The larger of the Spir Mountain Cairns from NW. Photo by Carl L. Thunberg 2014-06-26. (CC BY-NC)
Posted on 03/24/2015 7:15:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The vast majority of the cairns appear to have been built as monuments to the dead, mainly during the southern Scandinavian Bronze Age; circa 1800-500 BC. They occupy prominent positions overlooking the surrounding area, and some researchers speculate that they had a function as tribal markers for family group territories...
Unlike the cairns from the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age which appear to contain cremation burials, the Early Bronze Age examples like one of the Spir Mountain cairns (RAÄ Grundsunda 109:1), have internal burial chambers with cists containing skeletal remains, accompanied by various grave goods. In some cases the cairns have been used repeatedly, and have been expanded out from their original structures (ibid).
Many of the cairns were constructed near or overlooking what was once the sea shore; some 30-50 metres above present sea level (ibid), and it is interesting to note that Spir Mountain had once been an island within a bay during the Bronze Age... The coastal cairn-zone in Ângermanland is particularly rich, and includes about 700 registered sites...
The larger of the cairns (13m in diameter) is exceptionally well preserved, and almost perfectly circular. The stone required for construction must have required an immense investment of labour. The smaller cairn is just to the east and is 6m in diameter.
There are few known settlements that can be associated with the coastal cairns, but it is likely that the area’s inhabitants must have had an economy based on fishing and seal hunting (Baudou 1968). In Västernorrland there are cairns dating from the Earlier Bronze Age through to the Iron Age, with some still in use as late as the Viking Age, long after the tradition disappeared in many other places in Sweden and other parts of Scandinavia...
(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...
The larger of the Spir Mountain Cairns from NW. Photo by Carl L. Thunberg 2014-06-26. (CC BY-NC)
Archaeology | Ancient ‘imaginary creatures’ artifacts fascinate
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2015/03/22/1-ancient-imaginary-creatures-artifacts-fascinate.html
Can We Recover The Meanings Of Ancient Art?
http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/can-we-recover-the-meanings-of-ancient-art/
Neanderthals shape up as globe’s first jewellers
http://phys.org/news/2015-03-neanderthals-globe-jewellers.html
Interesting
Kewl!
I go out in the woods and bury things under piles of rocks to drive archeologists crazy. I put a Slinky under a pile of rocks. I put an 8-track tape of Slim Whitman under a pile of rocks. I put a pair of striped bell bottom pants under some rocks. Oh, yeah. Think about what they are going to deduce about us in the future when they find these items.
Are you Greg Gutfeld?
No. I’m something of a minor celebrity in Toadsuck, Arkansas.
That description and photo make it look as if it is an early version of a family crypt...
How did people survive the cold in Northern Sweden?
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