Excavations at Helgö XVIII : conclusions and New Aspects

In this the eighteenth and last volume in the series Excavations at Helgö, thirteen authors present the latest conclusions and add some new approaches to the results of the excavations carried out between 1954 and 1978 at Helgö. A clarification of the grid system used in the excavations and of the final numbering system for the finds is provided in an appendix that applies to all the volumes. This is preceded by new syntheses of the following topics: the cultic purpose of the main buildings and the enclosure that crowns the stone hillock alongside them; the comparable use of bread in cult sites from classical antiquity; the chronology of the metalwork produced from the Migration-period moulds; the identification of fragments of a third C-bracteate; the vast assemblage of shattered glass vessels dating from the Roman Iron Age to the early Viking period; the Irish inlaid glass stud; the rich collection of medical equipment; and, probably the last offering made on the island, a single German coin from the 11th century. Finally, an annotated list of publications on this intriguing site shows the extent of interest it has aroused among scholars.