Kungshögen (Bolmsö)
The Kungshögen is a burial mound near the hamlet Skeda, on the northeast side of the island Bolmsö in the lake Bolmen in Småland in Sweden .
There are almost 500 prehistoric monuments on Bolmsö. The burial grounds are located near the beach along the long east coast. An exception is a complex in the northwest. Small burial mounds are dominant. The water level in the lake is now about two meters lower than in the past. This means that the burial mounds were on the water from the start.
The Kungshögen ( German "Königshügel" ) is the most easterly grave in a high burial ground with ten large hills that lie on a narrow ridge in the northeast of the island. Other monuments are three smaller hills and six building stones . The name Kungshögen appears here for the first time in the middle of the 19th century. The dominant hill has also been associated with sagas and legends. The hill and the tombs used to be called "Kung Rings Hög" or "Tiehögarna". They also wanted to connect him with Hergrim, who, according to legend, was the son of Arngrim and a magician who lived on Bolmso.
49 graves on this and nearby burial grounds were examined by archaeological laypeople such as LF Palmgren in the 1870s and FJ Enstream in the 1910s. Most belonged to the Viking Age (800-1050 AD). In comparison with the rest of Finnveden , Bolmsö had a higher status at the time. One of the graves that Eneström examined was rich in objects. Among other things, he found 26 bronze buttons , two guldgubbers , a gold ring and other small objects made of gold as well as a spear.
- Kungshögen on Bolmsö
Kungshögen on the Skeda burial ground. Sign. Liljegren collection at the beginning of the 19th century
Map of the Finnveden
Kungshögen on the Skeda burial ground. Sign. Liljegren collection at the beginning of the 19th century
The hill was badly damaged in an attempted looting in 1865. The peasant, Johan, dug down to the bottom of the hill to find treasure. He found a stone box full of sand. Based on the monuments and finds, the area in the northeast of the island is recognizable as the old center. The lack of rune stones on the island suggests that the importance of the area declined in the late Viking Age.
literature
- Martin Hansson: Visingsö och Bolmsö - öar i focus . Lunds University 2000.
Web links
- Kungshögen (Bolmsö) - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Finnveden is a Viking Age and medieval name for one of the original "small countries" in westernmost Småland. It comprised the Harden Sunnerbo, Västbo and Östbo (south, west and east of Bolmen). The center was the island of Bolmsö. The three Harden are in today's districts of Jönköping , Kronoberg and Halland
- ^ Johan Gustaf Liljegren (1791–1837) Riksantikvar
Coordinates: 57 ° 0 ′ 24.8 " N , 13 ° 46 ′ 36.3" E