Bog deposits in Scandinavia

In many areas of Scandinavia, a wide variety of items were deposited in lakes and bogs from the Mesolithic period through to the Middle Ages. Such items include earthenware, decorative metalwork, weapons, and human corpses, known as bog bodies. As Kaul noted, "we cannot get away from the fact that the depositions in the bogs were connected with the ritual/religious sphere."

The earliest examples of wetland deposits from Scandinavia come from the Mesolithic, including elk bones and earthenware vessels. In the Neolithic, earthenware vessels and flint axes were deposited in the wetlands, with a number of wooden platforms being constructed to allow greater access to the wetlands themselves. In the Bronze Age, a wide variety of different items were placed into bogs, although the levels of deposition fluctuated throughout the period. It also witnessed the deposition of several high-value metal items, including the Trundholm sun chariot and a number of lurs and shields. The Pre-Roman Iron Age witnessed the continued deposition of these high-status item, including decorated metal cauldrons, most notably the Gundestrup Cauldron. It also saw the deposition of increasingly complex assemblages, which often brought together animal and human bones with stones, sticks, and wooden equipment.

Many of the items deposited in bogs were highly valuable. It is possible that some artefacts also ended up in bogs and lakes without deliberate human intent, for instance if they were lost by accident or produced in settlements that existed adjacent to such wetland areas.

Given that these items are typically interpreted as having a religious or cultic purpose, terms such as "offerings", "sacrifices" and "votive deposits" have been used to refer to them, however "depositions" is sometimes favoured as being more neutral. Kaul noted that "in many cases it can be difficult to tell whether the deposition had a practical function or was related to religion and ritual."

Bogs and wetland areas were widespread in much of southern Scandinavia in the past, although many have been destroyed since the Middle Ages due to drainage and agricultural use. Archaeological evidence makes it clear that they were not always remote or inaccessible places in prehistoric contexts, and in various cases were located close to human settlements. Kaul suggested that "the bogs can be regarded as uncultivated areas that were closer to the forces of nature, where people felt closer to divine beings." In some cases, it appears that items were not actually deposited into the water or bog itself, but were placed on dry-land adjacent to the water.

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