Bøgebjerg burial ground
The burial ground of Bøgebjerg ( Danish Gravpladsen på Bøgebjerg ) is located on a small hill in the Risen Skov (forest) south of Østerlars near Gudhjem on the Danish island of Bornholm .
At the top of the 160 m long, 70 m wide and 6.0 m high hill there is a stone pavement about 18.0 m long and 10.0 m wide. There is a large mound of earth to the north of the paving. In the east there are some small stone mounds . There are also some small building stones here . There are 13 or more rectangular stone boxes on the southern edge of the ridge . They are 1–1.25 m wide, 1.25–2.5 m long and 0.3–0.5 m high. Some are arranged side by side, others resemble double graves. There are large building stones near two of them. Excavations have shown that the site was in use from the Iron Age to the Viking Age (200–1000 AD).
Bøgebjerg is Bornholm's best-preserved burial ground with stone graves from the Viking Age. The cemetery was never systematically examined. The entire hill is covered with more or less visible stones. The place was excavated by a teacher in 1877. Since the graves were relatively poor, only a few dozen were examined. In the largest burial mound in the middle of the burial field, which covers a number of Iron Age graves, there was a rich women's grave from the late Iron Age . Viking-age disc brooches were found in three of the stone boxes , which women carried on their shoulders.
In connection with the restoration of the burial ground, Egon Hansen and Ole Klindt-Jensen (1918–1980) made from 1954 to 56 smaller excavations. During the investigation of the stone pavement, fragments of weapons were found between the stones, which apparently had a function in connection with the cult. A gold-plated three-disc silver brooch with human masks was found under the pavement in a body grave , which was dated to 350 AD.
Nearby are the Højsten building stone and the Østerlars rune stones . A system of prehistoric fields, a so-called fossil cultural landscape, is also preserved nearby.
See also
literature
- Ingrid Falktoft Anderson: Vejviser til Danmarks oldtid . 1994, ISBN 87-89531-10-8 , p. 336
- Viggo Nielsen, Niels-Christian Clemmensen: Oldtidsagre i Danmark 2000
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 9 ′ 2.6 ″ N , 14 ° 57 ′ 33.6 ″ E