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The Iron Age ritual building at Uppåkra, southern Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Lars Larsson
Lars Larsson*
Affiliation:
*Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University, Box 117, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden (Email: lars.larsson@ark.lu.se)
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Extract

Six years ago we reported the discovery of a central place at Uppåkra in southern Sweden which promised to be unusually rich and informative (Hårdh 2000). At 40ha it already stood out as the largest concentration of residual phosphate in the whole province of Scania, with surface finds of Roman and late Iron Age metalwork (second-tenth century AD). Following this thorough evaluation, the project moved into its excavation phase which has brought to light several buildings of the first millennium AD, among them one that has proved truly exceptional. Its tall structure and numerous ornamented finds suggest an elaborate timber cult house. This is the first Scandinavian building for which the term ‘temple’ can be justly claimed and it is already sign-posting new directions for the early middle ages in northern Europe.

Keywords

ScandinaviaSwedenlate Iron AgeRomanMigration periodMerovingian periodViking periodritualreligiontemple
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 311 , 1 March 2007 , pp. 11 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

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