Jordbro Grave Field ( sv, Jordbro gravfält) is located in Haninge kommun in the southern part of

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It is thought to be the largest

grave field A grave field is a prehistoric cemetery, typically of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. Grave fields are distinguished from necropoleis by the former's lack of remaining above-ground structures, buildings, or grave markers. Types Grave fields can b ...

dating from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. It is situated south of the small town of

Jordbro Jordbro is a suburban locality situated in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 10,291 inhabitants in 2010. The suburb is separated in two by the Stockholm commuter rail. Route 73 (Nynäsvägen), passes just east of Jordbro and co ...

, roughly one kilometer from Jordbro train station, or approximately one and a half kilometers north of

Västerhaninge Västerhaninge () is a locality situated in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It had 15,134 inhabitants in 2010. It is connected to Stockholm by commuter rail. Västerhaninge borders the large Hanveden forest to the north, the Jor ...

municipality station. Southeast of the grave field is Gullringskärret nature preserve.

History

The grave field consists of 660 graves which are

historical monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

s dating from 500 BC to 500 AD. Among these are one

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

, a pair of grave

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

s, about 300

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

s in different shapes, two

stone ship The stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, Northern Germany, and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a boat or ship. The ships vary in size and were e ...

s, and 14

stone circles A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The b ...

. There are also 38 rectangular

s, about 300

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...

s and three

sunken lane A sunken lane (also hollow way or holloway) is a road or track that is significantly lower than the land on either side, not formed by the (recent) engineering of a road cutting but possibly of much greater age. Various mechanisms have been pro ...

s. The grave site is roughly 500 meters long and about 300 meters wide. The Nynäs Line ( Nynäsbanan) cuts through the field and splits into two parts. These parts are connected with a walking tunnel under the railroad. When Nynäsbanan was expanded to double tracks from 1993-1994, some additional excavations were done at the grave field. On the western side of the railroad, archaeologists excavated the outer layer of humus and thus made several stone circles visible. To the east of the railroad, stone circles are not as visible - many of them only hinted at through observation of the raised parts of the ground however, there are more erected

s, rectangular stone circles and grave cairns here in the eastern area of the grave field. A smaller excavation was also done in a sandy part of the embankment by the railroad and the northern area of the grave field east of the track. There they found traces of a small hut from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. The site is kept open and cared for by the local government. The government ensures that the local forest and vegetation is kept maintained. A footpath for walking or bicycling has been maintained, and tables and benches have been placed for visitors.

References

{{reflist Haninge Municipality Buildings and structures in Stockholm County Cemeteries in Sweden Geography of Stockholm County Tourist attractions in Stockholm County Iron Age Scandinavia Archaeological sites in Sweden Prehistory of Sweden