Aldersro wetland-settlement complex

Abstract

In southern Scandinavia, the Early Iron Age transition is characterised by radical ideological and organisational changes involving new material practices of sorting, delimiting, depositing and discarding artefacts, humans and nonhumans, in both wetlands and drylands. However, settlements and wetland areas are mostly excavated separately, and the deeper relationship between these practices and associated spheres remains somewhat inconclusive. Aldersro, Eastern Jutland, provides an exceptional opportunity to revisit this relationship. A juxtaposed settlement and wetland activity area spanning more than 1.4 hectares were excavated in 2002-2003. The excavations exposed the structural remains of houses, fences, storage buildings, pits and peat graves. Moreover, they disclosed extensive archaeological remains of more than 800 ceramic vessels, processed wood, stones, burnt organic material, human and animal bones subject to 14C, pollen, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, osteology, and ceramic analyses. The site has provided vital new insights into the diachronic dynamics of depositional and mortuary practices in the Early Iron Age. The highly fragmented remains of more than eight human individuals were mixed and deposited together with typical settlement debris, and would have been exposed right next to a settlement area.