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Aftermath: Post-war rituals in Scandinavia and the 1st century CE wetlands depositions of warriors at Alken, Central Jutland
Conference
Published on
16 October 2014
Updated on
19 June 2017
Colloquia
The Archaeology of Violence
International colloquium organized by Inrap and the Museum of Louvre-Lens.
October 2, 3 and 4, 2104 at La Scène du Louvre-Lens
The archaeology of violence: wartime violence, mass violence
by Mads Kahler Holst, Aahrus Universiy
A number of large scale war-related depositions dating to the centuries around the turn of the Common Era have been uncovered in the wetlands of South Scandinavia. Most of these consist of weapons and equipment, presumably from defeated armies. However, from the 1st century CE a so far unique deposition of the remains of the warriors themselves has been discovered in a previous lake at Alken in Central Jutland. The paper presents the recent excavations and their evidence on the events that led to the deposition in the water.
Mads Kähler Holst is PhD in archaeology from Aarhus University with a dissertation from 2004 on the organization and development of Late Iron Age to Early Medieval village communities. He has conducted several large scale research projects including the investigations of the Viking Age royal complex at Jelling from 2009-2013. Presently, he is responsible for an interdisciplinary research project on Army and post-war rituals in South Scandinavia in the Early Roman Period focused on the mass-depositions of warriors in the wetlands of Alken Enge, Central Jutland.
Bibliography
Bibliography
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- Randsborg, K. 1995: "Hjortspring: warfare and sacrifice in early Europe". Aarhus University Press: Aarhus.
- Rau, A. 2010: "Jernalderen i Nordeuropa. Nydam Mose 1. Die personengebundenen Gegenstände. Grabungen 1989-1999". Text. Højbjerg: Jysk Arkaeologisk Selskab.
- Sellevold, B.J., Hansen, U.L. & Jørgensen, J.B. 1984: Appendix A: "The skeletal finds from Vaedebro". In Iron Age Man in Denmark. Prehistoric Man in Denmark, Vol. III. Det kgl. nordiske Oldskriftselskab: Copenhagen, pp. 245-247.
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