Up, Skogs-Tibble, Ingla/Vicarage
This site has yielded two finds a few metres apart
near the stensättning grave superstructure raä
64.
in 1910 three Per. vi arm rings were found in
a small potato patch at the mellgrind farm labourer’s dwelling (Shm 14105; ekholm 1921
#131; Baudou 1960 hoard 177). They were at a
depth of 20 cm, lying flat in a row on the subsoil
sand next to a smallish boulder which was rooted in the subsoil and covered by earth. in 1929, a
Per. iv socketed axe with arched edge ribs (Uppsala 5529) surfaced nearby on the edge of a field.
About 1050 cal Bc the site was near the shoreline
of an inland lake.
Up, Stavby, Sunnersbol (Lake Bokaren)
lake Bokaren is surrounded by boggy shores
after having been partly drained. in 1939, during
drainage digging several hundred metres north
of the current lakeshore, bones were found. This
prompted excavations that documented the remains of a wooden platform where large
amounts of flax and many bones had been deposited (raä 137; lundholm 1947; documents in
AtA). The bones were from humans, horses,
cattle and pigs and included six skulls: two human and four from horses. The site has been
ascribed a Bronze Age date on the strength of a
pollen analysis, but this is a weak dating method
and so the single small artefact found carries
greater weight. The artefact is a bone lance head
like those from the hjortspring find, indicative
of the iron Age’s first few centuries. A boat’s rib
was also found (larsson 2007:240), likewise
suggesting an iron Age or later date*.
Up, Söderbykarl, Ekeby
A type mälaren socketed axe in the local historical society’s collection (no 261) was, according to
ekholm (1921 #70), found in 1914 at ekeby “during harrowing in a field north of lake Bordsrudssjön”. The only lake on whose northern
shore ekeby hamlet seems to have had land is
lake Brosjön. i have found no other mention of
Bordsrudssjön in the sources available to me. i
leave the identification of the site to future researchers with access to local historical sources
and maps.
Up, Vårfrukyrka, Grop-Norrby, Hjältängarna
hjältängarna, “hero meadows”, is a drained and
cultivated wetland between grop-norrby and
rönna in vårfrukyrka parish. it has yielded numerous finds of human and animal bones*, several late neolithic shaft hole axes, a Per. iii socketed axe (Shm 21183, oldeberg 2858, type d)
and several quern rubbers (raä vårfrukyrka
505:1; raä härnevi 113:1). A rock outcrop in the
wetland bears cupmarks and there are many
burnt mounds nearby. in 1050 cal Bc the site was
a fen through which a small stream passed between two lakes near the coast.
Up, Österunda, Domta vad
in about 1910, a bronze jewellery hoard was
found during ploughing of a drained bog near
domta in Österunda (raä 83; Uppsala 5690;
Arwidsson 1939; Baudou 1960 hoard #181). The
site had in modern times been a fordable point
across an extensive wetland. The finds consist of
two finely wrought Per. v belt domes and three
simple open rings made of bent bronze rods. The
site has also yielded two late neolithic shafthole axes and a steatite spindle whorl most likely
of viking Period date. in 1050 cal Bc the site was
in a lake on whose shore the Pukberget cave,
described below, was located. The property has
reverted to wetland.
Up, Österunda, Pukberget cave
Pukberget, “devil’s hill”, is a steep-sided outcrop
whose north-western side has collapsed into a
pile of enormous blocks. Boulders the size of
houses have rolled far onto the flat land below.
And among the blocks stacked closest to the
hillside is a generously proportioned talus cave
(raä 62). in 1946 archaeologist erik Floderus
visited the area and met an old man named emil
ek. he told Floderus that perhaps fifteen years
previously he had been inside the cave and, fumbling about in the dark, had got his hands on a
couple of loose objects on a ledge. he put them
in his pocket and found his way out, whereupon
he realised he was holding a small bronze spearhead and a large animal tooth. Floderus per-
* during proofreading i learned from Fredengren’s paper in Fornvännen 2015:2 that recent radiocarbon analyses of
bones from lake Bokaren have given dates in 700–800 cal Ad (human), 970–1160 cal Ad (human) and 1220–1380 cal
Ad (pig). late iron Age and later.
Bones from hjältängarna have given dates in 1280–1050 cal Bc (pig) and 1110–900 cal Bc (cattle). Bronze Age.
5. gA Zetteer
65
suaded ek to donate the finds to the Shm, and
there they remain (Shm 23674; Floderus 1946).
The tooth is from a horse and the spearhead
dates from Per. v or vi. At that time the cave was
on the shore of a narrows in an inland lake, and
on the other side of the narrows, we find the
domta vad hoard described above.
i wondered if there might be more traces of
Bronze Age activity in Pukberget cave. With
margareta Boije and magdalena Forsgren i spent
three days in August of 2011 digging and sieving
two metre-square test pits in the cave’s larger
south gallery and half a square metre in the crevice outdoors below the south rock shelter (rundkvist 2012). We found only traces of recent visits
(aluminium tea candle cups, pieces of electric
torches, bottle glass shards, superficial remains
of several camp fires), overlying clean post-glacial sediments inside the cave.
Vs, Dingtuna, Stora & Lilla Jacksbo and Skerike,
Häljebo
The information about these finds, three almost
identical neck rings from the turn of Per. vi into
the iron Age (claesson 1936; cf. olsén 1934;
Stjernquist 1956), looks highly suspect. ostensibly the rings were found at three different nearby
spots during ploughing and roadworks in 1933–
35. The sites pointed out by two finders are a few
hundred metres apart near the dingtuna-Skerike
parish boundary, between the hamlets of Stora
Jacksbo and häljebo, to either side of a wooded
66 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
ridge. it would seem far more likely that the
rings were found together, perhaps at one of the
three indicated spots. i have not used these sites
in this study.
The rings’ green patination suggests a dry find
spot. looking at the three spots in the Bronze
Age landscape though, we find that they are all in
or near water: one at a stream’s entry point into a
small lake west of the ridge, one at another
stream’s entry point into a similar lake east of the
ridge and finally one spot in that latter lake.
Vs, Munktorp, Avhulta
This site is in the sites and monuments register
(raä 403), marked among the buildings of
Avhulta hamlet at a level of only c. 13 m a.s.l.,
corresponding to a depth of 5-10 m in the late
Bronze Age sea. The register lists three finds
from the site. two of similar lBA date are early
acquisitions that entered the Shm through the
intermediary of major Sigge B. Ulfsparre’s collection: a type mälaren socketed axe (Shm
7571:102) and an unadorned leaf-shaped socketed spearhead (Shm 7571:164). Both are provenanced to munktorp parish in the inventory
notes, but only the axe is attributed specifically
to Avhulta hamlet. The third find is a flanged
copper axe (Shm 10322:14), most likely of late
neolithic date and possibly a thousand years
older than the other two objects. The museum
inventory only gives munktorp parish as provenance.
The find spot in the sites and monuments
register most probably just marks the hamlet in
which the objects were kept before Ulfsparre
acquired them. The find combination is highly
unlikely to be real, and in any case it is completely undocumented. For these reasons i have not
used the Avhulta site for the present studies.
5. gA Zetteer
67
BiBliogr A Ph y
Apel, Jan. 2001. Daggers, knowledge & power.
University of Uppsala.
Apel, Jan; darmark, Kim & victor, helena. 2007.
norra mälardalen under senneolitikum och
bronsålder. hjärthner-holdar, e. et al. (eds).
Land och samhälle i förändring. Uppländska
bygder i ett långtidsperspektiv. Uppsala.
Arbman, holger. 1934. Periferisk bronsålderskultur. Fornvännen 29. KvhAA. Stockholm.
Arnoldussen, Stijn & Fontijn, david. 2006.
towards familiar landscapes? on the nature
and origin of middle Bronze Age landscapes
in the netherlands. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72. london.
Artursson, magnus; Karlenby, leif & Andersson,
Fredrik. 2011. Nibble. En bronsåldersmiljö i
Uppland. Uv rapport 2011:111. national
heritage Board. city not specified.
Arwidsson, greta. 1939. Bronsåldersfyndet från
domta vad i Österunda socken. Upplands
fornminnesförenings tidskrift 1939. Uppsala.
Ashmore, Wendy & Knapp, Bernard (eds). 1999.
Archaeologies of Landscape. Contemporary
Perspectives. malden.
Aston, michael & rowley, trevor. 1974. Landscape
Archaeology: an Introduction to Fieldwork
Techniques on Post-Roman Landscapes.
newton Abbot.
Baudou, evert. 1960. Die regionale und chronologische Einteilung der jüngeren Bronzezeit im
Nordischen Kreis. Stockholm.
68 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Becker, Katharina. 2013. transforming identities
– new approaches to Bronze Age deposition
in ireland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society 79. cambridge.
Beckman-Thoor, Karin. 2002. Skogstorpsyxorna.
en föreställning tar sin början. Åkerlund,
Agneta. (ed.). Kulturell mångfald i Södermanland 1. nyköping.
Berg, Anton. 2006. Tre portar – tre världar. Om
sten- och bronsåldersdepån vid Täckhammars
bro, fornborgen i Skresta och hällristningen i
Släbro vid Nyköpingsån, Sörmland. Photocopied BA thesis. University of Stockholm.
Berggren, Åsa. 2009. offerbegreppet i arkeologin
– tolkningar och perspektiv. carlie, Anne
(ed.). Järnålderns rituella platser. halmstad.
Berggren, Åsa. 2010. Med kärret som källa. Om
begreppen offer och ritual inom arkeologin. vägar till midgård 13. lund.
Bianco Peroni, vera. 1980. Bronzene gewässerund höhenfunde aus italien. Jahresbericht des
Instituts für Vorgeschichte der Universität
Frankfurt a.M. 1978–79. Frankfurt-am-main.
Blajer, Wojciech. 2001. Skarby przedmiotów
metalowych z epoki brązu i wczesnej epoki
żelaza na ziemiach polskich. Kraków.
Blajer, Wojciech. 2008. einige Bemerkungen zur
Anwendung prozentualer Angaben in
Studien ueber bronzezeitliche hortfunde.
verse, F. et al. (eds). Durch die Zeiten...
Festschrift für Albrecht Jockenhövel zum 65.
Geburtstag. rahden.
Boddum, Sanne; mikkelsen, martin & terkildsen,
niels (eds). 2011. Depotfund i yngre bronzealders lokale kulturlandskab. viborg stiftsmuseum & holstebro museum.
Bohlin, Anne. 1968. västmanlands bronsålder.
Västmanlands fornminnesförenings årsskrift 47
(1967–68). västerås.
Borna-Ahlkvist, hélène. 2002. Hällristarnas hem.
Gårdsbebyggelse och struktur i Pryssgården
under bronsålder. Uv Skrifter 42. national
heritage Board. Stockholm.
Bradley, richard. 1982. The destruction of wealth
in later Prehistory. Man n.S. 17:1. london.
Bradley, richard. 1984. The social foundations of
prehistoric Britain. london/new york.
Bradley, richard. 1987. A comparative study of
hoarding in the late Bronze Age and viking
economies. Burenhult, g. et al. (eds). Theoretical approaches to artefacts, settlements and
society. Studies in honour of Mats P. Malmer.
B.A.r. intl Series 366. oxford.
Bradley, richard. 1998. The passage of arms. An
archaeological analysis of prehistoric hoards
and votive deposits. 2nd ed. oxford.
Bradley, richard. 2000. An Archaeology of Natural
Places. london.
Bradley, richard. 2005. Ritual and Domestic Life in
Prehistoric Europe. london & new york.
Bray, Peter & Pollard, mark. 2012. A new interpretative approach to the chemistry of copperalloy objects: source, recycling and technology. Antiquity 86. york.
Brück, Joanna. 1999. ritual and rationality: some
problems of interpretation in european archaeology. European Journal of Archaeology 2.
Aldershot.
Brück, Joanna. 2001. Body metaphors and technologies of transformation in the english
middle and late Bronze Age. Brück, Joanna
(ed.). Bronze Age landscapes: tradition and
transformation. oxford.
Burgess, colin B. 1979. A find from Boyton,
Suffolk, and the end of the Bronze Age in
Britain and ireland. Burgess, colin B. &
coombs, david (eds). Bronze Age hoards.
Some finds old and new. oxford.
Böklin, lena. 1961. täckhammar. Sörmlandsbygden. Södermanlands hembygdsförbunds
årsbok 1961. nyköping.
claesson, claes. 1936. tre västmanländska halsringar från omkr. 600 f.Kr. Västmanlands
fornminnesförenings årsskrift 24. västerås.
coles, John. 2001. north european bronzes, rock
art and wetlands: looking for context and
relations. A preliminary study. Purdy, B.A.
(ed.). Enduring records: the environmental and
cultural heritage of wetlands. oxford.
cowie, trevor. 2004. Special places for special
axes? Shepherd, i. & Barclay, g. Scotland in
Ancient Europe. edinburgh.
dalley, Stephanie. 2013. The mystery of the Hanging
Garden of Babylon. oxford University Press.
damell, david. 1971. Rekarne under bronsålder –
äldsta järnålder. Uppsala.
damell, david. 1985. Bronsålder i Södermanland.
