This thesis examines the wetland sacrifices that were performed in Northern Europe in the Iron Age. Skedemosse on central Öland is the largest wetland sacrifice in Sweden and was the site of a cult which sacrificed animals and humans. Between the late second century and well into the fifth century the place was also used for large sacrifices of military equipment. New radiocarbon dates has shown that the place functioned as a ritual place from the Pre Roman Iron Age and into the Late Viking Age. Both in the Iron Age and later wetlands seem to have been both venerated and feared and the thesis discusses why this came to be, and how it can be seen in the archaeological material. A smaller part of the sacrificial site of Skedemosse was selected for a closer study and it was possible to establish several depositions which appear to have been treated slightly different from each other. The investigations of the animal sacrifices have focused on the horses as they are the most common animal. The horse was an important mythological animal in the Iron Age and they were equally important in the cult. The horses in Skedemosse were eaten in ritual meals, and it is possible that some of them took part in ritual races along the ridge east of the former lake.  Such races were called skeið and the name Skedemosse may be derived from this word. Skedemosse is also rare because the remains of ca 38 people have been found in it. Some of these people have suffered a violent death. They are compared to other bog bodies from northern Europe and the follow a similar pattern to those; In the Pre Roman Iron Age mainly women and children were sacrificed and after the first century AD mainly men ended up in the lake.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att diskutera hästens kön i en gravkontext och som våtmarksoffer. Detta är en komparativ studie baserad på textuellt källmaterial. De teoretiska begreppen som kommer att användas är genusteori, kunskapsteori, agens och personlighetsteori, för att på så sätt närma sig frågan om valacken, hästens tredje kön.   Hästen har haft en betydande roll för människan och detta går att utläsa i de olika kontexterd är skelettmaterial av häst påträffats. Fyra kontexter under järnåldern behandlas i denna uppsats, båtgravar i Uppland, kammargravar på Björkö, ryttargravar på Gotland och våtmarksoffer på Öland och Gotland. Det är inte bara hästen som är viktig, utan även utrustning som återfanns i gravarna, som kan berätta om hästens sociala roll i samhället. När hästar påträffats i gravar har större vikt lagts på den mänskliga individen och artefakterna de fick med sig, men hästen är inte ett föremål och kan därför inte klumpas ihop med analysen av dessa. Utifrån denna uppsats kan man tyda en preferens för det manliga könet på hästen, men det behöver inte betyda att alla varit hingstar. / The aim of this study is to discuss the gender of the horse in a funerary context and as a wetland sacrifice. This is a comparative study based on textual source material. The theoretical concepts that will be used are gender theory, epistemology, agency and personhood, in hope to approachthe question of the gelding, the horse's third gender. The horse has had a significant role for humans, and it’s possible to interpret this in the different contexts in which skeletal remains of horses can be found. Four contexts from the Iron Age are examined in this essay, boat graves in Uppland, chamber graves on Björkö, equestrian graves on Gotland and wetland sacrifices on Öland and Gotland. It is not only the horse that is important, but also the equipment that was deposited, which can reveal the horse's social role in society. When horses are found in graves, more emphasis has been placed on the person and the artifacts they brought with them. But the horse is not an object and therefore cannot be lumped together with the analysis of these. Based on this essay, a preference for the male gender of the horse can be concluded, but this does not necessarily mean that they all have been stallions.