Nordic Bronze Age

The Tollense valley in northeast Germany is well known for its substantial evidence indicating a violent conflict dated to the early 13th century BC (Period III of the Nordic Bronze Age). This article presents a significant new find from a later Bronze Age context, found in the river at a known Bronze Age valley crossing (site Weltzin 13) by Ronald Borgwardt in 2020. The small bronze figurine (14.7 cm tall) has an egg-shaped head with a prominent nose, looped arms, a neckring, two knobs signifying breasts, a belt, an indication of a female sex and two slightly differently shaped legs. In the 19th century a similar female statuette was found near the village of Klein Zastrow, just a few kilometres from the valley crossing, but mostly these figurines are known from Zealand and Scania. Belts are only present on the statuettes from Zealand and northern Germany, and their presence suggests a close connection between the figures from these areas. Typological evidence places the figure fro...

This article discusses the octagonal-hilted swords which were developed in Bronze Age Central Europe but also occur in large numbers in Northern Europe. Furthermore it tries to explain this remarkable distribution and the adoption of foreign objects into the Nordic Bronze Age. The study of their forms, ornaments and technical details indicates that ordinary import or local imitation in the North are not sufficient explanations. Instead, a model for their distribution should comprise imports of swords with ornamentation in Central European tradition along with other, non-decorated swords, which were finished and decorated differently in Northern Europe. This led to reciprocal contacts and influences. Comparing the find circumstances of octagonal-hilted swords and indigenous solid-hilted swords in Northern Europe, there is no difference in interaction with these sword types. A short comparison with the foreign earliest swords and some Late Bronze Age swords in Northern Europe shows that there are also different ways of the adoption of foreign objects.

This thesis provides new, fundamental insights into the morphological features, chronology and development of Bronze Age ceramics from Norwegian burial contexts (1700-500 BC). It furthermore focuses on how different depositional practices of pottery in the Bronze Age, as well as the pottery itself, can be interpreted socially and ritually within a framework of relational identity.
The study has included finds of ceramic vessels and lids from both Early Bronze Age/EBA (1700-1100 BC) and Late Bronze Age/LBA (1100-500 BC). Based on the prevalence of the findings, a division was made into four analysis regions: Nordland/North-West Norway, Sunnhordland/Karmøy, South-West Norway and Eastern Norway. The material were then divided into two main categories: rock-tempered ceramics and western Norwegian asbestos ceramics. The rock tempered ceramics is interpeted as part of an overreaching tradition and development primarily from southern Scandinavian bronze age pottery. The asbestos ceramic is exclusively found in EBA graves in the northernmost analysis region, rooted or influenced by the Fennoscandian tradition of asbestos tempering but made in a specifically local style and in burial contexts that connects to southern Scandinavia.
Methodically, the analysis builds on detailed classifications and reconstructions of pottery. The basis for the chronology is a combination of new 14C datings of cremated remains from urns, re-calibrated 14C dates from several previously dated contexts as well as typological dates. The works and knowledge on ceramics from the bronze age i Norway is extremely limited, chronologies and insights from mainly Danish and Swedish publications have therefore been actively applied.
Overall, the development can be described as follows: In the EBA the rock tempered pottery appears in both inhumation and cremation graves. The finds are few in number and often fragmented, partly because of the practice of intentional deposition of fragmented pottery/pottery sherds in graves. These are coarse-tempered wares, small-medium size vessels that shows a limited range of shapes and designs – similar to the better studied South Scandinavian EBA-pottery. The asbestos tempered pottery is in one way related to the Fennoscandian tradition of asbestos tempering but with an isolated and specifically regional style, operating as regional emblems of identity in an elite network with ties to Skjælland in Denmark.
The rock-tempered ceramics in southern Scandinavia are undergoing major changes from EBA to YBA, due to the fact that new drinking culture and table culture were shared through new contact routes. This also changed the areas of use for ceramics, seeing new shapes, styles and uses. In Norway, very few graves are associated with this transition, and the pottery provides little morphological information. However, cremation became dominant in large parts of Europe around 1100 BC as part of the Urnfield pheonmenon and the use of ceramic vessels as urns became common in many places simultaneousy. As this study shows, the practice of using ceramic containers as burial urns are established in Norway around 1100 BC – first in the areas of Sunnhordland/Sør-Vestlandet. The urns from this early phase are part of a shared northern European stylistic design/ideal with similar shapes, sizes and design patterns (known as A-type). Around period IV/V, there is greater variation and individuality in the urns and in this phase the first face-urns emerges. Face urns are concidered part of the European face-urn phenomenon – a set of shared similar ideas and practices but made in local styles. Towards the end of the Bronze Age, the choice of vessel shapes and decorations is narrowed down and simplified and this follows into the start of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. In the later part of the LBA the connection to southern Scandinavia are clear through the B-type designs – designs that are adopted also into the earliest soapstone vessels and Risvik-asbestos ceramics.
This thesis gives new insight into a category of archaeological finds from the Norwegian Bronze Age that never before have been systemized. Furthermore, it contrubutes to a wider and perhaps different perspective on burial practices in the Bronze Age by recognizing ceramics as a meaningful source of knowledge on how burial customs were carried out and how relational identity was displayed – locally, regionally and inter-regionally.