Undersökta gravar och gravfält från Södermanlands bronsålder och tidigaste järnålder.
En kortfattad översikt. rapport 7. Södermanlands museum. nyköping.
damell, david. 1987. Siffror kring sörmländsk
bronsålder. 7000 år på 20 år. Arkeologiska
undersökningar i Mellansverige. national
heritage Board. Stockholm.
damell, david. 1999. hyndevad. Från bergslag och
bondebygd 1999. Örebro.
BiBliogr A Ph y
69
david, Bruno. & Thomas, Julian. 2008. Handbook
of Landscape Archaeology. Walnut creek.
dunkin, david J. 2001. metalwork, burnt mounds
and settlement on the West Sussex coastal
plain: a contextual study. Antiquity 75. york.
dybeck, richard. 1842. Staf-Stenarne. Runa: en
skrift för fäderneslandets fornvänner 1.
Stockholm.
ekholm, gunnar. 1916. Bragby-svärdet. Fornvännen 11. KvhAA. Stockholm.
ekholm, gunnar. 1921. Studier i Upplands bebyggelsehistoria. II Bronsåldern. Uppsala.
endrigkeit, Anja. 2010. Bronzezeitliche Depotfunde
in Schleswig-Holstein. Eine kulturhistorische
Studie. Bonn.
eriksson, Thomas. 2009. Kärl och social gestik.
Keramik i Mälardalen 1500 BC–400 AD.
University of Uppsala.
Falkenstein, Frank. 2005. Zu den gewässerfunden
der älteren Urnenfelderzeit in Süddeutschland. horejs, B. et al. (eds). Interpretationsraum Bronzezeit. Bernhard Hänsel von seinen
Schülern gewidmet. Bonn.
Fleming, Andrew. 1999. Phenomenology and the
megaliths of Wales: a dreaming too far?
Oxford Journal of Archaeology 18. oxford.
Fleming, Andrew. 2006. Post-processual landscape
archaeology: a critique. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16:3. cambridge.
Fleming, Andrew. 2007. don’t bin your boots!
Landscapes 8:1. Bollington.
Floderus, erik. 1946. Pukeberget i Österunda.
Uppland 1946. Uppsala.
Fontijn, david. 2002. Sacrificial landscapes. Cultural biographies of persons, objects and “natural” places in the Bronze Age of the southern
Netherlands, c. 2300–600 BC. leiden.
Fontijn, david. 2007. The significance of ‘invisible’
places. World Archaeology 39. london.
70 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fontijn, david. 2008. everything in its right place?
on selective deposition, landscape and the
construction of identity in later Prehistory.
Jones, Andrew (ed.). Prehistoric Europe.
Theory and Practice. Blackwell Studies in
global Archaeology. oxford.
Fontijn, david. 2012. landscapes without boundaries? Some thoughts on Bronze Age deposition areas in north-west europe. in hansen et
al. 2012.
Forsgren, magdalena. 2007. Depåfyndet från Härnevi. D. 1, Föremålsförståelse och genusperspektiv med utgångspunkt från ett s.k. skrotfynd från yngre bronsålder i Uppland. Photocopied BA thesis. Stockholm.
Forsgren, magdalena. 2008. Depåfyndet från Härnevi. D. 2, Sammanhang och förståelse av en
fragmenterad bronsdepå i torrmark från yngre
bronsålder i Uppland. Photocopied mA thesis.
Stockholm.
Forsgren, magdalena. 2010. The divine Appearance of härn. determining the identity of a
Bronze Age metal hoard. Current Swedish Archaeology 18. Stockholm.
Forsman, camilla & victor, helena. 2007. Sommaränge skog. Begravningar, ritualer och
bebyggelse från senneolitikum, bronsålder och
folkvandringstid. SAU skrifter 18. Uppsala.
Forssander, Jan-elof. 1936. Der ostskandinavische
Norden während der ältesten Metallzeit
Europas. lund.
Fredengren, christina. 2011. Where Wandering
Water gushes – the depositional landscape
of the mälaren valley in the late Bronze Age
and earliest iron Age of Scandinavia. Journal
of Wetland Archaeology 10. oxford.
Frost, lise. 2003. vaseholm in osthimmerland.
ein depotfund mit Frauenschmuck und
import aus der Periode v der Jüngeren
Bronzezeit. Acta Archaeologica 74. copenhagen.
Frost, lise. 2008a. Depotfundene i Himmerlands
yngre bronzealder i et landskabsarkæologisk
perspektiv. Unpublished Phd thesis. University of Aarhus.
Frost, lise. 2008b. vognserup enge. et offerfund
med kvindesmykker fra den ældre bronzealder. Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed 2008.
copenhagen.
Frost, lise. 2010. et depotfund fra yngre bronzealder – nymølle bro ved lisbjerg. Kuml 2010.
Aarhus.
garrow, duncan. 2012. odd deposits and average
practice. A critical history of the concept of
structured deposition. Archaeological Dialogues 19:2. cambridge.
goldhahn, Joakim. 2010. emplacement and the
hau of rock art. goldhahn, Joakim et al. (eds).
Changing Pictures: Rock Art Traditions and
Visions in Northern Europe. oxford.
gumaelius, otto. 1885. Sjön hjelmarens forna
vattenhöjd. Geologiska Föreningens Förhandlingar 7. Stockholm.
hagberg, Ulf erik. 1988. The bronze shields from
Fröslunda near lake vänern, west Sweden.
hårdh, Birgitta (ed.). Trade and exchange in
prehistory. Studies in honour of Berta Stjernquist. lund.
hansen, Svend. 2012. Bronzezeitliche horte:
Zeitliche und räumliche rekontextualisierungen. in hansen et al. 2012.
hansen, Svend; neumann, daniel & vachta,
tilmann (eds). 2012. Hort und Raum. Aktuelle
Forschungen zu bronzezeitlichen Deponierungen in Mitteleuropa. Berlin.
hansson, Ann-marie. 1990. växtmaterial funnet i
anslutning till bronssköldarna från Fröslunda,
Sunnersbergs sn, västergötland. Laborativ
arkeologi 4. University of Stockholm.
hauptman Wahlgren, Katherine. 2002. Bilder av
betydelse. Hällristningar och bronsålderslandskap i nordöstra Östergötland. Stockholm
studies in archaeology 23. lindome.
hjärthner-holdar, eva; eriksson, Thomas &
Östling, Anna (eds). 2008. Mellan himmel och
jord. Ryssgärdet, en guldskimrande bronsåldersmiljö i centrala Uppland. Arkeologi e4
Uppland – studier 5. Uppsala.
hornstrup, Karen margrethe et al. 2012. A new
absolute danish Bronze Age chronology as
based on radiocarbon dating of cremated
bone samples from burials. Acta Archaeologica 83. copenhagen.
hubert, henri & mauss, marcel. [1898] 1964.
Sacrifice. Its nature and function. translated
by W.d. halls. london.
hundt, hans-Jürgen. 1955. versuch zur deutung
der depotfunde der nordischen jüngeren
Bronzezeit unter besonderer Berücksichtigung mecklenburgs. Jahrbuch des RömischGermanischen Zentralmuseum Mainz 2.
mainz.
huth, christoph. 1996. horte als Zeugnisse
kultischen geschehens? Schauer, Peter (ed.).
Archäologische Forschungen zum Kultgeschehen in der jüngeren Bronzezeit und frühen
Eisenzeit Alteuropas. regensburg.
huth, christoph. 2009. Ansichtssachen. Spätbronze- und wikingerzeitliche Schatzfunde und
ihre wissenschaftliche deutung. Brather,
Sebastian et al. (eds). Historia archaeologica.
Festschrift für Heiko Steuer zum 70. Geburtstag. Berlin.
BiBliogr A Ph y
71
Jaanusson, hille. 1981. Hallunda. A study of pottery
from a late Bronze Age settlement in central
Sweden. Stockholm.
Jensen, Jørgen. 1997. Fra bronze- til jernalder. En
kronologisk undersøgelse. nordiske fortidsminder B15. copenhagen.
Jensen, ronnie. 1986. Skärvstenshögar och
bosättningsmönster i mälardalen under
bronsålder. Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift 1986.
Stockholm.
Jensen, ronnie. 1987. Bronze Age Settlement
Patterns – a chorological Approach. Burenhult, g. et al. (eds). Theoretical approaches to
artefacts, settlements and society. Studies in
honour of Mats P. Malmer. B.A.r. intl Series
366. oxford.
Jensen, ronnie. 1989. Bronze Age Settlement
Patterns in the mälaren Basin – ecological
and Social relationships. nordström, h-Å. &
Knape, A. (eds). Bronze Age Studies. Stockholm.
Johansen, Birgitta. 1993. Skärvstenshögar och
sörmländsk bronsålder. Arkeologi i Sverige 2.
national heritage Board. Stockholm.
Karlenby, leif. 1998. ett arkeologiskt återbesök i
lilla härnevi. Arkeologisk slutundersökning,
lilla härnevi 1:5, rAÄ 35, härnevi socken,
enköpings kommun, Uppland. rapport
Uv-Uppsala 1997:41. national heritage
Board. Uppsala.
Karlenby, leif. 2003. till frågan om närkes bronsålder. Karlenby, leif (ed.). Mittens rike.
Arkeologiska berättelser från Närke. Skrifter
50. national heritage Board. Örebro.
Karlenby, leif. (ed.). 2007. Om makt och offer.
Röster om centralmaktens utveckling i tiden
före historien. national heritage Board.
Stockholm.
72 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Karlenby, leif. 2011. Stenbärarna. Kult och rituell
praktik i skandinavisk bronsålder. oPiA 55.
University of Uppsala.
Karsten, Per. 1994. Att kasta yxan i sjön. En studie
över rituell tradition och förändring utifrån
skånska neolitiska offerfynd. Acta Archaeologica lundensia, Series in octavo 23. University of lund.
Katrantsiotis, christos. 2013. Paleoenvironment
and shore displacement since 3200 BC in the
central part of the Långhundraleden Trail, SE
Uppland. mA thesis. dept of Physical geography and Quaternary geology, University of
Stockholm.
Kjellén, einar. & hyenstrand, Åke. 1977. Hällristningar och bronsålderssamhälle i sydvästra
Uppland. Uppsala.
Kristiansen, Kristian. 1981. economic models for
Bronze Age Scandinavia – towards an
integrated approach. Sheridan, Alison &
Bailey, geoff (eds). Economic Archaeology.
Towards an integration of ecological and social
approaches. oxford.
Kristiansen, Kristian. 1998. Europe before history.
cambridge.
Kubach, Wolf. 1983. Bronzezeitliche deponierungen im nordhessischen sowie im Weser- und
leinebergland. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 30. mainz.
Kubach, Wolf. 1985. einzel- und mehrstückdeponierungen und ihre Fundplätze. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 15. mainz.
Kyriakidis, evangelos (ed.). 2007. The archaeology
of ritual. cotsen institute of Archaeology. los
Angeles.
Kyrieleis, helmut. 2006. Anfänge und Frühzeit des
Heiligtums von Olympia. Die Ausgrabungen
am Pelopion 1987–1996. Berlin.
larsson, gunilla. 2007. Ship and society. Maritime
ideology in Late Iron Age Sweden. University
of Uppsala.
larsson, Thomas B. 1986. The Bronze Age metalwork in southern Sweden. Aspects of social and
spatial organization 1800–500 B.C. Archaeology and environment 6. University of Umeå.
lekberg, Per. 2002. Yxors liv, människors landskap.
En studie av kulturlandskap och samhälle i
Mellansveriges senneolitikum. Uppsala.
lennqvist, Jörgen. 2008. våtmarkens brukare –
omskapare av hjälmarens och Kvismarens
våtmarker under ett och ett halvt sekel.
runefelt, leif (ed.). Svensk mosskultur. Odling,
torvanvändning och landskapets förändring
1750–2000. Solmed 41. royal Swedish
Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.
Stockholm.
levy, Janet e. 1982. Social and religious organization in Bronze Age Denmark. An analysis of
ritual hoard finds. B.A.r. intl series 124.
oxford.
ling, Johan. 2012. Rock Art and Seascapes in Uppland. oxford.
lomborg, ebbe. 1975. The flint daggers of denmark. Studies in chronology and cultural
relations of the South Scandinavian late
neolithic. Norwegian Archaeological Review
8:2. oslo.
lundholm, Bengt. 1947. Abstammung und Domestikation des Hauspferdes. Uppsala.
maciejewski, marcin. 2013. Depozyty przedmiotów
metalowych w kontekście sieci osadniczej na
Pobrzeżu i Pojezierzach Południowobałtyckich
(późna epoka brązu – wczesna epoka żelaza).
