I vatten eller jord? : Nytolkning av depåfyndet från Eskelhem

Sammanfattning: In 1886 Hans Hildebrand received a Bronze Age hoard found in a field that belonged to Eskelhem´s rectory. A record was made where Hildebrand presented and documented the artifacts. The following year Oscar Montelius reviewed the artifacts, which he described as horse gears. He compared the horse gears with similar artifacts found in Europe that roughly had the same dating in order to trace the origin of the hoard.  Montelius conclusion was that the hoard was created on Gotland around 500 BC. The entire hoard was made of bronze except for one of the bridles that was made of iron. According to Montelius this would mean that iron and the knowledge of iron making already had been adapted on Gotland in the late Bronze Age. Also the bridles were used so Montelius discussed the presence of horses on Gotland in the late Bronze Age, and if they had been of the race Gotland pony. Over100 years have passed since Montelius made his conclusion. The purpose of this paper is to see if Montelius conclusion on the Eskelhem hoard still holds, due to the progress of science, such as the discovery of new dating methods and all new artifacts that have been found. I will also review if the purpose of the deposition of the Eskelhem hoard was of sacral or profane purpose. In order to answer my questions I will use previous research in the areas of; the presence of horses in the Stone- and Bronze Age, iron making on Gotland during the time before the birth of Christ and hoards on Gotland dated to the late Bronze Age. Also I will use historical maps to create my own spatial analyze in order to see how the hoards were deposited.I have concluded that the Eskelhem hoard were deposited in peat soil, meaning that a connection to water and the Eskelhem hoard should be presumed and that the hoard were sacral. Montelius dating of the hoard to 500 BC are correct and also that the artifacts were used for horses on Gotland, which also means that horses existed on Gotland during the late Bronze Age. Most difficult to answer are the questionsconcerning the making of iron, whether or not the Eskelhem hoard was created on Gotland or not. Difficult due to the poor research made on iron making during the Bronze Age on Gotland. My conclusion is that parts of the hoard were made on Gotland, and parts were imported. The iron bridle was made on Gotland while the raw material used for iron production was imported.