Saying hello to old neighbours

On my afternoon walk today - as so often before - I said hello to some of my old neighbours. And by old I mean really old.

My previous neighbours are located about half a kilometer meter away from my house. Unfortunately I am not able to communicate with these people - who lie somewhere inside the large burial mound from the Early Bronze Age (1700 - 1100 BC) - but their last resting place tells something about the importance of the sea for these early Vikings. This burial mound is - like so many similar mounds in Scania - situated on a high hill with a beautiful view to the sea and Denmark. The people who lived here more than 3000 years ago clearly wanted their forebears to rest in a place, which must have been dear to them.

Close to the burial mound is a sign, with some additional information:

The Scania County Administrative Board also has some general information about the burial mounds in this part of Sweden:


There are a number of burial-mounds from the Bronze Age in Scania (Skåne), especially along the western and southern coastlines. The mounds were created as memorials to women and men of consequence in the society of that time. The deceased person would be buried in his or her clothes, in a coffin made of stone or wood. The grave-gifts buried with him/her might consist of jewellery and weapons, usually of bronze, as well as ceramic vessels containing food and drink for the last journey. The coffin was then covered by a heap of stones, and pieces of turf were piled up on top of them to form a mound. The economic base of Bronze-Age society were stock-farming and agriculture. The climate of that period was somewhat warmer and less damp than ours is today. The landscape looks somewhat like a rural park, with grazed fields and broad-leaf trees.