O presente trabalho por meio de uma metodologia comparada entre as fontes literárias e arqueológicas buscou compreender as modificações ocorridas nas praticas cultuais que possibilitaram a forja de ideais, de legitimação e a formação das funções das realezas escandinavas, além de buscar as funções e ânsias que esses homens tinham sobre seus deuses. Evidenciando por fim a importância dos antigos costumes nórdicos e da mitologia nórdica como instrumento de legitimação e de criação de poderes sociais, contribuindo para a compreensão de um período onde rito, mito e os poderes sociais estavam em plena conexão, relações essas que marcariam o período Viking na Escandinávia. Tendo assim sua baliza temporal inserida entre os séculos VIII e X sendo o primeiro o século no qual surgiram as primeiras realezas escandinavas e o segundo o século no qual os povos escandinavos começaram a sofrer um processo de conversão ao cristianismo.

Please find part 2 and the files from CD here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xb8xdij7qq5f108/AAC0mCgm23abK7oB_msbvCbva?dl=0

Im Rahmen eines durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft geförderten Projektes wurden Vollgriffschwerter der Perioden I bis III aus Dänemark und Schleswig-Holstein untersucht. Der Fokus lag dabei auf technischen Untersuchungen mittels größerer Serien von Röntgenuntersuchungen und Metallanalysen, um im Vergleich mit Formen und Verzierungen die Schlussfolgerungen vornehmlich typologischer Studien zu überprüfen. So ergeben sich neue Erkenntnisse zu chronologischen und regionalen Unterschieden, zu Innovation und Entwicklung der Vollgriffschwerter in Nordeuropa sowie zu Metallhandwerk und Werkstätten. Mithilfe von Gebrauchsspurenanalysen kann darüber hinaus eine praktische Funktion der Schwerter als Waffen belegt werden. Eine kritische Diskussion der Rolle des Schwertes und der Schwertträger – die sicher nicht in jedem Fall herausgehobene Personen waren – in den bronzezeitlichen Gesellschaften Norddeutschlands und Südskandinaviens rundet den Band ab.

In this essay I will be examining grave goods found across Southern Scandinavia from the Nordic Bronze Age (1700-500 BC), elaborating upon their usage, the context of their depositions and studying the political and religious aspects which contributed to their creation. In order to understand the commencement of The Nordic Bronze Age we must first explore what contributed to its creation. Unlike other Bronze Age societies, evidence of literacy has yet to be found dated to prehistoric Scandinavia, however what can be interpreted from artifacts, sculptures and rock carvings is far from a primitive, insular society but an organised, spiritually minded community engaged in international trade. The European Bronze Age witnessed the creation of not only gold-like items used as armour, votive offerings, drinking regalia and

