Druid Sacred Groves

(January 29, 2025) The Frösö Church is on Frösön Island in central Sweden. It belongs to the Norderö parish in the diocese of Härnösand. The site consists of 2 churches. The medieval church in the foreground was rebuilt in the 17th century. In 1898, a severe fire erupted when trying to solder a thunderstorm conductor at the roof of the church. Only the walls remained, but they managed to save all the inventories. The church was partially rebuilt in its former appearance. The renovation in 1929-1930 tied even more firmly to a return to the 17th century church. 

Excavations beneath the choir area of the medieval era Frösö Church in 1984 revealed bones scattered around the stump of a birch tree suggesting this church was built on top of a Druid sacred grove. Being covered by a church seems to have preserved these grove remnants.

Below the floor in the choir was a thin layer of pulverized wood, which most likely represents the remains of an earlier floor in the church, and beneath the latter was found a black cultural layer with bones, fire-cracked stones and charcoal covering an area of 3 x 3 meters and probably more. The remains of a stump and roots of a birch tree were found in the middle of the choir. Bones were found on top of the roots and not beneath or on the tree stump. No other finds apart from bones, an iron pin from a buckle, and an iron crook were recovered. The cultural layer was missing in the western part due to the construc- tion of graves during the 18th century and a sepulchral chamber. The eastern and southern walls of the choir also cut the cultural layer. It is not known whether the layer with bones continues outside the church. Consequently the original extent of the layer with bones is uncertain.

In Druid culture bones were repositories of the emotional powers of ancestors and animals. The bones buried under the tree show a selection processed biased towards wild animal power and the powers of birth for domestic animals. Animal bones were cleaned of organic matter by being left out in the weather before they were brought and buried under the tree. That these animals were first killed, butchered, cooked, and eaten is indicated by the knife marks on them. Some animal bones like bear, elk, and red deer were not local but came from some distance away.

The domestic animal bones are mostly young animals indicating a wish for the powers involved with birth. All pig bones except for a single tooth, come from piglets. The bones of sheep are mainly from lambs, but also a few adults. Goats are only represented by teeth from a newborn kid. The teeth of dog and horse derive from juvenile animals. Cattle, on the other hand, are represented by all age groups.

In contrast bones from wild animals are mostly adults. The bones of brown bears and elks include juveniles but they are mainly from adults.  What is most striking about the bone finds from Frösö Church is the high proportion of bones from wild animals. Around   25 % of all bones are from wild animals despite being rare in bone samples further south.

Some human bones were also buried, including the bones of some infants. On the human remains there are no traces of burning, cut marks, or gnawing marks indicating they all died a natural death. The 29 human bones originate from at least two adults, one child aged about 3–5 years, and one infant aged 0–6 months. The adults are represented by four ribs and 13 bones from the hands and feet, while only nine bones from the trunk of the child have been found (thoracic vertebrates, ribs, pelvis and scapula). The infant is represented by parts of the skull (os occipi- tale), scapula and tibia 

The human bones show distinctly less weathering in comparison with the animal bones, indicating different treatment of the human bones. Most likely the human bones had been deposited in the ground relatively quickly. Further, the human bones were found in a limited area in the north-eastern part of the choir, an area with only a few animal bones.

Among the bones were found bits of charcoal and wood which had fallen from the tree. The charcoal indicates that small fire rituals were held under the tree or various aromatics were burned there during rituals. The remaining coals were then buried there.

References

Magnell, O., & Iregren, E. (2010). Veitstu Hvé Blóta Skal: The Old Norse Blót in the Light of Osteological Remains from Frösö Church, Jämtland, Sweden. Current Swedish Archaeology, 18, 223-250. http://www.arkeologiskasamfundet.se/csa/Dokument/Volumes/csa_vol_18_2010/csa_vol_18_2010_s223-250_magnell_iregren.pdf