Unpublished Phd thesis. Poznań.
madsen, torsten. 1978. Perioder og periodovergange i neolitikum: om forskellige fundtypers
egnethed til kronologiske opdelinger. Hikuin
4. højbjerg.
maier, rudolf A. 1977. Urgeschichtliche opferreste
aus einer Felsspalte und einer Schachthöhle
der Frankischen Alb. Germania 55. mainz.
malmer, mats P. 2002. The Neolithic of south
Sweden. TRB, GRK, and STR. Stockholm.
maraszek, regine. 2012. Urnenfelderzeitliche
metalldeponierungen in mitteldeutschland
und ihr kulturelles Umfeld. in hansen et al.
2012.
moe henriksen, merete. 2014. Stille vann har dyp
bunn. Offerteoriens rolle i forståelsen av depotfunn belyst gjennom våtmarksdepoter fra
Midt-Norge ca. 2350–500 f.Kr. doktoravhandlinger ved ntnU 2014:304. trondheim.
montelius, oscar. 1885. Om tidsbestämning inom
bronsåldern med särskildt afseende på Skandinavien. KvhAA handlingar 30. Stockholm.
montelius, oscar. 1917. Minnen från vår forntid.
Stockholm.
needham, Stuart. 1989. Selective deposition in the
British early Bronze Age. World Archaeology
20:2. london.
needham, Stuart. 2001. When expediency
broaches ritual intention: the flow of metal
between systemic and buried domains. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute incorporating Man 7. london.
northover, Peter; o’Brien, William & Stos, S. 2001.
lead isotope and metal circulation in Beaker/
early Bronze Age ireland. Journal of Irish
Archaeology 10. Belfast.
olausson, michael. 1995. Det inneslutna rummet.
Om kultiska hägnader, fornborgar och befästa
gårdar i Uppland från 1300 f Kr till Kristi
födelse. Uv Skrifter 9. national heritage
Board. Stockholm.
BiBliogr A Ph y
73
oldeberg, Andreas. 1974–76. Die ältere Metallzeit
in Schweden 1–2. Stockholm.
olsén, Per. 1934. några halsringar från övergångstiden mellan brons- och järnålder. larsen, h.
et al. (eds). Studier tillägnade Gunnar Ekholm.
Uppsala.
Plikk, Anna. 2010. Shore displacement in Fjärdhundraland, SW Uppland, and the northern
coastal areas of Lake Mälaren since c. 1000 BC.
mA thesis. dept of Physical geography and
Quaternary geology, University of Stockholm.
Price, neil. 2008. review of Anders Kaliff ’s Fire,
Water, Heaven and Earth. Antiquity 82:318.
york.
randsborg, Klavs. 2002. Wetland hoards. Oxford
Journal of Archaeology 21. oxford.
renck, Anna maria. 2007. Bronsålder i tierpsbygden. hjärthner-holdar, eva et al. (eds). Land
och samhälle i förändring. Uppländska bygder
i ett långtidsperspektiv. Uppsala.
rippon, Stephen. 2012. Making sense of an historic
landscape. oxford University Press.
risberg, Jan & Alm, göran. 2011. landhöjning och
strandförskjutning vid långhundraleden.
Arbetsgruppen långhundraleden (ed.). Nytt
ljus över Långhundraleden. Bygder, båtar,
natur. vallentuna.
rossenberg, erik van. 2003. embedding material
culture in perceptions of landscape. A
contextual analysis of the deposition of
bronzes in northern italy. Brysbaert, A. et al.
(eds). SOMA 2002. Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology. B.A.r. intl Series 1142.
oxford.
rowlands, michael. 1980. Kinship, alliance and
exchange in the european Bronze Age.
Barrett, John & Bradley, richard (eds).
Settlement and Society in the British Later
Bronze Age. B.A.r. British Series 83. oxford.
74 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
(reprinted in Kristiansen & rowlands, eds,
Social Transformations in Archaeology,
london 1998.)
ruiz-gálvez-Priego, marisa. 1995. Ritos de paso y
puntos de paso. La ría de Huelva en el mundo
del Bronce Final Europeo. madrid.
rundkvist, martin. 2008. För en liberalisering av
de svenska metallsökarreglerna. Fornvännen
103. KvhAA. Stockholm.
rundkvist, martin. 2011a. Mead-halls of the
Eastern Geats. Elite Settlements and Political
Geography AD 375–1000 in Östergötland,
Sweden. royal Swedish Academy of letters.
Stockholm.
rundkvist, martin. 2011b. i landskapet och mellan
världarna. en inledande studie av bronsålderns offerplatser i mälarområdet. Andersson, Kjell et al. (eds). Bronsålder. Bronsålder i
Stockholms län – aktuell forskning. Rapport
från ett seminarium 2010. nacka.
rundkvist, martin. 2012. Arkeologisk utgrävning i
Pukbergsgrottan i Österunda. Grottan 2012:1.
Sveriges speleologförbund. malmö.
rundkvist, martin. in press. gods of high Places
and deep romantic chasms. introductory
remarks to a study of the landscape situation
of Bronze Age sacrificial sites in the lake
mälaren area. The Changing Bronze Age.
iSKoS 20. helsinki.
runefelt, leif (ed.). 2008. Svensk mosskultur. Odling, torvanvändning och landskapets förändring 1750–2000. Solmed 41. royal Swedish
Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Stockholm.
rychner, valentin. 2001. objets ‘manipulés’ des
palafittes de Suisse occidentale au Bronze
final: une première approche. Revue Archeologique de l’Ouest, supplement 9. rennes.
Schauer, Peter. 1996. naturheilige Plätze, opferstätten, deponierungsfunde und Symbolgut
der Jüngeren Bronzezeit Süddeutschlands.
Schauer, Peter (ed.). Archäologische Forschungen zum Kultgeschehen in der jüngeren
Bronzezeit und frühen Eisenzeit Alteuropas.
regensburg.
Schnell, ivar. 1937. ett 3000-årigt fynd från ekudden i turinge. Vår bygd 1937. Södertälje.
Scholz, heiko. 2012. lageuntersuchungen als
mittel zur hortbeschreibung und -interpretation. lageverhältnisse bronzezeitlicher horte
in mecklenburg-vorpommern. in hansen et
al. 2012.
Sjöberg, Jan-eric. 2008. Offerfyndet från Galstad.
gothenburg city museum.
Stjernquist, Berta. 1956. einige halsringe aus der
Wende der Bronzezeit. Meddelanden från
Lunds universitets historiska museum 1955–56.
lund.
Sund, camilla. 2010. Paleogeografiska förändringar
i östra Svealand under de senaste 7000 åren.
mA thesis. dept of Physical geography and
Quaternary geology, University of Stockholm.
Svensson, håkan. 2014. Uppdragsarkeologin och
kulturmiljölagen hotar fornsakerna – svar till
raä. Fornvännen 109. KvhAA. Stockholm.
Thedéen, Susanne. 2004. Gränser i livet – gränser i
landskapet. Generationsrelationer och rituella
praktiker i södermanländska bronsålderslandskap. Stockholm studies in archaeology 33.
University of Stockholm.
tilley, christopher. 1994. A phenomenology of
landscape. Places, paths, and monuments.
oxford.
tilley, christopher. 2010. Interpreting landscapes.
Geologies, topographies, identities. Walnut
creek.
torbrügge, Walter. 1971. vor- und frühgeschichtliche Flussfunde. Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 51–52. mainz.
Ullén, inga. 1997. Bronsåldersboplatsen vid Apalle i
Uppland. rapport Uv-Uppsala 1997:64.
Uppsala.
victor, helena. 2002. Med graven som granne. Om
bronsålderns kulthus. Aun 30. University of
Uppsala.
Wagstaff, J. malcolm (ed.). 1987. Landscape and
Culture: Geographical and Archaeological
Perspectives. oxford.
Waldén, Bertil. 1940. Den stora sjösänkningen.
Örebro.
Waldén, Bertil & gustawsson, Karl Alfred. 1937.
hasslefyndet. Meddelanden från Föreningen
Örebro läns museum 12. Örebro.
Wigren, Sonja. 1987. Sörmländsk bronsåldersbygd.
En studie av tidiga centrumbildningar daterade med termoluminiscens. Stockholm.
Willroth, Karl-heinz. 1985. Die Hortfunde der
älteren Bronzezeit in Südschweden und auf
den dänischen Inseln. neumünster.
Worsaae, Jens J.A. 1866. om nogle mosefund fra
Bronzealderen. Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed 14. copenhagen.
yates, david & Bradley, richard. 2010a. The siting
of metalwork hoards in the Bronze Age of
south-east england. Antiquaries Journal 90.
cambridge.
yates, david & Bradley, richard. 2010b. Still water,
hidden depths: the deposition of Bronze Age
metalwork in the english Fenland. Antiquity
84. york.
Zachrisson, torun. 2004. hyndevadsfallet och den
kulturella mångfalden. om depositioner i
strömmande vatten i Södermanland. Åker-
BiBliogr A Ph y
75
lund, Agneta (ed.). Kulturell mångfald i
Södermanland 2. nyköping.
Åström, Paul (ed.). 1985. Oscar Montelius 150 years.
Proceedings of a colloquium held in the Royal
Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities,
Stockholm, 13 May 1993. Stockholm.
76 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Östergren, majvor. 1989. Mellan stengrund och
stenhus. Gotlands vikingatida silverskatter som
boplatsindikation. dept of Archaeology,
University of Stockholm.
A PPendi x A
maps, field photographs and finds images
Image index
Loca
tion
map
Field
photo
graph
Finds
image
Loca
tion
map
Field
photo
graph
Finds
image
nä, glanshammar, hassle
3
Up, hammarby, Ekebo
19
46
nä, glanshammar, sticksjö
4
Up, husby-sjutolft, Ekolsund
20
47
nä, Lännäs, djursnäs
5
Up, Kårsta, Lilla sunnarby
21
sö, Björnlunda, mosstugan
6
Up, Lena church
22
sö, Bärbo, täckhammar bridge
7
Up, Lena, Vattholma
22
sö, Eskilstuna, hyndevad
43
33
sö, Eskilstuna, tunavallen
8
sö, helgesta, Oxbroberget
9
sö, helgona, Kristineholm
Up, Lunda, sigridsholm
23
Up, simtuna/torstuna, Forsby
24
Up, skogs-tibble, stensmyran
34
37
Up, solna, råsunda
25
Up, spånga, Backlura
26
sö, huddinge, solgård
10
sö, sorunda, södra rangsta
11
Up, Uppsala-näs, skärfältens
38
sö, spelvik church
12
Up, Vänge, Bärby
39
sö, torsåker, harlinge
13
Up, Vänge, Bärby/sävaån
40
sö, turinge, Ekudden
sö, Vårdinge, hjortsberga
44
48
35
Up, Ärentuna, gammelängen
14
Up, Bred, Eklunda
45
49
Up, Ärentuna, storvreta rwy stn
27
Up, Österunda, domta vad
28
Up, Bromma, norra Ängby
15
Up, Österunda, Pukberget
28
Up, dalby, gräna
16
Vs, Björksta, Vida/högtorp
29
Up, Edsbro, smaranäs
17
Vs, hubbo, hökåsen
30
Up, Fasterna, grindtorpet
18
Up, hagby, Focksta
36
Vs, malma, Åsby
31
Vs, Västerås, tunby
32
41-42
A PPen di x A
77
Fig. 1. Södermanland’s densest site cluster. Shoreline 1050 cal BC. Hatching represents the sea.
1. Mosstugan in Björnlunda
2. Hällesta in Frustuna
3. Hållsta in Frustuna
4. Torsnäset in Torsåker
5. Tuna in Torsåker
6. Harlinge in Torsåker
78 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
7. Nådhammar in Vårdinge
8. Hjortsberga in Vårdinge
9. Långbro in Vårdinge
10. Ekudden in Turinge
11. Rophäll in Tveta
12. Järna rwy stn in Överjärna
Fig. 2. Uppland’s densest
site cluster. Shoreline 1050
cal BC. Hatching represents
the sea.
1. Lake Oxsjön in Österunda
2. Stockmossen in Nysätra
3. Domta vad in Österunda
4. Pukberget in Österunda
5. Lake Hålsjön in Nysätra
6. Stensmyran in SkogsTibble
7. River Sävaån in SkogsTibble
8. Ingla in Skogs-Tibble
9. Skogs-Tibble Vicarage
10. Ingla-Långmyran in
Skogs-Tibble
11. Långmyran in SkogsTibble
12. Ulvansvad in SkogsTibble
13. Bärby in Vänge
14. Bärby/Sävaån in Vänge
15. Ubby in Jumkil
16. Altuna in Börje
17. Brunnby in Börje
18. Frosshögarna in Läby
19. Skärfältens in Uppsala-Näs
20. Lundbacka in Skogs-Tibble
21. Focksta in Hagby
22. Bragby in Ramsta
23. Säva in Gryta
24. Grängesberg/Eningsberg in
Gryta
25. Noppsgärde in Fröslunda
26. Skälby in Vårfrukyrka
27. Ekolsundsviken in HusbySjutolft
A PPen di x A
79
Figs 3–32. Map legend. 5 m contour lines above modern sea level
unless stated otherwise. White is freshwater. Hatching represents
the sea. Single large dots are depositions. Triangles are burnt
mounds. Small-dot triplets are rock art, mainly cupmarks. For
Per. II-VI, the Geological Survey’s shoreline for 1050 cal BC is
shown. For Per. I, the shoreline for 2050 cal BC is shown. Streams
are the modern ones. All maps by Tove Stjärna.
