Domestic Cosmology : The Relationships of Pastoral Animals and Mythology in the Iron Age Nordics

Sammanfattning

This study focuses upon how the relationship between human beings and domestic animals influenced the conceptions of spiritual figures like gods, and practices associated with communicating with them. This is analysed by using a combination of comparative analysis, behavioural ecology, and archaeological site review. This thesis focuses upon reinterpreting existing site analyses of the Iron Age sites of Gamla Uppsala, Hofstaðir, and the ritual site at Frösö. Through these frameworks new relations between material and literary evidence is highlighted to show how Norse mythology was directly influenced by the ecological demands that the Nordic regions placed upon those living there.