The thesis sets out to discuss the Bronze Age cosmology in Scandinavia, based on the results from the investigations at Nibble outside Enköping in Uppland. The excavations were carried out in 2007 and revealed extensive remains of a ritual place with burials, cult houses and food preparation areas. In addition, hundreds of cupmarks and two ship rock carvings were found. The cult place was constructed by moving stones around, gathering them into stone settings, stone walls and heaps of fire-cracked stones. The importance of the stones as cosmological entities is established through this special and deliberate treatment. Nature is transformed into culture. The cult place was established in connection with the construction of a large stone setting at the top of a hillock. Cremated and crushed bones of a man had been placed centrally in the construction, and close by, several cult houses had been erected, complemented by a food preparation area, where sacrificial meals were prepared and eaten.   In many cases, stone settings and heaps of fire-cracked stones are used in similar manners. At a settlement site close to the cult place, there was a heap of fire-cracked stones that contained the cremated bones of a young woman. It had been specially constructed for her burial and contained layers of coal and fire-cracked stones from several cremation pyres. The border between what is a burial and what is not is hard to define. The burnt bones of the dead were handled in much the same way as the burnt stone. They were burnt and crushed, ground to a powder, and restored to the earth. The use of stones in connection with fire and water (and smoke) suggests the existence of a system built on the four elements: stone (earth), fire, water and air. In addition, the existence of a tripartite universe is suggested. Stone settings (and some of the heaps of fire-cracked stones) were constructed as portals to the underground, and the smoke from the funeral pyres was the means of transport to the heaven above.  During the Early Bronze Age, the functions of the warrior and the shaman were often carried out by the same individual. During the Late Bronze Age, however, the functions of the warrior and the shaman seem to have been separated.   The separation of the ritual functions show that a change in ritual practice and cosmology occurred some time in the middle of the Bronze Age. A complete cosmological change was probably not involved, and many older rituals were still carried out in the Late Bronze Age. The relationship between the four elements remained the same, and the treatment of stone in particular remained unchanged. The connection between stone and bone still prevailed, as did the crushing and grinding.

Seit ihrer Entdeckung im 19. Jh. sind die latènezeitlichen Graben-Wall-Einfriedungen, die in Nordfrankreich als „enclos“, in Süddeutschland als „Viereckschanzen“ bezeichnet werden, entweder als Kultplätze, als Gehöfte oder auch als Befestigungsanlagen interpretiert worden. Die vorliegende Arbeit, die 34 späteisenzeitliche Einfriedungssysteme aus beiden Ländern miteinander vergleicht, verfolgt daher zwei Absichten: zum einen soll geklärt werden, welche Fundplätze profane und welche sakrale Funktionen besessen haben könnten. Zum anderen stellt sich die Frage, welche Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede die Einfriedungen in Nordfrankreich und Süddeutschland aufweisen. / Since their discovery in the 19th century the enclosures from the Late Latène period, named „Viereckschanzen“ by german archaeologists, have been interpreted as cult places, as farmsteads or even as fortifications. By comparing 34 enclosures of the Late Iron Age from Northern France and Southern Germany, this paper thus pursues two objectives: firstly, to determine which of the sites can be identified as sacred or as profane; secondly, to show the similarities and differences between the enclosures in both regions. / Depuis leur découverte au XIXe siècle, les enceintes laténiennes, appelées „Viereckschanzen“ par les chercheurs allemands, ont été interprétées soit comme des lieux de culte, soit comme des fermes ou bien encore des fortifications. Cette recherche basée sur l’étude comparative de 34 enclos ruraux datés de La Tène tardive dans le nord de la France et le sud de l’Allemagne poursuit donc un double objectif. D’une part, en essayant de faire la distinction entre les sites profanes ou cultuels, et d’autre part, en essayant de mettre en évidence les points communs et les différences entre ces différents types d’enclos situés dans les deux pays.