Fig. 3. Hassle in Glanshammar (Nä). River location. Per. VI mixed hoard.
80 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 4. Sticksjö in Glanshammar (Nä). Lake location. Per. I-II flint dagger.
A PPen di x A
81
Fig. 5. Djursnäs saw mill in Lännäs (Nä). Inland lake location.
Per. V-VI spearhead and a knife fragment deposited in/at Lake
Hjälmaren.
82 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 6. Mosstugan in Björnlunda (Sö). Nondescript Bronze Age
bog location. Per. I sword. A flanged axe of similar date (SHM
14872) has been found somewhere nearby.
A PPen di x A
83
Fig. 7. Täckhammar bridge in Bärbo (Sö). River location. Many
deposition events in the river rapids that drained Lake Långhalsen into an arm of the sea. Shoreline shown c. 1050 cal BC.
84 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 8. Tunavallen in Eskilstuna (Sö). Sea location. Per. IV-V axe.
A PPen di x A
85
Fig. 9. Oxbroberget in Helgesta (Sö). Lake location. Per. III
spearhead deposited in a crevice on a high promontory on the
south shore of an island above a narrows in Lake Båven. Note
86 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
that the burnt mound in the lake must be later than the shoreline
situation shown on the map.
Fig. 10. Solgård in Huddinge (Sö). Lake location. Per. V dagger. 10
m contours because of high hills.
A PPen di x A
87
Fig. 11. Södra Rangsta in Sorunda (Sö). Nondescript dry location,
0.6 km from seashore. Per. V-VI spearhead.
88 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 12. Spelvik church (Sö). Sea location. Per. VI mixed hoard.
A PPen di x A
89
Fig. 13. Harlinge in Torsåker (Sö). River location. Per. I spearhead.
90 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 14. Hjortsberga in Vårdinge (Sö). Nondescript Bronze
Age bog location next to a major cluster of rock art and burnt
mounds. Per. VI torque. The level above the sea of the burnt
mounds and rock art suggests that the 1050 cal BC shoreline on
the map differs considerably from conditions post-800 cal BC
under which the torque was deposited.
A PPen di x A
91
Fig. 15. Norra Ängby in Bromma (Up). Sea location. Per. II axe.
92 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 16. Gräna in Dalby (Up). Sea location. Per. I axe.
A PPen di x A
93
Fig. 17. Smaranäs in Edsbro (Up). Sea location. Per. IV-V axe.
94 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 18. Grindtorpet in Fasterna (Up). Lake location. Per. V-VI
axe.
A PPen di x A
95
Fig. 19. Ekebo in Hammarby (Up). Sea location. Per. V axe deposited beside a boulder. The linear depressions in the south half of the
map are 20th century highway cuts.
96 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 20. Ekolsundsviken in Husby-Sjutolft parish (Up).
Sea location. Per. IV-V axe.
A PPen di x A
97
Fig. 21. Lilla Sunnarby in Kårsta (Up). Lake location. Per. IV
torque.
98 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 22. Lena church and Vattholma in Lena (Up). Two multitrait locations on a gravel ridge terminal above river rapids
emptying into an arm of the sea. A Per. II-III sword (south) and
a Per. IV weaponry hoard (north) c. 800 m apart.
A PPen di x A
99
Fig. 23. Sigridsholm in Lunda (Up). Lake location. Per. VI hoard.
100 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 24. Forsby bridge in Simtuna/Torstuna (Up). River location.
LBA sloping-butt stone axe.
A PPen di x A
101
Fig. 25. Råsunda in Solna (Up). Sea location. Per. VI Gündlingen
sword and dagger.
102 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 26. Backlura in Spånga (Up). Nondescript Bronze Age bog
location on a large island in the sea. Per. II-III sword.
A PPen di x A
103
Fig. 27. Storvreta railway station in Ärentuna (Up). Nondescript
dry location, 1.0 km from seashore. Per. II mixed hoard found
under a boulder.
104 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 28. Domta vad and Pukberget in Österunda (Up). Two lake
locations. A Per. V jewellery hoard deposited c. 1.4 km from a Per.
V-VI spearhead hidden in a cave on the lakeshore.
A PPen di x A
105
Fig. 29. Högtorp in Björksta (Vs). Inland lake location. Per. III
axe.
106 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 30. Hökåsen in Hubbo (Vs). Gravel ridge terminal location.
Two Per. VI jewellery hoards c. 580 m apart.
A PPen di x A
107
Fig. 31. Åsby in Malma (Vs). Nondescript dry location on a
hillside, 0.6 km from a lakeshore. Per. VI torque.
108 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 32. Tunby in Västerås (Vs). River location. Per. II mixed
hoard.
A PPen di x A
109
Fig. 33. Hyndevad in Eskilstuna (Sö). River location. Accumulated
multiperiod depositions found when the dams were built in 1878.
Photo May 2010. All photographs by author.
110 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 34. Kristineholm in Helgona (Sö). River location. Per. IV-V
axe found in a crevice on the river bank when the dam was built
in 1938. Photo April 2010.
A PPen di x A
111
Fig. 35. Ekudden in Turinge (Sö). Lake location. Per. III hoard
found in 1885. Photo April 2012.
112 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 36. Focksta in Hagby (Up). Sea location. Per. II spearhead
found in 1930. Photo April 2013.
A PPen di x A
113
Fig. 37. Stensmyran in Skogs-Tibble (Up). River location. Per. I
axe found in bog in 1891. Photo July 2011.
114 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 38. Skärfältens in Uppsala-Näs (Up). Sea location. Per. I
spearhead found in 1928. Photo April 2013.
A PPen di x A
115
Fig. 39. Bärby in Vänge (Up). Lake location. Per. IV-V socketed
bronze axe found in 1869. Photo April 2013.
116 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 40. Bärby/Sävaån in Vänge (Up). Lake location. Per. IV-V
orthogonal stone axe found in 1905. Photo April 2013.
A PPen di x A
117
Fig. 41. Pukberget in Österunda (Up). Lakeside cave location. Per.
V–VI spearhead found inside in c. 1930. Exterior photo of front
rock shelter May 2010.
118 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 42. Pukberget in Österunda (Up). Lakeside cave location. Per.
V–VI spearhead found in c. 1930. Interior photo August 2011.
A PPen di x A
119
Fig. 43. Per. I sword. Found at
Mosstugan in Björnlunda (Sö) in 1976,
a Bronze Age bog location. Extant
length 60 cm. Drawing by Bengt
Händel. SHM 31115.
Fig. 44. Per. V tanged
dagger. Found under a
boulder below a scarp
at Solgård in Huddinge
(Sö) in 1954, a Bronze
Age lakeshore location.
Length 20.6 cm. Drawing by Bengt Händel.
SHM 26909.
120 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 45. Per. IV socketed
axe, Baudou’s type A2.
Found in a bog at Eklunda
in Bred (Up) in 1963.
Undetermined Bronze
Age location type. Photo
Susanne Granlund. VLM
11863.
Fig. 46. Per. V socketed axe,
Baudou’s type C1a. Found
edge-up next to a boulder
during the excavation of an
Iron Age cemetery at Ekebo
in Hammarby (Up) in 1960.
Bronze Age seashore location.
Length 5.6 cm. Drawing by
Bo Gräslund 1962 in the SHM
Bronze Age catalogue. SHM
26840.
Fig. 47. Per. IV–V socketed axe. Type Mälaren,
Baudou’s type B1a. Found
in the Ekolsundsviken inlet
of Lake Mälaren (HusbySjutolft parish, Up) shortly
before 1910. Bronze Age
sea location. Length 13.6
cm. Photo SHM, inv. no
13991:4.
A PPen di x A
121
Fig. 48. Per. VI hoard found at Sigridsholm in Lunda (Up) in
1986. Bronze Age lake location. Photo ATA. Private collection.
122 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Fig. 49. Per. II spearhead. Type Ullerslev. Found at Gammelängen in Ärentuna (Up) in 1976. River location: thrust beneath
a large glacial erratic boulder next to the end of a short stream
between BA inland lakes. Length 20.0 cm. Photo John Worley,
Uppsala 6032.
A PPen di x A
123
A PPendi x B Site list, known locations
B: Baudou, E: Ekholm, O: Oldeberg, Minnen: Montelius 1917
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
1
shm 2124
nä, Asker, Bystad
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
2
shm 9170:1227
nä, Askersund, norra Algrena,
mobergsudden
parcel
Axe socketed mit seitlichen Blenden
A1a
3
shm 12803:1
nä, Edsberg, Karaby, raä 135
parcel
dagger flint type VI
4
shm 13962
nä, Edsberg, Löten, Fjugestaån
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3
5
shm 21513
nä, glanshammar, hassle, raä 53
coord
ribbed bucket (3), sword mindelheim
(2), discs (12), cauldron
6
shm 13295:4
nä, glanshammar, sticksjö
parcel
dagger flint type VI
7
shm 13376, Örebro 14274,
private
nä, glanshammar, storsicke, raä 50 +
70
coord
Axe flanged, axe palstave, axe stone
rhomboid, other stone shaft-hole
axes
8
Örebro 3828
nä, Karlskoga, svartälven
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
9
Örebro 17272
nä, Kumla, Blacksta
parcel
Axe socketed type B
10
shm 17215:1
nä, Lännäs, djursnäs saw mill
coord
spearhead pile dwelling type, knife
frag
11
shm 13097
nä, Lännäs, tunäs/vicarage
parcel
spearhead
12
Örebro 1370-1371
nä, Örebro, skebäck, svartån
parcel
Axe socketed type scania (2)
No
17
cumul
2
13
shm 8395
sö, Barva, Bjurkärrsäng
parcel
Axe socketed (3)
14
Private
sö, Björkvik, Edeby, raä 276
coord
Axe flanged
15
shm 31115
sö, Björnlunda, mosstugan 2:1, raä 292
coord
sword vollgriff open thumb socket
riveted grip
16
shm 8104
sö, Brännkyrka, Årsta, Årsta meadow
parcel
Axe palstave
17
shm 2273, 4177, 22228; nykpg
2595 / strngns 1083; strngns
1085, m 156
sö, Bärbo, täckhammar bridge, river
nyköpingsån, raä 80, raä 85
coord
Axe flanged (4), axe socketed (2),
spear (2), sword
cumul
18
shm 8234:15, 13671, ÖrLm
3608
sö, Eskilstuna, hyndevad ford, river
Eskilstunaån, raä 587:1
coord
Large varied accumulation: axe
flanged, dagger tanged, etc.
cumul
19
shm 3573, 6759, private
Cavalli-holmgren
sö, Eskilstuna, Kälby, raä 558
coord
Axe shaft-hole display (2), dagger
griffplatte
124 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
3
3
Ref
B hoard 162
Class
Context
Per
lake
On an island in Lake sottern
IV-V
indet
mobergsudden not identified
bog
CoordY
CoordX
1483220
6547440
IV
?
?
