Water politics : Wet deposition of human and animal remains in Uppland, Sweden

This paper presents evidence for deposition of human and animal remains in watery locations in Uppland province. Likewise, deposition of artefacts in watery locations also seems to continue into the historical period. This changes the previous understanding of such depositions with regards to their geographical distribution, their contents and how long the practices continued. It is argued that the changing water landscape and the deposition of bodily remains of certain human and animal others co-worked agentically to change a variety of relations over time, which had political effects. These assemblages operated to draw attention to and from settlement clusters and central places, and were important in negotiations of boundaries. Furthermore, some depositional sites used in earlier periods seem to have attracted renewed attention at the end of the Viking Period. Hence, these depositions may have been important in the transition from Paganism to Christianity, and also helped merge communities and faiths.Tidens Vatte