A mound of memories

During the winter of 2020 Museum Skanderborg excavated a burial mound in the central part of Jutland Denmark. From outside the mound appeared rather insignificant due to ploughing, but as the layers were peeled off, so were generations of attentive activities. The mound was not the initial stage of the feature. A very rare example of a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age house was completely covered by the mound. Parallel to this house was another one – dated to the early Bronze Age, and right next to the hearth of this house, there was a burial. The deceased was a woman of aristocratic descent, who had been buried in a hollowed-out oat log which was the most exquisite burial in this specific period in Denmark (1500-1300 BC Early Bronze Age p II). This burial no doubt initiated the erection of the actual mound, but unlike common behaviour this elaborate burial was not the central point of the mound. It was actually placed on the perimeter of the feature indicating that the ancestral dwellings were equally important to seal below this monument. Later Bronze Age activities at the mound; burials and pits with deposits of finds that evokes suggestions of ritualistic behavior further strengthened the sense of belonging, legitimized ownership of the area as well as reproduced ancestral affiliation.