The Bronze Age on Bornholm

Lucifers Høj
The Bronze Age (1700-500 B.C.) is seen as a rich period. Burial mounds, rock carvings and standing stones survive in large numbers. Bornholm is the place in Danmark where the most rock carvings and standing stones are preserved. We have many excellent finds from Bornholm, especially from the first part of the Bronze Age - they are preserved in the National Museum today. There are 700 large burial mounds from the Bronze Age recorded on Bornholm. 200 are protected. In many places there are still visible remains of ploughed over burial mounds that had to give way to modern agricultural land use.

Most of the Bronze Age artefacts you see in Bornholm Museum were found in or close to graves. The greater number of finds are from the Late Bronze Age - that is the last part of the Bronze Age, 1000-500 B.C. In the exhibition's burial mound you can follow how people were buried throughout the Bronze Age. Gravskikken ændrede sig bl.a. gennem kontakter med andre folkegrupper. I starten lagde man den døde ubrændte i stenkister, senere i udhulede egetræskister. Siden hen brændte man de døde, og lagde derefter knoglerne i små stenkister eller lerurner. Hele tiden bevarede man skikken med gravgaver.

In 1869 an oak coffin was found at Lucifers Høj near Østermarie, with a bronze kettle from Central Europe, a razor with a horse's head design, a dagger, a button, and a gold spiral armring. Weapons and everyday tools such as tweezers were also found. A wholly special thing is the Bornholm rhombic disc fibula (fibula = pin/brooch, used to hold clothing together). There were also some that were rich enough to pay for big burial mounds and to have extravagent grave goods buried with them. At the close of the Bronze Age bodies were cremated and grave goods became fewer, the objects smaller (miniature-like). Many grave fields with cairns are found on the island, from the last part of the Bronze Age. Cairns are graves marked with collections of stones in round "bunker". Bornholm certainly has masses of stones! The dead have been cremated. Either their remains were placed in clay urns or stones were just laid on top of the ashes. Perhaps they could not afford such lavish graves and grave goods anymore?