Conwy, P. (2014) 'The four horses of an Iron Age apocalypse : war-horses from the third-century weapon sacrice at Illerup Aadal (Denmark). ', Antiquity., Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00050304Publisher's copyright statement:Copyright c Antiquity Publications Ltd 2014. This paper has been published in a revised form, subsequent to editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in 'Antiquity ' (88: 339 (2015) 191-204) http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=AQY Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel stellt die erste Studie dar, in der archäozoologische Überreste von Pferden sowie der mit ihnen verbundenen materiellen Kultur einschließlich der Ikonographie der nordischen Bronzezeit des Zeitraums von 1600–500 v. Chr. miteinander kombiniert werden. Aufgrund archäozoologischer Analysen und vergleichender Materialstudien wird angenommen, dass die Mensch-Pferd-Beziehung eine Reihe von entscheidenden Veränderungen durchlebte, dies beginnend mit der wahrscheinlichen Einführung des Hauspferdes zu Beginn der nordischen Bronzezeit bis zum Übergang von der Bronze- zur Eisenzeit um 700–500 v. Chr. Es wird weiterhin argumentiert, dass der zu beobachtende langfristige Wandel der Mensch-Pferd-Beziehungen sich auch in den die großen gesellschaftlichen Veränderungen während der nordischen Bronzezeitgesellschaft spiegelt, einschließlich der sich verändernden Rollen und Verwendungsmöglichkeiten des Pferdes, dies sowohl physisch als auch psychisch.

This paper presents osteoarchaeological analyses of the human skeletal material from a burnt down house in Jutland, Denmark, dated to the first century bc. We describe how the osteological analyses of this complex site were approached and illustrate how we reconstructed the death of the human victims. Besides basic osteological analyses, we also tried to reconstruct the posture of the deceased humans using 12‐in. posable wooden mannequins. Along with bones from several domestic animals, skeletal elements from six human individuals were recovered. All individuals were located in the eastern end of the house—the byre end. The demographic structure indicates a small family household. Our posture reconstruction further proposes that they did not die of asphyxiation while sleeping: At least two of the individuals were lying face down, trying to protect themselves. Two other individuals were lying on their side in crouching positions, which cannot be ruled out as examples of pugilistic attitude. However, we suggest this is rather unlikely. The humans could have died as they failed to rescue their invaluable animals from the fire. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article presents paleopathological analyses of six adult male Iron Age horses (4th century BC to 5th century AD) found in association with large amounts of ritually deposited warrior paraphernalia including horse tack. Pathological lesions have been observed on all six horses. The observed pathologies can be divided into three major categories: oral pathologies including abnormal dental wear, spinal pathologies and trauma, and pathologies of the limb bones. Some of the observed pathologies (e.g., cranial asymmetry) are most likely developmental, and some (e.g., arthritic thoracolumbar lesions and bone spavin) are possibly age related. Other observed lesions, such as mandibular periostitis (bony spurs) at the dorsal interalveolar margin and abnormal dental wear, seem to be more directly associated with horseback riding or the use of bits. The close match between a reconstructed ported bit from one of the sites included in the study and dental lesions and wear in two of the horses suggests that the horses were ridden with equipment strongly connected to warfare. The presence of vertebral endplate fractures in the thoracolumbar region in three of the horses may further relate to the use of horses for riding. The analyses thus support previous studies in suggesting that pathologies located in the lower thoracic/lumbar region and various types of bit wear are indicative of horseback riding.

In this article, we identify and discuss Nordic Bronze Age interspecies relationships through a relational approach that is open to ontologies that differ from our own. Drawing on bronze objects, faunal remains and rock art recovered from a multitude of Nordic Bronze Age sites (1700–500 BC), we outline the complex evolution and interactions of significant socioeconomic and cosmological elements such as the horse, the sun, the warrior, the sea and fish, and their relationships to life and death. We suggest that these elements may be seen as interconnected parts of an entangled whole, which represents a specific Nordic Bronze Age cosmology, which developed between 1600 and 1400 BC, and combined local, archaic world views and foreign influences.