Ritualer vid Strömmen : Motala i ett långtidsperspektiv

In this article I explore the long-term perspective of the ritual activities in and around the river Motala Ström in Östergötland, Sweden. The Dutch archaeologist Anett Nieuwhof has established a framework for the study of ritual action, inspired by the anthropologist Pascal Boyer, based on cognitive and evolutionary psychology in combination with extensive archaeological material from the coastal areas of the Netherlands. I have applied this theoretical framework to the material from Motala Ström and particularly the remains from the Pre-Roman Iron Age, also looking at some Old Norse sources. From this period a small portion of a wooden platform was excavated. A tibia and an ulna belonging to one or two men were found on the platform. The man/men may have been killed on the platform as part of a ritual. Another possibility is that death happened elsewhere and that the defleshed bones were brought to the platform to be deposited. On the platform ritual specialists would have performed the killing or the handling of the bones. More passive participants in the ritual would had been watching from the shore. When the platform was no longer in use, it was burnt down