The swords of southern Scandinavia and northern Germany have so far been studied mainly from a typological perspective. Therefore, the Early Bronze Age full-hilted swords in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein are examined in this article from a technical perspective combining macro- and microscopic examination, X-ray and trace element analyses as well as lead isotope analyses of the metal. In period I swords came as an innovation to southern Scandinavia through imports of swords of the Hajdúsámson-Apa group. Initially the Nordic craftsmen imitated these imports by using their traditional solid casting technique. Only late in period I did they adopt different casting techniques of Central European origin and use them to produce swords in the Hajdúsámson-Apa and Valsømagle traditions. By period II the characteristic Nordic full-hilted swords had emerged, which are highly individual in form, ornamentation and technique. They were most probably produced by many different workshops; in some cases it is even possible to attribute several swords to a common workshop tradition, individual workshop or even craftsman. In period III the Nordic full-hilted swords became much more standardised but were still unlikely to have been produced in a single workshop. The development of swords shows a tendency away from highly diverse forms, ornaments and techniques towards more standardised objects; this pattern is also visible among other finds. Altogether, the Nordic cultural area has a highly distinctive identity, with its own metalworking and sword producing tradition since the late period I and early period II. The diversity of period II and the uniformity of period III suggest that the communication and mobility of the craftsmen and sword-bearers was intensive. The importance of lineage and kinship for the organisation of the undoubtedly institutionalised metal craft is stressed, while the frequently assumed tight control over production by an elite is called into question. Despite different levels of skill and competence, there are no indications that the metalworkers had a significant identity as craftsmen in Early Nordic Bronze Age society.

This paper is largely based on my master thesis (Hop 2011) that focused on the little known asbestos ceramics from the regions of Hordaland, Rogaland and Vest-Agder (hereby referred to collectively as southwestern Norwegian asbestos ceramics), dated to the Bronze Age and the pre-Roman Iron Age.  The point of departure for the discussions in this article is a comparison of the morphology and age of the southwestern Norwegian asbestos ceramics to the typological-chronological framework suggested by studies of the northwestern Norwegian asbestos ceramics after Anne Ågotnes (1986) and the Late Bronze Age Risvik ceramics following Dag Andreassen (2002). The data strongly suggests that the fairly common practice of using the Risvik ceramics as a reference point or archetype for all west Norwegian asbestos ceramics is misleading. Previous research has pointed to the fact that although the practice of asbestos tempering is originally Arctic, asbestos ceramics were adapted into the local material repertoire in regions that were culturally connected to South Scandinavia (e.g. Prescott 1991; Ågotnes 1986). Furthermore, it is questioned whether perhaps Nordic Bronze Age pottery styles influenced the asbestos ceramics along the west Norwegian coast.

F. Knoll/H. Meller/J. Filipp, "Nordish by nature". Die jungbronzezeitlichen, goldenen Eidringe Sachsen-Anhalts an der südlichen Peripherie des Nordischen Kreises in ihrem Kontext. In: H. Meller/R. Risch/E. Pernicka (Hrsg.), Metalle der Macht – Frühes Gold und Silber. 6. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 17. bis 19. Oktober 2013 in Halle (Saale). Tagungen Landesmus. Vorgesch. Halle 11,2 (Halle [Saale] 2014) 789-871.

