ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the discussion concerning structured depositions and how they should be understood. Recent observations made during excavations in a reclaimed fjord at Syltholm on the island of Lolland, Denmark, have shed new light on structured deposits, and the interpretation of these will be discussed. Most of the finds from Syltholm fjord date from the transitional period between a hunter-gatherer society belonging to the Ertebølle period and the following agricultural society of the Funnel Beaker period, and here at a time of upheaval we can see continuity in the structured depositions. The closest parallels to the Early Neolithic finds can be found in the wetland offerings of the interior. This prompts the obvious question of the degree to which the marine coast should also be perceived as a depositional area on a par with inland freshwater wetland environments – bogs, lakes and watercourses. The presumed Mesolithic depositions at Syltholm are more difficult to interpret because these constitute an integrated part of a contemporary dump layer. A further challenge in interpreting the Syltholm finds is that they extend over a relatively long period of time, raising the possibility that the context and background for their deposition were not necessarily the same at all times. The conclusion reached here, however, is that structured depositions of selected artefacts and bone elements can be identified over a long period, beginning in the Mesolithic and continuing into the Early Neolithic. Moreover, that these depositions should be perceived as being ritual in nature and on a par with similar depositions in bogs.
