Many large burial places, from the Iron Age (500 B.C. - 800) in particular, are found on Bornholm. The way in which people buried their dead can tell us how they lived. Until the birth of Christ cremation was universal but thereafter the tradition of interment - where the dead were buried uncremated - began to take over. It was with the introduction of Christianity that the practice of cremation stopped. In the Iron Age Bornholm was in close contact with the great empires of Central and Eastern Europe - Celts, Romans and Germans. This can be seen in the many excellent weapons, jewellery, and clay and glass vessels in the graves. One of Danmark's biggest Iron Age burial sites was excavated at Slusegrd in the southern part of Bornholm, in 1958-64. 1,400 graves were found. County Council Chief Executive Vedel - the originator of archaeology on Bornholm - had written about the site as early as 1876. There are about 500 years between the oldest and the most recent grave (c.100 B.C. - 400 A.D.)! Some were cremated, others buried without cremation. A good many warriors lay buried here, including a man with an arrowpoint in his head. Violence and war were everyday ocurrences. A small group of graves were very rich in gravegoods - perhaps a local big man's
family?
Guldgubber
Sorte Muld in Ibsker - just beside Brændegårdshaven - is called Sorte Muld because of its rich black soil, formed by the humans and animals that have lived here through the centuries. Man has cultivated the fields, traded and practiced crafts. Numerous finds of glass, jewellery, weapons, and gold and silver coins suggest, that Sorte Muld could well have been the homestead of a
chief.
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In the Middle Ages the place was called "guldageren" (the gold
field) as gold came up out of the earth. They were small gold pieces - thin, with figures
on. Several more have appeared since. These more than 2,000 small gold pieces are called 'guldgubber'. Guldgubber are not coins but most likely a kind of sacrifice or temple
money. The figures indicate that the area had links with the Empire of the Franks in Central Europe (500-700's).
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