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Mats Rundgren

Mats Rundgren

Senior lecturer

Mats Rundgren

Storms, ships, and shovels : A trans-Holocene history of the Gullåkra wetland

Author

  • Mikael Fauvelle
  • Johan Ling
  • Magnus Artursson
  • Per Lagerås
  • Richard Potter
  • Hans Linderson
  • Mats Rundgren
  • Danilo Marco Campanaro
  • Paulina Blaesild
  • Staffan von Arbin
  • Anne Birgitte Nielsen
  • Christian Horn
Show all

Summary, in English

The Gullåkra wetland is located around 5 km south of the modern city of Lund and around 2.7 km east of the important Iron Age settlement of Uppåkra in Scania, southern Sweden. In the 1840s, a remarkable discovery was made in the wetland: a bronze lur dated to c. 1300 BCE, along with a boat and the bones of a large animal offering. As Bronze Age boats are exceedingly rare, this discovery makes the site highly significant for early Scandinavian maritime history. In 2023, excavations were carried out with the goal of relocating the boat discovered in the 19th century and assessing any additional remains within the wetland. Unfortunately, peat mining in the early 20th century drastically altered the landscape, obscuring its pre-industrial form and limiting further study. Although the boat could not be found, interdisciplinary methods, including dendrochronology, carbon dating, and sediment analysis, enabled the reconstruction of the wetland’s trans-Holocene history. Evidence of significant human and natural events was identified spanning the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and early modern periods. The investigation underscores the enduring importance of wetlands as sites of human activity and ritual throughout prehistory. While the boat remains elusive, the Gullåkra wetland continues to demonstrate its potential for future discoveries relevant to the early history of southern Sweden. The study also highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches in reconstructing long-term human and environmental histories.

Department/s

  • Archaeology
  • Department of Geology
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
  • LU Profile Area: Natural and Artificial Cognition
  • Classical archaeology and ancient history

Publishing year

2025

Language

English

Pages

952-957

Publication/Series

The Holocene

Volume

35

Issue

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Archaeology

Keywords

  • Bronze age
  • maritime archaeology
  • mesolithic
  • paleoecology
  • peatlands
  • wetlands

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0959-6836