Contents
1. Old Norse cosmology as an archaeological challenge
Cosmological aspects of Old Norse religion
The chronological and spatial horizons of Old Norse cosmology
Archaeology and Old Norse cosmology
2. In the shadow of Yggdrasill
The archaeology of ‘tree settings’
The semiotics of the ‘tree settings’
The world from the view-point of ‘tree settings’
The tree in Old Norse religion
Outlines of an early Scandinavian martial culture
Ismantorp and Old Norse cosmology
Early picture stones on Gotland
A return trip to Bronze Age iconography
Bridging the gap between Eskelhem and Sanda
Bronze Age perspectives on early Gotlandic picture stones
A special case: the gold bracteates
Iron Age perspectives on early Gotlandic picture stones
The sun in later mythological contexts
The disappearance of solar symbols and sun rituals in the sixth century
5. Placing Old Norse cosmology in time and space
The Migration Period as a cluster of changes
The disappearance of the sun-oriented traditions in the sixth century