Ausgehend von einer Fehlinterpretation im 19. Jh. werden
die für die jüngere Nordische Bronzezeit typischen Goldarmringe
als »Eidringe« bezeichnet. Die Verwechslung mit
den Ringen zur Eidesleistung aus der nordischen Literatur
des Frühmittelalters ist vor dem Hintergrund der damaligen
archäologischen Quellenlage verständlich. Zu diesem
Zeitpunkt lagen ausschließlich kontextlose Einzelfunde vor.
Erstaunlicherweise ergibt der Vergleich zwischen den
spätbronzezeitlichen und den wikingerzeitlichen Goldringen
tatsächlich zahlreiche Übereinstimmungen, besonders
in Bezug auf den Fundkontext. Die Deponierungspraxis
innerhalb des Nordischen Kreises entspricht dabei den jüngeren
wikingerzeitlichen Ringhorten: Die schweren Goldringe,
teils mit einem Gewicht über 5oo g, wurden oft einzeln
der Erde übergeben. Für Boeslunde auf Seeland konnte
im Umfeld der »Ringopfer« ein »naturheiliger Ort« rekonstruiert
werden. In der südlichen Peripherie hingegen, in
Sachsen-Anhalt, zeichnet sich ein anderer Ritus ab: Hier
wurden die Ringe, teils zur Unbrauchbarkeit verbogen, in
kleinen Keramikgefäßen vergraben.
Älterbronzezeitliche Goldringe hingegen stammen vorwiegend
aus Gräbern der (männlichen) Elite. Welche Motivation
hinter diesem Paradigmenwechsel steht, kann
abschließend aufgrund fehlender zeitgleicher Schriftquellen
nur spekulativ diskutiert werden.

Stones bearing carved images of ships have been found in two near-shore Bronze Age barrows located at Gilleleje in north-eastern
Zealand, a town where both coastal and deep-sea fishing have been practised in recent times. The question is whether these ship
carvings indicate that Bronze Age people engaged in seafaring and fishery already in the 2nd millennium BC? The bone assemblages
from recently excavated Bronze Age settlements on Halsnæs indicate that specialised cod fishery was practised — probably
from sea-going Bronze Age vessels, as depicted on the rock carvings from Gilleleje. The settlement sites are not located directly
on the coast and the fishery seems to have constituted a supplement to agriculture. The settlement pattern therefore appears to
have differed significantly from the fishing villages of recent times. A reappraisal of the finds from several Bronze Age graves in
north-eastern Zealand shows that these rarely contain grave goods, such as fish hooks, which could be associated with special
abilities or skills in fishery. Coastal and marine resources, such as sand, stone and seaweed, are, however, often included in the
construction of these graves. There is some debate in the archaeological literature as to whether Bronze Age rock art represents
myths and legends, rituals or actual events. It is argued here that the ship carvings found in the barrows at Gilleleje were produced
by the local maritime Bronze Age community in memory of particularly skilled seafarers.
Key words: rock art, burials, mounds, maritime, 2nd millennium.

Bronze ornaments of the Nordic Bronze Age (neck collars, belt plates, pins and tutuli) were elaborate objects that served as status symbols to communicate social hierarchy. The magnificent metalwork studied here dates from 1500-1100 BC. An interdisciplinary investigation of the artefacts was adopted to elucidate their manufacture and origin, resulting in new insights into metal craft in northern Europe during the Bronze Age. Based on the habitus concept, which situates the craftsmen within their social and technological framework, individual artefact characteristics and metalworking techniques can be used to identify different craft practices, even to identify individual craftsmen. The conclusions drawn from this offer new insights into the complex organisation of metalcraft in the production of prestige goods across different workshops. Several kinship-based workshops on Jutland, in the Lüneburg Heath and Mecklenburg, allow us to conclude that the bronze objects were a display of social status and hierarchy controlled by, and produced for, the elite – as is also seen in the workshops on Zealand. Within the two main metalworking regions, Zealand and central Lower Saxony, workshops can be defined as communities of practice that existed with an extended market and relations with the local elite. Attached craft, in the sense that the craftspeople fully depended on a governing institution and produced artefacts as a manifestation of political expression, was only detected on Zealand between 1500-1300 BC.

The investigation presented here showed that overall results could not be achieved when concentrating only on one aspect of metalwork. Highly skilled craft is to be found in every kind of workshop, as well as an intensive labour input. Only when considering skill in relation to labour input and also taking into account signs of apprenticeship and cross-craft techniques, as well as the different categories of mistakes in crafting, can a stable image of craft organisation be created.

