This is a work about the relationship between cult houses and halls. In my essay I will go through four different places were cult houses and halls both exist. I will look at the findings and the landscapes were the settlements are located in. The places I have chosen are Lunda in Södermanland, Slöinge in Halland, Uppåkra in western Skåne and Järrestad in southeast Skåne. Because of that the cult houses and halls are occurring during the late Iron Age, it is during this time period that I will work in. As a ground when I look at this, I'll use interpretations from four archaeologists who have been through and dug out the places that I have chosen.

The design on the bronze age culthouse is very similar to the design of a common house construction from the Bronze Age. In addition to this, there ar very few similarities. Culthouses have not been used for the purpose of the accommodation or other secular context, this results in that the buildings lack the typical settlement finds. The study of the Bronze Age culthouses is an important aspect in the research on the population´s religious beliefs. As archealogists don´t have much knowledges about the Bronze Age religion and its religious beliefs, more research can be executed and a deeper understanding of both the religion and the culthouses can be developed. The culthouses from the Bronze Age that have been examined, show different characters in form of finds and remains. A summary of these findings and remains can create a clearer picture of culthouses and the findings that suggest religios activities.

The existence of the prehistoric cult buildings is a highly controversial subject in archeology. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the discussion is that it is not certain that these buildings existed. Most of the recent excavations have contributed to an increased interest in central places, cult centers and the discovered material associated with mansion-like settlements. Various exclusive discoveries link relevant interpretations and terms to kings and aristocracy. In some cultural contexts the larger magnate complexes during the Iron Age have had a significant importance. The buildings that are considered to have received a great ritual significance are special houses that have been interpreted as cult houses, but also the hall buildings had a significant role in the context of cult. In the interpretation of the Iron Age cult house, there are a number of aspects that should be taken into consideration, and not merely the material findings at the cult houses. The surrounding nature of the buildings is important, since the cult houses were built on settlements, where powerful chiefs of importance to the community lived and worked. Unlike the bronze ages cult houses, the iron age is more easily interpreted, due to several aspects. On the one hand, iron age cult houses are considerably more resourceful, on the other hand, pre-Christian scriptures have contributed to various aspects of the interpretation of the buildings. These interpretations can be questioned as they are not scientific.

This essay discuss if Bronze Age cult houses were present at Gotland during the Bronze Age. Bronze Age cult houses are a well know phenomenon on mainland Sweden but because of inventory problems no Bronze Age cult houses have been found on Gotland. The main reason for the inventory problems are the Iron Age house foundations that are present in a large number on Gotland, the cult houses and the Iron Age houses have some design details that makes them difficult to separate from each other. In this essay a number of criteria are presented to help separate cult houses from the Iron Age house foundations. Three criteria’s regarding cult houses on Gotland is also presented in this essay. Two house foundations that PhD student Joakim Wehlin, University of Gothenburg and Gotland University, found in Vallstena parish, Gotland, are presented in this essay. This two house foundations have design details that separate them from Iron Age houses and their location in the landscape suggest that they are not typical Iron Age houses. During the investigation of the Vallstena houses a phosphate mapping, a inventory of the houses and their surroundings and a mapping of the houses and their surroundings were performed to help determined the function of the houses.

Eriksson, J.E. 2021. Hallar och kulthus i södra Skandinavien under äldre järnålder: När Oden och härskaren blev grannar.Eriksson, J.E. 2021. Halls and cult houses in southern Scandinavia during early iron age: When Odin and the ruler became neighbours. The intention of this paper is to investigate why halls and cult houses were built close together and at the same time in southern Scandinavia during the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period and how this can be linked to the development of administrative and military power. The thesis has been divided into three parts, namely a review of archaeological and historical research, a description of three archaeological sites and analysis. This means that the theoretical starting point of the thesis is to compare research with recent years reported archaeological results. The paper focuses on the time from the Roman Iron Age to the end of the migration period, from the year 0 to 550 AD and the geographically area being studied to southern Scandinavia. The result of the study shows that leaders inspired by the Roman Empire built and took control over the halls and cult houses around the year 250 AD to legitimize and manifest their power, acquire wealth and loyalty from subjects. Archeological remains show that the Norse god Odin was worshiped in the cult house and the stability of this cult can be traced to the end of the Viking Age.

A relatively unexplored phenomena of the Nordic Bronze Age is the occurrence where monumental cult houses of stone foundation are discontinued, instead smaller cult houses are constructed in wood. This change occurred during the middle of the Bronze Age, a time werethe Nordic society experienced extensive contact and trade with cultures on mainland Europe. Cult houses were misunderstood for the majority of the 20th Century and it was not until recent they were acknowledged, and this shift noticed. This paper will examine the mentioned change in cult houses with the hypothesis that they were of symbolic importance and use of the elites. It will be discussed whether the cult houses form is attached to the elites display of power and is dependent on a grander ideology in how the elites legitimize their privileged position in society. In essence the paper aims to investigate the two types of cult houses and see to what extent they can be derived to underlying institutions, set up by the elite as a strategy to stay in power.

During the Nordic Bronze Age, houses were not exclusively connected with profane contexts, but did also feature in burial places, a peculiar fact when considering the careful separation of settlements and graves. What kind of houses do we find in these sacred contexts? What did these houses stand for? Why was the house symbolism chosen to accompany the dead? And why did the house symbolism flourish during the Nordic Bronze Age? To answer these questions three representatives for the house symbolism in Sweden are discussed in more detail, such as the burial in longhouses, peculiar houses called cult houses and house urns. Further, the phenomenon has been put in its temporal, geographic, social and ideological context, where aspects such as trade and settlement structure are presented. The house symbolism is, however, not confined to northern Europe. Through comparison with contemporary parallels in southern Europe and ethnohistoric analogies different possible viewpoints are detected.