Mandbjerghøj
The Mandbjerghøj lies next to the road through the Øster Velling Skov (forest) north of Øster Velling, west of Randers in Jutland in Denmark . Today there are two small granite stones with incised geometric patterns from the Bronze Age . A "Fredningssten" (under protection stone) made of granite marks the spot.
The two stones with the rock carvings are close to their original location, which was about 50 m away on the field. The remainder of the Mandbjerghøj burial mound, which has been almost completely plowed over, still lies here, and it is here that the first stone with rock carvings was found in 1857, which was part of the edging of this round mound.
In 1880 the then farm owner dragged the hill to fill a marl pit with soil. During this work he came across a pile of stones and after contacting the museum, Mandbjerghøj was excavated. During this excavation, the two stones that are now on the road were found. In the same year a stone with rock carvings was discovered, which ended up in the National Museum and can now be seen in the Cultural History Museum of Randers as part of the Bronze Age exhibition.
The burial mound, which is almost invisible, was originally around 24 m in diameter and four meters high. In the middle of the hill was a typical male grave from the early Bronze Age (around 1500 BC). A bronze sword and a gold-plated belt hook were found in the tomb, on which the same motifs can be seen as on the rocks, which dates the hill and the carving of the stones to the same time. Like the first stone found, the two newly discovered stones also belonged to the hill border. The rock carvings were probably originally designed with color, because like the incisions on rune stones that show traces of color, they are otherwise not easily recognizable. The discovery of petroglyphs nowadays happens more by chance and is highly dependent on the lighting conditions.
The stones from Mandbjerghøj show concentric rings and three ovals, each comprising two rings. The meaning and purpose of the scratches is unknown. Ships , stylized human figures and geometric patterns in the form of wheel crosses ( rock carvings from Lille Strandbygård ) and bowls are known of other stones .
literature
- Peter Vilhelm Glob : Helleristninger i Danmark (= Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs skrifter . Volume 7 ). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, 1969, ISSN 0107-2854 (Danish).
Web links
- Description and picture at Fortidsmindeguide.dk (Danish)
- Description and picture at Randers Kommune (Danish)
Coordinates: 56 ° 26 '18.2 " N , 9 ° 51' 36.9" E