5,500-year-old objects found at wetlands

Published 12 November 2024 at 15.33

Cultural news. An unusual ritual gathering place and sacrificial environment from the Peasant Stone Age has been found in Hammar in Scania. Pottery vessels, large quantities of flint tools and worked bones and horns – including a fishing hook – have been unearthed by the archaeologists. The objects, which date to 3500–3000 BC, were sacrificed near a wetland and the location is completely unique in Sweden.

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– The objects are very well preserved, which is extremely unusual, says Magnus Artursson, project manager at the Archaeologists, the State's historical museums.

The archaeologists got a big surprise when they were to investigate the remains of an ancient wetland in Hammar, east of Kristianstad in Skåne .

Beneath the stone-set edge to the wetland was a 1–1.2 meter thick cultural layer containing large quantities of pottery, worked flint and animal bones. The animal bone material consists primarily of slaughter and food waste, often broken up to extract the marrow. Among the objects are implements of worked horn and bone, including a so-called pressure stick that was used in the manufacture of flint objects, and a fishing hook. Findings of a large number of flint scrapers indicate that people were engaged in leather preparation at the site.

– These are completely unique Neolithic remains. We are in a sacrificial environment in a wetland where we have found massive amounts of bone, flint and pottery, almost like a medieval cultural deposit. It is very unusual to find such layers in a wetland in Sweden, says Magnus Artursson in a press release.

In several places at the edge of the wetland, entire ceramic vessels of the so-called funnel cup type have been placed on stones, but the skull of a dog has also been found, which shows that the area was probably used both in everyday contexts and as a place of sacrifice. The organic material such as bones is very well preserved, which makes the place special, says Magnus Artursson.

During this period, people lived mainly as farmers, growing different types of grain and keeping animals such as sheep, goats, pigs and cows. But they also hunted and fished. The dead were buried in walking graves or dozes.

– The Funnel Beaker Culture are the first farmers who came to Scandinavia around 4000 BC. We have two walking graves just a few kilometers apart from the same period, so they are probably connected.

What was completely unexpected is that the archaeologists have found an enclosed, possibly walled gathering place next to the wetland that was used for ritual purposes 5,000 years ago. It is a large semi-circular stone structure with up to 1.5 meter deep pits that lie in a row under the stones. The facility has a diameter of 50 meters. Here too, large quantities of pottery from whole vessels, worked flint and animal bones have been found. The find is unique of its kind in Sweden. Corresponding Neolithic facilities have been found abroad, for example in Sarup in Denmark.

Because the site is so special and the find material extensive, the Archaeologists are now seeking additional funding from the National Antiquities Office to be able to continue the investigation.

– The stone plant was completely unknown to us when we started. The area has probably been a local gathering place, where crafts, rituals and parties have been held. We also have traces of a wooden structure that goes out into the wetland, which we think may have been a bridge or jetty. That people gathered in this way to party and maintain social networks during the Peasant Stone Age is a common phenomenon, but that we find traces like this after that is completely unique, says Magnus Artursson.