“found on land taken into cultivation 50 years ago
straight w of the w-most farm in grävsta hamlet
(on the E edge of the w-most of the long n-s
clayey depressions between Karaby and grävsta)
near a big rooted boulder”
I-II
1445260
6556100
river
river
V-VI
1446660
6559890
river
river
VI
1936
1476070
6580945
lake
In a field near the shore of the lowered Lake hjälmaren
I-II
1907
1480140
6575100
1475222
6577229
cumul
Field near wetland
river
river
river
lake
lake
Found in blue clay at shore of Lake hjälmaren near
the vicarage, almost uncorroded
river
river
Year
cumul
V-VI
1911
1430620
6578800
near river ralaån
II-III
1935
1463150
6554210
digging for the foundation of the saw mill
V-VI
1496479
6557190
II
1488850
6561170
V-VI
1467640
6572670
O 2711
river
ditch digging
III
1558060
6572000
wigren 1987:54
lake
harrowing
I
1934
1545373
6523543
report in AtA
bog
harrowing on reclaimed bog
I
1976
1576568
6551549
sea
O 2726
O 2729
II
1626690
6578230
cumul
“found 5’ under the river bed during dredging of
nyköpingsån in 1856”, “100-200 m n of the bridge”,
“at the head of the river”
cumul
1564762
6523258
cumul
river rapids at ford
cumul
1537653
6578182
1537558
6579047
bog
near Liljeholmen
Boggy woodland cultivation
II
1864
A PPen di x B
125
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
20
Eskilstuna numberless
sö, Eskilstuna, tunavallen, raä 590:1
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
21
nyköping Flb 31
sö, Frustuna, hållsta
parcel
Axe flanged
22
gnesta hembygdsgård
sö, Frustuna, hällesta, raä 183:1
coord
Axe palstave
23
shm 26138
sö, grödinge, sibble 2:3
parcel
sickle preform (4)
24
shm 21687
sö, helgesta, Frändesta, Oxbroberget
parcel
spearhead gundslev
25
nyköping 266 div
sö, helgona, Kristineholm, nyköpingsån, raä helgona 173:1
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
26
shm 26909
sö, huddinge, solgård 1:166, marsvägen 10, raä 211
coord
dagger tanged
27
Private
sö, husby-Oppunda, tärnö, raä 257
coord
Axe palstave
28
shm 14613
sö, husby-rekarne, Årby, Årby bog
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
29
nyköping 14061
sö, Kila, near Lake Bålsjön, Villa
solbacken, raä 139:1
coord
Axe palstave
30
nyköping 4472
sö, Lid, Lilla Lundby
parcel
Axe socketed type B
31
shm 17019:6
sö, Lista, Vingsleör, Apalsjön
parcel
dagger flint type VI
32
shm 15259:5
sö, näshulta, Kråksten
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
33
shm 6611:3
sö, sorunda, Fituna, mörkarfjärden
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
34
shm 29366
sö, sorunda, grödby, Petterslund, raä
754
coord
Pin disc-head
No
4
35
shm 26083
sö, sorunda, södra rangsta, raä 542
coord
spearhead plain convex
36
shm 813
sö, spelvik, church, Kyrkovallen, raä 98
coord
hoard
37
shm 12310, strängnäs 10781082
sö, strängnäs, tosterön, sundby
parcel
ring wendelring (2), ring arm (4)
6
38
nyköping 18015 / 184-186
sö, svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan, raä
146:1
coord
sword antenna, ring wendelring
2
39
nyköping 18015 / 184-186
sö, svärta, Kråknäs/Kråkstugan, raä
146:2
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
40
nyköping 4921
sö, torsåker, harlinge, raä 141:1
coord
spearhead ?Ödeshög
41
shm 9275
sö, torsåker, torsnäset, Lake sillen
parcel
Axe socketed type F
42
nyköping 11751 / 264 div
sö, torsåker, tuna
parcel
Axe socketed
43
shm 17311
sö, tunaberg, Bråten, raä 105
parcel
Axe palstave
126 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
C. 24
Ref
Copy shm 24179
Class
Context
Year
CoordY
CoordX
IV-V
1939
1539193
6583528
lake/
sea
Lake: drainage channel across former Lake Igelsjön
between givesta and Lake Långsjön
I
1881
1584370
6547260
lake
garden patch
II
1965
1582192
6546868
O 2736
sea
In modern house foundation immediately n of
mounds raä 138
III
1940
1611450
6556040
O 2737
lake
In crevice on Oxeberget / Oxbroberget hill, 150 m
from the road between nyköping and sparreholm
III
1559750
6543430
river
Crevice on river bank during dam construction
lake
Under a boulder below a scarp
lake
C. 200 m n of the farmstead
report in AtA
O 2738; wigren 1987:56
sea
Per
lake
report in AtA
IV-V
1938
1565362
6521789
V
1954
1623053
6569124
II
1929
1554059
6528832
1536920
6573090
1546578
6510790
IV-V
lake
Found under Forstmästare Collin’s house
II
1916
river
lake
ditch digging 500 m n of Lilla Lundby
II-III
1945
1566350
6532430
In boggy soil reclaimed from Lake Apalsjön
I-II
1526240
6580190
river
stray
IV-V
1529480
6562570
sea
sea
IV-V
1611950
6550890
anon
Brown patina
V-VI
1970
1618237
6549835
anon
tree planting at base of hill
V-VI
1955
1613157
6543053
B hoard 158, minnen 1225
sea
Under a boulder
VI
1838
1575321
6532729
B hoard 159, mbl 1903-05
sea
”in a fallow field above gammalsund Karlsstugan in
sundby gärde”, “under a boulder during blasting for
the new gymnasium”.
VI
1570530
6585790
B hoard 160; Arbman 1934
bog
during harrowing after bog drainage for arable on
“hagslätten”
VI
1576488
6521765
bog
Bog, c. 200 m from sword
1576490
6521770
river
stream dredging / 500 m n or nE of vicarage at 2 m
depth in bog
1588657
6537027
lake
Found at lakeshore but porous green patina
III-IV
1589160
6543040
lake
200 m s of tuna. Axe mislaid at museum.
?LBA
sea
3 km ssE of tunaberg church, 450 m n of the
cottage
O 2755
1933-34
IV-V
I
II
1940
1968
1589040
6540410
1565900
6501130
A PPen di x B
127
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
No
44
shm 7774
sö, turinge, nykvarn, Ekudden, raä
328:1
coord
hoard mixed
58
45
södertälje 4278
sö, tveta, rophäll, raä 187:1
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
46
shm 2417, 5659
sö, Vrena, dalby, Vrenaån
parcel
Axe flanged (2), axe socketed type
mälaren
47
shm 13117
sö, Vårdinge, hjortsberga, raä 59:1
parcel
ring wendelring
48
shm 2674, 2842
sö, Vårdinge, Långbro
parcel
hoard plus hone stone
49
shm 11313
sö, Vårdinge, nådhammar, Lake
Långsjön
parcel
Axe socketed type C
50
shm 12036 / nyköp 2596 /
strängn
sö, Västerhaninge, hållsättra, Prästängen
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
51
shm 13839:6
sö, Österåker, maren
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
52
shm 14665
sö, Östra Vingåker, skiringstorp, raä 33
coord
sword riveted open thumb socket
53
shm 3672
sö, Överjärna, Järna railway station
parcel
dagger flint type VI
54
Uppsala Emanuel Cederström 823
Up, Alsike, Krusenberg
parcel
Axe socketed type scania
55
shm 15440
Up, Altuna, drävle, raä 79
coord
Axe flanged
56
Uppsala 3184
Up, Björklinge, Kambo, Långsjön
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
57
Private rålamb
Up, Bondkyrka, norby forest, grindstugan
parcel
Axe socketed type F
58
Västerås 11863
Up, Bred, Eklunda, mossen
parcel
Axe socketed A2a L 80 mm
59
shm 20652
Up, Bromma, norra Ängby, Jomsborgsvägen 7, raä 110
coord
Axe palstave
60
shm 16018
Up, Börje, Altuna
parcel
ring wendelring, ring spiral (2), axe
socketed, pins (3)
61
Uppsala 5452
Up, Börje, Brunnby
parcel
Axe flanged
62
Uppsala 996 / Enköping
Up, dalby, gräna, near Lake Ekoln
coord
Axe flanged
63
Uppsala 5771
Up, dalby, tuna
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
64
Private, copy in shm
Up, Edsbro, smaranäs, raä 49:1
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
65
shm 15382
Up, Ekerö, skärvik
parcel
Axe stone rhomboid
128 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
cumul
22
7
Ref
Class
Context
O 2759
lake
lake
B hoard 161, minnen 1193
O 2768
Per
Year
CoordY
CoordX
“during digging in the earth”, re-investigation 1931
turned up flint
III
1885
1587549
6561594
Lake, shore of Lake Långsjön near the turinge psh
boundary
IV-V
1932
1597095
6560828
cumul
river
I, IV-V
1857
1551850
6526590
1907
bog
Field
VI
1591090
6545950
multi
“during railroad work while digging in a small peat
bog located up high in a small depression in a
gravel esker ... At a distance of 5’ was a stone cairn ...
5’ diameter bedded down into the peat at the same
depth. no remains of bones or ash.”
VI
1591060
6547870
lake
Lakeshore
III
1593040
6543730
lake
meadow, 4’ deep
IV-V
1625960
6557880
IV-V
1505720
6559150
II
1512846
6538439
lake
stray
bog
Cultivated bog
anon
Found during railway building
I-II
1600920
6553690
Field between Källvreten and the upper farmstead
near the stable.
V-VI
1604370
6626330
1564924
6633492
sea
river
O 2848
lake
near Lake Långsjön
anon
gravel pit behind grindstugan tavern. haft frag
remained when found.
indet
mossen not identified
anon
sea
sea
1915
V
1904
1598900
6658560
III-IV
1882
1602710
6636930
IV
1963
?
?
II
1934
1619491
6582480
small gravel pit 500 m w of Altuna hamlet
VI
1917
1593440
6644970
On surface during drainage work in field EsE of
farmstead
I
1925
1595900
6640690
sea
B hoard 169, E 1921 #130
I
I
1875
1598473
6626464
Easternmost farmstead in tuna 3:2. nE of farmstead,
230 m nE of road, on a rise in a field, 21-22 m a.s.l.
V-VI
1948
1597660
6629970
sea
sea
IV-V
1944
1645256
6643789
sea
not identical to the axe roshagen raä 87, which is a
simply designed Ln axe.
V-VI
1914
1614750
6573530
anon
Ploughing at the sE corner of the barn, 23 m a.s.l.
A PPen di x B
129
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
66
shm 14413
Up, Fasterna, grindtorpet
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
67
shm 16381
Up, Fröslunda, noppsgärde
coord
spearhead
68
shm 17343:1444k
Up, Funbo, marielund railway station
coord
Belt dome
69
Private Johansson
Up, gamla Uppsala, sanda
parcel
Axe socketed no dec L 41 mm
70
Uppsala 5686
Up, gryta, säva
parcel
Axe flanged
71
Uppsala 2283
Up, gryta, säva, grängesberg/
gäddnäsberg/Eningsberg
parcel
Axe flanged
72
Uppsala 5537:1
Up, hagby, Focksta, skvallerhagen
parcel
spearhead
No
73
shm 26840
Up, hammarby, Ekebo, raä 29
coord
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1a
74
Uppsala 5455
Up, husby-Långhundra, norrbacken
parcel
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
75
shm 13991:4
Up, husby-sjutolft, Ekolsundsviken,
Ekolsund brick works
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
76
shm 11635, 12607:5, 16120
Up, härnevi, Lilla härnevi/vicarage,
raä 69
coord
hoard
77
Uppsala 4860
Up, Jumkil, Ubby
parcel
Axe flanged
78
shm 5790
Up, Järfälla, säby, meadow near Lake
säbysjön
parcel
ring neck, gold spiral (2)
79
Private tersmeden
Up, Kårsta, Lilla sunnarby, norrvreten,
raä 91:1
coord
ring neck open hooked
80
shm 13465
Up, Lagga, morby
parcel
Axe stone sloping butt
81
Uppsala 4565
Up, Lena church, raä 90:1
coord
sword tanged
82
Private Poignant
Up, Lena, Edshammar
parcel
Axe socketed, spearhead
2
83
shm 612
Up, Lena, Vattholma
coord
spearhead (4), sword (2), sword grip
(2)
8
84
Uppsala 3185
Up, Lena, Vattholma, Flugtorpet
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
130 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
c. 50
3
Ref
E 1921 #22
E 1921 #96
Class
Context
Per
lake
Between the church and the forest warden’s place
to the sw.
V-VI
sea
Found during extraction of fill for a building foundation, 2 m east of the house at noppsgärde
I
lake
On high promontory on n shore of Lake trehörningen, cut through by Uppsala-Länna railroad, less
than 2000’ E of the railway station.
esker
CoordY
CoordX
1636030
6630040
1582891
6621909
V
1616513
6637867
In gravel pit between tunåsen and galgbacken
V
1601740
6642310
sea
gravel pit west side of road towards hagby, c. 100
m n of the crossroads w of säva bridge
I
1938
1588770
6628510
sea
Field edge c. 200 m wsw of croft, 25 m a.s.l.
I
1890
1587690
6627870
sea
In pasture near säva road, w of stream, tightly
wedged between 2 stones
II
1930
1587770
6631240
Beside boulder, edge up, in Iron Age cemetery
V
1960
1619828
6600562
n of norrbacken next to a spring
IV
1926
1623700
6628810
IV-V
1910
1589281
6614239
sea
anon
B hoard 171, E 1921 #77
B hoard 172, E 1921 #72
Year
1877
sea
sea bed
settl
ditch digging
VI
1902
1572235
6622785
sea
Ploughing in former bog, 38 m a.s.l., s of village
between a hill to the E and the road and a brook to
the w
I
1918
1589660
6647390
lake
Lake
IV
1876
1616890
6591330
IV
1635545
6618627
1612130
6631330
1915
1607090
6656403
lake
sea
Field, angle between stream and road to halmby, n
of stream
LBA
multi
during gravel extraction in former field on ridge c.
