In the Darkest of Days

Matthew J. Walsh is an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on cultural evolution and cultural transmission. He completed his PhD in 2015 at the University of Montana and is currently a senior researcher with the National Museum of Denmark. Sean O'Neill studies inter-disciplinary approaches to anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, history and political science. He is currently a consulting researcher with the Human Sacrifice & Value project at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway. Lasse Sorensen is Head of the Department of Ancient Cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean at the National Museum of Denmark. He completed his PhD at the University of Copenhagen in 2015. His main research interest is the Mesolithic and Neolithic of northern Europe and the Aegean.

• List of figuresList of platesList of tablesList of contributorsAcknowledgementsForewordRane WillerslevIntroduction: In the darkest of days: Tracing human sacrifice through Scandinavian prehistoryMatthew J. Walsh, Marianne Moen, Sean O’Neill, Svein H. Gullbekk and Rane Willerslev1. Noble hunter-gatherers and ‘cruel’ farmers – a discussion of the evidence of human sacrifices during the Mesolithic and Neolithic in South ScandinaviaLasse Sørensen and Poul Otto Nielsen2. Societies that sacrifice? Examining the potential for attendant sacrifices in the Nordic Bronze Age Matthew J. Walsh, Samantha S. Reiter and Karin M. Frei 3. Human sacrifice and human remains – the ultimate sacrifice?Pernille Pantmann 4. Naked or clothed? Bog bodies and the value of clothing in the Early Iron AgeUlla Mannering5. Sacrifice or execution? A brief forensic medical and archaeological perspective on the Danish bog bodiesNiels Lynnerup and Pauline Asingh6. Six human skulls in a bog: Svennum – a 1st century AD sacrificial bogSidsel Wåhlin7. Haraldskær Woman under a new light: Bog bodies, martial rituals and valueMads Ravn8. Figuring out bodies in watery places: Posthumanism, figurations and ecological relationsChristina Fredengren 9. Thrown stone for flesh and bone? ‘White’ stones in sacrificial context in Iron Age ScandinaviaMatthew J. Walsh, Pernille Pantmann and Marianne Moen 10. ‘Better not to pray than to sacrifice too much’ Human sacrifice and its alternatives in Northern Europe AD 750 - 1050Bo Jensen11. Regulated deviancy – ritual executions at Viking Age Tissø as indications of a complex judicial culture Mads D. Jessen and Jesper Olsen12. Human sacrifice in Old Norse skaldic poetry Klas Wikström Af Edholm