On the ritual display and deposition of human skulls at Kanaljorden, Motala, Sweden, 8000 cal BP

Summary

This paper discuss the ritual display and deposition of human skulls among hunter-gatherers in Scandinavia during the Mesolithic. The discussion focus on the recently excavated site Kanaljorden, at Motala, Sweden, where select human bones – mostly skulls – from a dozen individuals have been deposited on a stone-packing on the bottom of a small lake. Two of the skulls were mounted on wooden stakes still embedded in the crania. Beside human bones, the finds also include artefacts of bone, antler, stone and wood, as well as animal bones and botanical remains. The human and animal bones display a distinct spatial pattern, with different species deposited in different parts of the stone-packing. The context have been 14C-dated to c. 7800 cal. BP.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• "Skull Cults" amongst Hunter-Gatherers?

Keywords

Spatial Coverage