200 m nE of church, LIA cemeteries & undated
settlement site
II-III
B hoard 174, E 1921 #89
sea
within 1000 feet s of the property, E of railroad
VI
1607270
6653350
B hoard 175, E 1921 #53
multi
sand quarry on road from Lena church to Vattholma bruk, 500 fathoms (= 900 m) n of church,
gravel ridge, prob. within cemetery raä 85
IV
1833
1607120
6657230
anon
Potato patch on the slope towards the stream at
Flugtorpet
V
1904
1605950
6659900
A PPen di x B
131
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
No
85
shm 34442, private Eriksson
Up, Lunda, sigridsholm, raä 232:1
coord
ring wendelring (2), axe socketed (3),
dress pin (2), ring frags
10
86
Uppsala 4712
Up, Läby, håmö, Frosshögarna/Lake
Läbyträsk
parcel
Axe soapstone
87
shm 8101
Up, nysätra, near Lake hålsjön
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
88
shm 24782
Up, nysätra, Åloppe, stockmossen
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
89
shm 14759
Up, ramsta, Bragby, mönemossen
parcel
sword vollgriff open thumb socket
riveted grip
90
shm 18379
Up, rasbo, Västerberga, raä 622
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
91
Uppsala 2289
Up, rasbokil, Årby, damhagsåkrar
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
92
shm 14586
Up, rimbo, rimbo
coord
Axe socketed type mälaren
93
shm 18819
Up, simtuna/torstuna, Örsundaån,
Forsby bridge, raä 174:1
coord
Axe stone sloping butt
94
Uppsala 2354
Up, skepptuna, Ånsta
parcel
sword mindelheim
95
Uppsala 3750
Up, skogs-tibble, Ingla, Ingla-Långmyran
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
96
shm 14105
Up, skogs-tibble, Ingla, raä 64:1
parcel
ring arm (3)
97
Uppsala 2284
Up, skogs-tibble, Lillsjön/stensmyran
parcel
Axe flanged
3
98
Uppsala 5620
Up, skogs-tibble, Långmyran
parcel
Axe flanged ?Baltic
99
Uppsala 2287
Up, skogs-tibble, river sävaån
parcel
Axe flanged
100
Uppsala 2541
Up, skogs-tibble, Ulvansvad
parcel
dagger flint type VI
101
Uppsala 5529
Up, skogs-tibble, Vicarage, raä 64:1
parcel
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
102
Uppsala 5571, 5706
Up, skogs-tibble, Ångelsta, Lundbacka
parcel
ring wendelring (2)
2
103
shm 13767
Up, solna, råsunda
coord
sword gündlingen, dagger
2
104
shm 20308
Up, solna, Ulriksdal, near Edsviken Inlet
parcel
Axe flanged
132 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
cumul
Ref
B hoard 177, E 1921 #131
Class
Context
Per
Year
CoordY
CoordX
lake
Edge of Lake sigridsholmssjön
LBA
1986
1624359
6618807
lake
Field sw of håmö between hågaån and a ridge
LBA
1916
1594090
6636780
lake
Cultivation
V-VI
1580000
6634110
bog
stump blasting
V
lake
7 inches deep in bog
I
lake
20 cm deep in clay
IV-V
lake
Cultivated bog 10 min wnw of Årby, prob. Årbymyran
IV-V
1882
indet
digging for J. Broberg’s house foundation
IV-V
1912
river
river
LBA
sea
In pasture/boggy field/bog n of the farmstead
lake
Canal digging in bog soil nE of Ingla
cumul
river
B hoard 179, E 1921 #125
1912
1577920
6634310
1592260
6630150
1614050
6649350
1612550
6654770
?
?
1565630
6629634
VI
1896
1627050
6624830
IV-V
1910
1585120
6636970
“in a little potato patch at the farm labourer’s home
‘mellgrind’, close E of the road after its turns s, and a
bit s of the dot on the geological map marking an
abandoned farm.” next to UmF 5529.
VI
1910
1584740
6635860
Bog E of Lake Lillsjön, 36 m a.s.l., near eaves of
woods on s side of valley
I
1891
1582330
6634510
lake
during drainage work in bog 3 km nE of church
II-III
1934
1585970
6637740
lake/
sea
river dredging between Vrå and church, ancient
lake or sea inlet
I
1886
1584240
6635080
river
Ford
I-II
1582590
6638740
cumul
near boundary with Ingla, at edge of field scant
meters from spot of arm rings shm 14105
IV
1929
1584740
6635860
anon
50 m apart in field c. 100 m from Old svedjetorp
towards nE, east of the road Ångelsta-Eka
VI
1930,41
1586670
6633370
1.5 m deep in clay during foundation digging for
the south corner of the tram garage at råsunda.
Find spot 17-18 m a.s.l. Buildings torn down in 1985,
within the streets spårvägen, hallgatan, Lövgatan
and råsundavägen.
VI
1909
1623735
6584498
I
1900
1625640
6587530
sea
sea
A PPen di x B
133
#
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
105
shm 12412
Up, sparrsätra, hässelby, gångmossen,
raä 117:5
parcel
Pin spiral-head
106
ssm 16417
Up, spånga, Backlura
coord
sword tanged
107
shm 15833
Up, spånga, råcksta, Kanaan/Oljeberget, raä 299
coord
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
108
shm 22026
Up, spånga, sundby, spånga villastad,
syrenen nr 2, raä 3:1
coord
ring armlet (2)
109
shm 19313
Up, stockholm, hammarby/mårtensdal
parcel
Axe stone rhomboid
110
shm 9277
Up, stockholm, Värtahamnen
parcel
Axe palstave
111
söderbykarl 261
Up, söderbykarl, Ekeby
parcel
Axe socketed type mälaren
112
söderbykarl 260
Up, söderbykarl, norrmarjum
parcel
Axe flanged
113
shm 10144
Up, tierp, torslunda, raä 948
parcel
spearhead, axe shafthole, axe
flanged
114
Uppsala 5507
Up, Uppsala-näs, skärfältens, sjökärret
parcel
spearhead
115
Uppsala 5697
Up, Uppsala, tingshögsgatan
parcel
Axe stone sloping butt
116
shm 17343:1444n
Up, Vittinge, Ösby, Österängen
parcel
Axe socketed type E
117
shm 21183
Up, Vårfrukyrka, grop-norrby,
hjältängarna
parcel
Axe socketed type d
118
Uppsala 5430
Up, Vårfrukyrka, skälby, hällstigen
parcel
Axe stone rhomboid
No
2
3
cumul
119
shm 4287
Up, Vänge, Bärby, raä 224
parcel
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3
120
Uppsala 3266
Up, Vänge, Bärby, Vängeån
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
121
Uppsala 6032
Up, Ärentuna, gammelängen
coord
spearhead type Ullerslev
122
shm 17941
Up, Ärentuna, storvreta rwy stn,
Oskarsborg, raä 240
coord
spearhead (2), chisel socketed, sickle
flint
4
123
Uppsala 5690
Up, Österunda, domta vad, raä 83:1
coord
Belt dome (2), ring (3)
5
124
Lost
Up, Österunda, gustavsberg, täppdammen, raä 77
parcel
spearhead
125
Uppsala 4864
Up, Österunda, Lake Oxsjön
parcel
Chape sword rhomboid
134 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Ref
Class
Context
Per
Year
CoordY
CoordX
E 1921 #110
bog
On top of a tuft of grass in the bog
V-VI
1902
1561250
6622290
O 2831
bog
Bog. Currently Backlöksvägen 68-70 (once Ängsvägen 8, stadsäga 40)
II-III
1950-51
1614124
6587820
sea
during stone clearing
V-VI
1617347
6583377
gardening, spade depth
VI/IA
1938
1619689
6584884
sea
Foundation digging 75 m s of general motors’
factory, sea?
V-VI
1930
1629950
6577860
sea
Found during digging for earthworms at 15 cm
depth some ways from the shore.
II
1892
1630870
6583330
E 1921 #70
indet
during harrowing in a field n of Lake Bordsrudssjön, not identified
IV-V
1914
?
?
20 m a.s.l.
I
1661030
6643860
O 2840; renck 2007
multi
gravel pit 2 rifle shots n of torslunda farmstead, E of
highway to gävle
I
1892
1592960
6689120
sea
harrowing in sjökärret bog between road and Lake
sätrasjön sw of skärfälten
I
1928
1594070
6634600
sea
Ploughing on town land n of town, left side of the
road to gamla Uppsala, c 100 to this side of ”Bahrska granhäcken” and 200-300 m from road
LBA
1926
1602360
6641230
lake
drained sandy ground
III-IV
1894
1569640
6643380
1569620
6621680
anon
sea
O 2858
cumul
Ploughing n of farmstead
anon
gift from finder
V-VI
1925
1573680
6617240
lake
drainage, Lake rönningen
V-VI
1869
1587400
6639190
lake
stream’s edge
IV-V
1905
1589900
6639680
river
Found thrust beneath a large glacial erratic in a
boulder field, no other finds at subsequent excavation
II
1976
1608173
6648595
O 2866
anon
Under a boulder
II
1926
1606116
6650112
B hoard 181, Arwidsson
1939
lake
Ploughing, drained fen
V
c. 1910
1574656
6631649
?
c. 1945
1570970
6635490
II-III
1916
1574070
6636510
river
E 1921 #21 fig. 34:43
lake
Lake edge
III
A PPen di x B
135
#
126
Inv.no
Place
Accur
Types
shm 23674
Up, Österunda, Pukberget, raä 62
coord
spearhead plain convex
No
127
Arboga 397
Vs, Arboga, Kråkdiket/Vinbäcken
parcel
Axe stone sloping butt
128
Västerås 14643
Vs, Björksta, Vida/högtorp
parcel
Axe socketed type d
129
shm 11267
Vs, Fellingsbro churchyard, raä 170:3
parcel
Axe shaft-hole
130
Örebro numberless
Vs, Fellingsbro, Eke, sällingsjön, east
shore
parcel
dagger tanged
131
Västerås 3174
Vs, hubbo, hökåsen, raä 109
coord
hoard
12
132
shm 5533, 5534
Vs, hubbo, hökåsen, raä 110
parcel
ring wendelring (2), ring ankle (2),
belt dome (2), armlet wire (3)
9
133
shm 15393:9
Vs, hubbo, mälby, raä 100
coord
Axe socketed side-slots
134
Västerås 147
Vs, Kärrbo, Frösåker, skyttebo
parcel
Axe palstave
135
Köping 3689
Vs, malma, Åsby, raä Kolsva 115
coord
ring wendelring
136
Private Kumla
Vs, Odensvi, Kumla, raä 137:1
coord
Axe flanged
137
Västerås 3911
Vs, skultuna, Åkesta
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
138
shm 2503
Vs, svedvi, Berga I
parcel
Belt dome, ring arm spiral, ring neck
(2), pin disc
5
139
shm 14908, 14992, Västerås
7163
Vs, svedvi, Berga II
parcel
ring wendelring (4)
4
140
shm 12534
Vs, svedvi, Vicarage, raä 239
coord
ring neck
141
shm 6517:100, 15393:5
Vs, tortuna, Fors, tillbergaån/Lillån
parcel
Axe flanged
2
142
shm 22775
Vs, Västerås, tunbyvägen 74, raä 377:1
coord
Axe shaft-hole display, sickle (3)
4
143
shm 12651:31
Vs, Västra skedvi, Klockarkilen
parcel
Axe stone orthogonal
136 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
Ref
Class
Context
Per
Year
CoordY
CoordX
lake
Cave
V-VI
c. 1930
1576003
6631885
river
stream
LBA
1501450
6585470
lake
Peripheral field 800 m n of farm
III
1950
1556780
6618480
I
1486970
6593210
O 2644
lake
sea
Lake
III
1483000
6599160
B hoard 164, O 1933 184f
Abb 172
esker
gravel extraction
VI
1922
1545120
6616053
B hoard 163; minnen 1413,
1414, 1458
esker
Under and near a boulder on the Badelunda esker,
railroad work
VI
1875
1544720
6616470
1545369
6618995
1552770
6602020
1505786
6604006
anon
V
sea
anon
O 2656b
II
next to clearance cairn in field
sea
Field
sea
next to road ditch c. 200 m s of Åkesta farmstead
VI
1936
1511651
6604576
IV-V
I
1923
1538000
6616530
V-VI
1858
1526510
6607778
1929
1526510
6607778
B hoard 166; minnen 1332,
1383
lake
B hoard 167
lake
”during ploughing in bog earth”.
