Mountain of the ancestors? : an interpretation of the hill-fort on Halleberg

The essay deals with the hill-fort on the mountain Halleberg, Sweden, its wall design, functionality, dating and its possible function as a central location and a place of worship of the ancestors. The Halleberg hill-fort consists of a 1500 meters long at times cohesive stonewalls which together blocked the mountain from its surroundings. Hallberg's natural vertical scree and cliffs along with the masonry blocked the whole mountain from the surroundings. The hill-forts, with few exceptions are largely not investigated archaeologically and its functionality and role in the ancient society is based on outdated research on the subject. The current archaeological interpretation is that hill-forts served as temporary defense in times of unrest or served as center of power for a social elite. The prevailing view in the archaeological sphere is that the hill-forts had a variety of functions and that its functionality and role in ancient society has varied. Halleberg´s strongest wall sections are at the mountain's south-eastern part where the natural driveway, Storgårdsklev is located. Along with the massive masonry of the walls in Bokedalen Storgårdsklev functioned as the hill-forts main entrance. At places along the walls are the remains of what could be interpreted as stacked rocks and possible fire cracked stone. These structural features indicate that the walls were built during the early Iron Age. Very likely has its function like other hill-forts have been varied and changed based on the community, organization and internal and external disturbances. The essay's main interpretation is that the hill-fort served as a defensive fortress. Moreover it is possible that walls of the hill-fort had a symbolic role as a border between two separate rooms in the landscape. The fencing of Halleberg turned the whole mountain to a closed landscape, separated from the surroundings. It may have been a place where people worshiped their ancestors, a place where life's events, life and death was the focus point