Zur außergewöhnlich reichen Ausstattung des „Königsgrabes“ zählen zwei unscheinbare bronzene Eidringe: Der eine in den Henkel der Bronzetasse gefädelt, der andere nur mehr als wenig detailgenaue Kopie erhalten. Beide eint ihr geringer Durchmesser und die unsorgfältige Verarbeitung. Offenbar handelt es sich nicht um getragene Armringe, sondern miniaturisierte Substitute. Vergleiche mit anderen Grabinventaren legen nahe, dass die zwei Ringe für zwei männliche Bestattete stehen. Die typologische Analyse führt ihre Ähnlichkeit mit zeitgleichen goldenen Eidringen vor Augen. Wahrscheinlich dienten die bronzenen Ringe in Seddin als Ersatz für die goldenen Eidringe, die in der jüngeren Nordischen Bronzezeit vorwiegend in Horten niedergelegt wurden und nicht mehr als Beigaben in die Gräber gelangten.

Der Poster unter dem Titel "Die Nordische Bronzezeit nach Oskar Montelius" enthält die wichtigsten Informationen über die Bronzezeit in Südskandinavien und Norddeutschland. Im Poster werden, nach Oskar Montelius, Alltagsleben, Religion und Bestattungsritus der damaligen Bevölkerung beschreiben. Die erwähnten Lebensbereiche werden hier mit zahlreichen Abbildungen veranschaulicht. Sie zeigen Bewaffnung, Schmuck, Trachtbestandteile, Bestattungen und Felsenzeichnungen der bronzezeitlichen Völker Südskandinaviens und Norddeutschlands.

As poems like «Rune» and «Götterdämmerung» testify, Germanic myth always excited Lucian Blaga’s creative imagination. However, it is possible to identify the implied presence of a Germanic – in particular, Norse – theme in «Peisaj transcendent» as well. This is a poem that depicts a decaying cosmos yet which fortells its forthcoming regeneration. The purpose of this essay – which proposes a comparison between Old Norse mythological literature and contemporary Romanian literature through a mythocritical approach – is to illustrate that many of the chaotic scenes which follow one another in «Peisaj transcendent» are very similar to those of the Ragnarök, the awe-inspiring eschatological chapter of Eddic mythology. After a historical-religious introduction on Ragnarök, the essay investigates two ornitomorphic creatures portrayed in «Peisaj transcendent»: the “apocalyptic roosters” and the “birds similar to water angels”. The former reminds one of the three roosters announcing the end of the world and the final struggle between the gods and their enemies in Old Norse myth. Nonetheless, since a cosmic renewal follows the Ragnarök, both the Norse roosters and Blaga’s roosters preserve – apart from an apocalyptic characterization – their main symbolic function of birds as foretellers of dawn. The latter – the water birds as messengers of the other world – are brought to the strand by the sea of death, i.e. the same archetypical sea that swallows the Earth during the Ragnarök. Subsequently, the essay analyses the signals of rebirth in «Peisaj transcendent», that is to say the Earth which “flares up as with fluctuating waves” and the coffins which “sing under the grass by the thousands”. In these scenes, it is possible to detect the double dynamics of world destruction typical of the Ragnarök – including a flood or Deluge and eventually a great fire or Conflagration –, as well as the aquatic and vegetal processes on which the regeneration of the cosmos structures itself in Old Norse myth.

At the transition from Middle to Late Neolithic, about 2350 BC, a new group of artifacts was introduced to the South-East of Norway the bifacial arrowheads made from flakes. Similar tools were in use for more than 2000 years in the region.

In all about 750 arrowheads of this kind are known from settlements, graves and as stray finds. Despite the fact that they are common, these finds have not been studied in detail. This article aims to present the results of a closer study of the material, and discuss the chronological developments of the bifacial arrowheads in the region.

The Chief and his Sword? – Comments Regarding the Social Position of the Sword-bearing Man in the Early Nordic Bronze Age

In Northern Europe as elsewhere, Bronze Age swords are interpreted as weapons and status symbols of a male elite often referred to as “chiefs”. According to technical and use-wear analyses, it is likely to assume that the function and meaning of swords contained practical, social and symbolic aspects. Find contexts show that swords served as important symbols regarding the definition of the role and identity of the buried individuals, while the often mentioned differences in the burial equipments cannot be generalised. Model-based assumptions on the number of sword-bearers, varying between 10 % and 20 % of the total number of adult men, lead to the assumption that they were not only a small elite but rather a broader social class of free men. This social class was further segmented as demonstrated by the differences in quality of objects and sizes of houses and burial mounds. Altogether, the society of the Nordic Bronze Age consisted of a complex and instable network, lacking a centralised power in which social groups competed by different means. In this context sword-bearers can be perceived as men of a certain status but not necessarily as chiefs.