VI
esker
In gravel ridge
VI
1526329
6607906
river
river, dredging
I
1550550
6618210
river
Charcoal, burnt stone
1541299
6612376
1493330
6605080
O 2668
anon
II
IV-V
1941
A PPen di x B
137
A PPendi x c
#
Finds list: poorly known locations
Inv.no
Place
Types
144
shm 25177:B:68
nä, Axberg, dylta
Axe stone sloping butt
145
Örebro 432
nä, Ekeby, Björka
Axe palstave
146
shm 13142:3
nä, Ekeby, Ekeby, mosjön
dagger flint type VI
147
shm 8041
nä, Ekeby, Frommesta
Axe flanged, axe stone mnA battle axe
148
Örebro Läns Folkhögskola
nä, Ekeby, högtorp
Axe socketed type B
149
shm 13233:5
nä, Ekeby, torsta
Axe shaft-hole
150
Örebro 9075
nä, Ekeby, Vallby
dagger griffplatte
151
skara 62312
nä, glanshammar, glanshammar
Axe flanged
152
shm 7489
nä, gällersta, Ökna
Axe flanged
153
shm 7591:3
nä, hallsberg, hallsberg
Axe socketed type mälaren
154
shm 9170:1226
nä, hammar, Aspa
Axe socketed type scania
155
Kävesta folkhögskola
nä, hardemo, skyberga
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
156
Örebro 3607
nä, Lake hjälmaren, sw part
Axe flanged
157
Örebro 5096
nä, Lerbäck, Essböle
Axe stone orthogonal
158
Örebro 119
nä, Lännäs, Ingevaldstorp
Axe stone orthogonal
159
shm 13123:8
nä, Lännäs, Ingevaldstorp
Axe stone sloping butt
160
Örebro 433
nä, rinkaby, Lilla Åkerhagen
Axe socketed type C
161
Örebro 15119
nä, rinkaby, solberga, Lövsta
Axe flanged
162
shm 1658
nä, sköllersta, Kärr
Axe palstave
163
shm 13233:7
nä, stora mellösa, dömmesta
Axe socketed
164
shm 426
nä, stora mellösa, Åkerby
dagger griffplatte
165
shm 12903:22
nä, Ödeby, sunnarboda
Axe stone rhomboid
166
shm 13649
nä, Örebro, Ånsta, Aspholmen
Axe socketed type B
167
shm 11495:734
sö, Aspö, husby
Cylinder tripartite end
168
shm 4605
sö, Björkvik, danbyholm
Axe socketed type C
169
Private Ernst hermelin
sö, Björkvik, hacksta
Awl
170
Private weijber
sö, Björkvik, hagbyberga
Axe flanged
171
shm 14872
sö, Björnlunda, Ekhov, skräddartorp
Axe flanged
172
nyköping Flb 73 / strängn
sö, Björnlunda, Jakobsberg
Axe socketed
173
nyköping Flb 31
sö, Björnlunda, Ökna
Axe socketed
138 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
Lundin collection
LBA
On the bed of the drained Lake mosjön
I-II
Year
II
2?
O 2679
Under a boulder
I
Copy shm 15262:2
Under a boulder
II-III
m 813, O 2681
Under a boulder
I
1875
1916
I
dredging wetland
I
IV-V
V-VI
V-VI
Lake
I
stray
IV-V
IV-V
1864
LBA
Baumbach collection
III
1887
I
1929
Bog
II
Beside boulder
III
gravel pit
V-VI
Aspholmen is not an island
II-III
stray
marsh
III
Copy shm 20843
Potato patch
O 2717
Bog
I
skräddartorp n of Björnlunda church, prob near mosstugan.
I
1913
stray
stray
A PPen di x c
139
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
174
shm 10174:20
sö, Bogsta, norrby
Axe stone rhomboid
175
shm 8520
sö, Botkyrka, riksten
Axe socketed type mälaren
176
Uppsala 977-982
sö, Botkyrka, tullinge
Axe socketed (2), sickle (1), tutulus (2), ring (2)
177
shm 13404
sö, dunker, Alm
Axe flanged
178
nyköping 149 / 45
sö, dunker, målarstugan
Axe flanged
179
shm 23928
sö, Eskilstuna, gultbrunn
Axe shaft-hole undecorated
180
Eskilstuna 4832
sö, Eskilstuna, gultbrunn
Axe socketed
181
Eskilstuna 4715 / 7415
sö, Eskilstuna, gultbrunn
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
182
shm 13814
sö, Eskilstuna, mesta
spearhead
183
shm 15260:1
sö, Floda, Vegersberg
Axe stone orthogonal
184
shm 7978:3
sö, Fogdö, Bergshammar
Axe stone rhomboid
185
shm 15787:9
sö, Frustuna, hållsta
Axe socketed type B
186
shm 10105
sö, Frustuna, nytorpet
Axe palstave
187
Private Leander Karlsson
sö, gillberga, Åsby
Axe flanged
188
grödinge
sö, grödinge, Kagghamra
Axe stone orthogonal (2)
189
nyköping 288 div
sö, helgesta, rockelsta
Axe socketed type mälaren
190
shm 3748
sö, helgona, Bönsta
dagger Vollgriff miniature
191
nyköping
sö, husby-Oppunda, torp
Axe flanged
192
shm 740
sö, husby-rekarne, Vicarage
sword hallstatt
193
shm 13617
sö, hölö, hejsta
Axe socketed type scania
194
shm 17343:705
sö, hölö, malmen
Axe stone rhomboid
195
shm 12902
sö, hölö, tullgarn
Axe stone orthogonal
196
shm 8439
sö, hölö, tullgarn
spearhead
197
nyköping 18999 Flb 35-36
sö, Kattnäs, Lebro
ring wendelring (2)
198
Private
sö, Kila, Ålberga
Axe palstave
199
Private
sö, Lista, Åsby
Axe flanged
200
shm 8640:15
sö, Ludgo, grindstugan
dagger flint type VI
201
shm 17169
sö, mellösa, Yxtaholm, Fredsbacken
dagger griffplatte
202
Uppsala 990, 992
sö, mörkö, mörkön, Väggberget
Axe socketed simple plain socket, chisel socketed
203
shm 6782
sö, näshulta, hedensö
ring wendelring
204
shm 3748
sö, runtuna, Årsta
dagger or miniature sword
140 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
7
Ref
O 2720
Context
Per
stray
V-VI
stray
IV-V
Under a boulder on top of a barrow or hillock
III
Found among alder brush but green patina
I
stray
I
Ploughing, parcel unknown, raä 420 is not the spot
I
Year
1800
1883
stray
stray
tree planting on an esker
V-VI
III
stray
IV-V
stray
V-VI
Lake, unnamed
II-III
ditch digging
II
Under a boulder
I
2?
1850s
IV-V
stray
IV-V
stray
I
1867
Among stones in pasture
V
stray
V-VI
stray
V-VI
stray
IV-V
1836
stray
2
B hoard 156
during ploughing in a newly cleared field
VI
O 2744; wigren
1987:56
Under a boulder
II
1916
I
1950s
wigren 1987:57
2
B hoard 157, Ats III
257
during stone clearing
”digging at a depth of 4–5 feet, where there were also black oak
trunks”
I-II
ditch digging
I-II
Under roots of a fallen tree
V
Ploughing in a wet meadow
VI
1881
ditch digging
II
1867
1822
A PPen di x c
141
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
205
södertälje
sö, sorunda, Frönäs
Axe stone sloping butt
206
nyköping 46
sö, stigtomta, Viksberg
spearhead
207
södertälje 3491
sö, sättersta, Vreta/Vreten
spearhead
208
shm 13923:10
sö, taxinge, näsby
Axe stone orthogonal
209
Private Claes Andersson
sö, taxinge, Prästtorp
Axe flanged
210
shm 18025
sö, toresund, Odinsborg
Axe stone rhomboid
211
shm 8640:318
sö, trosa, herrberga
Axe socketed type mälaren
212
nyköping 187, Private
sö, tunaberg, nävekvarn
Axe socketed arched edge ribs, axe socketed
213
Private
sö, tunaberg, torskhuset
Knife
214
shm 11495:886
sö, turinge, hökmossen
Axe stone sloping butt
215
södertälje 27:3
sö, turinge, nykvarn
Axe palstave
216
södertälje 4275
sö, turinge, trångö
Axe socketed type scania
217
shm 21470
sö, tyresö, Karlberg
Axe socketed
218
nyköping 183 (152?) strängn
sö, Vansö, Eneby
Pin
219
shm 15483
sö, Vårdinge, nibble
Axe stone rhomboid
220
södertälje 3958
sö, Vårdinge, römossen
spearhead
221
shm 14614:10
sö, Vårdinge, sjuenda
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
222
strängnäs 165
sö, Västerhaninge, vicarage
Axe socketed type mälaren
223
shm 1074
sö, Västerhaninge, vicarage
ring neck (4)
224
shm 13025:13
sö, Västermo, Vi
Axe flanged
225
shm 20943
sö, Ytterenhörna, Johannesdal
spearhead
226
södertälje 1367
sö, Ytterenhörna, Lövsta
Arrowhead
227
södertälje 1067
sö, Ytterenhörna, Vinberga
Axe socketed simple plain socket
228
shm 11319:3
sö, Åker, smedsby
Axe stone orthogonal
229
strängnäs ”12”
sö, Ärla, Axnäs
Brooch (2)
230
nyköping 159
sö, Ärla, gåsnäs
spearhead
231
shm 13625:4
sö, Ärla, rökärr
Axe stone rhomboid
232
shm 13783:1
sö, Östertälje, gärtuna
Axe flanged
233
södertälje 2401
sö, Östertälje, hall
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
234
shm 10677
sö, Österåker, Jenstorp
Axe stone rhomboid
235
nyköping 584 sjö
sö, Östra Vingåker, Åkra
Axe stone sloping butt
142 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
Year
LBA
stray
1881
stray
O 2754a; wigren
1987:58
during agricultural work
IV-V
I
Ploughing
V-VI
ditch digging, in clay, crumbly green/grey surface
IV-V
stray. Lake norra Yngern?
LBA
1950
wigren 1987:58
stray
Potato harvest
II
1925
V-VI
1933
Found on surface at road between rundemar and Karlberg,
swampy surroundings
stray
stray
V-VI
stray, bog?
stray
V-VI
IV-V
4
ditch digging in wet meadow
Found deep in clay during ditch-digging but green porous
patina
I
stray
1870s
stray
2
IV-V
Found during digging
1875
In stiff clay during the clearing of new arable -- in the 1860s?
stray
V-VI
stray
I
stray
V-VI
LBA
A PPen di x c
143
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
236
södertälje 945
sö, Överjärna, hummelmora
spearhead
237
shm 11258
sö, Överjärna, Kallfors
spearhead
238
Uppsala 2348
Up, Almunge, ?Långbol
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
239
Uppsala 4885
Up, Altuna, Fnysinge
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
240
Västerås
Up, Altuna, säva
Axe stone sloping butt
241
Alunda
Up, Alunda, skyndeln
razor bent-back spiral grip
242
shm 15401:B
Up, Björklinge, närlinge
Axe flanged
243
Enköping 3479
Up, Boglösa, gådi no 1
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
244
shm 16983
Up, Boglösa, rickeby
Pin spiral-head
245
Uppsala 983
Up, Bondkyrka, håga
Axe socketed type mälaren
246
Private nyström
Up, Bred, gunsta, Krokby
dagger griffplatte
247
shm 18603:2
Up, Bred, snickaretorp
Axe flanged
248
shm 10176
Up, Bred, Vreta
Axe greenstone
249
shm 7899
Up, Bred, Ytterby
Axe flanged
250
Private nyström
Up, Bred, Äsplunda
Axe flanged
251
shm 8109
Up, Bro, Lejondal, sveden
Axe socketed type mälaren
252
Uppsala 997, 998, 1000-1003,
1006
Up, Bälinge, Forkarby
ring wendelring (5), ring neck, belt dome
253
Uppsala 2799
Up, Bälinge, Oxsätra
Axe stone sloping butt
254
Uppsala 2341-2342
Up, Bälinge, Åloppe
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3, axe stone
plain shafthole
255
Uppsala 5524:2
Up, Fröshult, Ekeborg
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3
256
shm 19012
Up, Fröslunda, Vicarage
Axe shaft-hole display
257
shm 25177:B:67
Up, Fröslunda, Örsundsbro
Axe socketed
258
Uppsala 1410
Up, gamla Uppsala, Bredåker
Axe stone rhomboid
259
Uppsala 984
Up, gamla Uppsala, gamla Uppsala
Axe socketed type mälaren
260
Uppsala 972
Up, gamla Uppsala, gamla Uppsala
dagger / mini sword Vollgriff
261
Uppsala 973
Up, gamla Uppsala, gamla Uppsala
dagger tanged
262
Uppsala 2355
Up, gryta, Eningbol
Axe stone orthogonal
263
shm 12336
Up, hagby, Filke
ring arm spiral
264
shm 8109:3
Up, hagby, hagby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
265
Uppsala 2359
Up, hagby, möjbro
Axe flanged
266
shm 16913:5
Up, hagby, Vicarage
Axe flanged
144 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
Year
during ploughing
stray
V
At dwelling between Bastbol and sågarbol
1895
LBA
I
V
ditch digging.
