Peat digging in the Iron Age is a well-known phenomenon and has been for several decades. Ritual deposits in the peat diggings are equally well known. The Tollund man is one of the most famous examples of this tradition. The connection between profane peat diggings and sacred deposits have however been interpreted as two separated actions with years in between and therefore not combined.
Based on the latest excavations in Northern Zealand, there seems to be new ways of interpreting the use, and especially the re-use, of peat diggings. So far, the majority of the peat diggings have contained deposits, which suggest that they were used for sacred purposes immediately after the actual peat digging – in some cases even more than once. At sites in other parts of the country, interpretations of sediments from the bottom of the diggings indicate that the sacred actions were separated from the peat digging. The actual time span has never been proved, but it has been considered a long time – generations even. In Northern Zealand, there is no natural sediments at the bottom of the diggings, which suggest that they were re-used straight after the peat was dug.
From the Iron Age settlements, we already know the combination of sacred and profane actions with sacred deposits of pots and animals for instance. Perhaps we are looking at the same phenomena in the wetlands. If so, it could indicate that wetlands functioned as extensions of the settlements, or perhaps even as actual parts of the settlements. This could be a local tendency from the area of Northern Zealand, or it could present a new way of understanding the prehistoric utility of the wetlands?

Location

Norcroft Centre, University of Bradford