Im Rahmen eines durch das Land Niedersachsen finanzierten Projektes wurden makro- und mikroskopische Untersuchungen, Röntgenuntersuchungen, 3D-Computertomographien sowie Metallanalysen (Spurenelement- und Bleiisotopenanalysen) zu niedersächsischen Schwertern der älteren Bronzezeit angefertigt. Die Auswertung ergibt eine Reihe neuer Erkenntnisse, unter anderem wurde an zwei nordischen Vollgriffschwertern eine ungewöhnliche Verzierungstechnik der Knaufplatte durch eingesetzte Stifte festgestellt. Die Untersuchungen bestätigen zudem die Annahme, dass die nordischen Vollgriffschwerter und die aus dem südlichen Mitteleuropa stammenden Achtkantschwerter von den Trägern unterschiedlicher Handwerkstraditionen hergestellt wurden. Bemerkenswert ist, dass sich bei nordischen Vollgriffschwertern in begrenztem Umfang Hinweise auf die Adaption der süddeutschen Guss-, vor allem aber Schäftungstechnik finden, womit sich komplexe Beziehungen und ein selektiver Technologietransfer zwischen den beiden Handwerkstraditionen abzeichnen. Zudem kann belegt werden, dass handwerkliche Traditionen der frühbronzezeitlichen Vollgriffdolche in der Technik der mittelbronzezeitlichen Vollgriffschwerter fortleben. Für die Achtkantschwerter ist eine Produktion in mehreren kleineren Werkstätten anzunehmen. Die schon länger postulierten Werkstattkreise der nordischen Vollgriffschwerter konnten aufgrund der geringen Datenbasis leider nicht nach technischen Kriterien überprüft werden. Die Distribution von Achtkantschwertern in den Norden kann durch Import von süddeutsch verzierten Stücken sowie unverzierten Schwertern, die im Norden eigenhändig verziert wurden, erklärt werden. Dabei kam es zu gegenseitigen Kontakten und Beeinflussungen. Neben ihrer primären Funktion als Waffen ist den Schwertern zweifellos auch soziale und symbolische Bedeutung beizumessen.

Innerhalb der Bronzezeit Nordeuropas und Skandinaviens
trifft man immer wieder auf herausragende
Metallarbeiten. Sie sind uns in Form von Waffen,
Schmuck, Gerät oder Kultgegenständen in Gräbern
und Hortfunden überliefert.
Eine besondere Schmuckart einer gehobenen sozialen
Schicht1 innerhalb der Bronzezeit Norddeutschlands
und Skandinaviens wird von den Halskragen
repräsentiert.
Unter den Begriff „Halskragen“ fällt metallener
Halsschmuck, der mindestens 4 cm hoch ist, eine Einheit
bildet und sich zu den Enden hin verjüngt. Diese
Vorrausetzungen erfüllen die Ösenhalsringkragen der
älteren Bronzezeit genauso wie die Plattenhalskragen
und zusammengesetzten Halsringsätze der jüngeren
Bronzezeit. Um die Entwicklung der Bronzen und ihre
Formenvielfalt zu verstehen, ist es notwendig, auch
die goldenen Lunulae des Nordischen Kreises in die
Betrachtung zu integrieren.

The transition from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Scandinavia has been viewed as a time of change, and warfare has been suggested as a potential driver for such change. Weaponry could be seen as an archaeologically visible indicator for prehistoric warfare. The use of spears and swords represent an innovation during this time. Period I spears from Sweden have been chosen in order to address the issue of warfare and change through a close-up view. The use-wear of spears was analysed to establish whether they were used as weapons, and the chronology of early weaponry will be considered in light of the local variability. This evidence suggests that the combat in warfare establishes a particular form of communication leading to change, but not in the fashion of massive and sudden shifts, rather a slow and gradual development termed ‘drift’.