Lundeberg collection
O 2779
V
IV-V
1801
stray
Field
I
stray
EBA
I
O 2778
stray
Cultivation
7
2
B hoard 168, E 1921
#93
schröder collection
I
IV-V
VI
1823
stray
LBA
1901
Cultivation on a hill
V-VI
1894
stray
V-VI
1929
II
Lundin collection
stray
V-VI
1879
Lundeberg collection
IV-V
1822
Lundeberg collection
EBA
1820
Lundeberg collection
EBA
1822
stray
IV-V
Beside boulder in forest meadow
EBA
stray
V-VI
I
1898
I
A PPen di x c
145
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
267
Lund 13791
Up, harg, harg
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
268
shm 6375
Up, hjälsta, myrby
Axe socketed side-slots
269
Enköping 899
Up, hjälsta, månskenet
Axe stone orthogonal
270
Västerås ?154
Up, huddunge, sillbo
Axe stone sloping butt
271
Uppsala 5436
Up, husby-Långhundra, Lugnet
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
272
Uppsala 989
Up, håtuna, håtuna
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2b
273
Uppsala 5628
Up, håtuna, vicarage
Axe stone orthogonal
274
shm 16362:4
Up, härkeberga, malma
Axe socketed type mälaren
275
Private
Up, Järfälla, skällby
Axe stone sloping butt
276
Private Vinberg
Up, Kalmar, Väppeby
Axe flat
277
shm 9716
Up, Knutby, Kumla
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
278
shm 1563
Up, Knutby, Långsjön
sword (3), sword handle, spearhead
279
shm 11513
Up, Lagga, norrby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
280
shm 17343:1441
Up, Lena, Edshammar
spearhead
281
Uppsala 4568
Up, Lena, Koltorp
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
282
Uppsala 4566
Up, Lena, salsta, hummeltorp
spearhead
283
Private nilsson
Up, Lena, stenby
Axe socketed type scania
284
Uppsala 2789
Up, Lena, Årsta
Axe stone orthogonal
285
Enköping 1589
Up, Litslena, tibble no 5
Axe stone orthogonal
286
shm 12445
Up, Litslena, Vällinge
spearhead
287
shm 9168
Up, Lohärad, himmene
Pin spiral-head
288
shm 7742:32 & :114; söderby-Karl
hbf
Up, Lohärad, himmene
ring wendelring (3)
289
shm 12182:1
Up, Lohärad, Kristineholm
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3
290
shm 16730:48
Up, Lovö, Kungshatt
Axe stone rhomboid
291
shm 14177
Up, Lunda, Ängby
Axe stone rhomboid
292
Uppsala 2294
Up, Läby, Österby
sickle
293
shm 17343:1444g
Up, Länna, mörtsunda
Axe flanged
294
Kalmar 425
Up, markim, Ekeby
Axe stone sloping butt
295
Uppsala 5383
Up, nora, Östa
Brooch spectacle
296
Västerås 82
Up, norrby, Isätra
Axe stone sloping butt
297
Enköping 1244
Up, nysätra, mosta
Axe flanged
146 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
Year
V
stray
A. Valin’s collection
IV-V
1911
LBA
IV
1926
On a rocky hill
dealer
V-VI
1840
stray
IV-V
1871
ditch digging.
IV-V
LBA
5
O 2800
Cultivation of moraine hill
1910
stray
V-VI
B hoard 173, E 1921
#114
Lake
VI
stray
V
1849
stray
V
EBA
V-VI
IV-V
IV-V
Ploughing in a grassed-over field
3
B hoard 176, E 1921
#117
Field during harrowing
1892
VI
stray
V-VI
stray
V-VI
tree planting
V-VI
Cultivation, under small stone
EBA
Ploughing
1914
1885
1887
I
LBA
V
LBA
Bog cultivation
I
A PPen di x c
147
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
298
Enköping 906
Up, nysätra, mosta
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
299
Uppsala Emanuel Cederström
340
Up, nysätra, nysätra church village
Axe flanged
300
shm 2678
Up, rasbokil, Edeby
Axe stone sloping butt
301
Uppsala 3334
Up, rasbokil, Kölinge
Axe stone orthogonal
302
Västerås 11708
Up, simtuna, marby
Axe flanged
303
shm 1477
Up, simtuna, möllersta
Axe shaft-hole
304
shm 7843
Up, simtuna, sjömossen = Altuna, sjöbo
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
305
shm 21998
Up, simtuna, Vicarage
Axe socketed type A
306
shm 5973
Up, simtuna, Vändersta
Axe flanged
307
shm 4288
Up, simtuna, Väster-Vad
Brooch spectacle, pin disc-head
308
shm 7923
Up, skepptuna, Litselby
Axe stone sloping butt
309
shm 1333
Up, skepptuna, Äspesta
ring neck
310
Uppsala 5687:1
Up, skogs-tibble, Vicarage
Brooch spectacle
311
Uppsala Emanuel Cederström 513
Up, skuttunge, Broddbo
Axe stone rhomboid
312
shm 16687:5
Up, skuttunge, skuttunge
Axe flanged
313
shm 23276
Up, sollentuna, Edsberg, rösjön
ring wendelring
314
shm 22908
Up, sollentuna, helenelund, near Edsviken
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
315
shm 9431
Up, sparrsätra, hässelby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
316
shm 11157
Up, sparrsätra, torgesta
sword tanged
317
shm 12237
Up, stockholm, Karlbergsvägen
Axe flanged
318
Uppsala 2349
Up, tensta, Björkgrind
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
319
Uppsala 3302-3303
Up, tensta, Forsa
Axe stone orthogonal (2)
320
Uppsala 2344
Up, tensta, Järsta
spearhead
321
Uppsala 3119
Up, tierp, hall, ?månshagen
Axe stone rhomboid
322
Uppsala 3175
Up, tierp, munga, stensberg
Axe socketed type scania
323
Uppsala 2352
Up, tierp, svanby
Axe flanged
324
Uppsala 5596
Up, tierp, Ålfors
Axe socketed type F
325
shm 16125:2
Up, tillinge, Lundby
Axe flanged
326
shm 12377:8
Up, tillinge, stora Järstena
Axe socketed simple plain socket C3
327
Uppsala 5453
Up, tillinge, Örby
Axe socketed type mälaren
328
shm 11156
Up, torstuna, holmsta
Axe socketed side-slots
148 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
A. Valin’s collection
V-VI
1911
I
1874
Ploughing
stray
LBA
harrowing on sandy rise
IV-V
1906
I
1959
Beside boulder 30 cm deep in field
I-II
1847
Bog. sjömossen croft abandoned.
V
ditch digging.
II
Potato patch
O 2816
Year
I
2
B hoard 178, E 1921
#82
Crevice
stray
VI
1869
LBA
?V-VI
V-VI
I
Forest clearing 150 E of shore
VI
1944
Foundation digging, 1 m deep, orig sea?
stray
V
Field on drained bog
III
1883
Pipe-laying
I
1903
stray
2
stray
1895
IV-V
stray
1902
1894
V-VI
V-VI
On a rise in a field
1902
I
1891
Ploughing
III-IV
1926
stray
V-VI
I
IV-V
stray
1926
1900
A PPen di x c
149
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
329
shm 4899
Up, torstuna, Jädra
Axe flanged
330
shm 12451:1
Up, torstuna, torslunda
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
331
Private
Up, torstuna, Vappeby
ring oath
332
Private winberg
Up, torstuna, Vappeby, Åsen
Axe flanged
333
shm 5424
Up, torstuna, Åsby
Axe stone sloping butt
334
Uppsala 4168
Up, Uppsala-näs, söderby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
335
Uppsala 5201
Up, Uppsala-näs, söderby
Axe socketed type mälaren
336
Uppsala 3183
Up, Uppsala-näs, söderby
spearhead
337
Uppsala 988
Up, Vaksala, råby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
338
Uppsala 5397
Up, Vendel, holvarbogärde
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
339
shm 16654:1
Up, Villberga, grillby
Axe stone orthogonal
340
shm 6375:9
Up, Vårfrukyrka, Ekeby
Axe stone orthogonal
341
shm 7571:168
Up, Vårfrukyrka, husby
spearhead
342
Enköping 1773
Up, Vårfrukyrka, myran
Axe stone rhomboid
343
Enköping 1268
Up, Vårfrukyrka, södra rekasta
Axe palstave, Axe socketed arched edge ribs
344
Enköping 3733
Up, Vårfrukyrka, Åhl
Axe socketed side-slots
345
shm 12656
Up, Vårfrukyrka/Enköping, Annelunda
Axe flanged
346
shm 11654
Up, Vårfrukyrka/Enköping, Åkersberg
Axe flanged
347
shm 7871:163, U-a 2340, U-a 4718
Up, Vänge, Lilla Kil
ring wendelring (7)
348
shm 5144
Up, Vänge, Lång-tibble
Axe flanged, axe stone plain shafthole
349
Uppsala 5466
Up, Västerlövsta, Orvenbo
Axe socketed arched edge ribs
350
Private Pettersson, copy shm
19373
Up, Västerlövsta, röcklinge 1
Knife frame-handled
351
Uppsala 4160
Up, Västeråker, Björk
Axe stone sloping butt
352
shm 17343:771
Up, Vätö, harg
Axe stone sloping butt
353
Uppsala 2285-2286
Up, Åkerby, Utjorden
Axe flanged, stone disc
354
Uppsala 3194
Up, Ärentuna, nyby
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
355
shm 15836
Up, Österunda, domta
Axe stone orthogonal
356
shm 16106:9
Vs, Badelunda, stora hejarne
Axe socketed type mälaren
357
Västerås 8495
Vs, Badelunda, Vedby
Axe flanged
358
shm 17019:1
Vs, Berg, Förunda
Axe socketed type scania
359
shm 12196
Vs, Björksta, Berga
Axe socketed simple plain socket C1b
150 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
gravel pit
I
stray
E 1921 #75
1905
In Vappeby gärde
V
Åsen not identified
I
digging in a field
Year
1783
LBA
V-VI
harrowing
IV-V
wooded hill
On a rocky hill
Ploughing
1922
1904
V-VI
1823
V
1924
IV-V
stray
IV-V
1879
EBA
V-VI
2
Ploughing
1911
gravel pit
Clearing a field in the woods
I
1894
I
7
2
B hoard 180, E 1921
#101
drained bog between Lilla Kil and tysktorpet, not far from forest
eaves
drained bog
VI
1880, 1893,
1914
I
IV
Potato harvest
III
1926-27
LBA
harrowing
LBA
I
1893
Found during drainage work, 1 m deep
V-VI
1908
muddy field below a mountain.
IV-V
1917
2
IV-V
Bought from finder
I
stray
V-VI
stray
V
A PPen di x c
151
#
Inv.no
Place
Types
360
Västerås numberless
Vs, Björksta, Kolmsta
Axe socketed simple plain socket C2a
361
Västerås numberless
Vs, Björksta, Orresta
Axe socketed
362
Västerås 518
Vs, dingtuna, stockkumla
Pin spiral-head
363
Västerås 7618
Vs, dingtuna, Vångsta
Axe socketed type ?d
364
Fellingsbro hist soc
Vs, Fellingsbro, hälla-Västvalla
Axe palstave
365
shm 13155:1
Vs, Fellingsbro, Varn
Axe stone sloping butt
366
shm 12827:6
Vs, Fellingsbro, Österhammar
Axe stone rhomboid
367
Västerås 1113
Vs, hubbo, mälby
Brooch
368
Private von Post
Vs, Irsta, Appala
Axe flanged
369
Västerås 146
Vs, Irsta, marsta
Axe socketed type mälaren
370
Västerås numberless
Vs, Kolbäck, Åby
Axe socketed type mälaren
371
tärna folkhögskola
Vs, Kumla, ransta
Axe socketed type mälaren
372
Västerås 148
Vs, Kungsåra, råby
Axe flanged
373
shm 13658
Vs, Kärrbo, Frösåker
ring neck
374
shm 7571:102
Vs, munktorp, Avhulta
Axe socketed type mälaren
375
Västerås 683
Vs, munktorp, munktorp
Axe flanged
376
Västerås 2558
Vs, munktorp, Åsby
Axe flanged
377
Private
Vs, möklinta, Vicarage
Axe stone rhomboid
378
shm 16687:2
Vs, Odensvi, rocklunda
Axe flanged
379
Västerås 521
Vs, romfartuna, Frändesta
Axe stone rhomboid
380
shm 12534:4
Vs, romfartuna, Vagersta
Axe stone sloping butt
381
Västerås 2160 h 49
Vs, romfartuna, Äs
dagger griffplatte
382
Private
Vs, rytterne, Löt
Axe stone sloping butt
383
Västerås 2313-2315
Vs, sankt Ilian, Åby
ring (4)
384
sevalla church school
Vs, sevalla, herrkvarn
Axe stone sloping butt
385
Västerås 62
Vs, skultuna, Berga
Axe stone orthogonal
386
shm 13549:1
Vs, svedvi, Ekeby
Axe shaft-hole
387
Västerås 1866
Vs, svedvi, Ekeby
ring neck
388
Västerås 1052
Vs, svedvi, nibble
ring wendelring
389
Västerås 2375
Vs, tillberga, mycklinge
sword slim tanged
390
Västerås 2160 h 31 b
Vs, tortuna, Ekeby
Pin bowl-head
391
Västerås 2160 h 31 a
Vs, tortuna, Ekeby
tutulus
152 i n t h e l A n d S c A P e A n d B e t W e e n Wo r l d S
No
Ref
Context
Per
Year
V-VI
IV-V
gift from Captain Casparsson
VI
III
O 2643
stray
II
stray
LBA
stray
V-VI
Found with other metal objects
O 2646
I
IV-V
IV-V
IV-V
gravel pit
I-II
1873
Berry picking, one end stuck out of ground
V
1908
IV-V
I-II
Bought from vagrant K.J. Öberg
I
1923
V-VI
stray
I
V-VI
LBA
LBA
4
B hoard 165, Arbman 1938 99f Abb
17
ditch digging.
VI
1919
LBA
IV-V
Pasture on drained bog
I
1 foot deep in boggy uncultivated ground
VI
V
V
II
A PPen di x c
153