Road Trip to Kivik and the King’s Grave
Rise and shine, today was a day for a road trip! Today we drove to the town of Kivik to see the Bronze Age tomb of a king, Kiviksgraven. We were out of the apartment before 9am so we didn’t have to pay for parking. Easy drive, only about 1-1/2 hours and in good weather. Today was back to cooler temps with a high of around 630 and cloudy.
My chief navigator got me out of the city with no issues, and on our way through the countryside to this cairn. Yes, of course we stopped for our fika!
Coffee and cinnamon rolls!!!!
Farmhouse and apple orchard
Thatched-roof house
Some background on today’s destination. The date is roughly 1600BC or the Nordic Bronze Age. (3,600 years ago!) The place is southern Sweden in the small coastal town of Kivik. The burial site is a cairn (funny, that word is Scottish in origin, why do the Swedes use it?) 75 meters (246’) in diameter, making it the largest of it’s kind in Sweden.
This site was once believed to be the final resting place of a king, but new research indicates that it was a burial site for 5 young boys, age 12 to 25 years. Because of the condition of the bones found in the cairn it has been impossible to tell how these boys died but all were cremated. Whoever these boys were, they either held some significance within the community to have been buried in such a prestigious place; or served as sacrifices to some god, no one knows.
In the early 1800’s, the site was used as a quarry. At that time, most of the stones covering the grave site were removed to build houses and walls. Two men working the quarry stumbled upon a burial chamber while excavating rock. They claimed that there were no artifacts inside the cist except 10 grave stones lining a small rectangular area. To date, no artifacts have been found in or from this site. All that remains today are these 10 engraved, upright stone tablets, and in surprisingly good condition. I question if there was a “restoration” that was done at some point because the paint is almost perfect on a couple of the stones while others show considerable wear.
In the early 1920’s the site was excavated by archeologists. Once again, no artifacts were found except bone fragments of the 5 boys buried in the chamber. After they examined the cairn, it was returned to its’ original condition, covered in stone, with an entrance built to the cist area.
Engraved stone thought to be depicting burial celebration ceremonies
The cairn
Entrance
Engraved stone depicting a 4-spoke chariot
After our visit to Kiviksgraven, we drove down the road about a ½ mile to another ancient site, Angakasen. This site is much different from Kiviksgraven. This site has more than 130 graves, a “stone ship”, and a “Penninggraven” or “Money Grave”.
The stone ship is the most obvious feature in the field measuring 197’ long and 28’ wide. These were more common during the Iron Age but it is believed that this one was erected during the Bronze Age.
Stones outlining a ship
The Penninggraven, dates back to the Bronze Age and measures 75’ in diameter with a large stone in the center. Within this stone circle there are several graves. Again, over 3,600 years old, amazing!
Probably the most amazing part of this road trip was the Apple Festival preparations underway in the town of Kivik. We just happened upon this while walking and it looks like a real shin-dig is coming to town. Lots of booths were set up in the park, shops were loading up on goodies to sell and a half-dozen people were working on this year’s apple mural.
Designing with apples
Crates of different varieties of apples, in varying colors, were stacked by a stage where people were busy sticking them to the backdrop to make a colorful apple design. I approached to take a picture of the workers and a young lady turned around and said it was not permitted. I cannot be there for security reasons. I didn’t want to go into what I used to do for work so I just snapped a quick picture and stepped back. Fortunately, we got out of there before the police arrived!
Apple tower
I know, not apples but I thought they looked nice.
Busy day so we found a nice place by the seaside to enjoy our picnic lunch before heading back to Malmo. Need to pack up our belongings and get things ready to drive off for Gothenburg in the morning. That will be our last city in Sweden and Scandinavia. Damn, we still haven’t found you guys the right souvenirs. Not to worry, we’ll keep looking.