The article is about pottery from different excavations in the neighbourhood of the famous mound at Håga, outside Uppsala. The material comes from excavations of graves, ritual houses, settlements and a hillfort, all dating c. 1400-400 BC, i.e., Bronze Age period II-VI and the beginning of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The difference of vessel forms, surface treatments on the pots, fragmentation are discussed and their implications of differences of the functions of the sites.

A monumental stone foundation, the so called “Kung Björns kyrka (The church of King Björn was excavated by Michael Olausson in 1998-9.  The foundation is close to the large mound at Håga and is interpreted as a ritual “house”, dating to the Bronze Age. The foundation contained small quantities of Scandinavian Bronze Age pottery. The last phase of use revealed pottery of more eastern character with striation and textile impressions. A large, striated urn with decoration and organic temper had been deposit in one of the corners of the foundation. The urn is dated to c. 700-400 BC and has a clear eastern character with a very unusual choice of temper.

The find is connected to network between eastern Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States during the end of the Bronze Age. The Mälardaltype celts have the same date and confirms the contacts around the Baltic Sea.

In diesem Artikel sollte die Funktion und Bedeutung von älterbronzezeitlichen Schwertern, vor allem am Beispiel niedersächsischer Funde, beleuchtet werden. Auch wenn es durch die Eigenschaften materieller Kultur gewisse Probleme mit der genauen Bestimmung von Funktion und Bedeutung gibt, konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Schwerter in ihrer praktischen Funktion aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach vorrangig Waffen zum Kampf gegen andere Menschen waren. Dies sagt aber noch nichts über die Häufigkeit derartiger Kämpfe aus. In ihrer sozialen Funktion deutet
vieles darauf hin, dass es sich um männliche Statussymbole handelte, auch wenn noch etwas im Dunkeln bleibt wie die so gekennzeichnete soziale Gruppe näher zu charakterisieren ist. Man darf vermuten, dass die Schwerter insgesamt häufiger in ihrer sozialen als in ihrer praktischen Funktion gebraucht wurden, es sich bei ihnen also nur mit Einschränkungen um „Dinge des täglichen Gebrauchs“ handelte. Die symbolische Bedeutung wiederum ging wohl über diese Funktionen hinaus und berührt die Sphäre des Übernatürlichen und martialischer Werte. Die enge Verbindung aller drei hier getrennt behandelten Sphären und ihre inhaltliche Verschränkung demonstriert aber deutlich die Tatsache, dass keine der Funktionen und Bedeutungen älterbronzezeitlicher Schwerter für sich allein steht.

The article discusses and re-interprets the construction and stratigraphy of the so called “King Björn’s mound” at Håga in Uppland. The mound is the richest in gold in Scandinavia and is one of the biggest burial mounds from the Bronze Age. The mound is dated to c. 1000 BC.
A digitalization of the field documentation reveals new information about the wooden constructions in the mound. A large wooden chamber was built 1-2 meter above the original soil-surface. The chamber contained an oak-coffin with a rich weapon grave. One meter below this weapon-grave was a layer found with cremated bones and more artifacts. The double sets of dress-equipment’s, razors and tweezer in two different stratigraphic horizons may indicate two rather than one burial in the mound.

So far, the archaeological research gives a
good overview of the woolen textiles of the
Early Bronze Age, especially the finds from
the oak coffin burials. There are, however,
still questions to ask about the production
and manufacturing of wool, and how
this can be seen in the material culture.
Objects connected to textile production
from settlement contexts in Denmark are
still very sparse, loom weights and spindle
whorls are not many to list. Of course, the
conservation conditions and the missing
knowledge of the material may explain
the absence of such finds. However,
a re-assessment
of the objects from different
Early Bronze Age settlements from
Museum Sønderjylland actually shows
that the textile production seems to have
been more common than suggested until
now – at least locally